Bidirectional Associations Among Sensitive Parenting,Language Development,and Social Competence

Rapid changes in language skills and social competence, both of which are linked to sensitive parenting, characterize early childhood. The present study examines bidirectional associations among mothers' sensitive parenting and children's language skills and social competence from 24 to 36 months in a community sample of 174 families. In addition, this study examines how these developmental pathways vary by child sex. Findings indicate stability across time in sensitive parenting, expressive language skills, and social competence, as well as positive main effects of sensitive parenting on expressive and receptive language skills for girls and boys. We find mixed evidence over time of reciprocal links between social competence and sensitive parenting. Further, boys' receptive language skills at 24 months uniquely contribute to increases in mothers' observed sensitive parenting from 24 to 36 months. These findings highlight the utility of applying transactional frameworks to the study of sex‐based differences in early developmental processes. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What difference reveals about similarity

Detecting that two images are different is faster for highly dissimilar images than for highly similar images. Paradoxically, we showed that the reverse occurs when people are asked to describe how two images differ--that is, to state a difference between two images. Following structure-mapping theory, we propose that this disassociation arises from the multistage nature of the comparison process. Detecting that two images are different can be done in the initial (local-matching) stage, but only for pairs with low overlap; thus, "different" responses are faster for low-similarity than for high-similarity pairs. In contrast, identifying a specific difference generally requires a full structural alignment of the two images, and this alignment process is faster for high-similarity pairs. We described four experiments that demonstrate this dissociation and show that the results can be simulated using the Structure-Mapping Engine. These results pose a significant challenge for nonstructural accounts of similarity comparison and suggest that structural alignment processes play a significant role in visual comparison.     

Is Sexism a Gender Issue? A Motivated Social Cognition Perspective on Men's and Women's Sexist Attitudes Toward Own and Other Gender

The present research investigated the antecedents of ambivalent sexism (i.e., hostile and benevolent forms) in both men and women toward own and other gender. In two heterogeneous adult samples (Study 1: N = 179 and Study 2: N = 222), it was revealed that gender itself was only a minor predictor of sexist attitudes compared with the substantial impact of individual differences in general motivated cognition (i.e., need for closure). Analyses further showed that the relationship between need for closure and sexism was mediated by social attitudes (i.e., right‐wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation), which were differently related to benevolent and hostile forms of sexism. In the discussion, it is argued that sexism primarily stems from individual differences in motivated cognitive style, which relates to peoples' perspective on the social world, rather than from group differences between men and women. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS): Demographics,preferred sources of information,and accuracy of ADAS knowledge

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) in passenger vehicles can improve highway safety. ADAS place powerful, yet imperfect, automation in the hands of drivers who hold both misconceptions and reservations about ADAS. There is little previous research on drivers’ knowledge of ADAS, and even less on sources of information drivers use to inform their knowledge. The present study addressed this gap, testing hypotheses about influences on understanding of seven ADAS in 634 licensed US drivers (aged 18–82). Multiple regression to predict self-assessed driver characteristics revealed: (a) Drivers who rated themselves as more technically sophisticated tended to be young and male, to be at once less objectively knowledgeable and more confident of their knowledge of ADAS, to avoid car dealers for ADAS information, and to value brand status; (b) Drivers who rated themselves as faster to adopt new technology also tended to be male but to be more objectively knowledgeable about ADAS and to prefer learning about ADAS from owner manuals; (c) Drivers who rated themselves as more confident in using novel vehicle technology tended to be young males with greater objective knowledge of ADAS who valued “hands-on” ADAS experience; (d) Drivers who rated themselves as more concerned about vehicle safety tended to be female, to value crash data, and to rely on hands-on experience to learn about ADAS; (e) Drivers who rated themselves as having greater aesthetic concerns tended to rely on information on styles, colors, wheels when buying a new car and preferred specific ADAS components. Neither of the latter two differed in objective ADAS knowledge. These results make a novel contribution in revealing how driver demographics and characteristics are related to preference for specific sources of information on ADAS and objective knowledge of ADAS. These results can inform future efforts to increase driver understanding of the capabilities and limitations of ADAS and hence increase public safety.     

