跨期选择中的年龄差异及其机制

随着老龄化形势日益严峻, 老年人的跨期选择受到越来越多学者的关注。目前关于跨期选择的年老化研究尚存分歧:有研究发现老年人比年轻人更偏好未来获得更大收益; 也有研究发现老年人的选择偏好和年轻人一样, 甚至比年轻人更偏好近期收益。从时间表征和结果价值表征两个维度上的加工过程去分析其对老年人跨期选择的影响, 并进一步阐述认知、动机和情绪因素对两个维度加工过程的影响, 这对于理解当前老年人跨期选择领域研究的分歧有重要科学意义。     

耐挫心理结构的探索：基于大学生群体的测量

采用质性和量化研究方法,探讨耐挫心理的结构及因素间关系。研究1采用质性研究方法,对23名被试进行深度访谈,结果发现：（1）耐挫心理的结构由坚信、乐观、可控和醒悟构成;（2）坚信、可控和醒悟共同影响乐观。研究2采用量化研究方法,基于研究1的耐挫心理结构编制大学生耐挫心理量表,对大学生进行施测。结果发现：（1）耐挫心理四因素结构有良好的拟合指数;（2）醒悟正向预测坚信,进而正向预测可控,最终正向预测乐观;（3）量表有良好的信度和效度。结果表明,耐挫心理的结构包含坚信、乐观、可控和醒悟四个因素;大学生耐挫心理量表符合心理测量学要求,可作为未来研究的工具。     

Is there a natural order for expressing semantic relations?

All languages rely to some extent on word order to signal relational information. Why? We address this question by exploring communicative and cognitive factors that could lead to a reliance on word order. In Study 1, adults were asked to describe scenes to another using their hands and not their mouths. The question was whether this home-made "language" would contain gesture sentences with consistent order. In addition, we asked whether reliance on order would be influenced by three communicative factors (whether the communication partner is permitted to give feedback; whether the information to be communicated is present in the context that recipient and gesturer share; whether the gesturer assumes the role of gesture receiver as well as gesture producer). We found that, not only was consistent ordering of semantic elements robust across the range of communication situations, but the same non-English order appeared in all contexts. Study 2 explored whether this non-English order is found only when a person attempts to share information with another. Adults were asked to reconstruct scenes in a non-communicative context using pictures drawn on transparencies. The adults picked up the pictures for their reconstructions in a consistent order, and that order was the same non-English order found in Study 1. Finding consistent ordering patterns in a non-communicative context suggests that word order is not driven solely by the demands of communicating information to another, but may reflect a more general property of human thought.     

Choice in a variable environment: effects of blackout duration and extinction between components

Pigeons were trained in a procedure in which sessions included seven four- or 10-reinforcer components, each providing a different reinforcer ratio that ranged from 27:1 to 1:27. The components were arranged in random order, and no signals differentiated the component reinforcer ratios. Each condition lasted 50 sessions, and the data from the last 35 sessions were analyzed. Previous results using 10-s blackouts between components showed some carryover of preference from one component to the next, and this effect was investigated in Experiment 1 by varying blackout duration from 1 s to 120 s. The amount of carryover decreased monotonically as the blackout duration was lengthened. Preference also decreased between reinforcers within components, suggesting that preference change during blackout might follow the same function as preference change between reinforcers. Experiment 2 was designed to measure preference change between components more directly and to relate this to preference change during blackout. In two conditions a 60-s blackout occurred between components, and in two other conditions a 60-s period of unsignaled extinction occurred between components. Preference during the extinction period progressively fell toward indifference, and the level of preference following extinction was much the same as that following blackout. Although these results are consistent with Davison and Baum's (2000) theory of the effects of reinforcers on local preference, other findings suggest that theory is incomplete: After a sequence of reinforcers from one alternative, some residual preference remained after 60 s of extinction or blackout, indicating the possibility of an additional longer term accumulation of reinforcer effects than originally suggested.     

GROUP FORAGING SENSITIVITY TO PREDICTABLE AND UNPREDICTABLE CHANGES IN FOOD DISTRIBUTION: PAST EXPERIENCE OR PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES?

The ideal free distribution theory (Fretwell & Lucas, 1970) predicts that the ratio of foragers at two patches will equal the ratio of food resources obtained at the two patches. The theory assumes that foragers have "perfect knowledge" of patch profitability and that patch choice maximizes fitness. How foragers assess patch profitability has been debated extensively. One assessment strategy may be the use of past experience with a patch. Under stable environmental conditions, this strategy enhances fitness. However, in a highly unpredictable environment, past experience may provide inaccurate information about current conditions. Thus, in a nonstable environment, a strategy that allows rapid adjustment to present circumstances may be more beneficial. Evidence for this type of strategy has been found in individual choice. In the present experiments, a flock of pigeons foraged at two patches for food items and demonstrated results similar to those found in individual choice. Experiment 1 utilized predictable and unpredictable sequences of resource ratios presented across days or within a single session. Current foraging decisions depended on past experience, but that dependence diminished when the current foraging environment became more unpredictable. Experiment 2 repeated Experiment I with a different flock of pigeons under more controlled circumstances in an indoor coop and produced similar results.     

