Experimental analysis of preschool playmate preferences as a function of smiles and sex

Differential emotions theory (DET) (The face of emotion. Appleton‐Century‐Crofts: East Norwalk, CT, 1971) posits that the smile functions in part to communicate and/or reflect social affiliation and plays an important role in children's social development. While children's positive emotion expressions have received attention from peer relations researchers in observational studies and within correlational designs, there is almost no experimental evidence for the impact of the smile. Building on existing studies, the present study examined DET predictions within an experimental design. More specifically, we examined the impact smiles have on lower‐income preschool children's nominations for preferred playmates. Both boys and girls tended to nominate unfamiliar playmates who smiled. Additionally, some evidence suggested that preference for smiling playmates seemed more critical to girls' than boys' social functioning. Unlike among boys, teachers rated girls who exhibited a greater preference for smiling playmates as higher in social competence. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Who shapes the self of independents and interdependents? Explicit and implicit measures of the self's relatedness to family,friends and partner

We suggest that social relationships shape the self in different ways, depending on whether persons define themselves as independent or interdependent. While the self of independents is most strongly associated with mental representations of others to whom they are related because of their own deliberate action (e.g. friends), the self of interdependents is most strongly connected with representations of others with whom they share allocated group memberships (e.g. family members). We took both explicit (Study 1) and implicit measures (Studies 2, 3 and 4) on how strongly independent and interdependent selves are associated with self‐chosen versus allocated close others. In Studies 3 and 4, we additionally primed the independent or interdependent self. Both explicit and implicit measures indicated that mental representations of family members were more strongly associated with the interdependent self than with the independent self, while romantic partners and friends were connected with both the independent and interdependent self. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implicit Cognition and Addiction

ABSTRACT— Extensive recent research has begun to unravel the more implicit or automatic cognitive mechanisms in addiction. This effort has increased our understanding of some of the perplexing characteristics of addictive behaviors. The problem, often, is not that substance abusers do not understand that the disadvantages of continued use outweigh the advantages; rather, they have difficulty resisting their automatically triggered impulses to use their substance of abuse. Existing interventions may help to moderate these impulses. In addition, new techniques aimed at directly modifying implicit cognitive processes in substance abuse are being developed.     

Support for exclusionism as an independent dimension of social dominance orientation in mainland China

Three studies using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses provided consistent evidence for a three-factor model of the social dominance orientation (SDO) in Mainland China. Support for exclusionism, which was not found in previous research, emerged as an independent SDO factor (Studies 1, 2, and 3). In Study 2, this factor predicted SDO difference between a high status group (managers) and a low status group (entry-level employees). In Study 3, this factor correlated positively with authoritarianism and negatively with altruism. These results provided evidence for the validity of this new SDO factor. The findings are discussed in terms of their relations to China's cultural tradition and contemporary economic development.     

自尊结构的压力调节作用研究

内隐自尊和外显自尊是自尊的两种不同元素,自尊结构指的是外显自尊和内隐自尊在个体身上的不同结合形式。本研究探讨了自尊结构对个体压力的调节作用。研究发现:个体的高内隐自尊/外显自尊结构表现出对压力性生活事件的调节作用,高外显自尊/低内隐自尊、低外显自尊/高内隐自尊、低外显/内隐自尊个体没有表现出压力的调节效应。研究最后探讨了自尊结构研究的可能发展方向。     

智障儿童和正常儿童外显记忆与内隐记忆的比较研究

本实验采取加工分离程序(PDP)对38名弱智儿童的外显记忆与内隐记忆进行研究,并与47名正常儿童进行比较,结果认为:(1)正常儿童外显记忆明显优于弱智儿童,但在内隐记忆方面,正常儿童与弱智儿童没有显著差异;(2)本实验中,年龄对内隐记忆和外显记忆均没有影响。研究结果对弱智儿童的教育方面有启示作用;另外,PDP实验由于其本身的复杂性,在对特殊人群进行施测时,需要特别注意。     

4岁幼儿线条偏好实验研究

本研究采用对偶比较法,对4岁幼儿进行6类常见线条的偏好调查研究,得出以下结果:4岁幼儿线条偏好的顺序依次是:漩涡线、曲线、弧形线、波浪线、折线、直线;男生和女生对线条的偏好没有明显差异;4岁幼儿对不同方向的漩涡线的偏好有明显差异,对不同方向的直线、波浪线、折线、曲线和弧形线的偏好没有明显差异。     

想象对大学生内隐刻板印象的影响研究

通过对大学生在三种想象条件下性别-职业刻板印象的IAT的结果的对比进行实验。研究表明:反刻板印象想象策略的干预效果明显,刻板印象的内隐效应在明显地减弱;即使是大学生,在性别-职业刻板印象上也存在内隐效应,而且没有性别差异;内隐刻板印象具有一定的适应性,在内隐的和无意识的水平上反刻板印象想象无法完全消除刻板印象。     

儿童同伴关系对孤独感的影响

以571名小学三、四、五、六年级的儿童为被试,考察了儿童社会喜好、友谊质量、消极退缩、社交自我知觉与孤独感的关系,检验了不同水平同伴关系变量对孤独感的影响。结果表明,儿童的同伴关系(同伴接纳、友谊质量、社交自我知觉)能显著预测其孤独感体验,其中,处于同伴关系个体水平的社交自我知觉对孤独感的预测作用最大,其次分别为双向关系水平的友谊质量和群体接纳水平的同伴接纳,而处于人际交互水平的消极退缩在控制了其他水平同伴关系变量的影响下,并不能显著预测其孤独感体验。