Peer acceptance among Chinese adolescents: The role of emotional empathy,cognitive empathy and gender

Previous studies have found mixed results on the relationship between empathy and peer acceptance. Emotional and cognitive components of empathy were hypothesised to play different roles in peer acceptance, and the relationship between empathy and peer acceptance differed across genders. In this study, 375 Chinese adolescents completed self‐report measures of emotional and cognitive empathy. They also provided peer nominations that allowed for the determination of social preference and social impact scores. The results showed that a boy's cognitive empathy positively correlated with the extent to which he was liked by his male classmates, whereas a girl's cognitive empathy positively correlated with her social impact among her female classmates. This study suggests that empathy does not affect peer acceptance among adolescents uniformly; instead, gender plays a determinative role in the dialectics between social acceptance and empathy.     

理性行动-社会认同整合性集体行动模型

为探究理性行动理论和社会认同理论两大社会心理学宏论对于个体集体行动参与倾向的共同解释力,以“中日撞船事件”为考察蓝本向天津市431名大学生被试进行调查研究,结果发现：效能和社会规范作为态度和行动倾向的中介变量,在不同情境下对行动倾向的作用不同,符合理性行动原则;内部动机作为态度和效能、社会规范之间的中介变量,并受到学校认同和国家认同的直接或间接影响,支持了社会认同理论对遵从规范行为的解释;回归分析验证了不同水平认同对行动倾向作用程度的差异,整合模型则揭示了其具体的作用路径和影响机制.结论：理性行动理论与社会认同理论可彼此互补成为集体行动参与的整合性解释框架.     

Effects of response preference on resistance to change

Treatments based on differential reinforcement of alternative behavior, such as functional communication training, are widely used. Research regarding the maintenance of related treatment effects is limited. Nevin and Wacker (2013) provided a conceptual framework, rooted in behavioral momentum theory, for the study of treatment maintenance that addressed two components: (a) reemergence of problem behavior, and (b) continued expression of appropriate behavior. In the few studies on this topic, focus has been on variables impacting the reemergence of problem behavior, with fewer studies evaluating the persistence of appropriate behavior. Given the findings from applied research related to functional communication training, variables related to response topography, such as response preference, may impact this aspect of maintenance. In the current study, the impact of response preference on persistence was evaluated in the context of functional communication training for individuals who did not exhibit problem behavior (Experiment 1) and for individuals with a history of reinforcement for problem behavior (Experiment 2). High‐preferred mands were more persistent than low‐preferred mands. These findings suggest that response related variables, such as response preference, impact response persistence and further suggest that response related variables should be considered when developing interventions such as functional communication training.     

Aspects of identity: From the inner-outer metaphor to a tetrapartite model of the self

Abstract

We review a program of research on identity orientations – the relative importance or value that individuals place on various identity attributes when constructing their self-definitions. We first provide a brief history of the development of our measure of identity orientations – the Aspects of Identity Questionnaire (AIQ) – after which we present our tetrapartite model of the self that distinguishes among individual, relational, public, and collective aspects of identity. We then review previous research on how the four identity orientations uniquely influence cognition, emotion, and behavior, and close by highlighting what we see as interesting and important directions for future research.     

Researching Identity Styles In Pakistan: Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Associations With Commitment and Value Priorities

Identity styles—informational, normative, and diffuse-avoidant—have been studied widely across North America and Europe but infrequently in “non-Western” cultures. We tested the factorial structure of the Identity Styles Inventory-5 (ISI-5) among 479 young adults in Pakistan. Findings supported the predicted three-factor solution, but only when numerous poorly performing items were deleted. We further tested associations among identity styles, identity commitment, and value priorities. As expected, informational and normative styles were associated with higher commitment, whereas diffuse-avoidant style was associated with lower commitment. The three identity styles showed a pattern of divergent associations with value priorities that mostly, but not entirely, replicated the pattern of associations previously found among U.S. and European samples. We conclude that Berzonsky’s three identity styles can be detected in a Pakistani cultural context but that the ISI-5 may not fully capture the breadth and complexity of identity formation processes among Pakistani youth.     

Identity styles in the Georgian context and associations with parenting dimensions

Abstract

Information-oriented, normative, and diffuse-avoidant identity styles represent social-cognitive approaches used by young people to seek and process self-relevant information. The present study is a first investigation of identity styles and their association with parenting dimensions in Georgia – a context that is considerably understudied in identity research. Previous research has indicated that identity styles, along with identity commitment, are linked with maternal and paternal parenting dimensions. In the present investigation we used SEM analysis to study this relationship. We used data from 650 Georgian emerging adults between the ages of 17–30 (46.6% male) using the Identity Style Inventory-5 (ISI-5) and scales for parental support, behaviour control, and psychological control. Findings indicated that the normative and diffuse-avoidant identity styles are positively correlated with each other and negatively correlated with the information-oriented style and with commitment. Only the information-oriented style was positively associated with commitment. Perceived parental support and maternal behavioural control were positively associated with the information-oriented style, whereas both parents’ behavioural and psychological control were more highly correlated with the normative style. Both parents’ psychological control was positively correlated with the diffuse-avoidant style. These results, which indicated considerable differences from the research results in other countries, are discussed in the light of the Georgian context.     

Relationships between identity domains and life satisfaction in minority and majority youth in Albania,Bulgaria, Czech Republic,Kosovo, and Romania

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between identity domains (educational and relational identity) and life satisfaction in a cross-national perspective, by targeting minority (Roma) and majority youth in Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Kosovo, and Romania. Based on the three-factor identity formation model, we investigated the interplay between three identity processes (i.e., commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment) and life satisfaction. Participants were 1860 adolescents aged 12–19 years from Albania (n = 350), Bulgaria (n = 398), the Czech Republic (n = 293), Kosovo (n = 542), and Romania (n = 277). They completed self-reports of the Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS) and the Life Satisfaction Scale (SWLS). We adopted a structural equation modelling approach to test (a) measurement invariance of identity and life satisfaction models across groups and (b) associations between identity domains (educational and relational) and life satisfaction. Findings indicated measurement invariance for identity and life satisfaction measures across cultural groups. In the total sample, life satisfaction was consistently associated with high commitment, high in-depth exploration, and low reconsideration of commitment in the educational identity domain. Sample-specific associations highlighted important cultural differences. Implications of these findings for identity and well-being in minority and mainstream youth across the countries under investigation are discussed.     

Dissecting the expanded cognitive reflection test: an item response theory analysis

This study presents a psychometric evaluation of the Expanded Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT7) based on item response theory. The participants (N?=?1204) completed the CRT7 and provided self-reported information about their cognitive styles through the Preference for Intuition and Deliberation Scale (PID). A two-parameter logistic model was fitted to the data to obtain the item difficulty and discrimination parameters of the CRT7. The results showed that the items had good discriminatory power (αs?=?.80 ? 2.92), but the range of difficulty was restricted (βs ranged from ?.60 to .32). Moreover, the CRT7 showed a pattern of correlations with the PID which was similar to that of the original CRT. When taken together, these results are evidence of the adequacy of the CRT7 as an expanded tool for measuring cognitive reflection; however, one of the newer items (the pig item) was consistently problematic across analyses, and so it is recommended that in future studies it should be removed from the CRT7.