Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots

Grey parrots ( Psittacus erithacus ) solve various cognitive tasks and acquire and use English speech in ways that often resemble those of very young children. Given that the psittacine brain is organized very differently from that of mammals, these results have intriguing implications for the study and evolution of vocal learning, communication, and cognition.     

易学的推类逻辑

易学中的逻辑问题,是一个在易学和逻辑学研究中被忽视的问题,但又是一个关系到对中国文化史、思想史和逻辑史的再认识的重要问题。易学中的逻辑是推类逻辑,本文给出了理由,同时以现代逻辑的方法给出了易学推类逻辑的形式系统,并作了讨论。指出易学逻辑是在中国文化背景下的以汉字表述的特有逻辑形式,建立了中国古代的普遍语言,形成了自我满足的语义系统,其在为人们提供正确的认识方法和为古代科学提供认识工具方面与西方逻辑是一致的。     

An exploratory study of the perceptions and experiences of further education amongst the young long‐term unemployed

The aim of this study was to explore, in depth, the perceptions and experiences of Further Education (FE) amongst the young long‐term unemployed. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 16 long‐term unemployed youths of 18–25 years of age divided into three groups: those with no experience of FE; those having recently dropped out of FE; and those currently studying in FE. Grounded theoretical analysis highlighted the importance of both responses to and institutional aspects of unemployment. The impact of unemployment, poor previous educational experience and perceived irrelevance of FE are key barriers to learning. Those that enter FE may drop out as a result of both material and psychosocial factors. Those that stay on commonly emphasize both social support and personal agency in decision‐making alongside positive evaluations of FE. In conclusion, limitations of the findings, policy and practical recommendations for successful widening of participation in FE amongst this group are considered. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tomorrow's consumer — the shifting balance of power

What are the prospects for consumerism? Often despised as self‐indulgent, consumers are frequently motivated by altruism and their needs to express their identity, to build relationships, to obtain fulfilment and even to find a substitute for religion. Mass‐customisation is producing fundamental change, revolutionising attitudes to choice, with a key role for agents (human and online) in helping people choose. Consumer power will grow and brands will be under pressure from rising consumer expectations. While retailers fight back with targeted marketing and special offers, brands will need to serve consumer needs as much as suppliers. Online shopping could transform consumer behaviour, driven by cost saving and convenience and spurred on by competition. Will retailers protect their traditional channels or go online because they are afraid not to? ‘Etailing’ will need to create consumer trust, so regulation will be critical, possibly leading to legal responsibilities for quality on Internet service providers (ISPs) and portals and with systems to help new entrants build a track record of reliability, thereby increasing competition, choice and consumer power. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Individual differences in children's understanding of social evaluation concerns

Recent research suggests that children's understanding of self‐presentational behaviour—behaviour designed to shape social evaluation—is a function of both cognitive and motivational variables. Furthermore, the motivational factors involved are likely to reflect individual differences in the salience of concerns about social evaluation. The present research represents a first effort to determine whether measures of such differences are indeed associated with the understanding of self‐presentational behaviour. In a first experiment, a teacher rating measure of self‐monitoring was found to be positively associated with the understanding of self‐presentational motives. In a second experiment, a more narrowly specified self‐report measure of public self‐consciousness was found to have a similar association with the understanding of self‐presentation, with no such association found for private self‐consciousness. These preliminary results make it clear that our formulations of development in social cognition must indeed include a consideration of individual differences in motivational orientations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mediation in a sibling context: the relations of older siblings' mediating behaviour and younger siblings' task performance

We investigated the sibling relationship as a context for cognitive development. Forty preschoolers (ages 5–6) and their younger siblings (ages 2–3) were visited at home. Four games were presented to the older siblings and they were asked (a) to estimate how well their younger sibling will perform on each game and (b) to teach the younger sibling how to use the games. The older siblings' mediating behaviours during the teaching session and the younger siblings' performance on the four tasks were coded. The frequency of mediating behaviours—including attention focusing, amplifying affect and providing meaning, fostering a sense of competence, regulating of the learning process, de‐contextualization, and negative feedback in the form of mocking and laughing at errors, predicted the younger siblings' task performance. The older sibling's accurate perception of the younger child's competence was uniquely predictive of task performance. The highest amount of mediation was observed in older‐brother–younger‐brother pairs, in particular the behaviours of negative feedback and amplifying affect. Results contribute to the discussion on the role of siblings as moderators of cognitive development and are discussed in terms of Vygotsky's cultural–historical perspective on apprenticeship. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the robustness and the direction of the effect of cause‐related marketing

Two experiments are presented in this paper that explore the effect of cause‐related marketing (CRM) on product choice. To allow evaluation of the effect of experience and the role of individual differences, the experiments used a repeated choice setting. The results of Experiment 1 showed that the effect of CRM was stable over time. However, the direction of the effect was sensitive to the value of the product. CRM served as an equaliser: it helped disadvantaged alternatives and reduced the attractiveness of superior alternatives. Experiment 2 showed that the effect of CRM decreased but did not disappear in an easy choice task. These findings are summarised in a simple model and discussed in terms of their potential marketing applications. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications.     

学习不良儿童的心理行为问题

学习不良儿童的心理行为问题已成为人们关注的一个焦点。从心理健康的角度考察,学习不良儿童心理行为问题主要表现在生活和社会适应、学习和违纪,以及焦虑、抑郁和自杀等方面;造成上述现象的主要原因要有自我概念较低、家庭因素的不良影响,以及社会认知方面存在的缺陷。可以通过干预和矫正学习不良儿童的心理行为问题,从而提高他们的心理健康水平。     

选择性注意加工机制上学困生和学优生的比较研究

本实验使用正、负启动技术 ,在严格控制各种条件下比较学困生和学优生在选择性注意加工机制———目标激活和分心物抑制方面的差异 ,进而探讨学困生在选择性注意加工机制上所存在的问题。结果显示 ,学困生和学优生的正启动量差异不显著 (p >0 .0 5 ) ,但学困生的负启动量显著小于学优生 (p <0 .0 0 1。这一结果说明 ,学困生在对目标反应期间易受分心物干扰 ,其抑制分心物干扰的能力较弱。同时启示我们应注重训练学困生抑制分心物干扰的能力     

元认知与学习动机关系的研究

对于元认知与学习动机之间的关系,已有研究采用相关分析、回归分析的方法进行了初步探讨,但无论是相关还是回归都不能使我们清楚地了解两者之间的相互作用。本研究的目的即是运用路径分析的方法对这一问题进行较为深入的探讨。路径分析表明,动机变量对元认知活动具有“供能”的作用;动机变量对元认知的影响有的是直接发生的,如考试焦虑、目标定向,有的则是以其它变量为中介而间接发生的,如动机强度、学业自我概念。