Belief attribution despite verbal interference

False-belief (FB) tasks have been widely used to study the ability of individuals to represent the content of their conspecifics' mental states (theory of mind). However, the cognitive processes involved are still poorly understood, and it remains particularly debated whether language and inner speech are necessary for the attribution of beliefs to other agents. We present a completely nonverbal paradigm consisting of silent animated cartoons in five closely related conditions, systematically teasing apart different aspects of scene analysis and allowing the assessment of the attribution of beliefs, goals, and physical causation. In order to test the role of language in belief attribution, we used verbal shadowing as a dual task to inhibit inner speech. Data on 58 healthy adults indicate that verbal interference decreases overall performance, but has no specific effect on belief attribution. Participants remained able to attribute beliefs despite heavy concurrent demands on their verbal abilities. Our results are most consistent with the hypothesis that belief attribution is independent from inner speech.     

What is “theory of mind”? Concepts,cognitive processes and individual differences

Research on “theory of mind” has traditionally focused on a narrow participant group (preschool children) using a narrow range of experimental tasks (most notably, false-belief tasks). Recent work has greatly expanded the age range of human participants tested to include human infants, older children, and adults, has devised new tasks, and has adopted methods from cognitive psychology and neuroscience. However, theoretical work has not kept pace with these changes, with the result that studies using one kind of method or participant group often inherit assumptions about the nature of theory of mind from other research, with little regard for whether these assumptions are appropriate. I argue that three distinct approaches to thinking about theory of mind are already implicit in research practice, and that future work, whether with infants, children, or adults, will benefit from articulating these approaches more clearly and following their different implications for what theory of mind is and how it should be studied.     

How are physical literacy interventions conceptualized? – A systematic review on intervention design and content

The concept of physical literacy (PL) has gained increasing attention over the last decade and posits that individuals value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life through (a) motivation/confidence, (b) physical competence, and (c) knowledge/understanding. There is a mounting number of articles that have recently transformed the conceptual ideas of PL into interventions. The goal of this pre-registered (PROSPERO CRD42020188926) systematic review was to analyze and summarize PL interventions in terms of design and content. A total of 18 databases were searched drawing on the 2020 preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Inclusion criteria were English language, publication by November 2020, and interventions based on or inspired by PL. Articles that met these criteria were analyzed in relation to basic delivery characteristics, theoretical foundations, study objectives, intervention content, and potential links between the PL domains (a-c) and content. The multiphase screening process with two independent raters yielded 44 eligible interventions across 46 articles. The analyses of the review demonstrated that the majority of interventions were conducted on children or adolescents and in countries with higher economic development. While 77.3% of the interventions adopted a holistic understanding of PL, only 38.6% formulated study goals or intervention content to cover all the core PL domains. Importantly, only 25.0% of the interventions showed substantial links between PL domains and intervention content and can thus be classified as theory-based. Taken together, most interventions targeted aspects of physical competence (84.1%), whereas knowledge/understanding (59.1%) and motivation/confidence (47.7%) were often neglected. Therefore, future interventions should commit to systematically address all domains of PL simultaneously. PL interventions exposed weaknesses in reporting delivery characteristics and content. Finally, a model is suggested which assumes that practical PL efforts may better harmonize with PL theory and conception if they cultivated a tight interlocking with the three core domains of PL at all stages of the intervention process.     

Never getting to zero: Elementary school students' understanding of the infinite divisibility of number and matter

Clinical interviews administered to third- to sixth-graders explored children's conceptualizations of rational number and of certain extensive physical quantities. We found within child consistency in reasoning about diverse aspects of rational number. Children's spontaneous acknowledgement of the existence of numbers between 0 and 1 was strongly related to their induction that numbers are infinitely divisible in the sense that they can be repeatedly divided without ever getting to zero. Their conceptualizing number as infinitely divisible was strongly related to their having a model of fraction notation based on division and to their successful judgment of the relative magnitudes of fractions and decimals. In addition, their understanding number as infinitely divisible was strongly related to their understanding physical quantities as infinitely divisible. These results support a conceptual change account of knowledge acquisition, involving two-way mappings between the domains of number and physical quantity.     

Developing a Cultural Theory of Mind: The CIAO Approach

The study of children's knowledge about minds is an extremely active area of developmental psychology. This article discusses the reach of this research and the theoretical views guiding it. It then presents some cultural variations (within the United States) in behavior explanation and explains the relevance of that variation to developmental theory. A theory ofearly mind reading that is presented incorporates culture, introspection, analogy, and ontogeny (CIAO).     

