Indecisiveness and response to risk in deciding when to decide

When making decisions, people must determine not only what to choose but also when to choose. Do individuals modulate behavior in response to potential risks associated with delay in determining when to choose? The present work provides evidence that at least one group of people—indecisive individuals—do not. Two process‐tracing studies simulated a 5‐day college‐course selection period in which new course alternatives appeared on each day. In a risk‐free condition, no risks were associated with delay of decision making over the days. In a risk condition, each day of delay was associated with a risk of loss of existing course alternatives. Unlike decisive individuals, who modulated days of deliberation in response to presence versus absence of risk, indecisive individuals did not. The results illustrate not that indecisive individuals show uniformly increased delay relative to others, but rather that their delay behavior may be more striking in its unresponsiveness to risk. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evolution and Two Popular Proposals for the Definition of Function

Summary  In the biological realm, a complete explanation of a trait seems to include an explanation in terms of function. It is natural to ask of some trait, “What is its function?” or “What purpose in the organism does the particular trait serve?” or “What is the goal of its activity?” There are several views concerning the appropriate definition of function for biological matters. Two popular views of function with respect to living things are Cummins’ organizational account and the Griffiths/Godfrey-Smith modern history account. Whereas Cummins argues that a trait functions so as to contribute to the general organization of some organism’s present structure, Griffiths, and Godfrey-Smith argue that a trait functions because of its fitness with respect to the organism’s recent evolutionary history. In this paper, I show how these accounts can be made compatible and compliment one another. Given that structure, organization, operational flexibility, function, and evolutionary history are all factors to be considered in an organism’s makeup, we should expect that the traits of an organism function the way they do because such traits presently contribute to the overall organization of the organism (Cummins) as well as were selected for in the organism’s species’ recent ancestry (Griffiths/Godfrey-Smith).     

Capturing the Naturally Occurring Superior Performance of Experts in the Laboratory: Toward a Science of Expert and Exceptional Performance

ABSTRACT— Expertise researchers have traditionally shied away from studying the highest levels of achievement in favor of studying basic cognitive processes, such as memory and categorization. In this article, we present a different approach that is focused on capturing superior (expert) performance on representative tasks that reveal the essential characteristics of expertise in a given domain. In domains where expert performance is measurable, acquisition is gradual and the highest levels are only attained after 10 years of intense preparation—even for the most "talented." Analyses of reproducibly superior performance show that it is mediated by physiological adaptations and cognitive skills acquired as a result of the cumulative effects of special practice activities (deliberate practice). It appears that the genes necessary to attain such adaptations and expert skills can be activated in healthy children—the only clear exceptions to date being genes that control body size and height. Our knowledge of how experts acquire their superior skills provides insights into the potential for human adaptation and skill acquisition and has important implications for theories of the structure of general and expert cognition, as well as for training interventions in applied psychology and education.     

医学专业精神及医疗保密：美国历史及现状中的冲突

讨论卫生部门宣传和加强强制汇报的法律的努力、强制性汇报的规定与医学专业精神及个人自主性之间的冲突、私人医生避免遵守这些规则的策略、病人和倡议者设法避免强制性登记和检测的策略,以及医生/病人和公共卫生官员达成的妥协。最后对公共卫生政策提出建议,认识到强制性汇报存在的问题和卫生政策透明度的重要性。     

Social neuroscience of child and adolescent depression

The social neuroscience of child and adolescent depression is inherently multidisciplinary. Depressive disorders beginning early in life can have serious developmental and functional consequences. Psychopathology research has described depression's defining clinical and contextual features, and intervention research has characterized its response to treatment and prevention programs. Neuroendocrine, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging studies have identified core neurobiological aspects of early-onset mood disorders. These areas are reviewed using a developmental social neuroscience perspective for integrating disparate observations. The paper introduces a dynamic adaptive systems framework, and it discusses hedonic capacity, stress sensitivity, ruminative self-focus, and attentional impairments as fundamental components of mood disorders.     

智商常态人群的智力个体差异研究述评

智力功能个体差异星正态分布有不同观点：g因素决定特殊能力分化程度差异论、因素搭配差异论;单一认知机能、认知机能系统中的一个或者几个认知机能缺陷影响智力功能差异论;认知发展理论的要素功能大小和要素关联关系强弱、结构差异论;文化活动结构差异和遗传进化的神经效率差异论;神经活动特性水平和神经活动区域效率差异、人格中介情景任务和人     

流动儿童社会适应的研究:现状、问题及解决办法

参照国外关于移民儿童社会适应研究的现状,对国内流动儿童社会适应的研究现状进行了回顾,指出了国内该研究领域存在的几个不足:(1)评估指标不全面;(2)评估存在缺陷取向;(3)忽视个体差异的问题;(4)研究设计与社会适应的过程理论相背离;(5)教育安置方式对流动儿童社会适应的影响未得到应有的重视。最后提出了解决以上问题的办法。     

自我建构理论的发展与评价

出现于20世纪90年代初的自我建构理论是自我图式理论的一个分支,致力于从个体看待自我和他人关系的角度探讨个体自我表征的构成。本文回顾了该领域从"独立型与依存型自我建构理论"到"三重自我建构理论"的发展脉络,较为详细地介绍了这两种理论的基本观点以及不同研究者围绕三重自我建构相互间关系所进行的争论。最后,本文从个体自我表征系统的结构、关系自我与集体自我的内涵以及三重自我建构之间关系的角度提出了后续研究的方向。     

自尊和心理控制源对留守儿童社会适应的影响研究

本研究以积极心理学理论为依据,采用量表法,对农村留守儿童和非留守儿童进行了比较研究。结果表明:留守儿童和非留守儿童在自尊、心理控制源以及社会适应性上都存在着显著性差异。在该研究结果上,深入分析了高自尊和内控归因这两种积极心理品质作为心理弹性的保护性因子对留守儿童社会适应性所发挥的作用。     

中国青少年心理健康素质·适应状况的研究

应用《青少年心理健康素质调查表·适应分量表》,对全国23个省、市、自治区44063名青少年的适应状况进行了调查。结果发现：（1）青少年的适应状况处于较好的水平。（2）青少年适应及情绪适应、学习适应、人际适应、社会适应和生活适应等各维度得分在小学五年级较高,从初中阶段开始呈下降趋势,高中阶段继续下降,到大学阶段又逐渐回升。生理适应维度得分在小学五年级、初中和高中阶段较高,大学阶段下降至最低。