Children's supernatural thinking as a signalling behaviour in early childhood

In this study, we analysed the reaction times of 137 college students when making decisions on pairs of hypothetical children verbalizing different types of vignettes and/or exhibiting different physical appearance (photographs of faces). Vignettes depicted immature and mature versions of both supernatural (e.g., ‘The sun's not out today because it's mad’ vs. ‘The sun's not out today because the clouds are blocking it’) and natural (‘I can remember all 20 cards!’ vs. ‘I can remember 6 or 7 cards’) explanations to ordinary phenomena. Photographs of children's faces were morphed with a physical appearance of approximately 4–7 years old or approximately 8–10 years old. In earlier research, immature supernatural thinking produced positive‐affect reactions from adults and older adolescents (14–18 years old) towards young children, with cognitive cues being more important than physical‐appearance cues in influencing adults’ judgements. Reaction times to make decisions varied for the Supernatural and Natural vignettes and for the immature and mature vignettes/faces, reflecting the differential cognitive effort adults used for making decisions about aspects of children's physical appearance and verbal expressions. The findings were interpreted in terms of the critical role that young children's immature supernatural thinking has on adults’ perception, analogous to the evolved role of immature physical features on adults’ perception of infants.     

Old or New? Evaluating the Old/New Scoring Method for Divergent Thinking Tasks

When people generate responses during a divergent thinking task, some responses are “old” (retrieved from memory) and some are “new” (generated on the spot). K.J. Gilhooly, E. Fioratou, S.H. Anthony, and V. Wynn (2007) suggested that old and new responses stem from different cognitive strategies and differ in key ways. The present research explored the old/new scoring method in a sample of 143 young adults. After completing unusual uses tasks, the participants classified each response as old or new. The creativity of each response was also rated by three judges and by the participants themselves. As in past research, “old” responses appeared significantly earlier in the task and were rated as significantly less creative by both the judges and the participants. Old and new responses, however, correlated equally strongly with predictors of creative ability, such as openness to experience and its facets. Overall, the old/new scoring approach appears promising as a way of illuminating the diverse mental strategies people use to generate ideas.     

文化心理学视野中的思维方式

对东西方思维方式的研究是近十年以来文化心理学领域的一个热点问题。该文以心理学关于思维方式的研究为主线,分析了随着心理学研究的深入,学者们关于思维方式研究的思路转变。重点探讨了文化心理学关于东西方思维对比的研究以及对中国人思维方式的理论和实证分析。这些分析对理解中国人思维方式的影响以及促进东西方文化交流有着重要的理论和现实意义。文章指出了关于思维方式研究的未来方向。     

Considerations for a Psychology of Experience: Heinz Werner's Contribution

It is proposed that three themes in Heinz Werner's psychology provide directions for a contemporary psychology of experience. The first theme is the nature of developing mind. Werner's view of the mind as incorporating nonlogical modes of thought is contrasted with the hyper-rational views that dominate contemporary psychology. The second theme is Werner's model of the gradual differentiation and integration of spheres of experience. The model can be elaborated with minimal universalist assumptions, thus providing ways of conceptualizing cultural and individual differences as well as changes within a person's life. The third theme is the theory of symbolization that Werner developed in collaboration with Bernard Kaplan. Integrating the theory of symbolization with the spheres of experience model, it is seen how internal and external acts of symbolization enter into the formation and internal differentiation of spheres.     

住院医师规范化培训中辩证思维能力的培养

精湛的临床思维能力和良好的辩证思维能力是住院医师岗位胜任能力的根本要求。如何切实提升住院医师的辩证思维意识和思维习惯是现阶段住院医师规范化培训中一个亟待解决的现实难题。阐述了培养住院医师辩证思维能力的必要性和重要性,重点分析了住院医师规范化培训中应着力掌握的几种思维素养和能力。在规范化培训阶段,应以提升住院医师的辩证思维素养、强化辩证思维意识和思维习惯的养成教育、注重临床诊治实践能力的培养等为着力点培养住院医师辩证思维能力。     

Divergent thinking in the grasslands: thinking about object function in the context of a grassland survival scenario elicits more alternate uses than control scenarios

The survival processing effect is a recall advantage for information processed in the context of a grassland survival scenario. The current studies build upon previous research suggesting the effect is due to elaborative encoding and functional thinking. In two experiments, participants completed the “alternate uses test” under five conditions: baseline, grassland survival, Ebola survival, moving to a new home and planning a bank heist. Experiment 1 stimuli were everyday objects. Experiment 2 stimuli were functionally ambiguous “mystery” objects. Number of generated uses was highest in the baseline, but the grassland scenario was consistently highest of the schematic conditions. Recall data lend support to the mnemonic superiority of the grassland condition. Results suggest that grassland scenarios place fewer attenuating constraints on divergent thinking. It is suggested that the survival processing effect might be usefully conceptualised as an effect of creatively thinking about object function in response to broadly defined problems.     

Strategy Induction Enhances Creativity in Figural Divergent Thinking

Instructional effects in creative‐thinking tasks are important to understand in order to promote creative performance of individuals. In divergent‐thinking tasks, for example, instructional and strategic enhancement effects have been extensively studied for verbal tasks. However, while studies on instructional enhancement effects on creative drawing tasks exist, it is surprising that strategy enhancement in figural divergent thinking is still underresearched. In this study, we used a strategy manipulation approach to reassess the role of executive strategy implementation and the moderating role of an indicator of fluid intelligence, figural analogical reasoning, in two types of figural divergent‐thinking tasks (abstract vs. concrete). The sample comprised N = 75 high‐school students. Importantly, we found strategic enhancement effects by combining strategy instructions with a prompt to “be creative.” This combined instruction was contrasted with a standard instruction, and main effects were found for overall, concrete, and abstract creativity. Moreover, we found in a regression analysis a main effect for figural analogical reasoning on overall creativity and creativity for only the concrete object tasks. An expected interaction effect of instruction and figural analogical reasoning was not found. As another addition, the role of current motivation in figural divergent thinking was explored.     

中学生写作中思维品质的发展特点

从洛阳市一所普通中学6个年级随机选取801名被试,使用自编问卷研究了中学生写作中思维品质的发展特点,结果发现:(1)中学生写作中思维品质总体上呈随年级增长显著上升的发展特点,初二到初三阶段更为突出;(2)深刻性和灵活性品质为上升趋势,但在高一年级存在1个回调点;(3)批判性和独创性从初一到高一呈现明显上升趋势,高一以后呈波浪式发展;(4)中学生写作中的思维品质在初一、初二、高一和高三年级存在性别差异.     

Person-oriented profiles of originality and fluency in divergent thinking responses

Researchers often use divergent thinking tasks to assess creative potential and find a positive inter-individual relation between fluency and originality. But are there different within-person patterns of originality and fluency? Study 1: undergraduates completed an alternate uses task and the NEO-FFI. Three profiles emerged: (1) low originality and fluency; (2) above average originality, moderate fluency; and (3) average originality, high fluency. Study 2: high school students completed a divergent thinking task and 10 facets of the IPIP NEO-PI. Four profiles emerged: (1) average originality, moderate fluency; (2) above average originality, high fluency; (3) low originality and fluency; and (4) high originality, low fluency. Profile differences in personality and maximum originality, and implications of these findings are discussed.