Getting Vygotskian about theory of mind: Mediation,dialogue, and the development of social understanding

The ideas of Vygotsky [Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). Thinking and speech. In The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky, (Vol. 1). New York: Plenum. (Original work published 1934.)] have been increasingly influential in accounting for social–environmental influences on the development of social understanding (SU). In the first part of this article, I examine how Vygotskian ideas have to date been recruited to explanations of the development of SU. Next, I present a model of SU development which draws on two implications of Vygotsky’s ideas: the importance of semiotic mediation for mental functioning, and the dialogic nature of the higher mental functions. I then consider the value of the proposed model in accounting for evidence from three areas of enquiry: the typical development of SU in infancy and early childhood, relations between individual differences in SU and social–environmental variables, and atypical development. The model is suggested to be particularly helpful in understanding the transition from intentional-agent to mental-agent understanding, and the role of language in SU. Remaining challenges include a need to specify further the cognitive processes underlying internalization, and to gather more extensive evidence on the roles of typical and atypical social experience in SU development.     

Negative self-focused cognitions mediate the effect of trait social anxiety on state anxiety

The cognitive model of social anxiety predicts that negative self-focused cognitions increase anxiety when anticipating social threat. To test this prediction, 36 individuals were asked to anticipate and perform a public-speaking task. During anticipation, negative self-focused cognitions or relaxation were experimentally induced while self-reported anxiety, autonomic arousal (heart rate, heart rate variability, skin conductance level), and acoustic eye-blink startle response were assessed. As predicted, negative self-focused cognitions mediated the effects of trait social anxiety on self-reported anxiety and heart rate variability during negative anticipation. Furthermore, trait social anxiety predicted increased startle amplitudes. These findings support a central assumption of the cognitive model of social anxiety.     

The Metallic Womb

This study of malevolent narcissism examines the relationship between the Washington Snipers, Muhammad and Malvo, from the perspectives of attachment theory and Kleinian theory. Muhammad embodied a perverted understanding of manliness. Malvo was desperate for the love of a father, and fused with the omnipotent destructiveness of John Muhammad. Together they embarked on a failed Quest, recreating the original infant/caregiver scenario, which in their experience was about destruction and death, rather than gratitude and life. Malvo and Muhammad were perfect together, merged into one unit devoted to murder. Their victims were random and multiple, like their early caregivers.     

From universal laws of cognition to specific cognitive models

The remarkable successes of the physical sciences have been built on highly general quantitative laws, which serve as the basis for understanding an enormous variety of specific physical systems. How far is it possible to construct universal principles in the cognitive sciences, in terms of which specific aspects of perception, memory, or decision making might be modelled? Following Shepard (e.g., 1987 ), it is argued that some universal principles may be attainable in cognitive science. Here, 2 examples are proposed: the simplicity principle (which states that the cognitive system prefers patterns that provide simpler explanations of available data); and the scale‐invariance principle, which states that many cognitive phenomena are independent of the scale of relevant underlying physical variables, such as time, space, luminance, or sound pressure. This article illustrates how principles may be combined to explain specific cognitive processes by using these principles to derive SIMPLE, a formal model of memory for serial order ( Brown, Neath, & Chater, 2007 ), and briefly mentions some extensions to models of identification and categorization. This article also considers the scope and limitations of universal laws in cognitive science.     

Enhanced recognition of emotional stimuli in the chimpanzee (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pan troglodytes</Emphasis>)

Humans often have a better memory of emotional events than neutral events. From the comparative-cognitive perspective, we explored the enhancement of recognition memory by emotion in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) using a serial probe recognition task. In this task, we sequentially presented a list of pictures to subjects and then tested their recognition of specific pictures from within the list. We selected pictures of aggressive chimpanzees as emotional stimuli and less tensed, relaxed chimpanzees as neutral stimuli. In Experiment 1, we gave four-item lists to two young chimpanzees; one showed significantly greater recognition of pictures depicting aggressive chimpanzees than neutral ones. In Experiment 2, this chimpanzee was further tested using a recognition task with eight-item lists. The subject again showed better recognition of emotional stimuli than neutral. Furthermore, the presence of an emotional stimulus in the list also facilitated recognition of the neutral item immediately following it. Overall, although only one of the two chimpanzees showed enhanced recognition memory by emotional stimuli, this is the first demonstration of such a response in the chimpanzee. The findings are discussed in comparison with those of human studies.     

