The influence of the Chinese sport system and Chinese cultural characteristics on Olympic sport psychology services

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of sociocultural factors on Chinese Olympic sport psychology services.Design and methodsFifteen sport psychology consultants (SPCs), who served Chinese national teams for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, participated in this study after the Olympics. Semi-structured interviews were conducted within three months of the closing of the Olympics, followed by a hybrid approach to inductive and deductive thematic analyses.ResultsTwo general dimensions of sociocultural influence on Chinese Olympic sport psychology services were identified: (a) the Whole-Nation System and (b) Chinese cultural characteristics. They consisted of eight higher order themes, which comprised 26 lower order themes. This study revealed that Chinese sport psychology services were enhanced by recognizing the features of the Whole-Nation System (e.g., resource centralization and top-down management) and the successful blending of these features with Chinese cultural characteristics (e.g., holistic thinking style, keeping face and interpersonal order) into the psychological service.ConclusionsSociocultural factors had a marked influence on Chinese Olympic sport psychology services, which enabled Chinese SPCs to provide a culturally competent service (e.g., prioritizing collective interests, respecting the authority of administrative officials and coaches, and keeping face with others) for the Beijing Olympic Games.     

Personality and gender differences in global perspective

Men's and women's personalities appear to differ in several respects. Social role theories of development assume gender differences result primarily from perceived gender roles, gender socialization and sociostructural power differentials. As a consequence, social role theorists expect gender differences in personality to be smaller in cultures with more gender egalitarianism. Several large cross‐cultural studies have generated sufficient data for evaluating these global personality predictions. Empirically, evidence suggests gender differences in most aspects of personality—Big Five traits, Dark Triad traits, self‐esteem, subjective well‐being, depression and values—are conspicuously larger in cultures with more egalitarian gender roles, gender socialization and sociopolitical gender equity. Similar patterns are evident when examining objectively measured attributes such as tested cognitive abilities and physical traits such as height and blood pressure. Social role theory appears inadequate for explaining some of the observed cultural variations in men's and women's personalities. Evolutionary theories regarding ecologically‐evoked gender differences are described that may prove more useful in explaining global variation in human personality.     

On The Reality of Tooth Fairies: A Review of The God Delusion

In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins reviews the evidence for and against God. After considering arguments for a divine power, he says the main current one is that the characteristics of living creatures must be attributed to an all-powerful designer. Design is the only plausible account, because the excellent fit between each plant and animal and its environment could not possibly have appeared in one stroke by pure chance. Dawkins agrees that randomness could not have done the job, but he says that a designer is equally unlikely. The only viable explanation is evolution by natural selection, a process that operates without plan or design. He then turns to the adaptive value of religious belief. After failing to find any, he proposes that belief in divinities is the by-product of a powerful tendency to learn from others, an adaptive strategy produced by natural selection. Adults and other influential figures teach children many useful things, but they also train them to worship deities. Religious devotion is established through education, and it is maintained over generations by the social learning processes underlying all instances of cultural evolution. Dawkins'' arguments together with other problems encountered in describing evolutionary processes highlight the importance of social learning. His discussion leads the reviewer to assert that only by knowing the mechanisms of social learning is it possible to understand how biological and cultural evolution interact to produce life as we find it.     

On the validity of culture‐level personality and stereotype scores

In response to comments by Perugini and Richetin and by Ashton, we discuss the reference‐group effect as a potential source of distortion in cross‐cultural comparisons and suggest some research designs to test its nature and importance. We argue that laboratory studies of personality are of limited utility in understanding personality questionnaire responses in real life. We summarise evidence in favour of the validity of aggregate personality traits and suggest that more scepticism is needed with regard to the accuracy of national character stereotypes. Published in 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fundamental Questions in Personality

The network perspective represents a novel contribution to personality theory by conceptualising personality traits as emerging from the mutual dependencies between fundamental and causal affective, behavioural, and cognitive components. We argue that incorporating a more nuanced biological and developmental perspective to causality and a more precise approach to affective, behavioural, cognitive and motivational components may serve to enrich the network perspective. Although the graphical approach to modelling personality is aesthetically pleasing, analytic techniques are not yet available to put network models to the (quantitative) test. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The big none: No evidence for a general factor of personality in chimpanzees, orangutans, or rhesus macaques

We examined whether a general factor of personality (GFP) was present in chimpanzees, orangutans, or rhesus macaques. We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to model correlations among first-order factors as arising from a GFP. We then conducted principal axis factor analyses (PFA) of the first-order factors to extract a single higher-order factor and then to extract two oblique higher-order factors. The CFA model fit was poor for chimpanzees and orangutans, but not rhesus macaques. The single higher-order factors extracted via PFA did not resemble the GFP in all three species. The oblique higher-order factors extracted via PFA were only weakly correlated in all three species. These results do not support the existence of a GFP in nonhuman primates.     