国家内部地域文化差异及其对组织的影响

近年来,跨文化管理研究越来越关注国家内部（次国家层面）地域文化差异。在类似中国这样幅员辽阔历史悠久的多民族国家中,经济发展带来的人口流动和企业的跨地域布局使得员工与管理者都需要面对不同外部地域文化环境和组织内部人员地域多样化的挑战,研究国家内部地域文化差异及其对组织的影响有重要意义。 现有实证研究的一个重要共识是国家内部地域文化差异普遍存在于亚洲、欧洲和南北美洲各国。覆盖的国家类型多样,既有美国、巴西等地理跨度较大或有多民族多宗教历史文化背景的国家,也有日本、德国等地理跨度较小或历史上民族和信仰成分较单一的国家;既包括高度工业化的发达国家,也有发展中国家;既有集体主义倾向的东南亚和南美国家,也有个人主义倾向的北美和西欧国家。差异的内容主要包括霍夫斯泰德和施瓦茨的文化价值观维度,尤其是个人主义-集体主义。此外,不同国家之间内部地域文化差异的程度也显著不同。 聚焦中国大陆的研究主要关注了大陆地域文化区的划分和地域文化差异的内容维度。研究早期主要是从理论上根据影响文化的外部因素（如地理环境特征）讨论了文化差异的存在和文化区域划分,后来直接根据价值观相似度对不同省市或地区进行聚类;近年来,少数研究进一步依据多个指标综合划分地域文化区,并开始假设和验证不同区域价值观对个人和组织的影响。本文整合现有的几种中国大陆地域文化区划,用层次聚类法,获得了有较大共识的8个文化区。现有实证研究结果表明,中国大陆在集体主义、长期导向、风险偏好、儒家价值观等文化价值观维度存在地域差异。 有关国家内部地域文化差异如何影响组织行为和企业经营管理的实证文献仍然非常有限。 从跨地区文化比较的视角看,国家内部不同地区的文化价值观有可能影响当地人群的消费模式、员工行为、管理风格和决策（如投资）,进而影响企业生产效率和创新。从跨地区文化互动研究看,母公司企业文化与子公司所在地文化互动融合的模式有可能影响子公司经营绩效。最后,国家内部地域文化差异的程度不仅有可能影响本国企业跨地区布局的方式,还有可能影响企业跨境投资方式、企业国际化程度和经营绩效。 未来研究应更多的关注个人主义-集体主义以外的文化维度,探索主位视角来丰富研究理论和测量方法,尤其亟需更多对地域文化差异和跨地域互动在个人,团队和组织层面的结果的研究。最后,文化随着经济活动、政治变化、人口流动、对外交流互动而不断演化。在经济持续发展、商业活动地理布局不断拓展、人员流动极大增加、改革开放进一步深化的大背景下,我国大陆各区域及港澳台地区的地域文化价值观的演变,及其组织中不同层面的行为和结果的影响也值得探究。     

Affordance-based control in deceptive and non-deceptive penalties in soccer goalkeeping: Gender matters!

Only few studies have addressed how soccer goalkeepers adapt to both the spatial and temporal constraints while trying to stop a penalty kick. Moreover, research on penalty kicks has only involved male goalkeepers, even though the resultant constraint (i.e., the relation between the maximum action capabilities defining the time required and ball flight time and direction defining the time available) may or may not differ for female goalkeepers. We therefore compared penalty goalkeeping between male and female goalkeepers of similar skill level. The results showed that the resultant constraint was more stringent for female than male goalkeepers. In accordance with the affordance-based control theory, female and male goalkeepers both adapted to the resultant constraint, but did scale their diving action differently. Female goalkeepers initiated the lateral dive within the action boundaries set by the resultant constraint, while male goalkeepers tended to dive late, beyond the action boundaries. Owing to the early dive, female goalkeepers saved more penalties than male in non-deceptive penalties. Nevertheless, female goalkeepers were also more susceptible to deception by the penalty taker than male goalkeepers. These findings extend our knowledge of the affordance-based control theory in sports and contribute to the understanding of gender differences in soccer penalty goalkeeping.     

