Can unpredicted outcomes be intended? The role of outcome-beliefs in children's judgments of intention

An adult-like concept of intention includes a deliberate action to achieve a goal and a belief that one's action (if successful) will cause the desired outcome. For example, good outcomes caused by accident or by chance are not believed to be caused intentionally. In two experiments, we asked whether children understand this connection between intentions and outcomes. Children played two games in which actions could produce unintended outcomes (i.e., causes were unplanned). Children sometimes received a desirable reward independent of intention. In Experiment 1, 4- and 5-year-olds mistakenly claimed they had intended the desirable outcome even when it was unexpected. Four-year-olds judged that they had not intended a deliberate action if it did not yield a rewarding outcome. Experiment 2 demonstrates that 6-year-olds seldom make these errors. The results suggest that 4- and 5-year-old children have not yet attained an adult-like concept of intention. Their inaccurate judgments regarding their intentions, given a rewarding yet unexpected outcome, can be explained by a positivity bias.     

Forecasting good or bad behaviour: A non‐transparent test of contrastive responses to cultural cues

Bicultural individuals vary in the degree to which their two cultural identities are integrated – Bicultural Identity Integration (BII). Among Asian‐Americans, for example, some experience their Asian and American sides as integrated (high BII) whereas others experience the two as divided (low BII). Past research on social judgement found that individual differences in BII affect the way biculturals respond to cultural cues or norms in their situation. Asian‐Americans with low BII tend to contrast to the cultural norm (e.g. they exhibit typically American judgements when in Asian cultural situations) rather than assimilate to them, a response observed more among high BII individuals (e.g., they exhibit typically Asian judgements when in Asian cultural situations). Research has interpreted the contrastive response as reflecting implicit identity motives, yet past studies used measures that make cultural differences salient. Conscious awareness of the experimental hypothesis could elicit contrastive responses. The present research assessed forecasts of others' behaviour in which cultural group differences are less obvious: Asians, compared to Westerners, forecast more positive behaviours from others. In three experiments with Asian‐Americans, we found the contrastive response by low BII individuals persisted. They made more positive forecasts after exposure to American versus Asian cultural cues. This suggests that the moderating role of BII on responses to cultural cues is not a matter of demand characteristics or limited to stereotypical cultural differences. Implications for bicultural identity, implicit processes, and organizational behaviour are discussed.     

Thought recognition and psychological well‐being: An empirical test of principle based correctional counselling

Aims: To determine the relationship between thought recognition, a major construct of principle‐based correctional counselling, and psychological wellbeing. Method: Following several weekly group sessions of Principle‐Based Correctional Counselling, 54 adult prisoners on probation completed two measures of thought recognition and the Well‐Being Inventory. In a follow‐up study, 30 participants completed the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale. Results: Significant positive relationships were found between both measures of thought recognition and psychological wellbeing and, in the follow‐up study, both measures of thought recognition and mindfulness. Discussion: Possible explanations for the relationship between thought recognition and psychological wellbeing, and thought recognition and mindfulness are discussed. Implications for practice: Teaching correctional clients the principles behind generic human psychological functioning, and the innate design behind human thinking, appears to improve their thinking and draw out their innate healthy functioning.     

从归因视角探讨公共物品两难中惩罚系统对合作的影响

社会两难中惩罚系统对合作的影响是当前的一个研究热点。前人研究发现惩罚系统可以促进合作,但也有学者提出惩罚系统对合作动机具有破坏作用,存在不一致结论。且这些研究大多只关注金钱惩罚而忽略了社会惩罚。本文采用2(惩罚类型:金钱,社会)×2(惩罚频率:高,低)×2(阶段:有惩罚,无惩罚)混合设计,利用"惩罚撤除"实验范式,比较了社会高低频惩罚和金钱高低频惩罚对合作、归因以及预期的影响。并探讨了合作、归因、预期之间的相互关系,结果发现:(1)金钱和社会惩罚均可提高被试合作水平;(2)金钱高频惩罚减少了对合作行为的内归因,惩罚撤除后合作行为下降,而低频惩罚没有出现下降效应;(3)社会惩罚增加了对合作的内归因,高低频惩罚在移除之后均保持较高水平,且之前的惩罚频率越高,保持效果越好;(4)合作、预期与内归因正相关,外归因负相关,同时合作与预期正相关。     

