Influence of perceived emotion and gender on social motor coordination

Theorists have long postulated that facial properties such as emotion and sex are potent social stimuli that influence how individuals act. Yet extant scientific findings were mainly derived from investigations on the prompt motor response upon the presentation of affective stimuli, which were mostly delivered by means of pictures, videos, or text. A theoretical question remains unaddressed concerning how the perception of emotion and sex would modulate the dynamics of a continuous coordinated behaviour. Conceived in the framework of dynamical approach to interpersonal motor coordination, the present study aimed to address this question by adopting the coupled-oscillators paradigm. Twenty-one participants performed in-phase and anti-phase coordination with two avatars (male and female) displaying three emotional expressions (neutral, happy, and angry) at different frequencies (100% and 150% of the participant's preferred frequency) by executing horizontal rhythmic left-right oscillatory movements. Time to initiate movement (TIM), mean relative phase error (MnRP), and standard deviation of relative phase (SDRP) were calculated as indices of reaction time, deviation from the intended pattern of coordination, and coordination stability, respectively. Results showed that in anti-phase condition at 150% frequency, MnRP was lower with the angry and the female avatar. In addition, coordination was found to be more stable with the male avatar than the female one when both displaying neutral emotion. But the happy female avatar was found to elicit more stable coordination than the neutral female avatar. These results implied that individuals are more relaxed to coordinate with the female than the male, and the sensorimotor system becomes more flexible to coordinate with an angry person. It is also suggested social roles influence how people coordinate, and individuals attend more to interact with a happy female. In sum, the present study evidenced that social perception is embodied in the interactive behaviour during social interaction.     

Why Do you Often Stop your Impulsive Behavior at the Last Moment?

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - Intentional inhibition, a critical ability of human cognitive control, is the capacity to internally withhold a to-be-performed action. In the voluntary...     

Young children are more likely to cheat after overhearing that a classmate is smart

Research on moral socialization has largely focused on the role of direct communication and has almost completely ignored a potentially rich source of social influence: evaluative comments that children overhear. We examined for the first time whether overheard comments can shape children's moral behavior. Three‐ and 5‐year‐old children (N = 200) participated in a guessing game in which they were instructed not to cheat by peeking. We randomly assigned children to a condition in which they overheard an experimenter tell another adult that a classmate who was no longer present is smart, or to a control condition in which the overheard conversation consisted of non‐social information. We found that 5‐year‐olds, but not 3‐year‐olds, cheated significantly more often if they overheard the classmate praised for being smart. These findings show that the effects of ability praise can spread far beyond the intended recipient to influence the behavior of children who are mere observers, and they suggest that overheard evaluative comments can be an important force in shaping moral development.     

时间的多维度空间表征:分离的起源与激活机制

近期研究发现时间可以分别在三个空间维度(左右、前后和上下)进行表征, 但不同维度心理时间线的起源和激活机制尚存争议。最新证据表明, 左右维度时间线主要起源于阅读/书写习惯所伴随的感觉运动经验, 其激活可能是一种低水平的感觉运动机制; 前后和上下维度时间线主要起源于语言中的空间隐喻, 其激活可能是一种高水平的语义机制。未来研究应更关注心理时间线的起源多样性、先天基础、神经机制以及时间线和数字线的类比。     

Relations between maternal power-assertive parenting and adjustment in Chinese children: A longitudinal study

This 1-year longitudinal study examined relations between maternal power-assertive parenting and children's social, academic and psychological adjustment in China. Participants were 316 elementary school children (mean age = 11 years, 153 boys). Maternal power-assertive parenting was assessed using children's self-reports. Data on children's social and school adjustment were obtained from peer evaluations and teacher ratings. In addition, children completed measures of loneliness and depression. Cross-lagged analyses indicated that whereas maternal power-assertive parenting was only related to later academic adjustment, children's adjustment in socioemotional and academic domains contributed to the prediction of later maternal power-assertive parenting. The results were discussed in the Chinese context.     

