The mediating effects of time structure on the relationships between time management behaviour,job satisfaction,and psychological well‐being

This article examined the relationship between time structure and Macan's process model of time management. This study proposed that time structure—‘appraisal of effective time usage’—would be a more parsimonious mediator than perceived control over time in the relationship between time management behaviours and outcome variables, such as job satisfaction and psychological well‐being. Alternative structure models were compared using a sample of 111 university students. Model 1 tested Macan's process model of time management with perceived control over time as the mediator. Model 2 replaced perceived control over time by the construct of time structure. Model 3 examined the possibility of perceived control over time and time structure as being parallel mediators of the relationships between time management and outcomes. Results of this study showed that Model 1 and Model 2 fitted the data equally well. On the other hand, the mediated effects were small and partial in both models. This pattern of results calls for reassessment of the process model.     

Effects of listening to music, and of using a handheld and handsfree telephone on cycling behaviour

The effects of listening to music on cycling behaviour were evaluated. Twenty-five participants completed a track on a bicycle while listening to music with two standard earbuds, with one earbud, and with two in-earbuds. Conditions with high tempo music and loud volume were also included in the experiment, as were two mobile phone conditions, one in which participants operated the phone hand held and one handsfree condition.Cycle speed was not affected by listening to music, but was reduced in the telephone conditions. In general the response to auditory signals worsened when participants listened to music, in particular when listening with in-earbuds loud auditory stop signals were missed in 68% of the cases. However, when listening with only one standard earbud performance was not affected. In the conditions when participants listened to high volume and to high tempo music, the auditory stop signal was also heard in significantly fewer cases. Completing a task on the mobile phone, using both handheld and handsfree sets, resulted in increased response time to an auditory stop signal and also reduced overall auditory perception. Furthermore, handsfree operation only had minor advantages opposed to hand held operation, with only response time to an auditory stop signal resulting in faster performance. This is likely to be related to the fact that both hands could be used for braking.It is concluded that listening to music worsens auditory perception, in particular if in-earbuds are used. Furthermore, both handheld and handsfree operation of mobile phones has a negative effect on perception, potentially forming a threat to cyclist traffic safety.     

Role of face‐to‐face and computer‐mediated communication time in the cohesion and performance of mixed‐mode groups

Although the rapid development of information technology has led to the increasing use of computer‐mediated communication (CMC), few studies have examined the relational aspect of mixed‐mode groups that use both face‐to‐face (FTF) communication and CMC. A field study comprising 42 student groups was conducted to assess the relationships among communication time, cohesion, and performance in mixed‐mode groups. The findings suggest that time spent in FTF communication significantly predicted group social cohesion, but time spent in CMC did not. In contrast, group task cohesion was predicted by time spent in CMC but not by time spent in FTF communication. Time spent in CMC was also a strong predictor of group task performance. These results suggest that FTF communication contributes to the social aspect of mixed‐mode groups and that CMC is beneficial to their task‐related aspect. The findings of mediation analyses showed a significant indirect effect among time spent in FTF communication, group social cohesion, and group contextual performance. In other words, time spent in FTF communication had a positive effect on group social cohesion, which in turn positively affected group contextual performance. However, no mediating effect was found among time spent in CMC, group task cohesion, and group task performance. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

中国文化价值观和未来时间取向对幸福感的影响

幸福感是个体根据自定的标准对其生活质量的整体性评估。本研究探讨了中国文化价值观对大学生幸福感的影响,并揭示了时间取向在中国文化价值观和幸福感间的中介作用。结果表明,中国文化价值观可分为刻苦上进、自然知足、重视家庭、谦逊克己、团结和谐、正义利他、服从权威和中庸守序等八个维度;自然知足、正义利他和谦逊克己与幸福感显著正相关,并通过未来取向的中介作用影响幸福感体验。     