Development of a Situation-Response Inventory for Managerial Selection

The development is reported of an SR-inventory of achievement-related behaviour for the purpose of managerial selection. SR-inventories stem from interactional personality psychology. As the design of an SR-inventory is two-facetted, Cronbach et al.'s generalizability theory forms a suitable framework to investigate it. Using data of 404 Dutch respondents — mostly applicants — several generalizability analyses have been performed to conclude under which circumstances the inventory can be a useful tool. Furthermore, confirmatory factor analysis has been used to substantiate the suggested SR-structure of the instrument. The relationship with other personality factors has been investigated to classify the instrument in the domain of personality assessment.     

概化理论方差分量估计的跨分布分析

方差分量估计是进行概化理论分析的关键。采用MonteCarlo模拟技术,探讨心理与教育测量数据分布对概化理论各种方法估计方差分量的影响。数据分布包括正态、二项和多项分布,估计方法包括Traditional、Jackknife、Bootstrap和MCMC方法。结果表明:(1)Traditional方法估计正态分布和多项分布数据的方差分量相对较好,估计二项分布数据需要校正,Jackknife方法准确地估计了三种分布数据的方差分量,校正的Bootstrap方法和有先验信息的MCMC方法(MCMCinf)估计三种分布数据的方差分量结果较好;(2)心理与教育测量数据分布对四种方法估计概化理论方差分量有影响,数据分布制约着各种方差分量估计方法性能的发挥,需要加以区分地使用。     

动机的激发与小学生创造思维的关系：自主性动机的中介作用

基于自我决定论的理论框架, 采用动机激发类型问卷、学业自主调节问卷和托兰斯创造性思维测验(图画)对305名小学五、六年级学生进行问卷调查, 考察小学高年级学生的动机激发类型、动机调节方式与创造思维的关系。研究发现：(1)中度控制/中度自主/高度自主的动机激发类型均能显著正向预测创造思维; 而高度控制的动机激发类型对创造思维的预测作用不显著。(2)自主性动机显著正向预测创造思维; 控制性动机对创造思维的预测作用不显著。(3)自主性动机在中度控制和创造思维间起完全中介作用、在中度自主/高度自主和创造思维之间起部分中介作用。在创造思维各个维度上, 自主性动机在中度控制和流畅性间、在中度自主/高度自主和独创性间起完全中介作用; 在中度自主/高度自主和流畅性之间起部分中介作用。研究结果基本支持自我决定论的有关理论预期, 但在中度控制的动机激发类型上得出了与理论预期不一致的结论, 作者对此从文化的角度进行了讨论。     

道德之一元论与多元论：缘起、内涵与论争

一元论与多元论之争是道德心理学领域近些年最为活跃的理论交锋之一。道德一元论认为所有外在的道德现象与内在的道德结构都可以用一种因素来解释。道德多元论则认为道德不能只用单一因素来解释,而是存在多个不同质的道德维度,且具有文化敏感性。对应道德理论和道德基础理论是这场争议的典型代表。双方就伤害的解释力、道德失声现象、模块化道德与洁净维度独立性等方面展开论争。未来研究应从三个具体方面进一步探索道德之一元论与多元论难题,进而保持道德心理学领域的理论活力。     

Knowledge,adequacy, and approximate truth

Approximation involves representing things in ways that might be close to the truth but are nevertheless false. Given the widespread reliance on approximations in science and everyday life, here we ask whether it is conceptually possible for false approximations to qualify as knowledge. According to the factivity account, it is impossible to know false approximations, because knowledge requires truth. According to the representational adequacy account, it is possible to know false approximations, if they are close enough to the truth for present purposes. In this paper, we adopt an experimental methodology to begin testing these two theories. When an agent provides a false and practically inadequate answer, both theories predict that people will deny knowledge. But the theories disagree about an agent who provides a false but practically adequate answer: the factivity hypothesis again predicts knowledge denial, whereas the representational adequacy hypothesis predicts knowledge attribution. Across two experiments, our principal finding was that people tended to attribute knowledge for false but practically adequate answers, which supports the representational adequacy account. We propose an interpretation of existing findings that preserves a conceptual link between knowledge and truth. According to this proposal, truth is not necessary for knowledge, but it is a feature of prototypical knowledge.