Self-esteem, dispositional optimism, and health: Evidence from cross-lagged data on employees

The aims of this one-year follow-up study among Finnish employees (n=426) were twofold: first, to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and optimism and, second, to examine the prospective relationships between these two personality constructs, mental distress and physical symptoms. The results of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) showed that the latent variables of optimism and self-esteem were highly interrelated (Time 1, r=.90, Time 2, r=.87), forming the core construct of personal resilience, which turned out to be stable (stability coefficient .86) over the one-year period. The results of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) indicated that high personal resilience measured at Time 1 reduced mental distress at Time 2. Furthermore, a high level of physical symptoms at Time 1 seemed to predict a high level of mental distress at Time 2.     

The concurrent validity and test–retest reliability of a visuospatial working memory task

To determine whether the visuospatial n-back working memory task is a reliable and valid measure of cognitive processes believed to underlie intelligence, this study compared the reaction times and accuracy of performance of 70 participants, with performance on the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery (MAB). Testing was conducted over two sessions separated by 1 week. Participants completed the MAB during the second test session. Moderate test–retest reliability for percentage accuracy scores was found across the four levels of the n-back task, whilst reaction times were highly reliable. Furthermore, participants' performance on the MAB was negatively correlated with accuracy of performance at the easier levels of the n-back task and positively correlated with accuracy of performance at the harder task levels. These findings confirm previous research examining the cognitive basis of intelligence, and suggest that intelligence is the product of faster speed of information processing, as well as superior working memory capacity.     

Fantasy proneness, mental imagery and reality monitoring

Individual differences in fantasy proneness and vividness of mental imagery have been suggested to be related to source memory confusions. To test this hypothesis, two groups scoring either high or low on a measure of fantasy proneness (selected from a group of 231 subjects) were compared on measures of self report vividness of mental imagery, objective imagery ability and reality monitoring performance. The two groups differed significantly on ratings of imagery vividness (p<0.01), but not on the imagery performance tasks, nor on reality monitoring performance. Our results indicate that, although fantasy proneness is associated with experiences of vivid mental imagery, it does not necessarily lead to reality monitoring errors.     

女大学生心理健康的测试与培养

本研究抽选198名在校女大学生,采用SCL-90临床症状精神量表测试。结果表明女大学生在人际关系、情绪等方面比正常成人分值略高;课题组通过设计多种心理训练活动,力图培养女大学生的良好心理健康,并为此已有初步成绩。     

The rise and fall of IQ in special ed: Historical trends and their implications

Using IQ records from 10 sites around the country, we examined longitudinal trends in IQ among mental retardation (MR) students during the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) to WISC-Revised (R) transition in the 1970s and learning disability (LD) students during the WISC-R to WISC-3rd Revision (III) transition in the 1990s. Based on the work by Flynn [American Journal of Mental Deficiency 90 (1985) 236; Psychology, Public Policy, and Law 6 (2000) 191], we predicted a rise in IQ followed by a fall each time a newly normed IQ test is introduced into the schools and used to diagnose children as MR or LD. As expected, we found that mean IQs of MR and LD students followed a nearly identical parabolic trajectory, and differed depending on what year they were tested. IQs from the older norms were higher than IQs from the newly introduced norms. This systematic shift had a significant impact on the likelihood of a MR diagnosis. The broader implications of this pattern are discussed.     

整数构成对分数加工的影响

本研究通过两个实验考察了整数构成对分数加工的影响。实验一重复了Bonato等(2007)的研究,要求25名被试比较1/5与1/1、1/2、1/3、1/4、1/6、1/7、1/8、1/9等分数的大小,结果发现被试采用了成分加工策略,即通过比较分母判断分数的大小。实验二改变了分数的整数构成,让24名被试比较1/5与1/1、2/4、3/9、4/16、4/24、3/21、2/16、1/9等分数的大小。这些分数与实验一中的分数实数值相等但整数构成不同。结果表明被试既采取了成分策略,又采取了整体策略,即比较分数的实数值,不过成分策略比整体策略的作用更大。这些结果表明,分数加工具有成分和整体两种策略,具体使用哪种策略与分数的整数构成密切相关。     

When Do Replies to the Evolutionary Debunking Argument Against Moral Realism Beg the Question?

Some proponents of the evolutionary debunking argument against moral realism believe that replies that assume substantive moral claims beg the question. In this paper, I give a new account of what's wrong with such replies. On this account, many realists beg the question when they rely on substantive moral claims in their replies to the argument, but naturalists do not. While this account generalizes to some other domains, it allows perceptual and inductive realism to remain undebunked.     

Debunking leftward progress

In earlier work, I argued that observed changes in moral values over human history are best explained as cognitive progress: societies tend over the long term to move closer to the objective moral truth. It is also true that, in recent decades, liberal democracies have moved strongly in the direction of greater government regulation and wealth redistribution. Does this mean that extensive regulation and redistribution are objectively good? I argue that the answer is no; these recent trends are importantly different from earlier examples of moral progress in ways that enable them to be satisfyingly explained without adverting to objective moral correctness.     

Analysis and research on mental health of college students based on cognitive computing

In recent years, according to the survey, college students have frequent psychological problems, anxiety, depression, inferiority, interpersonal sensitivity and other psychological problems, and even more, even the idea of suicide. It has a very serious negative impact on the family and society. Children are the flowers of the motherland, and college students are the important cornerstone of the country's future development. Therefore, the mental health problems of college students are particularly important. Based on the research of cognitive computing, this paper combines the research data to analyze the influencing factors of mental health, analyzes the shortcomings of mental health education, and proposes corresponding ideas and solutions.     

Affective spectrality in therapeutic space

Spaces for therapy and counselling are haunted spaces, spaces whose physical characteristics can manifest past inhabitation and cue connections to trauma. This paper explores findings from a research project which aimed to understand the perceptions of spatiality of individuals who self harm, and the role of the built environment in supporting therapeutic processes and experience. The data collection and analysis were designed to preserve the integrity of the voices of mental health service users who self harm and communicate their self-reported spatial perceptions. Comparisons between lived/embodied experiences, analysis of intrinsic properties of accounts and exploration of therapeutic sites underpinned the findings relative to the psycho-cognitive geographies of experiences. This paper explores how individuals who self harm experience particular connections between physical and psychological spaces, how their self-reported encounter with interior space is overlaid with the inhabitation of past occupants and memories, which reduces opportunities for access to the therapeutically supportive dimensions of the space, and exercises in self production. This paper first defines ‘haunted space’ ‘trace’ and ‘trauma’; secondly reviews existing literature on affective spectrality, atmospheres and materialites; thirdly discusses the methods used in the study reported in this paper; and finally, explores the relationships between sensory encounters, affective traces, signifiers, felt architecture and the therapeutic function for which spaces are designed. The paper concludes with implications for future research and practice.