Egocentrism redux

This commentary addresses itself to D.K. Lapsley and M.N. Murphy's critique (1985, Developmental Review, 5, 201–217) of my theory of egocentrism (D. Elkind, 1967, Child Development, 38, 1025–1034). These authors argue that the theory of egocentrism is inconsistent, that self-other differentiation occurs earlier than the theory suggests, and that self-consciousness does not require egocentrism. They conclude that perspective taking provides a more consistent and clear explanation of the adolescent phenomena of the imaginary audience and the personal fable than does egocentricism. I disagree and counter their arguments with my own.     

Power of the likelihood ratio test in covariance structure analysis

A procedure for computing the power of the likelihood ratio test used in the context of covariance structure analysis is derived. The procedure uses statistics associated with the standard output of the computer programs commonly used and assumes that a specific alternative value of the parameter vector is specified. Using the noncentral Chi-square distribution, the power of the test is approximated by the asymptotic one for a sequence of local alternatives. The procedure is illustrated by an example. A Monte Carlo experiment also shows how good the approximation is for a specific case.This research was made possible by a grant from the Dutch Organization for Advancement of Pure Research (ZWO). The authors also like to acknowledge the helpful comments and suggestions from the editor and anonymous reviewers.     

Disentangling behavioral intention and behavioral expectation

Social psychologists have extensively researched behavioral intention and its relation to future behavior, usually within the framework of M. Fishbein and I. Ajzen's (1975, Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: An introduction to theory and research, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley) theory of reasoned action. However, the field has confounded two separate constructs while investigating intention: behavioral intention (BI) and what P. R. Warshaw, B. H. Sheppard, and J. Hartwick (in press, in R. Bagozzi (Ed.), Advances in marketing communication, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press) have coined behavioral expectation (BE), which is the individual's self-prediction of his or her future behavior. In this paper we define both constructs and explain how they differ in terms of the processes by which they are formed, their roles in determining behavior, and their utilities as behavioral predictors. We propose that behavioral expectation is the more accurate overall predictor since many common behaviors are unreasoned (i.e., mindless or habitual) behaviors, goal-type actions, or behaviors where the individual expects his or her intention to change in a foresseable manner. These are all cases where present intention (BI) is not the direct determinant of behavior but where the individual may be capable of appraising whatever additional determinants exist and of including them within his or her behavioral expectation. A study (N = 197) is reported in which student subjects received either a BE (n = 113) or a BI (n = 84) version of a questionnaire pertaining to their performance of 18 common behaviors. Overall, behavioral expectation was the better predictor of self-reported performance.     

Why does self-reference promote incidental encoding?

Answering a question regarding a stimulus word can cause incidental encoding of the word itself. The thoroughness of the encoding depends in part upon what question is answered. For example, saying whether a word describes oneself causes a particularly high degree of incidental encoding. The study reported here investigated several variables that have been proposed as mediators of that effect. As in previous research, subjects completed an incidental-encoding and recall procedure. They then rated (a) the quality and degree of affect that they would experience if each stimulus word were to be applied to them, (b) the importance to them of the behavioral/psychological dimension implied by the stimulus word, and (c) the degree to which they saw themselves as distinctive on that dimension. As in previous studies, deciding whether a word described the self increased the likelihood of subsequent recall. There also was a highly significant interaction such that words judged to be applicable to self were recalled better than those judged not to be applicable. There was no evidence, however, of a mediational role for any other variable studied. Discussion centers on theoretical implications of the data.     

有无二胎与父母教养能力感的关系:头胎子女亲子依恋的调节作用

研究选取650名中小学生为研究对象,采用父母教养能力感量表和亲子依恋安全性问卷,考察了有无二胎与父母教养能力感的关系,并探讨了头胎子女的父子依恋和母子依恋在有无二胎与父母教养能力感关系中的调节作用。研究发现：（1）二胎家庭中父母的教养能力感高于独生子女父母的教养能力感;（2）头胎子女的母子依恋能够调节有无二胎与父母教养能力感的关系：对于高母子依恋组的被试而言,有无二胎无法预测父母教养能力感,而对于低母子依恋组的被试来说,有无二胎能显著正向预测父母教养能力感。而父子依恋的调节作用不显著。结果表明,对高母子依恋群体而言,有无二胎不影响父母教养能力感,而对于低母子依恋群体来说,家庭中有二胎会促进父母教养能力感的发展。     

Alterity,Intimacy, and the Cultural Turn in Religious Ethics

This essay responds to four critics of Friends and Other Strangers: Studies in Religion, Ethics and Culture: Diana Fritz Cates, Eric Gregory, Ross Moret, and Atalia Omer. Focusing on the book’s organizing concepts of intimacy and alterity, engagement with empirical sources, discussion of Augustine’s thought, and attention to moral psychology and political morality, these interlocutors take up various strands in the book’s argument and extend them into metaethical, normative, and metadisciplinary domains. The author organizes his response under three rubrics: Metaethics and Personal Relationships; Political Morality; and Multidisciplinary Horizons.     

求真与致善——荀子正名理论新探

荀子的正名理论不仅接续孔子的正名传统,也有对诸子之学的扬弃,在正名理论中荀子借鉴了名家、墨家的理论,丽他们也是萄子批评最多的。荀子的正名理论主要体现在《正名》篇中。其中他讨论了名的分类、名的作用、制名的原则等,并对“三惑”等不正之名进行了批判。他认为名的主要作用在于“明贵贱”与“辨同异”,“贵贱”关乎价值,“同异”关乎事实,萄子就通过名联接了事实与价值。“辨同异”在乎求“真”,“明贵贱”在乎求“善”,而荀子又认为“明贵贱”高于“辨同异”,从而把名学引向伦理、政治之域。     

共患难,更同盟:共同经历相同负性情绪事件促进合作行为

4项实验探讨了共同经历相同负性情绪事件,相比单独经历负性情绪事件,是否以及如何促进了个体间的合作。实验1~3分别采用抽奖任务和瑞文推理测验任务操纵负性情绪事件,采用公共物品博弈任务测量合作行为,结果表明,共同经历相同负性情绪事件,相比单独经历负性情绪事件,促进了个体间的合作行为。实验2通过测量归属需要、社会联结和内群体认同,实验3通过操纵归属需要,来考察共同经历相同负性情绪事件促进合作行为的潜在机制,结果表明,共同经历者之间的合作行为受归属需要的驱动,而社会联结和内群体认同不足以对该现象进行解释。实验4通过操纵个体共同经历“相同”和“不同”的负性情绪事件,进一步厘清了,促进个体间的合作是由于“共同经历相同的负性情绪事件”而非“共同经历负性情绪”造成的。研究结果有利于解释小群体的形成,对群体和社会管理亦具有借鉴意义。     

任务框架、损益值大小对自恋者风险偏好的影响

以234名大学生为被试,探讨了任务框架、损益值大小对显性/隐性自恋者风险偏好的影响。结果表明：(1)框架效应较稳定的出现在中等风险水平情境下,且在大损益值条件下更易出现。(2)在获益框架下,被试为小金额决策更冒险,在损失框架下,则为大金额决策更冒险。(3)在损失框架下,高显性自恋者比低显性自恋者更为冒险,在获益框架下,高隐性自恋者比低隐性自恋者更为保守;高隐性自恋者的风险偏好受到任务框架和损益值大小的共同影响。