当局者迷,旁观者清?自我-他人决策的理性差异及其机制

生活充满抉择,由于知识经验的局限,人们常需寻求他人建议,抑或直接请他人代己决策.诸多研究探讨了自我决策、向他人建议,以及代他人决策之间的差异.探究这种差异的动因之一在于考察何种条件下的决策更优或更“理性”.以往研究表明,自我决策或他人决策(向他人建议或代他人决策)均有可能更易违背理性决策原则,隐含着他人决策优于自我决策的“当局者迷,旁观者清”这一传统智慧有一定的边界条件.研究者一般从认知(建构水平理论)、情绪(类型和卷入度),以及动机(调节聚焦理论)三种视角对自我-他人决策差异进行解释.本文作者提出基于理由的决策(reason-based account)假设来解释自我-他人决策在理性程度上的差异.未来研究可从决策过程及脑机制上深入考察自我-他人决策差异及其机制.     

贪婪:态度、动机与决策机制

贪婪是人性的重要特点之一,也是哲学、经济学等领域经常讨论的话题.本文首先梳理了贪婪的概念,并将问题聚焦在对于物质的贪婪上.然后总结了贪婪的特点,并提出贪婪的定义.接着阐述了情境因素如何影响个体对贪婪的态度,以及贪婪动机如何影响自利行为.贪婪决策是个体决定是否做出贪婪行为的心理过程,受到自我意识和情绪的影响.贪婪决策过程模型整合了控制性、自动化两类加工方式,阐释了自利倾向与道德自觉相互作用的机制.本文对以上内容逐次进行讨论,并提出了未来研究的方向.     

幸福的体验效用与非理性决策行为的偏差机制

基于体验效用的幸福包括预期幸福、即时幸福和回忆幸福,这三者有极其重要的本质差异,导致决策偏差和非理性。本研究运用行为科学和认知神经科学相结合的研究方法,首次从行为层次—信息加工层次—脑神经层次三个层面,立体地开展幸福感的体验效用与非理性决策行为研究。研究计划分为三个部分:(1)预期幸福、即时幸福和回忆幸福的本质特点和行为规律;(2)三种体验效用产生偏差的认知心理机制;(3)体验效用与非理性决策偏差的脑神经机制。通过系列研究,拟解决三个关键问题:(1)在人类判断与决策过程中,预期、即时和回忆三种效用是如何影响人们的判断与决策?(2)三种体验效用出现偏差的信息加工特点和脑神经机制究竟是什么?(3)三种效用的偏差规律及对政府公共政策的启示。对这些问题的深入探讨,不仅对决策理论研究的发展是一个贡献;对政府管理制定有效的公共政策,避免"牺牲体验追求指标",解决"幸福悖论",同样有很强的实践指导意义。     

Environmental anxiety: Assessing emotional distress and concerns after toxin exposure

Abstract

Anxiety in face of environmental risks is common, but few attempts have been made to assess individual differences psychometrically and to validate the measures in samples that have suffered from exposure to neurotoxic substances. The present study deals with this problem in two ways. First, levels of general anxiety were determined in two large independent samples of workers who were exposed to multiple organic solvents and in their nonexposed referents. In both samples, anxiety was substantially higher in exposed subjects than in their referents. Second, an Environmental Worry Scale (EWS) was developed and validated in three samples. This 17-item instrument and its 8-item subscale yielded satisfactory psychometric properties and also succeeded in discriminating solvent exposed from nonexposed subjects. Finally, the EWS was used in a structural equation model that was designed to predict the intention to avoid chemicals. The worry factor served as a mediator between exposure and intention, whereas exposure by itself did not influence intentions.     

