Effects of forward collision warning technology in different pre-crash scenarios

The forward collision warning (FCW) system is expected to reduce rear-end crashes; however, its effects on driving behavior and safety have not been thoroughly investigated, specifically the effect variations between different pre-crash scenarios. To identify these variations, this study conducted a driving simulator experiment and compared the FCW’s effects between three pre-crash scenarios: the freeway scenario, the arterial scenario and the intersection dilemma zone scenario. Thirty-nine participants were involved in the experiment. The results showed that the adaptation of driver behavior in impending rear-end collision events resulted from both the FCW and the scenario. The intersection dilemma zone scenario has indications of slowing down, which encouraged drivers to take a more aggressive response strategy under the FCW; the arterial scenario might be regarded as an “easy-to-handle” situation in which a significant portion of drivers adopted moderate level of response strategy under the FCW; both the intersection dilemma zone scenario and freeway scenario have burdened driving tasks, and this might deteriorate a driver’s ability to adapt to the FCW. In addition, different types of drivers experienced varied benefits from the FCW in each scenario. The FCW would be particularly recommended for non-experienced drivers in the freeway scenario and for female drivers in the arterial scenario; moreover, in the scenario of the intersection dilemma zone, the FCW would be particularly recommended for drivers who have a crash/citation before. The results also support specific FCW designs which are able to highlight the collision risk. This study demonstrated that it would be better to indicate the effects of the FCW under the restriction of specific scenario features and develop the FCW based on that.     

东西方文化下的真实自我研究：一种关系的视角

真实自我反映了个体行为与其价值观、信仰、需求等内在状态的一致性程度, 分为特质真实与状态真实。在辨析了真实自我与自我认知、自我概念清晰性、自我一致性、正直、真诚等相关概念的异同, 并梳理该领域已有理论后, 提出真实自我表现或实现的文化差异, 即西方文化中的真实自我是自主动机驱动的, 而东方文化中的真实自我是关系要求驱动的。未来可以将“关系化”作为现象场, 以儒家传统思想为理智资源, 从理论建构、社会现象(新兴网络社交平台、社会变迁), 以及结合具体的研究方法(如跨文化比较、突显情境变化的方法)等方面开展研究。     

A person-centred approach to understanding dark-side antecedents and students’ outcomes associated with physical education teachers’ motivation

The present study firstly establishes physical education (PE) teachers’ motivational profiles based on their autonomous motivation, controlled motivation and amotivation and, secondly, investigates how different PE teachers’ motivational profiles differ in terms of certain maladaptive antecedents (i.e. psychological need frustration, pressures perceived at work and burnout). It also addresses the differences in their students’ perception of autonomy support, psychological need satisfaction and autonomous motivation. A total of 105 PE teachers and their 2164 students completed validated questionnaires. Four profiles were retained in the cluster analysis. Results showed that teachers who were high on autonomous motivation displayed the most optimal pattern of outcomes, whereas teachers who were high on amotivation showed the opposite pattern. Analysis of the established profiles suggested that the experience of controlled motivation was linked with maladaptive outcomes among both teachers and students. Implications for educational policy and practice are discussed.     

Does inconsistency always lead to negative affect? The influence of need for closure on affective reactions to cognitive inconsistency

We present an experiment showing that need for closure (NFC)—defined as the epistemic desire for certainty—can moderate individuals' affective reactions to cognitive inconsistency. Informed by Kruglanski and colleagues' new theory, that cognitive inconsistency elicits negative affect particularly under certain circumstances, we find that NFC (i.e. the desire for certain, stable and unambiguous knowledge) influences the strength of consistency effects and resulting negative affect. More specifically, we find that individuals who are high on NFC experience more negative affect upon encountering an inconsistent (vs. consistent) cognition. However, when individuals are low on NFC, inconsistency is irrelevant, and their affect depends on whether the ultimate outcome of the cognition is positive or negative. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this research.     

The (Dis)Pleasures of Creativity: Spontaneous Eye Blink Rate during Divergent and Convergent Thinking Depends on Individual Differences in Positive and Negative Affect

Previous research has demonstrated that individual differences in affect and motivation predict divergent and convergent thinking performance, two thinking processes involved in creative idea generation. Individual differences in affect and motivation also predict spontaneous eye blink rate (sEBR) during divergent and convergent thinking; and sEBR predicts divergent and convergent thinking performance. This study investigates experimentally whether the relationship between sEBR and divergent and convergent thinking depends on individual differences in affect and motivation. Eighty-two participants completed the Emotion/motivation-related Divergent and Convergent thinking styles Scale (EDICOS; G. Soroa et al., 2015), performed the alternative uses task (AUT; divergent thinking) or the remote associates task (RAT; convergent thinking), while their sEBR was captured with an eye-tracker. The results showed that individual differences in positive affect positively correlated with sEBR for the AUT, whereas individual differences in negative affect positively correlated with sEBR for the RAT. Furthermore, the interaction between individual differences in positive and negative affect and sEBR predicted divergent and convergent thinking performance. The contribution of our study is therefore that individual differences in positive and negative affect can both positively correlate with sEBR during divergent and convergent thinking; and that this predicts divergent and convergent thinking performance.     

Why and for whom does the pressure to help hurt others? Affective and cognitive mechanisms linking helping pressure to workplace deviance

Scholars are paying increasing attention to the “dark side” of citizenship behavior. One aspect of this dark side that has received relatively scant attention is “helping pressure”—an employee's perception that s/he is being encouraged to, or otherwise feels that s/he should, enact helping behavior at work. Drawing from theory associated with work stress, we examine affective and cognitive mechanisms that potentially explain why helping pressure, counterintuitively, may lead employees to engage in deviant behavior instead. Beyond examining these possible mechanisms, we also answer calls to identify a potential buffer to these effects. Drawing from self-determination theory, we examine how an employee's intrinsic motivation for citizenship may lessen the deleterious consequences of helping pressure at work. In two studies (a within-individual experience-sampling study and a two-wave between-individual study), we find consistent evidence that helping pressure has a positive indirect relationship with deviant behavior through increased negative affect. Further, we find evidence that intrinsic motivation for citizenship weakens the positive relationship of helping pressure with negative affect, buffering the indirect effect on subsequent deviant behavior. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings for the study of helping pressure at work are discussed.     

Effect of autonomy support and dialogic learning on school children’s physical activity and sport

This study applies an intervention based on autonomy support through dialogic learning to examine effects on motivation and the promotion of physical activity and sport involvement during schoolchildren’s leisure time. One hundred and two primary school students, aged 11–13 years, participated (M = 10.93, SD = 0.75). The sample was divided into two groups: an experimental group (49 students) and a control group (53 students). A quasi-experimental study was conducted in physical education classes over the course of 9 months. Assessments of autonomy support from teachers, family, and peers; basic psychological needs; self-determined motivation in physical education and during leisure time; planned behavior variables; physical activity intention; and estimated and actual physical exercise behavior time were included in the model. Following the intervention, the results revealed that greater autonomy support by the teacher, the family and peers, satisfaction of the basic psychological needs, self-determined motivation during physical education class and during free time, greater perceived control, favorable attitude and intention to engage in physical activity contributed to the explanation of student physical activity involvement. These results suggest that when students receive extensive social support from diverse social agents that essential precursors to physical activity are strengthened and contribute to increased motivation and actual physical activity involvement. Efforts to promote effective communications with students and other pedagogical efforts, such as providing dialogic learning opportunities, should be considered in order to strengthen physical activity motivation and involvement in students.