Rape,money, and the psychology of taboo

Policy and legal decision making sometimes requires difficult assessments about how to translate the harm of sexual assault into dollar amounts. A web‐based experiment (n = 743) was designed to test the psychology of taboo theory in this important context. The experiment included two unique features. First, subjects were randomly assigned to assess vignettes in either a dollar metric, a 7‐point harm scale metric, or a years‐in‐jail metric. Second, subjects were given the opportunity, but not required, to provide a comment when making their assessment. Assignment to the dollar metric treatment group resulted in subjects freely expressing significantly more constitutive incommensurability comments. The effect was most pronounced when the level of sexual assault in the vignette was greatest.     

The influence of spatial pattern on visual short-term memory for contrast

Several psychophysical studies of visual short-term memory (VSTM) have shown high-fidelity storage capacity for many properties of visual stimuli. On judgments of the spatial frequency of gratings, for example, discrimination performance does not decrease significantly, even for memory intervals of up to 30 s. For other properties, such as stimulus orientation and contrast, however, such “perfect storage” behavior is not found, although the reasons for this difference remain unresolved. Here, we report two experiments in which we investigated the nature of the representation of stimulus contrast in VSTM using spatially complex, two-dimensional random-noise stimuli. We addressed whether information about contrast per se is retained during the memory interval by using a test stimulus with the same spatial structure but either the same or the opposite local contrast polarity, with respect to the comparison (i.e., remembered) stimulus. We found that discrimination thresholds got steadily worse with increasing duration of the memory interval. Furthermore, performance was better when the test and comparison stimuli had the same local contrast polarity than when they were contrast-reversed. Finally, when a noise mask was introduced during the memory interval, its disruptive effect was maximal when the spatial configuration of its constituent elements was uncorrelated with those of the comparison and test stimuli. These results suggest that VSTM for contrast is closely tied to the spatial configuration of stimuli and is not transformed into a more abstract representation.     

A Comparison on Inclusive Practices for Children with Special Needs in Faith-Based Kindergartens in Hong Kong

This qualitative study aimed to examine the inclusive practices implemented in three faith-based kindergartens in Hong Kong. A questionnaire was used to collect information about school backgrounds, students’ special needs, teacher training, special education services, curriculum design, school policy, parental involvement, and challenges faced by these schools when implementing their inclusive practices. The primary focus of this study was the influence of faiths on the provision of inclusive services for children with special needs. The results indicated that faiths, along with other factors, have played a significant role in contributing to the inclusive education services provided to children in these schools.     

围手术期负荷剂量他汀对急性ST段抬高型心肌梗死患者预后的影响

为了探讨围手术期给予阿托伐他汀负荷剂量对急性ST段抬高型心肌梗死（STEMI）患者急诊经皮冠状动脉介入治疗（PCI）后对心血管事件的影响。选取因STEMI行急诊PCI术患者160例,其中80例于PCI术前给予阿托伐他汀负荷剂量40mg,80例术前未给予阿托伐他汀负荷剂量进行研究。分析两组患者住院期间肌酸激酶同工酶与超敏C反应蛋白值,PCI术后与术后1个月心功能情况。结果显示围手术期阿托伐他汀负荷剂量组主要心血管事件发生率优于非阿托伐他汀组（P〈0．05）。因此,围手术期给予负荷剂量的阿托伐他汀可以降低住院期间不良心血管事件的发生率,改善患者预后。     

理性行动-社会认同整合性集体行动模型

为探究理性行动理论和社会认同理论两大社会心理学宏论对于个体集体行动参与倾向的共同解释力,以“中日撞船事件”为考察蓝本向天津市431名大学生被试进行调查研究,结果发现：效能和社会规范作为态度和行动倾向的中介变量,在不同情境下对行动倾向的作用不同,符合理性行动原则;内部动机作为态度和效能、社会规范之间的中介变量,并受到学校认同和国家认同的直接或间接影响,支持了社会认同理论对遵从规范行为的解释;回归分析验证了不同水平认同对行动倾向作用程度的差异,整合模型则揭示了其具体的作用路径和影响机制.结论：理性行动理论与社会认同理论可彼此互补成为集体行动参与的整合性解释框架.     

Properties of bootstrap tests for N‐of‐1 studies

N‐of‐1 study designs involve the collection and analysis of repeated measures data from an individual not using an intervention and using an intervention. This study explores the use of semi‐parametric and parametric bootstrap tests in the analysis of N‐of‐1 studies under a single time series framework in the presence of autocorrelation. When the Type I error rates of bootstrap tests are compared to Wald tests, our results show that the bootstrap tests have more desirable properties. We compare the results for normally distributed errors with those for contaminated normally distributed errors and find that, except when there is relatively large autocorrelation, there is little difference between the power of the parametric and semi‐parametric bootstrap tests. We also experiment with two intervention designs: ABAB and AB, and show the ABAB design has more power. The results provide guidelines for designing N‐of‐1 studies, in the sense of how many observations and how many intervention changes are needed to achieve a certain level of power and which test should be performed.     

Individual Differences in Accurately Judging Personality From Text

This research examines correlates of accuracy in judging Big Five traits from first‐person text excerpts. Participants in six studies were recruited from psychology courses or online. In each study, participants performed a task of judging personality from text and performed other ability tasks and/or filled out questionnaires. Participants who were more accurate in judging personality from text were more likely to be female; had personalities that were more agreeable, conscientious, and feminine, and less neurotic and dominant (all controlling for participant gender); scored higher on empathic concern; self‐reported more interest in, and attentiveness to, people's personalities in their daily lives; and reported reading more for pleasure, especially fiction. Accuracy was not associated with SAT scores but had a significant relation to vocabulary knowledge. Accuracy did not correlate with tests of judging personality and emotion based on audiovisual cues. This research is the first to address individual differences in accurate judgment of personality from text, thus adding to the literature on correlates of the good judge of personality.