Revisiting predictive bias of cognitive ability tests against Hispanic American job applicants

Previous studies have concluded that cognitive ability tests are not predictively biased against Hispanic American job applicants because test scores generally overpredict, rather than underpredict, their job performance. However, we highlight two important shortcomings of these past studies and use meta-analytic and computation modeling techniques to address these two shortcomings. In Study 1, an updated meta-analysis of the Hispanic–White mean difference (d-value) on job performance was carried out. In Study 2, computation modeling was used to correct the Study 1 d-values for indirect range restriction and combine them with other meta-analytic parameters relevant to predictive bias to determine how often cognitive ability test scores underpredict Hispanic applicants’ job performance. Hispanic applicants’ job performance was underpredicted by a small to moderate amount in most conditions of the computation model. In contrast to previous studies, this suggests cognitive ability tests can be expected to exhibit predictive bias against Hispanic applicants much of the time. However, some conditions did not exhibit underprediction, highlighting that predictive bias depends on various selection system parameters, such as the criterion-related validity of cognitive ability tests and other predictors used in selection. Regardless, our results challenge “lack of predictive bias” as a rationale for supporting test use.     

How mindfulness affects benign and malicious envy from the perspective of the mindfulness reperceiving model

At present, mindfulness is a hotspot in psychological research. Mindfulness is an effective tool that enables people to effectively inhibit negative emotions. Previous studies have shown that envy is a typical negative emotion; however, envy can be divided into two completely different types: benign envy and malicious envy. The question then arises, how does mindfulness affect both types of envy? Using a mindfulness reperceiving model, we explored the effect of mindfulness on these two different types of envy and on the mediating mechanism of psychological resilience. To accomplish this, we recruited 676 Chinese undergraduates to complete the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), the Benign and Malicious Envy Scale (BEMAS) and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). The results we obtained showed that mindfulness and psychological resilience significantly and negatively predicted malicious envy and that psychological resilience played a partially mediating role in the relationship. In addition, the results showed that there was no significant effect between mindfulness and benign envy; however, psychological resilience can significantly and positively predict benign envy and played a completely mediating role between mindfulness and benign envy. These results effectively extend theories based on the mindfulness reperceiving model while also being important for promoting benign envy and inhibiting malicious envy in terms of improving mindfulness and psychological resilience.     

大学生自尊和宽恕的关系:一个有调节的中介模型

采用问卷法对550名大学生进行调查研究,考察自尊对大学生宽恕的影响,同时考察共情在其中的中介作用,以及该过程是否受到特质愤怒的调节。结果表明:(1)大学生自尊与宽恕存在显著的正相关;(2)共情在大学生自尊和宽恕关系中起到完全中介作用;(3)特质愤怒在共情和宽恕之间具有调节效应,特质愤怒越高,共情对宽恕影响越小。     

新冠疫情下过度胜任教师会进行知识共享吗?角色宽度自我效能感和知识共享意愿的链式中介作用

新冠肺炎疫情之下教育部要求教师利用网络平台“停课不停学”。本文以人-环境匹配理论为基础,探讨疫情之下过度胜任教师的知识共享行为。采用126份一线教师问卷调查数据,应用bootstrap进行了中介效应的检验。结果表明,过度胜任感较高的教师会产生更多的知识共享行为; 角色宽度自我效能感和知识共享意愿在过度胜任感影响知识共享行为过程中起中介作用,且角色自我效能感和知识共享意愿还存在链式中介作用。研究成果深化了过度胜任感影响教师知识共享行为作用机制的认识,在重大社会事件下探索过度胜任带来的积极影响,并提出相应的政策建议,为学校教师提升教学水平以更好地完成教育教学目标提供理论和实践依据。     

Training and transfer effects of long-term memory retrieval training

ABSTRACT

Long-term memory retrieval ability and working memory can share attention control ability. Based on cognitive plasticity, a hypothesis that cognitive training could improve long-term memory retrieval efficiency and that this could transfer to retrieval involving working memory was proposed. 60 undergraduates were randomly assigned to a group of training and an active control group; all the participants completed the same tasks in the same order before and after the training, the tasks included a long-term memory retrieval access task, a intelligence test, a switching task, a working memory updating task, a response inhibition task and an interference control task. The statistics results indicate that cognitive training can improve long-term memory retrieval efficiency and has a transfer effect on working memory updating, interference control and switching ability, but not on response inhibition or intelligence. This reveal the plasticity of long-term memory retrieval and its influence on working memory.