Mental verb input for promoting children's theory of mind: A training study

An experimental study investigated the effect of the type of mental verb input (i.e., input with think, know, and remember) on preschoolers’ theory of mind development. Preschoolers (n = 72) heard 128 mental verb utterances presented in video format across four sessions over two weeks. The training conditions differed only in the way the mental verbs were presented: the form (statement or question), the referent (first person or other person), and the interaction style (overheard or interactive). Children who overheard the characters discussing the mental states of someone else, either in statement or question form, significantly improved in their false belief understanding. These experimental findings demonstrate mental verb utterances about other people, even when not directed to the child, scaffold children's attention to differing perspectives, thus more efficiently promoting some aspects of their ToM development.     

科学划界:"猴子审判"案例分析

自上个世纪后期以来,20世纪哲学四大主题之一的科学划界研究陷入了进退两难的境地。该文从科学划界的视角出发,分析了科学家和创世论者在“猴子审判”这一著名案件中的辩护与反驳,揭示了特定的社会、文化和政治因素对科学划界标准的影响,并且指出在现实社会中研究有关的科学争论,从研究科学精英的科学观转向研究社会公众的科学观,可能是有助于摆脱这一困境的努力方向。     

It is written all over your face: Socially rejected people display microexpressions that are detectable after training in the Micro Expression Training Tool (METT)

Social rejection is a powerful negative emotional experience, yet rejected people often appear stoic and unmoved. That is, their macroexpressions of emotion are not accurate reflections of their emotional states. Yet, there is reason to believe that rejected people exhibit involuntary microexpressions of negative emotion. We contrasted people's macroexpressions of emotion with their microexpressions subsequent to an acceptance or rejection experience. Observers coded microexpressions after being trained with the Micro Expression Training Tool. Rejected participants expressed more sad and angry microexpressions than did accepted participants. This research demonstrates that socially rejected people display negative microexpressions that are detectable by observers trained in the Micro Expression Training Tool.     

元认知训练对不同认知方式小学生应用题解题能力的影响

本研究以小学五年级292名学生为对象,考察了三种思维训练方式(元认知内隐训练、元认知外显训练和一般思维策略训练)对三种不同认知方式学生(场独立型、场依存型和中间型)数学应用题解题能力的影响。结果发现：(1)思维策略的元认知外显训练和元认知内隐训练比一般思维策略训练能蜓有效地提高场依存型、中间型和场独立型三类学生的应用题解题能力：(2)元认知外显训练和内隐训练对于场独立型和中间型学生同等重要。但元认知外显训练更有助于场依存型学生应用题解题能力的提高。成为该类学生的优势圳练方式;(3)在小学五年级．场独立型学生的应用题解题能力明显优于场依存型学生的应用题解题能力。     

La satisfaction des attentes de soutien de l’apprenant : vers un examen nuancé de l’effet du soutien du supérieur immédiat sur le transfert des apprentissages

Supervisor support enhances transfer of training, but the process by which it operates is still unknown. One specific question remains about the distinction between expected and perceived support. This study aimed to assess the influence of expected and perceived support on transfer, as well as to examine the effect of a perception gap between these two types of support. Results obtained from 76 trainees indicate that: (1) both expected and perceived support foster transfer, (2) expected support explains a significant part of the variance of transfer in the presence of perceived support, (3) the gap between the two types of support help explain the effect of supervisor support on training transfer.     

Professional beliefs related to the practice of pediatric medicine and school psychology

This article proposes that pediatric medicine and school psychology are complementary fields. Five professional beliefs are reviewed: (a) the importance of classification, (b) a preference for evidence-based interventions, (c) an endorsement of advocacy in public policy, (d) the importance of working with the whole child including his/her parents, and (e) an assertion of team leadership. Each belief is discussed as a core value of pediatric medicine and considered for points of connection with school psychology. Some of these beliefs are widely shared by school psychologists, others are rejected because of historical and situational factors, and all warrant consideration in light of school psychology's continuing evolution.     

The cognitive dynamics of negated sentence verification

We explored the influence of negation on cognitive dynamics, measured using mouse-movement trajectories, to test the classic notion that negation acts as an operator on linguistic processing. In three experiments, participants verified the truth or falsity of simple statements, and we tracked the computer-mouse trajectories of their responses. Sentences expressing these facts sometimes contained a negation. Such negated statements could be true (e.g., "elephants are not small") or false (e.g., "elephants are not large"). In the first experiment, as predicted by the classic notion of negation, we found that negation caused more discreteness in the mouse trajectory of a response. The second experiment induced a simple context for these statements, yet negation still increased discreteness in trajectories. A third experiment enhanced the pragmatic context of sentences, and the discreteness was substantially diminished, with one primary measure no longer significantly showing increased discreteness at all. Traditional linguistic theories predict rapid shifts in cognitive dynamics occur due to the nature of negation: It is an operator that reverses the truth or falsity of an interpretation. We argue that these results support both propositional and contextual accounts of negation present in the literature, suggesting that contextual factors are crucial for determining the kind of cognitive dynamics displayed. We conclude by drawing broader lessons about theories of cognition from the case of negation.     

Biased interpretation in perfectionism and its modification

Perfectionism is a transdiagnostic construct associated with a range of diagnoses, including depression, eating disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder. Treatments that directly target perfectionist cognitions have been shown to successfully reduce associated pathologies. However, the way in which they do this is not clear. We set out to assess the role of one candidate mechanism of action, namely the cognitive process of interpretation of ambiguity. In one experiment we looked for associations between biased interpretation and perfectionism. In a second, we manipulated interpretations, thereby providing a strong test of their aetiological significance. Results from the first experiment confirmed the presence of biased interpretation in perfectionism and demonstrated that these are highly specific to perfection relevant information, rather than reflecting general negativity. The second experiment succeeded in manipulating these perfection relevant interpretations and demonstrated that one consequence of doing so is a change in perfectionist behaviour. Together, these data experimentally demonstrate that biased interpretation of perfection relevant ambiguity contributes to the maintenance of perfectionism, but that it is also possible to reverse this. Clinical implications include the identification of one likely mechanism of therapeutic change within existing treatments, as well as identification of an appropriate evidence-based focus for future treatment development. Targeting underlying functional mechanisms, such as biased interpretation, has the potential to offer transdiagnostic benefits.     

公共行政部门人力资源培训新视角

吸收现代企业的人力资源管理思想是近年来公共行政部门人事管理工作的趋势。公共行政管理部门人力资源培训工作体系如何在先进的现代培训理念框架内实现为公共行政部门服务的针对性和有效性,是一个具有现实意义的问题。本文从培训目标、培训内容、培训方式、培训师资和评估激励5个方面探讨了公共行政管理部门干部教育培训管理工作的标准。