Myopic biases in competitions

In three studies using both laboratory and field data, we show that the focal competitor’s strengths and weaknesses feature more prominently in predictions of the outcomes of future competitions than do the strengths and weaknesses of the opponents. People are more confident when their own side is strong, regardless of how strong the competition is. We show that this effect is driven by the fact that people have better information about their own side than the other side, in part because they preferentially seek out information about their own side. Implications for theories of decision making in competitive settings are discussed.     

超声心动图与心血管造影X线引导下先心病介入封堵治疗的比较

目前先天性心脏病介入治疗已成为介入心脏病学的新热点,而先心病介入治疗离不开影像学引导,目前临床上常用的影像学引导方式主要有超声心动图和心血管造影两种,本文针对两者优缺点,从治疗方式、疗效、费用等方面进行比较,为临床治疗思路提供借鉴。     

儿童早期测量能力的发展

测量能力是儿童早期数学认知能力的一个重要方面,其中直接比较和非标准测量能力作为儿童早期测量能力发展的主要形式,在一定程度上代表着儿童早期测量能力的发展。本研究对92名3岁儿童的测量能力进行了为期一年的追踪研究,结果发现:(1)在3~4岁期间,儿童直接比较测量能力和非标准测量能力均得到显著发展,但直接比较测量能力的水平提高得更快;(2)儿童直接比较测量能力的年龄主效应、任务主效应以及年龄和任务的交互效应显著;(3)儿童非标准测量能力的年龄主效应和任务主效应均达到显著水平,非标准测量单位应用能力的水平显著高于非标准测量单位形成能力的水平。     

计数与匹配:5~6岁儿童量比较策略的发展特点

选取56名5~6岁儿童,采用计算机呈现刺激的方式,实现了刺激的动态呈现来模拟策略的使用过程,并通过对于被试正确率和反应时的考察确定了每一名被试使用计数和匹配策略进行量比较的特点。结果表明:(1)与计数策略相比,儿童对于匹配策略的掌握更加成熟,5岁和5岁半组被试使用匹配策略解决量比较问题的正确率更高;(2)在已经掌握计数和匹配两种策略的情况下,仍有一部分儿童更倾向于使用匹配策略来解决量比较问题。     

Effects of intergroup upward comparison, trait self-esteem, and identity shift on state self-esteem and affect in upward comparison with in-group members

The present study investigated factors that protect people low in trait self-esteem (Low-SEs), who may be less skilled at constructing information in self-enhancing manners, from threats after interpersonal upward comparison with in-group members. We hypothesized that even Low-SEs can maintain their state self-esteem under intergroup upward comparison. Furthermore, this study explored the possibility that individuals used identity-shift, a strategy to maintain their personal identity, even in an intergroup upward comparison condition. The results of a quasi-experiment supported these hypotheses. We further explored the possibility that individuals might use a twofold strategy to protect/enhance their self-esteem based on an interplay of personal and social identity.     

Biotechnology in the Japanese media: Comparative analysis of newspaper articles on genetic engineering in Japan and Europe

The present study examined how the representations of biotechnology using genetic engineering have been developed in Japan relying on media analysis. Specifically, using the online database of the Asahi Shimbun , one of the major opinion-forming newspapers in Japan, the annual numbers of articles concerning biotechnology were tallied from 1985 to 2000, and an analysis was conducted of the content of 850 articles from 10 particular years. Specifically, a framework in which a biotechnological issue was presented was focused on; the changes of dominant frames and the relationships between frames and specific biotechnological applications (e.g. medicine, agrifood and cloning) were investigated. The results showed that: (i) the number of articles increased sharply in particular since 1996–1997; (ii) although general attitudes toward biotechnology were persistently positive, a frame of biotechnological article became more diverse (i.e. the prospect frames were considerably dominant in the earlier phases, but the concern frames also became prominent in the later phases); and (iii) several articles were found which reported cloned animals in a frame of emotional attachment, a frame unique to Japan. These results were compared with those of European countries and discussed from a perspective of the theory of collective symbolic coping.     

Not so above average after all: When people believe they are worse than average and its implications for theories of bias in social comparison

Recent research calls into question the generally accepted conclusion that people believe themselves to be better than average. This paper reviews the new theories that have been proposed to explain the fact that better-than-average effects are isolated to common behaviors and abilities, and that people believe themselves to be below average with respect to rare behaviors and uncommon abilities. These new theories are then used to revisit prior findings of better-than-average effects. When viewed in light of recent work, the evidence suggests that prior findings overstated the degree to which people engage in self-enhancement by believing that they are better than others when in fact they are not. Prior studies have often confounded desirability with commonness and have used subjective measures of comparative judgment that capitalize on people’s tendency to conflate relative with absolute self-evaluation.     

Antecedents and consequences of the frequency of upward and downward social comparisons at work

The current paper examines the dispositional and situational antecedents, as well as the attitudinal and behavioral consequences, of the frequency of upward and downward social comparisons. We predicted social comparison frequency would be influenced by uncertainty-related antecedents, and that social comparisons in organizations would be characterized by contrast, not assimilation, effects. A large and occupationally diverse sample of 991 employed adults was surveyed at three separate points in time over a 12–16 week period. Our results, based on structural equation modeling, indicated that (a) role ambiguity, task autonomy, and core self-evaluations were significant predictors of upward social comparison, (b) upward social comparison was significantly negatively related to job satisfaction and affective commitment, (c) downward social comparison was significantly positively related to job satisfaction and affective commitment, and (d) upward and downward social comparisons had significant positive and negative indirect effects on the frequency of job search behaviors, respectively. The findings are discussed in terms of their general implications for understanding the importance of directional social comparison processes in organizational settings.     

Semiotic transformations in psychoanalysis with infants and adults

The author addresses issues that emerge when we compare psychoanalytic experiences with adults and with infants. Two analyses-one with a 35 year-old woman and one with a 2 week-old boy and his mother-illustrate that infant psychoanalytic experiences help us understand and handle adult transference. However, we cannot extrapolate infant experiences to adult work. Truly, witnessing the baby's communication widens our sensitivity to non-verbal layers of the adult's communication. Infant work also offers a direct encounter with the container and the contained personified by a mother with her baby. But we need to conceptualize carefully the links between clinical experiences with babies and adults. When we call an adult transference pattern 'infantile', we imply that primeval experience has been transformed into present behaviour. However, if we view the analytical situation as one in which infantile invariants have transformed into adult symptoms, we face the impossible task of indicating the roots of the present symptoms. The author rather suggests that what is transformed is not an invariant infantile essence but signs denoting the patient's inner reality. He proposes we define transformation as a semiotic process instead of building it on an essentialist grounding. If we view the analytic situation as a map of signs that we translate during our psychoanalytic work, we can proceed into defining containment as a semiotic process. This idea will be linked with a conceptualization of the mother-infant relation in semiotic terms.     

巴西医疗保障体系

从巴西医疗保障体系的建立、资金筹集和使用等方面介绍巴西医疗保障体系,重点关注巴西全民统一医疗制度。鉴于巴西与我国在卫生系统绩效和医疗保障制度改革中所面临的相似挑战,试图通过对巴西医疗保障体系比较详细地介绍及与我国进行简单的对比,总结成功经验、吸取教训为我国建立全民覆盖的医疗保障体系提供借鉴和参考。