Is There a Dark Side of Positive Illusions? Overestimation of Social Competence and Subsequent Adjustment in Aggressive and Nonaggressive Children

This study examined (a) the links between children's overly positive perceptions about the relations with the peer group and with their best friend to subsequent behavioral, emotional, and social adjustment, and (b) whether these links are moderated by children's aggression. Using a short-term longitudinal design, the study was based on a sample of 819 4th- to 6th-graders (427 girls) from low to average SES families. Results showed that positive illusions about their social relations with classmates and with friends were related to an increase in children's peer-rated social preference and fostered the stability of children's dyadic friendships, regardless of children's level of aggression. In addition, overestimation of social competence with the peer group and overestimation of friendship quality were both related to a decrease in children's depressive feelings. Extreme overestimation as well as extreme underestimation of social competence with the peer group was also related to an increase in children's aggression. This latter result, however, was only true for children who were highly aggressive to begin with. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

Toward a constructive eschatology: An appraisal of Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen's contributions

Faced with diverse cultural challenges to hope, a constructive eschatology should do justice to the entire reality and develop a robust future-oriented hope that helps to transform the present. In this regard Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen has made a significant contribution, especially in dialogue with natural sciences and other faith traditions, to retrieve the cosmic dimension of Christian hope, as well as to address liberationist and ecofeminist critiques of some distorted hopes. After recommending distinctive features of Kärkkäinen's constructive proposal, I suggest advancing it further by combining the phenomenological insight into the lived body with the concept of temporal holism.     

Afterimages: a tool for defining the neural correlate of visual consciousness

Our visual system not only mediates information about the visual environment but is capable of generating pictures of nonexistent worlds: afterimages, illusions, phosphenes, etc. We are "aware" of these pictures just as we are aware of the images of natural, physical objects. This raises the question: is the neural correlate of consciousness (NCC) of such images the same as that of images of physical objects? Images of natural objects have some properties in common with afterimages (e.g., stability of verticality) but there are also obvious differences (e.g., images maintain size constancy, whereas afterimages follow Emmert's Law: when seen while screens at different distances are observed, an afterimage looks larger, the greater the distance of the screen). The differences can be explained by differences in the retinal extent of images and afterimages, which favors the view that both have the same NCC. It seems reasonable to assume that before neural activity can produce awareness, all the computations necessary for a veridical representation of, e.g., an object, must be completed within the neural substrate and that information characteristic of a particular object must be available within the NCC. Given these assumptions, it can be shown that no retinotopic (in a strict sense) cortical areas can serve as the NCC, although some type of topographic representation is necessary. It seems also to be unlikely that neurons classified as cardinal cells alone can serve as NCC.     

学前儿童朴素生物学研究新进展:活力因果机制及其应用

学前儿童倾向于采用活力因果机制,即用生命力的交换和获取来解释与机体有关的生命现象.活力因果解释介于意图因果解释和机制因果解释之间,被认为是专属于生物领域的一种因果认知机制,它的提出为存在独立的朴素生物学理论提供了强有力的证据.4到6岁是活力机制发展的关键时期.同时,在年长儿童和成人对机体生命现象的认识中,这一机制继续发挥着作用,并不会随着儿童年龄的增长被其它因果机制完全取代.探讨可能导致活力因果机制发展差异性的影响因素以及它与其它因果机制的共同作用将是未来研究的方向.     

自我记忆的"错误"和"歪曲"

人们关于自我的记忆经常会发生“错误”和“歪曲”,造成这种状况的原因有三：其一是“压抑”,其二是“肯定性的错觉”,其三是“个体历史建构和保持”。它们是人们进行心理防卫的方式,其目的是使自我保持一种积极的、具有一致性和稳定性的状态。