The Implicit Life Satisfaction Measure

The Implicit Association Test, developed by Greenwald and colleagues in 1998, was adapted to measure satisfaction with life by assessing the strength of automatic associations of My life with Good- versus Bad-related words. A series of studies explored some psychometric as well as methodological properties of the Implicit Life Satisfaction measure (ILS). The ILS demonstrated good internal consistency and moderate temporal stability. Studies revealed that: (i) the type of stimuli used for target and attribute categories influences the magnitude of the ILS effect; (ii) participants could voluntarily suppress their satisfaction with life on the ILS, but not enhance it; and (iii) handedness of categories did not affect the participants' performance on the ILS. Overall, the ILS measures are: (i) independent of traditional life satisfaction self-report measures; and (ii) positive for most people.     

Distinguishing novelty and familiarity effects in infant preference procedures

This paper considers possible problems researchers might face when interpreting the results of studies that employ variants of the preference procedure. Infants show a tendency to shift their preference from familiar to novel stimuli with increasing exposure to the familiar stimulus, a behaviour that is exploited by the habituation paradigm. This change in attentional preference with exposure leads us to suggest that researchers interested in infants' pre‐experimental or spontaneous preferences should beware of the potentially confounding effects of exposing infants to familiarization trials prior to employing the preference procedure. The notion that infant attentional preference is dynamic also calls into question the use of the direction of post‐familiarization preference per se when interpreting the knowledge or strategies available to infants. We look into the results of a cross‐modal word learning study to show how the interpretation of results may be difficult when infants exhibit a significant preference in an unexpected direction. As a possible solution to this problem we propose that significant preferences in both directions should be sought at multiple intervals over time. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

内隐学习和无觉察知觉辨析

在无意识研究的热潮中,无觉察知觉、内隐学习相继得到很大发展。这两种认知过程都涉及到无意识加工,相互之间有非常密切的联系。本文介绍了这两种无意识加工过程,并对其联系、区别进行了辨析。     

社会科学概念形成过程中外显与内隐学习的比较研究

以真实的社会科学概念为假设检验模型,研究中学生的社会科学概念形成过程及其中的外显和内隐学习。结果表明中学生社会科学概念形成是一个渐进的过程,内隐学习和外显学习的趋势和效率无显著差异。本研究未发现明显的高原期和突变期。     

对特质起源信念的研究

特质起源信念研究是近年来内隐特质信念研究的新热点。本研究选取216名被试(5岁、7岁、9岁、13岁、19岁、65岁组各36名)为样本．采用“出生时意外互换”故事法探查其特质起源信念(天性信念或教养信念)发展。结果表明：(1)特质类型方面,心理特质被认为比混合特质和生理特质更多受教养影响。(2)特质性质方面,消极特质被认为比积极特质更多受教养影响。(3)特质起源信念年龄差异显著,7—8岁是重要过渡期。     

The addition of saccharin to taste cues affects taste preference conditioning in thirsty rats

Previous failures to condition preferences for the unacceptable taste cues sucrose octaacetate (SOA) and citric acid (CA) using a reverse-order, differential conditioning procedure (Forestell & LoLordo, 2000) may have been the result of low consumption of the taste cues in training or of their relatively low acceptability to rats that are thirsty and hungry. In the present study, rats that were thirsty but not hungry readily consumed the SOA and CA conditioned stimulus solutions in training. In test, stronger preferences were displayed for CS+ if the taste cues had been mixed in water (i.e., for the previously unacceptable taste cues) than if they had been made more acceptable by the addition of saccharin in training and test. In Experiment 2, again with rats that were thirsty but not hungry, stronger preferences for CS+ were observed when taste cues were presented in water in the test than when they were presented in saccharin. Addition of saccharin to the taste cues in test eliminated the preference for CS+.     

The effects of presentation time on preference for curvature of real objects and meaningless novel patterns

Objects with curved contours are generally preferred to sharp‐angled ones. In this study, we aim to determine whether different presentation times influence this preference. We used images of real objects (experiment 1) and meaningless novel patterns (experiment 2). Participants had to select one of two images from a contour pair, curved and sharp‐angled versions of the same object/pattern. With real objects, the preference for curved versions was greatest when presented for 84 ms, and it faded when participants were given unlimited viewing time. Curved meaningless patterns were preferred when presented for 84 and 150 ms. However, in contrast to real objects, preference for meaningless patterns increased significantly in the unlimited viewing time condition. Participants discriminated poorly between the two versions (curved and sharp‐angled) of the meaningless patterns in the 84‐ and 150‐ms presentations (experiment 3). Therefore, in short times with meaningless patterns, participants selected mostly the curved version without being aware of the difference. In conclusion, presentation time, type of stimulus, and their interaction influence preference for curvature.     

Psychological Essentialism at the Explicit and Implicit Levels: The Unique Status of Social Categories

Psychological essentialism refers to a naive theory concerning fundamental elements that bring a category into its existence. The present study examined the structure of this lay theory as well as its implicitness, with a special focus on social categories. In Study 1, Japanese college students rated a number of categories that were natural‐kind, social, or human artifacts, in terms of different elements of essentialist beliefs. A factor analysis revealed that entitativity and naturalness are the common underlying dimensions across these category domains. We also identified some natural‐kind and human artifact categories that can be used as two extreme referent points for the examination of naturalness perceived in a whole array of social categories. Study 2 assessed implicit and automatic judgments on naturalness using a go/no‐go task, and compared them to explicit judgments. Unlike natural kinds and artifacts, social categories were essentialized to a greater extent at the implicit level. These results suggest a dual process of intuitive and deliberate cognition, particularly involving social categories, with implications concerning the bases of stereotypes and prejudices.     

Trait‐Related Concepts Activate Stereotypically Consistent Concepts on the Same Stereotype Dimension,But May not Spread to the Other Stereotype Dimension

Applying the stereotype‐content model, which categorizes stereotypes into two dimensions (warmth and competence), we investigated whether gender‐stereotype‐related concepts activate other concepts on the same dimension and concepts on the other dimension. To test this, we conducted two experiments, both based on the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm. In Experiment 1, we conceptually replicated the results of previous research, which revealed that when trait‐related words are presented to participants, gender‐stereotype‐related concepts induce the later false recognition of stereotypically consistent non‐presented words. Then, in Experiment 2, we revealed that exposure to gender‐stereotype‐related concepts induces the false recognition of non‐presented words relevant to stereotypical concepts on the same dimension, but not those on the other dimension. We conclude by discussing the underlying process of ambivalent stereotype activations, referring to implicit processes and system justification.     

The Indirect Effect of Teachers’ Creative Mindsets on Teaching Creativity

Understanding how teachers’ implicit beliefs promote and inhibit students’ creativity has important implications for fostering creativity in the classroom. This study investigated whether the effect of teachers’ fixed creative mindset on their self‐efficacy for teaching creativity was mediated by their perceptions of students’ potential and the degree to which this indirect effect varied by level of growth creative mindset. A sample of educators (N = 119) completed an online survey containing questions regarding creative mindsets, perceptions of students’ potential, self‐efficacy for teaching creativity, and a set of relevant covariates. A moderated mediation analysis indicated that the more teachers believed creativity to be innate, the less teachers tended to perceive every student to possess creative potential. Consequently, teachers’ confidence in their ability to teach for creativity was diminished. Results from the corresponding tests of simple indirect effects indicated that this negative indirect effect of a fixed creative mindset was lessened by teachers’ growth creative mindset. Taken together, the findings suggest the likely significant role of teachers’ fixed and growth creative mindsets for fostering creativity in classroom.