Positive affect moderates inhibitory control and positive affect following a single bout of self-select aerobic exercise

PurposeResearch suggests that individual differences in baseline cognitive performance moderates subsequent cognitive benefits following a single bout of exercise. The present study seeks to evaluate additional moderating mental states – specifically positive affect – on inhibitory control and affect following exercise.MethodsUsing a within- and between-participants pre-post cross-over design, eighty university students (54 females; 21.7 ± 2.7 years old) completed a flanker task and affect measures before and after a single bout of aerobic exercise at a self-selected intensity or studying for class (15-min) on separate days. Groups of high-positive affect (HPA; n = 41) and low-positive affect (LPA; n = 39) were determined based on a median split of positive affect measures prior to the exercise bout.ResultsThe HPA group revealed shorter reaction time (RT) from before to after exercise and rest with no difference observed between exercise and rest. The LPA group revealed shorter RT after exercise compared to before exercise and after rest. For accuracy, the LPA group improved performance during the exercise session compared to the rest session to a level comparable to the HPA group. Lastly, positive affect decreased in the LPA and HPA groups from before to after rest; however, only the LPA group’s positive affect increased from before to after exercise.ConclusionIndividuals with low positive affect experience greater cognitive and positive affect improvements following acute aerobic exercise at a self-select intensity, further supporting intraindividual differences in mental states as a mechanism for subsequent cognitive and affective benefits encompassing healthy behaviors of exercise.     

Parenting styles and career decision-making among French and Korean adolescents

This study compared the relationship of parenting styles to the career decision-making of adolescents from a Western and an Eastern context. Specifically, 575 French high school students and 613 South Korean high school students completed a questionnaire assessing perceived parenting style, career decision-making difficulties, and career decision self-efficacy. The Korean adolescents had lower career decision self-efficacy beliefs and higher career decision-making difficulties than the French adolescents. The authoritarian parenting style was associated with higher scores on career decision self-efficacy and lower scores on a measure of career decision-making difficulties in the Korean sample while the authoritative parenting style was associated with higher scores on career decision self-efficacy and lower scores on a measure of career decision-making difficulties in the French sample. Results showed significant effects for gender and parenting style on the career decision-making outcomes of both samples.     

The use of interest and competence scores to predict educational choices of Chinese high school students

This study examined how interest, perceived competence (i.e., efficacy), and prestige preference, as measured by the Personal Globe Inventory (PGI; Tracey, 2002), contributed to the classification of Chinese high school students with different education orientations. It was hypothesized that interest, efficacy, and prestige would yield a significantly higher correct classification hit rate of students with different educational orientations than would be expected by chance, and that the combined set of the interest, efficacy, and prestige predictors would contribute significantly more variance than interest scores alone or the efficacy scores alone in predicting students' educational orientations. Findings suggested that the interest and competence scores of the PGI based on both the Holland RIASEC model as well as the 4-type (People, Things, Data, and Ideas) model were able to discriminate among students in three educational orientation groups: Arts and Humanities, Business, and Science. The PGI interest and competence scores of students in these educational orientation groups were consistent with the expected theoretical direction. The findings were supportive of the concurrent validity of the PGI for senior high school students in Hong Kong. Theoretical and practice implications were discussed.     

Odors are expressible in language,as long as you speak the right language

From Plato to Pinker there has been the common belief that the experience of a smell is impossible to put into words. Decades of studies have confirmed this observation. But the studies to date have focused on participants from urbanized Western societies. Cross-cultural research suggests that there may be other cultures where odors play a larger role. The Jahai of the Malay Peninsula are one such group. We tested whether Jahai speakers could name smells as easily as colors in comparison to a matched English group. Using a free naming task we show on three different measures that Jahai speakers find it as easy to name odors as colors, whereas English speakers struggle with odor naming. Our findings show that the long-held assumption that people are bad at naming smells is not universally true. Odors are expressible in language, as long as you speak the right language.