A Probabilistic Approach to Conditional Reasoning Development

How likely is the glass to break, given that it is heated? The present study asks questions such as this with or without the premise if the glass is heated, it breaks. A reduced problem (question without premise) measures the statistical dependency (conditional probability) of an event to occur, given that another has occurred. Such statistical dependency represents knowledge-based reasoning (inferring from “glass heated” to “its breaking”) and is a component of the response to the complete problem (question with premise). The complete problems therefore measure not only knowledge-based reasoning in terms of statistical dependencies (inductive component) but assumption-based reasoning (deductive component). Two experiments revealed: a) Knowledge-based reasoning continues to develop and attains adult levels at 7th grade for the problems tested, and b) assumption-based reasoning (deductive component) is reliable only for secondary school students (7th graders).     

Prevalence and Predictors of Posttraumatic Growth in Accidentally Injured Patients

This study examined prevalence and predictors of posttraumatic growth in 180 accidentally injured patients of mainland China in their convalescence stage, investigating its relationships with demographic and accidental injury variables, personality, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and coping styles. Our results showed that posttraumatic growth (PTG) presented mostly in the domain of Relating to Others and indicated that PTG was significantly related to marital status, educational level, personality, coping styles, and PTSD symptoms. Avoidance of PTSD symptoms, Openness to experience, and positive coping were significant predictors of PTG. The findings emphasize that when promoting PTG of accidentally injured patients, healthcare providers should facilitate patients utilizing personal resources, understand PTG coexists with PTSD symptoms, and adjust interventions based on the coping styles the patients have adopted.     

Prologue: Introduction and Overview to Special Volume

Abstract

The editors provide an overview of the obstacles that prevent us from ending child abuse in the United States and briefly summarize the various articles in this volume that address these obstacles from multiple points of view.     

Masked-target recovery requires focused attention on the target object

Flashing a homogeneous light mask after the presentation of a masked target reduces the deleterious effects of the mask, a phenomenon often called target recovery. Target recovery has been studied using masking paradigms in which a target object is presented in isolation prior to the presentation of a mask, thus capturing attention. In the present study, we examined whether target recovery is possible when a target does not benefit from attentional capture. We hypothesized that target recovery would be eliminated when a target must compete with distractors for perceptual attention. Replicating classic studies, we observed target recovery when pattern and light masks followed an isolated target. However, target recovery was not observed when a light mask followed a masked visual search target. Furthermore, using an attentional-capture paradigm we found that sudden onset search targets were recoverable whereas nononset targets were not. The present findings indicate that attentional capture by a target prior to masking plays a critical role in the subsequent recovery of the target.     

个人幸福指数-中小学生版(PWI-SC)在中国的适用性——兼与澳洲中学生比较

探讨个人幸福指数-中小学生版(PWI-SC)在中国的适用性以及中澳两国中学生个人幸福指数的跨文化差异。采用PWI-SC施测522名中国中学生、185名澳洲中学生,进行区分度、信度和效度检验,发现该问卷可运用于中国中学生个人幸福指数的调查,个别项目需稍加修改。比较中澳中学生的施测结果,中国中学生的个人幸福指数低于澳洲中学生,中国中学生得分为47-70,澳洲中学生得分为51-72;中国中学生除在个人已有成就项目上得分高于澳洲中学生外,其他方面均较低;中澳两国初中生的个人幸福指数均显著高于高中生,两国初高中生个人幸福指数的差异体现在不同方面;中澳两国中学生个人幸福指数的年龄差异均显著,进一步事后分析发现,两国中学生个人幸福指数的基本趋势均为随年龄增长,个人幸福指数降低,中国15岁中学生的个人幸福指数较高。PWI-SC基本适用于中国中学生;中学生随年龄增长,个人幸福指数降低;中国中学生的个人幸福指数低于澳洲中学生。     

求职者简历作假行为结构及影响因素研究

求职者简历作假行为是指求职者在简历投递过程中,为提升进入下一轮选拔几率,在简历中表现出虚假信念或信息的行为。研究通过访谈和问卷调查方法,探讨了求职者简历作假行为的结构,以及大学生求职群体简历作假行为的影响因素与特点。结果表明:(1)求职者的简历作假行为包含迎合招聘企业、篡改个人信息、粉饰关键词句和提升匹配程度四个因素。(2)马基雅维利主义倾向可以预测其简历作假行为。(3)大学生求职者的简历作假行为在其简历投递次数以及简历修改次数上存在差异。     

A severe capacity limit in the consolidation of orientation information into visual short-term memory

Previous research has suggested that two color patches can be consolidated into visual short-term memory (VSTM) via an unlimited parallel process. Here we examined whether the same unlimited-capacity parallel process occurs for two oriented grating patches. Participants viewed two gratings that were presented briefly and masked. In blocks of trials, the gratings were presented either simultaneously or sequentially. In Experiments 1 and 2, the presentation of the stimuli was followed by a location cue that indicated the grating on which to base one’s response. In Experiment 1, participants responded whether the target grating was oriented clockwise or counterclockwise with respect to vertical. In Experiment 2, participants indicated whether the target grating was oriented along one of the cardinal directions (vertical or horizontal) or was obliquely oriented. Finally, in Experiment 3, the location cue was replaced with a third grating that appeared at fixation, and participants indicated whether either of the two test gratings matched this probe. Despite the fact that these responses required fairly coarse coding of the orientation information, across all methods of responding we found superior performance for sequential over simultaneous presentations. These findings suggest that the consolidation of oriented gratings into VSTM is severely limited in capacity and differs from the consolidation of color information.     

记忆监测是有赖于状态的还是有赖于特质的

记忆监测是有赖于状态的．还是有赖于特质的?实验针对两种预见性监测任务——任务难度的预见(EOL)和学习程度的判断(JOL),选用三种实验材料,对记忆监测的准确性进行了跨任务、跨情境的一致性考察。发现在任务难度的预见与学习程度的判断的准确性之间,存在着跨任务的高度一致性;在不同的三项材料之间．存在着跨情境的高度相关。本研究结果从一个侧面支持了记忆监测的特质说。