基于情绪调节模型的教师情绪劳动的中介效应探讨

本研究以Grandey的情绪调节模型为框架,通过问卷调查的方法,探讨正性情绪、负性情绪、情绪劳动以及职业倦怠之间的关系。828名中小学教师的有效数据的回归分析结果显示:基于不同情绪感受的情绪劳动对职业倦怠的影响存在差异;情绪劳动各维度既充当正负情绪均值差距(M_N-P)影响职业倦怠各维度的部分中介变量,又充当正负情绪变异系数差距(CV_N-P)影响去个性化或个人成就感的部分中介变量;表层行为、深层行为在正负情绪均值差距(M_N-P)影响去个性化之间的部分中介效应受到性别的调节。     

Adolescent personality,problem behaviour and the quality of the parent–adolescent relationship

The relationship between adolescent personality and problem behaviour has been well established. However, relatively little attention has been given to the role of the social environment in the association between adolescent personality and problem behaviour. We tested the mediating and moderating role of the quality of the parent–adolescent relationship in the associations between adolescents' personality traits and problem behaviour. The sample consisted of 140 adolescents (11 to 18 years of age) and both their parents. Results supported a mediating role of the father/mother–adolescent relationship in the associations between Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, and Conscientiousness and externalizing problem behaviour. The father/mother–adolescent relationships did not mediate the associations between personality traits and internalizing problem behaviour. We also found support for a moderating role of the father/mother–adolescent relationships in the association between Emotional Stability and both externalizing and internalizing problem behaviours. Other moderated effects were specific for parent, personality trait and type of problem behaviour. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

"仁"——医德的元德

医德是医学道德的简称,具言之,它是指医务人员在医疗卫生服务的职业活动中应该具备的仁爱、救死扶伤等的品德,是道德德目在医务人员身上的内化,也是对医务人员必须具备的最起码的要求.我们评价一个医生,首先是直面他的医德,医德是医生形象的体现,没有医德的医生即使技艺再高超,也算不上一个完整意义上的医生,"无德不成医".事实上一个医德低下的医生,他的技艺也不会高超的.     

On the optimality of serial and parallel processing in the psychological refractory period paradigm: Effects of the distribution of stimulus onset asynchronies

Within the context of the psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm, we developed a general theoretical framework for deciding when it is more efficient to process two tasks in serial and when it is more efficient to process them in parallel. This analysis suggests that a serial mode is more efficient than a parallel mode under a wide variety of conditions and thereby suggests that ubiquitous evidence of serial processing in PRP tasks could result from performance optimization rather than from a structural bottleneck. The analysis further suggests that the experimenter-selected distribution of stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) influences the relative efficiency of the serial and parallel modes, with a preponderance of short SOAs favoring a parallel mode. Experiments varying the distribution of SOAs were conducted, and the results suggest that there is a shift from a more serial mode to a more parallel mode as the likelihood of short SOAs increases.     

Impact of auditory selective attention on verbal short-term memory and vocabulary development

This study investigated the role of auditory selective attention capacities as a possible mediator of the well-established association between verbal short-term memory (STM) and vocabulary development. A total of 47 6- and 7-year-olds were administered verbal immediate serial recall and auditory attention tasks. Both task types probed processing of item and serial order information because recent studies have shown this distinction to be critical when exploring relations between STM and lexical development. Multiple regression and variance partitioning analyses highlighted two variables as determinants of vocabulary development: (a) a serial order processing variable shared by STM order recall and a selective attention task for sequence information and (b) an attentional variable shared by selective attention measures targeting item or sequence information. The current study highlights the need for integrative STM models, accounting for conjoined influences of attentional capacities and serial order processing capacities on STM performance and the establishment of the lexical language network.