环境光照对情绪的影响及其作用机制

环境光照作为重要的授时因子, 对多种生理和心理功能存在广泛影响, 其对情绪的非视觉作用尤其引起研究者们的关注。研究发现, 环境光照的照度、色温和波长均是影响情绪的重要物理因素; 短光周期、夜间人工光以及持续光照/黑暗等异常光照模式则会导致情绪障碍; 光照的情绪效应还受到光照时长、时间点、个体特征、主观偏好及基因类型等的调节。光照作用于情绪的路径主要包括两个方面, 一方面视网膜中的内在光敏感神经节细胞将光信号投射至情绪调节相关脑区直接影响情绪; 另一方面光信号通过同步内部生理节律及其调节下的激素分泌、神经传递和睡眠间接影响情绪。未来研究考察短时光照的视觉功效时需要采用更客观多样化的情绪测量技术, 综合非视觉与视觉作用路径深入对比健康与情绪障碍群体的差异性。     

Neurodevelopmental model of long-term outcomes of adult survivors of childhood brain tumors

Childhood brain tumors and related treatments disrupt the developing brain and have a cascading impact on core cognitive skills and intellectual (intelligence quotient [IQ]) and academic achievement outcomes. Theoretical models for this cascade have been developed based on the literature, but no studies thus far have empirically evaluated the models. The current study aimed to empirically test the two extant models and generate a new data-driven model of the relationships among neurodevelopmental risk factors, core cognitive skills (i.e., processing speed, attention span, working memory), and IQ and achievement outcomes. Fifty-seven adult survivors of childhood brain tumors and fifty-seven demographically matched neurotypical individuals were included in the current study. The average age at brain tumor diagnosis was 8 years, and the average time since diagnosis was 17 years. Three a priori path models tested the hypothesized relationships among variables. Results of the path analyses revealed that the hybrid model best fit the data for both survivors and controls based on all statistical criteria. For survivors, processing speed was the core cognitive skill most widely associated with neurodevelopmental risk factors and outcomes. However, working memory and attention span also had unique contributions to IQ and academic achievement. Processing speed appears to be the central cognitive skill that disrupts the other core cognitive skills of attention span and working memory, and all three make a unique contribution to IQ and academic achievement. This is best demonstrated by a novel neurodevelopmental model that combines components of two earlier untested theoretical models.     

American base‐rate neglect: It is not the math,but the context

We investigate cross‐cultural disparities in focalism bias through two studies of probability estimation. Using 60 American and 60 Chinese participants, Experiment 1 yields the standard finding that Americans manifest greater focalism bias by tending to neglect background probability base‐rates and to rely more heavily on obtained samples in estimating true probabilities, whereas Chinese participants show little tendency to ignore base‐rates. In Experiment 2, the phrasing of the probability‐estimation task is changed to bring base‐rates into the focus of the problem statement, again using a sample of 60 Americans and 60 Chinese. This allows us to test whether cross‐cultural differences result from a tendency to focus on the sample, and ignore ‘context’ (i.e., the background base‐rates), rather than simply a discrepancy in mathematical facility between the two groups. The results show far less base‐rate neglect for Americans, but essentially no change for Chinese (who always use base‐rate information, regardless of how presented). This outcome argues against the explanation that Americans are poorer Bayesians simply because they are weaker mathematicians. Implications are discussed.     

惠能“心量广大”的文化心理学解读

惠能及其开创的禅宗的核心思想“明心见性”是明白“心量广大”。它包括如下几层含义:(1)“本心”中所包含的估量标准或尺度广大;(2)“心”度量、衡量、审度的对象众多,范围广大;(3)“心”的容量广大;(4)人心的耐受程度和转化能力强大;(5)人心的范围广大和创造力强大;(6)人的心态积极强大。“心量广大”具体体现在平常心、包容心或宽容心、认知力、精神力、心理能量等几个方面。“心量广大”具有浓郁的中国文化特色,蕴含有“自强不息,厚德载物”的中国文化精神,“道德自律和躬身自省”的中国文化伦理与价值追求,“以人为本的人道主义和人文情怀”的中国文化核心思想理念。由此来看,惠能的“心量广大”思想在当代社会仍具有积极的现实价值,对当代文化建设,社会道德构建等有积极作用。