Comparing thought suppression and mindfulness as coping techniques for spider fear

The current study compared thought suppression, focused attention (mindfulness) and unfocused attention as strategies for managing spider fear. Spider fearful participants were exposed to a strategy induction before completing a Behavioural Approach Test (BAT). The BAT is a 10 step measurement of how close participants are willing to move towards a spider. Participants were instructed to use what they learned in the pre-BAT induction to help them advance through the steps of the BAT. The results of the study indicated that participants given the thought suppression or the unfocused attention induction moved through significantly less steps of the BAT than did those given the focused attention (mindful) induction. Additionally, the thought suppression group felt significantly more anxious than the focused and unfocused attention groups following completion of the BAT. These results are discussed in terms of the impact of thought suppression on avoidance behaviour in phobias.     

社交焦虑个体外显与内隐自尊的研究

社交恐惧图式理论、社交恐惧模式、和社交恐惧认知行为模式等认知理论,都认为社交恐惧产生于不良的自我图式。为了探讨社交恐惧个体是否具有不良的自我图式,要求40名高社交恐惧个体和30名低社交焦虑个体完成了自尊量表和内隐联想任务。结果发现：高社交恐惧个体在自尊量表上的得分显著低于低社交恐惧个体,但在内隐自尊上,他们都有着积极的自尊,且无显著差异。这一研究结果不支持社交恐惧的认知理论。根据自我呈现理论讨论了研究结果。     

Matrices with a given number of violations of Regular Minimality

A row (or column) of an n×n matrix complies with Regular Minimality (RM) if it has a unique minimum entry which is also a unique minimum entry in its column (respectively, row). The number of violations of RM in a matrix is defined as the number of rows (equivalently, columns) that do not comply with RM. We derive a formula for the proportion of n×n matrices with a given number of violations of RM among all n×n matrices with no tied entries. The proportion of matrices with no more than a given number of violations can be treated as the p-value of a permutation test whose null hypothesis states that all permutations of the entries of a matrix without ties are equiprobable, and the alternative hypothesis states that RM violations occur with lower probability than predicted by the null hypothesis. A matrix with ties is treated as being represented by all matrices without ties that have the same set of strict inequalities among their entries.     

Peripheral pain enhances the effects of incentive downshifts

Physical pain (induced by tissue damage) and psychological pain (induced by surprising incentive loss) share a set of common neural substrates, but little is known about their interactions. The present research studied such interactions using the formalin test to induce physical pain and consummatory successive negative contrast (cSNC) to induce psychological pain. In the formalin test, animals receive an intradermal injection of formalin (1%) in a hind paw. In cSNC, rats with free access to 32% sucrose show a sharp suppression of drinking behavior after a downshift to 4% sucrose, compared to rats that always receive 4% sucrose. In Experiment 1, formalin administration before the first and second 32-to-4% sucrose downshift trials enhanced cSNC. In Experiment 2, a similar treatment before the first downshift trial after a 16-to-4% sucrose downshift, which normally produces little or no evidence of cSNC, significantly increased cSNC. In Experiment 3, using a 32-to-4% sucrose downshift procedure similar to that of Experiment 1, no effects were observed following formalin administration immediately after Trial 11. Thus, no evidence was found that the effects of physical pain on cSNC were caused by changes in memory consolidation. The procedures used in these experiments offer a new approach to study the neural substrates of interactions between physical and psychological pain.     

