“We want the world and we want it now”: Materialism,time perspectives and problem spending tendency of Chinese

Chinese consumers' spending has been expanding rapidly in the past decade, and along with it household and credit card debt. The present research collected evidence to triangulate the contention that materialism is positively related with Chinese's problem spending tendency (PST), and that present‐time‐perspective (PTP) and future‐time perspectives (FTP) interact systematically with materialism to affect PST. A survey of the general population in Macao, China (Study 1; N = 239) confirmed that materialism was positively correlated with PST. An interaction between materialism and PTP intensified the relationship, whereas an interaction with FTP weakened the relationship. Another survey with a sample of university students (Study 2; N = 223) again found positive relationships among PST, materialism, and PTP, as measured by temporal discount rate. But further exploration showed that PST was only related with temporal discounting among high materialists, but not among low materialists. Study 3 experimentally examined the causal effects of materialism and FTP on PST. When being primed of an orientation towards materialism (n = 33), the participants' planned consumption doubled that of the control group (n = 31). A FTP prime interacted with materialism prime and put a “damper” on participants' planned spending (n = 29), compared to their counterparts who were not primed of such a time perspective.     

Cultural Effects Rather Than a Bilingual Advantage in Cognition: A Review and an Empirical Study

The bilingual advantage hypothesis contends that the management of two languages in the brain is carried out through domain‐general mechanisms, and that bilinguals possess a performance advantage over monolinguals on (nonlinguistic) tasks that tap these processes. Presently, there is evidence both for and against such an advantage. Interestingly, the evidence in favor has been thought strongest in children and older adults, leading some researchers to argue that young adults might be at peak performance levels, and therefore bilingualism is unable to confer an improvement. We conducted a large‐scale review of the extant literature and found that the weight of research pointed to an absence of positive evidence for a bilingual advantage at any age. We next gave a large number of young adult participants a task designed to test the bilingual advantage hypothesis. Reasoning from the literature that young adults from an East Asian (Korean) culture would likely outperform those from a Western (British) culture, we also compared participants on this factor. We found no evidence for a bilingual advantage but did find evidence for enhanced performance in the Korean group. We interpret these results as further evidence against the bilingual advantage hypotheses.     

中国考试文化的古今嬗变与镜鉴

中国考试文化生态因社会环境、经济土壤、社会结构和国际环境影响而形成从保守封闭性向包容开放性转变的特征。本文从三个层面考察中国考试文化的当代嬗变： 考试观念文化从单一的政治情结向综合人文素质嬗变, 考试制度文化从僵化到创新嬗变, 考试行为文化则从场所、教学行为、主体、应试行为和实践行为考察。通过合理挖掘中国传统考试文化中的道德诉求与和谐理念, 力求凝练出一种具有深厚文化内涵和现代竞争意识的考试文化。     

基于文化的心理复原力研究

随着对个体心理复原力研究不断深入,文化作为影响个体心理复原力的重要因素日益受到关注,研究者在厘清文化与复原力之间的关系后,尝试以积极心理学的视角,将中国传统文化中"天人合一"、"以人为本"、"自强不息"、"厚德载物"等文化精神引入到个体心理复原力发展的过程中,为个体心理复原力的研究贡献价值。     

从中国的外交政策看中国对阿拉伯国家的软实力优势

中国与阿拉伯国家之间有着传统的友好合作关系,究其原因,中国的外交政策发挥了不可或缺的重要作用。自20世纪50年代中阿开启外交关系以来,中国始终将自身利益与阿拉伯国家的利益结合起来,政治上大力支持其正义事业,经济上给予其无私援助,文化上主张文明对话、反对文明对抗。中国的外交政策已经成为中国一项重要的软实力优势,不仅得到了阿拉伯国家的广泛认可,更成为推动中阿关系不断发展的动力。     

中国穆斯林商业文化特点探析

近年来,在经济快速发展的过程中,由于过于注重眼前利益,导致一系列缺乏商业道德事件的发生。受伊斯兰教和我国传统文化的影响,我国穆斯林在商业活动中形成了独特的商业文化,其核心价值是"自立"、"公正"、"重承诺"、"慎独"和"重未来"。我国穆斯林商业文化,对中国企业的经营管理具有借鉴意义。     

Validating the coping scale for Chinese athletes using multidimensional Rasch analysis

Objective

The Coping Scale for Chinese Athletes (CSCA) was developed and validated using classic testing theory in 2004 (Chung, Si, Lee, & Liu, 2004). This study aimed to validate CSCA using multidimensional Rasch analysis with the ConQuest software programme.

Method

The sample in this study comprised 367 athletes from mainland China. A Multidimensional Rating Scale model was applied to investigate the validity of the four-dimension scale. Standard fit statistics (Infit and Outfit MNSQ) and Differential item functioning (DIF) were computed to examine the model-data fit. Test reliability and category functioning were also checked.

Results

The item difficulty and the athletes’ trait level of coping were calibrated along the same latent trait scale. Three items were removed from the scale due to misfit with the Rasch model. No DIF across gender was found for the remaining 21 items. Test reliabilities for the four subscales ranged from 0.66 to 0.76. The results also indicated that the original 5-category rating scale structure did not function well.

Conclusion

The multidimensional Rasch analysis supported that the 21-item CSCA measures four latent traits of coping of Chinese athletes as expected. The results also demonstrated advantages of multidimensional Rasch analysis over unidimensional Rasch analysis as well as traditional approach in examining the quality of multidimensional scale in sport settings.     

Taiwanese Employees' Justice Perceptions of Co-Workers' Punitive Events

Abstract

The authors examined justice perceptions of Taiwanese employees in response to co-workers' punitive events (punishment by a superior). They developed a hypothesis based on Chinese indigenous wu-lun principles and the concept of empathy. Results of the study showed that perceived vertical (between superior and subordinate) and horizontal (between subordinates) relationships jointly affected justice perceptions. Respondents who perceived low (negative) leader-member exchange with the superior and high (positive) liking of the punished person showed the lowest justice perceptions. In conclusion, the authors note that comparative analysis of organizational justice is a promising direction for future research.     

Work Stress,Chinese Work Values,and Work Well-Being in the Greater China

ABSTRACT

Work values influence our attitudes and behavior at work, but they have rarely been explored in the context of work stress. The aim of this research was thus to test direct and moderating effects of Chinese work values (CWV) on relationships between work stressors and work well-being among employees in the Greater China region. A self- administered survey was conducted to collect data from three major cities in the region, namely Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei (N = 380). Work stressors were negatively related to work well-being, whereas CWV were positively related to work well-being. In addition, CWV also demonstrated moderating effects in some of the stressor–job satisfaction relationships.     

Did the Chinese Have a Change of Heart?

In their "The Prevalence of Mind-Body Dualism in Early China," Slingerland and Chudek use a statistical analysis of the early Chinese corpus to argue for Weak Folk Dualism (WFD). We raise three methodological objections to their analysis. First, the change over time that they find is largely driven by genre. Second, the operationalization of WFD is potentially misleading. And, third, dating the texts they use is extremely controversial. We conclude with some positive remarks.