FOCUS: ComplexityandPsychology Guest Editors: Giuseppe Mininni and Mauro Maldonato

Recently the complexity of discursive practices has been widely acknowledged by the humanities and social sciences. In fact, to know anything is to know in terms of one or more discourse. The “discursive turn” in psychology may be considered as a new paradigm oriented to a correct study of (wo)man only if it is able to grasp the semiotical ground of psychic experience both as an “effort after meaning” and as a “struggle over meaning.” In this sense the notion of “diatext” has been proposed as a contribution in working out a psychosemiotical approach to understand how the discursive practices assign subject-positions to the agents of each interlocution scenario.     

孕期心理状态自我评估表的效能评价

本文通过实际测评对孕期心理状态自我评估表进行效能评价。经现场调查共得612份有效问卷,通过信效度考评发现:条目鉴别力均较强;可提取5个公因子解释总变异的52.151%;校标效度分别为0.787、0.771;整张表的信度系数达到要求;用一致性检验确定37/38分为分界值。评估表效能考评结果较理想。     

科学实在主义对现代心理学的影响

科学实在主义认为科学理论应该超越数据去假设不可观察的实体的存在,它为现代心理学提供了本体论支持。该文以科学实在主义为基本框架,从发展历程与发展趋势等方面重新思考了它对现代心理学的影响,为心理学研究带来了新的方法论意义。     

拥挤研究进展——概念、理论与影响因素

拥挤是环境心理学的重要研究领域,其内涵是对密度和空间限制的主观体验。拥挤影响因素主要包括物理、社会、个人因素,拥挤可导致过度生理唤醒、负面社会行为和＂失动机＂。现有拥挤理论从环境刺激和个体行为反应等多个角度对拥挤进行了阐释。文章最后提出了中国文化背景下拥挤的未来研究方向。     

Predicting academic success with the Big 5 rated from different points of view: Self‐rated,other rated and faked

Self‐ratings of personality predict academic success above general intelligence. The present study replicated these findings and investigated the increment of other‐ratings or intentionally distorted self‐ratings. Participants (N = 145) had to compile a personality questionnaire twice. First they were given neutral instructions. The second time they were asked to imagine a specific applicant setting. Furthermore, two peers rated each participant. Additionally, verbal, numerical and figural reasoning scores were obtained. Grades on a statistics exam obtained 2 months later served as the criterion. Results replicated prior findings and showed incremental validity for self‐ and other‐rated personality, which was stable after controlling for intelligence. Faking had no impact on the domain‐score level, but results on the facet‐score level were less encouraging. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Balance between volunteer work and family roles: Testing a theoretical model of work‐family conflict in the volunteer emergency services

Trends indicate overall declines in numbers of volunteer emergency service workers and suggest negative organisational factors impacting adversely on volunteers and organisations. Conflict between emergency service work and family is implicated in falling volunteer numbers, and there is thus a need for research on difficulties experienced in balancing volunteer work and family. The current study tested an adaptation of the work‐family conflict (WFC) model originally proposed by Frone, Russell, and Cooper, in a sample of 102 couples in which one partner was an Australian emergency service volunteer. Results supported a model in which volunteer work‐related antecedents, including time invested in on‐call emergency activities and post‐traumatic stress symptoms, had indirect links with outcomes, including volunteer burnout and their partners' support for the volunteer work role, through the effects of WFC. These results add to research using theoretical models of paid work processes to better understand the problems faced by volunteer workers, and identify specific antecedents and outcomes of WFC in the volunteer emergency services. Implications for future research and organisations reliant on volunteer workers are discussed.     

Where should the balance be between “scientist” and “practitioner” in Australian undergraduate psychology?

The scientist—practitioner model of training in psychology has been widely influential in the development of undergraduate curricula in Australia. The model had its origins in post‐war America and has formed the basis for accreditation of psychology courses in Australia since the late 1970s. Recently a reconsideration of the model in Australian undergraduate psychology was argued for, suggesting that the absence of significant practical skills development in most curricula is detrimental to the discipline's graduates and their employers. The authors agree that the need for some practical skills development in undergraduate curricula is becoming increasingly important for psychology. Many of the exemplars of curriculum revision provided, however, are impractical and are unlikely to make significant contributions to Australian programs. There is an urgent need to consider the graduate attributes desired for 3‐year and 4‐year trained psychology graduates who will go on to employment without completing postgraduate study. Curriculum innovation to enhance graduates' employability will flow from this development, and will be likely to incorporate information technology solutions, rather than placement experience. This process is entirely compatible with the scientist—practitioner model of training and education in psychology.     

话语分析与心理学研究的对话探析

话语分析（Discourse Analysis）是一种探讨不同场景下话语的组织方式及话语互动的过程和结果的研究立场。它与心理学的对话,在应用上促进了社会心理学、心理咨询与治疗的发展;在理论上补充了心理学的研究方法、加速了＂独白＂心理学向＂对话＂心理学的过渡、推动了心理学本土化的进程。话语分析为心理学提供了新的研究视角,但其反身性和缺乏客观性的特点受到了反对者的质疑。     

Humor ability reveals intelligence, predicts mating success, and is higher in males

A good sense of humor is sexually attractive, perhaps because it reveals intelligence, creativity, and other ‘good genes’ or ‘good parent’ traits. If so, intelligence should predict humor production ability, which in turn should predict mating success. In this study, 400 university students (200 men and 200 women) completed measures of abstract reasoning (Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices), verbal intelligence (the vocabulary subtest of the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery), humor production ability (rated funniness of captions written for three cartoons), and mating success (from the Sexual Behaviors and Beliefs Questionnaire). Structural equation models showed that general and verbal intelligence both predict humor production ability, which in turn predicts mating success, such as lifetime number of sexual partners. Also, males showed higher average humor production ability. These results suggest that the human sense of humor evolved at least partly through sexual selection as an intelligence-indicator.     

进化心理学中的悲观主义色彩

进化心理学作为现代西方心理学三种新取向之一,提出了一些新的心理学观点与研究方向,但其理论本身体现出了一种悲观主义色彩。例如在对男女两性在伴侣选择和婚姻维持的心理行为机制的探究上体现出的一些人类高级情感,如爱情的缺失。文章探讨了进化心理学理论中悲观主义色彩在其主要理论假设中的体现,并简要地将其与另外两种取向———后现代心理学与积极心理学进行了对比。其目的是为了通过对进化心理学的反思,以推进心理学科的深入研究。