抑郁症患者的自传体记忆特征及其应用自传体记忆测验的元分析

研究目的在于探讨抑郁症患者自传体记忆的特征以及自传体记忆测验(the autobiographical memory test, AMT)在该领域的应用情况。通过文献检索, 搜集了18篇应用AMT作为测评工具的抑郁症自传体记忆研究, 抑郁症患者566人, 正常对照组457人。元分析研究发现, 和正常对照组比较, 抑郁症组的具体性记忆减少, 概括化记忆增多, 反应迟缓。目前对这种现象的解释主要有功能性回避模型、认知执行受损模型和沉思模型; 年龄、抑郁情绪以及AMT测试程序对测试结果有明显影响; 发表偏倚和敏感性分析显示存在发表偏倚, 但稳定性较好。AMT在抑郁症研究存在灵敏度不足等局限, 作者从AMT程序、研究设计等方面提出了改善建议。     

人才甄选中的人格测验作假研究的深入与拓展

企业人才甄选情境下求职者很容易在人格测验中作假。至今有关作假的研究已包含作假的内涵、来源和识别等多个方面,也诞生了多种心理模型尝试解释作假产生的心理机制,如作假动机与作假能力交互作用理论、作假计划行为理论、作假整合模型、一般作假行为模型以及作假的VIE模型,为后续理论研究点明方向。此外,作假应用领域中新兴的网络人格测验作假受到关注,在此介绍网络与纸笔测验两种形式下,人格测验作假行为、作假意向的不同。     

不同归因方式的诱导对自尊不同学生失败后测验成绩的影响

采用2×2两因素被试间设计检验了不同归因方式的诱导对自尊不同学生失败后测验成绩的影响。结果表明:(1)总体上,高自尊组在失败后的测验成绩显著优于低自尊组;(2)内部归因后,高自尊组的后继测验成绩非常显著地优于低自尊组;外部归因后,高、低自尊组的后继测验成绩无显著差异;(3)对于高自尊组,内部归因后的后继测验成绩优于外部归因后的成绩,但未达到显著性水平;对于低自尊组,外部归因后的成绩显著优于内部归因后的成绩。     

The (Non)Impact of Differential Test Taker Engagement on Aggregated Scores

Disengaged test taking tends to be most prevalent with low-stakes tests. This has led to questions about the validity of aggregated scores from large-scale international assessments such as PISA and TIMSS, as previous research has found a meaningful correlation between the mean engagement and mean performance of countries. The current study, using data from the computer-based version of the PISA-Based Test for Schools, examined the distortive effects of differential engagement on aggregated school-level scores. The results showed that, although there was considerable differential engagement among schools, the school means were highly stable due to two factors. First, any distortive effects of disengagement in a school were diluted by a high proportion of the students exhibiting no non-effortful behavior. Second, and most interestingly, disengagement produced both positive and negative distortion of individual student scores, which tended to cancel out much of the net distortive effect on the school’s mean.     

结合题目作答时间的计算机化自适应测验选题方法

计算机形式的测验能够记录考生在测验中的题目作答时间（Response Time, RT），作为一种重要的辅助信息来源，RT对于测验开发和管理具有重要的价值，特别是在计算机化自适应测验（Computerized Adaptive Testing, CAT）领域。本文简要介绍了RT在CAT选题方面应用并作以简评，分析了这些技术在实践中的可行性。最后，探讨了当前RT应用于CAT选题存在的问题以及可以进一步开展的研究方向。     

Multi-target visual search organisation across the lifespan: cancellation task performance in a large and demographically stratified sample of healthy adults

Accurate tests of cognition are vital in (neuro)psychology. Cancellation tasks are popular tests of attention and executive function, in which participants find and ‘cancel’ targets among distractors. Despite extensive use in neurological patients, it remains unclear whether demographic variables (that vary among patients) affect cancellation performance. Here, we describe performance in 523 healthy participants of a web-based cancellation task. Age, sex, and level of education did not affect cancellation performance in this sample. We provide norm scores for indices of spatial bias, perseverations, revisits, processing speed, and search organisation. Furthermore, a cluster analysis identified four cognitive profiles among participants, characterised by many omissions (N=18), many revisits (N=18), relatively poor search organisation (N=125), and relatively good search organisation (N=362). Thus, patient scores pertaining to search organisation should be interpreted cautiously: Given the large proportion of healthy individuals with poor search organisation, disorganised search in patients might be pre-existing rather than disorder-related.