Innovative Approaches to Child Custody and Domestic Violence in New Zealand

Summary

In 1995, as part of a major review of domestic violence law, the New Zealand Parliament amended the legislation under which disputes about custody of and access to children are determined by the Court. Specifically, the amendment introduced a rebuttable presumption that a parent who had used violence against a child or against the other parent would not have custody of, or unsupervised access to the child unless the Court could be satisfied that the child would be safe during visitation arrangements. Three years after the implementation of this legislation, it is timely to reflect on the impact of this major domestic violence law reform initiative. Our findings indicate that there are indeed advances. Psychological violence is now clearly being considered when Courts are assessing the issue of children's safety. As well, the delineation of mandatory risk assessment factors has led many judges to see a continuum of power and control tactics as relevant in domestic violence related visitation proceedings; the previous emphasis on physical violence has given way to an analysis which more closely reflects accords with women's and children's realities of the abuse they are exposed to. Some of the old problems continue to exist despite the law changes. There are still recent cases where perpetrators of serious violence are awarded unsupervised access and where their violence continues to be construed as “out of character,” arising because of the perpetrator's “despair” about the breakdown of his relationship. These and other issues are discussed.     

Social Services Workers and Workplace Violence

Researchers and workplace violence experts have cited risk factors that theoretically increase the likelihood that individuals will experience workplace violence. Those include working alone, contact with the public, traveling to dangerous areas, as well as other factors. By the very nature of what social services workers do, many encounter these risk factors on a regular basis. Using national data, trends in workplace violence experienced by social services workers are examined, and comparisons are made between the rates of workplace violence among similar workgroups. Results suggest that social services workers are nearly six times more likely than other workers to experience workplace violence. In the discussion, attention is given to strategies to prevent violence against social services workers.     

Women Experiencing Psychological Abuse: Are They a Homogenous Group?

Dichotomizing women as “abused” versus “not abused” assumes that any psychological maltreatment results in similar outcomes. A national sample of women in conflictual relationships completed an online survey. Women with no incidence (N = 33), the lowest quartile (N = 86), and the top quartile (N = 81) of psychological maltreatment demonstrated significant differences in reactions to the maltreatment, mental health indicators, personality variables, perceived harm, problematic relationship schemas, and response styles. Women with no psychological abuse and women in the lowest quartile produced similar scores that were typically distinct from the top-quartile women. Effective treatment of women with lower amounts of psychological abuse might not require a unique intervention likely necessary for women experiencing much psychological abuse.     

Caring for Carers in the Aftermath of Trauma

The potential impact on psychological well-being of working in the caring professions in the aftermath of trauma and disaster has been recognized for many years, with terms such as burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious traumatization coined to describe stress-related conditions. Although prevalent, these conditions do not affect all workers in the field. Various studies have investigated potential risk and protective factors. It is argued that the outcomes of this research should be used to guide practical interventions in the workplace designed to minimize stress-related problems. A framework that incorporates interventions at the primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention levels is outlined, and research investigating the efficacy of interventions at each of these levels is recommended.     

Child Homicide in the City of Los Angeles

SUMMARY

Homicide is the only leading cause of child death which has increased in rank in the past 30 years. This investigation describes the deaths of 0-14 year olds which were classified as homicides by the Los Angeles Police Department from 1980 to 1989. Special focus is given to suspect-to-victim relationship and victim race/ethnicity because of their relevance to prevention and program planning. Family members were suspects in 49.8% of the cases (mother, 14.5%; father, 13.6%; mother's paramour, 8.5%; male and female caretaker, 11.1%; other family members, 2.1%). Few differences emerged among the Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White child victims. Non-Hispanic White victims had the highest proportion (67.7%) and Hispanic victims had the lowest proportion (42.7%) of within-family suspects. Prevention implications include the need to focus on the actions of male caregivers and the observation that the substance and content of prevention programs (e.g., an emphasis on reducing blunt force trauma to young children) can be consistent across race/ethnic groups.     

Adult age differences in subjective and objective measures of strategy use on a sequentially cued prediction task

Differences in strategy use are thought to underlie age-related performance deficits on many learning and decision-making tasks. Recently, age-related differences in learning to make predictions were reported on the Triplets Prediction Task (TPT). Notably, deficits appeared early in training and continued with experience. To assess if age differences were due to early strategy use, neural networks were used to objectively assess the strategies implemented by participants during Session 1. Then, the relationship between these strategies and performance was examined. Results revealed that older adults were more likely to implement a disadvantageous strategy early in learning, and this led to poorer task performance. Importantly, the relationship between age and task performance was partially mediated by early strategy use, suggesting that early strategy selection played a role in the lower quality of predictions in older adults.