重复刺激的末位优势效应

探讨在RSVP任务中重复刺激的呈现位置和报告方式对重复知盲效应的影响, 检验该研究提出的注意资源最优化假设和末位优势效应。实验1操作了刺激性质和重复刺激位置, 得出了刺激性质和重复刺激位置的交互效应; 实验2操作了刺激性质和情景信息, 结果是交互效应不显著; 实验3操作了刺激性质和报告方式, 出现了刺激性质和报告方式的交互效应。该结果表明: (1)由于注意资源分配的优化, 重复刺激有末位优势效应。(2)重复知盲的产生不是发生在知觉阶段, 而是发生在报告阶段。(3)注意资源分配最优化理论比建构/归因理论能更合理地解释重复知盲的发生。     

道歉：对冒犯事件的关系补救行为

道歉是指当冒犯者意识到自己的冒犯行为后, 为重建与被冒犯者的关系, 向被冒犯者承认错误、承担责任、表达懊悔并请求原谅的一种关系补救行为。冒犯者的性别、归因倾向、冒犯意图、知觉到的道歉有效性等影响道歉的发生, 道歉的表达方式与内容、冒犯者的性别等会影响道歉的有效性。道歉能促进宽恕、和解以及民族和睦。未来研究需明晰道歉的概念, 拓展其研究模式与测量工具, 在系统深入探讨道歉的产生机制与结果的基础上构建道歉的理论及促进其实践应用。     

Emotional competence in children with autism: Diagnostic criteria and empirical evidence

The diagnostic criteria of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) include emotional impairments. However, scientific evidence for these impairments is varied and subtle. In this contribution, recent empirical studies that examined the emotional competence in children and adolescents with ASD are reviewed. Four aspects of emotional competence that are important to children’s daily social functioning (expression, perception, responding, and understanding) are discussed, differentiating between mentally retarded and normally intelligent children and adolescents with and without ASD in natural and structured contexts. On various accounts, the emotional impairments of children with ASD that are found in scientific studies provide a more differentiated view on the impairments suggested by the diagnostic literature. Consistent empirical findings and gaps in the field are discussed. Theoretical and clinical recommendations for assessment procedures are suggested.     

The role of control functions in mentalizing: dual-task studies of theory of mind and executive function

Conflicting evidence has arisen from correlational studies regarding the role of executive control functions in Theory of Mind. The current study used dual-task manipulations of executive functions (inhibition, updating and switching) to investigate the role of these control functions in mental state and non-mental state tasks. The 'Eyes' pictorial test of Theory of Mind showed specific dual-task costs when concurrently performed with an inhibitory secondary task. In contrast, interference effects on a verbal 'Stories' task were general, occurring on both mental state and non-mental state tasks, and across all types of executive function. These findings from healthy functioning adults should help to guide decisions about appropriate methods of assessing ToM in clinical populations, and interpreting deficits in performance in such tasks in the context of more general cognitive dysfunction.     

Verbal and nonverbal behaviour as a basis for credibility attribution: The impact of task involvement and cognitive capacity

Three experiments were able to demonstrate the usefulness of dual-process models for the understanding of the process of credibility attribution. According to the assumptions of dual-process models, only high task involvement and high cognitive capacity leads to intensive processing of verbal and nonverbal information when making credibility judgments. Under low task involvement and/or low cognitive capacity, people predominantly use nonverbal information for their credibility attribution. In Experiment 1, participants under low or high task involvement saw a film in which the nonverbal behaviour (fidgety vs. calm) and the verbal information (low versus high credibility) of a source were manipulated. As predicted, when task involvement was low, only the nonverbal behaviour influenced participants’ credibility attribution. Participants with high task involvement also used the verbal information. In Experiment 2 and 3, the cognitive capacity of the participants was manipulated. Participants with high cognitive capacity, in contrast to those of low cognitive capacity, used the verbal information for their credibility attribution.     

大学生对网瘾和作弊的责任推断与应对策略

运用情景模拟和角色扮演的方法,研究大学生对网瘾和作弊的责任归因结构及其应对策略。对416名被试的研究结果显示：（1）责任归因的心理结构是一个“责任推断→责任情感→责任行为”的一元结构模式。（2）我国大学生的责任推断过程与维纳的经典理论基本一致,但在行为应对策略上存在一定的文化差异。（3）大学生对网瘾和作弊的责任推断倾向明显并与情感体验基本保持一致,但与行为应对策略存在一定的冲突。（4）大学生在网瘾和作弊的责任推断、情感体验以及应对策略上存在一定差异。