A unified approach to exploratory factor analysis with missing data,nonnormal data,and in the presence of outliers

Factor analysis is regularly used for analyzing survey data. Missing data, data with outliers and consequently nonnormal data are very common for data obtained through questionnaires. Based on covariance matrix estimates for such nonstandard samples, a unified approach for factor analysis is developed. By generalizing the approach of maximum likelihood under constraints, statistical properties of the estimates for factor loadings and error variances are obtained. A rescaled Bartlett-corrected statistic is proposed for evaluating the number of factors. Equivariance and invariance of parameter estimates and their standard errors for canonical, varimax, and normalized varimax rotations are discussed. Numerical results illustrate the sensitivity of classical methods and advantages of the proposed procedures.This project was supported by a University of North Texas Faculty Research Grant, Grant #R49/CCR610528 for Disease Control and Prevention from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, and Grant DA01070 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The results do not necessarily represent the official view of the funding agencies. The authors are grateful to three reviewers for suggestions that improved the presentation of this paper.     

Further evaluation of low-ranked items in stimulus-choice preference assessments

The generality of the findings reported by DeLeon, Iwata, and Roscoe (1997) was examined by conducting two stimulus-choice preference assessments, the second of which evaluated low-ranked items from the initial assessment. Results for the 2 participants suggested that supplementary assessments of low-ranked items may be useful for identifying a wider variety of reinforcing stimuli.     

Preference and resistance to change with constant-duration schedule components

Previous research on preference between variable-interval terminal links in concurrent chains has most often used variable-duration terminal links ending with a single reinforcer. By contrast, most research on resistance to change in multiple schedules has used constant-duration components that include variable numbers of reinforcers in each presentation. Grace and Nevin (1997) examined both preference and resistance in variable-duration components; here, preference and resistance were examined in constant-duration components. Reinforcer rates were varied across eight conditions, and a generalized-matching-law analysis showed that initial-link preference strongly over-matched terminal-link reinforcer ratios. In multiple schedules, baseline response rates were unaffected by reinforcer rates, but resistance to intercomponent food, to extinction, and to intercomponent food plus extinction was greater in the richer component. The between-component difference in resistance to change exhibited additive effects for the three resistance tests, and was systematically related to reinforcer ratios. However, resistance was less sensitive to reinforcer ratios than was preference. Resistance to intercomponent food and to intercomponent food plus extinction was more sensitive to reinforcer ratios in the present study than in Grace and Nevin (1997). Thus, relative to variable-duration components, constant-duration components increased the sensitivity of both preference and relative resistance, supporting the proposition that these are independent and convergent measures of the effects of a history of reinforcement.     

Attachment to the Missing Object: Infidelity and Obsessive Love

In an object relations study on infidelity and obsessive love, the author observes that in relationships marked by chronic, repetitive infidelity and obsession, the lover is enamored with that which they can not have and that the psychological development of such individuals may have been traumatized by early attachment disturbances in the primary dyad. Tenacious, unsatisfying love-attachments as seen in sexual addictions and obsessional love may result from the internalization of an absent or intermittent object relationship—a morbid attachment to the missing object of infancy. Such patients often demonstrate depressive/addictive traits and schizoid defenses and typically have difficulty forming an attachment bond with the analyst, perceiving the analyst as a dangerous, rejecting agent who will recapitulate the original trauma. In the clinical case of Gretchen, the author uses Winnicott's (1960) concept of holding to create a progressive therapeutic bond, as toxic resistant forces are gradually resolved.     

Reliability and validity of the Padua Inventory in an Iranian population

In order to study the reliability and validity of the Padua Inventory (PI), its items were translated into Persian and then back-translated into English as suggested by Brislin, Lonner, Thorndike, Cross-cultural research methods, Wiley, New York, 1973. Using the translated version of the PI, two studies were carried out. The first study included 219 healthy participants selected from Shiraz city in Iran to examine the reliability and factorial structure of the PI via test-retest, internal consistency and principal component analysis methods. The results of this study showed good reliability for the PI and confirmed its factorial structure reported by previous studies. The second study included four groups of participants as follows: patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), patients with anxiety disorders, patients with depressive disorder and normal individuals. The PI scores were able to differentiate between OCD patients and normal individuals, but failed to differentiate between neurotic and OCD patients. Two subscales of PI-R version of the PI (precision and washing) differentiated depressive and OCD patients.