Learning times for large lexicons through cross-situational learning

Cross-situational learning is a mechanism for learning the meaning of words across multiple exposures, despite exposure-by-exposure uncertainty as to a word's true meaning. Doubts have been expressed regarding the plausibility of cross-situational learning as a mechanism for learning human-scale lexicons in reasonable timescales under the levels of referential uncertainty likely to confront real word learners. We demonstrate mathematically that cross-situational learning facilitates the acquisition of large vocabularies despite significant levels of referential uncertainty at each exposure, and we provide estimates of lexicon learning times for several cross-situational learning strategies. This model suggests that cross-situational word learning cannot be ruled out on the basis that it predicts unreasonably long lexicon learning times. More generally, these results indicate that there is no necessary link between the ability to learn individual words rapidly and the capacity to acquire a large lexicon.     

汉语双字合成词口语产生的词素信息编码

用图–词干扰范式探讨了汉语双字合成词口语产生中构成词素的正字法、语音、语义信息激活的特点,共三个实验。结果表明汉语双字合成词的口语产生中,词素的语音、正字法信息可以促进词汇的口语产生,而词素语义信息的作用不显著,说明合成词口语产生的编码单元为"音节+音调",词素的正字法也在编码中起到一定作用。这些信息激活不受词素位置的影响,首、次词素在双字合成词口语产生中地位相当。词素正字法先于语音信息激活,在SOA为?200ms就有出现;语音信息则稍晚,在SOA为100ms时才出现激活。     

Outcome of aggression affects processing and can legitimise subsequent aggression: Influence of trait aggressiveness

The present study investigated differences in processing times between positive and negative outcomes to an aggressive reaction to provocation. The effects of outcome, sex, trait aggressiveness and current mood on subsequent subject‐generated material were also examined. Fifty subjects read stories line by line on a computer screen. Reading time for the key sentence describing a positive or negative outcome to an aggressive reaction to provocation was recorded and subjects wrote a continuing sentence to half the stories. Subjects took less time to process the negative outcome. The positive outcome resulted in more subject‐generated aggression than the negative outcome. There were few sex differences but men wrote more aggressive endings than women for the stories containing physical aggression. Trait aggressiveness was correlated with producing more aggressive content in the continuing sentence for both outcomes. Feeling peaceful was correlated with producing prosocial material to neutral stories. Subjects therefore expect a negative outcome to aggressive behaviour. Reading stories which present a positive outcome to aggression increases the accessibility of aggressive cognitions. Subjects high in trait aggressiveness are not inhibited by a negative outcome. Aggr. Behav. 30:284–297, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Magnitude of trauma and personality change

In this paper the author postulates that, in post-traumatic personality structures caused by overwhelming traumatic experiences, pre-traumatic personality features and childhood experiences are of little or no relevance. Sixty-four survivors of Nazi concentration camps are examined, their concentration camp experiences detailed and pre-persecution histories and post-persecution psychopathology studied. The significance of a concentration camp experience is analytically discussed and evaluated. This study shows that 52 cases (81.2%) of the 64 survivors of concentration camps presented an almost identical depressive personality structure irrespective of their prepersecution life history. The 64 survivors of concentration camps are psychologically compared to 78 cases of people who, in view of the menacing circumstances, decided to emigrate and in this way were spared from becoming victims of the Nazi 'final solution'. Finally, the author discusses the value of psychoanalytical treatment.     

An extension of the exemplar-based random-walk model to separable-dimension stimuli

An extension of Nosofsky and Palmeri's (Psychol. Rev. 104 (1997a) 266) exemplar-based random-walk (EBRW) model of categorization is presented as a model of the time course of categorization of separable-dimension stimuli. Nosofsky and Palmeri (1997a) assumed that the perceptual encoding of all stimuli was identical. However, in the current model, we assume as in Lamberts (J. Exp. Psychol.: General 124 (1995) 161) that the inclusion of individual stimulus dimensions into the similarity calculations is a stochastic process with the probability of inclusion based on the perceptual salience of the dimensions. Thus, the exemplars that enter into the random-walk change dynamically during the time course of processing. This model is implemented as a Markov chain. Its predictions are compared with alternative models in a speeded categorization experiment with separable-dimension stimuli.