选择、自我表达与选择扩散效应

自我表达会影响西方人的态度, 产生选择扩散效应。国外相关的跨文化研究发现东方人不存在该效应。通过4个实验研究中国文化下自我表达对选择态度的影响, 发现选择方式(主动、被动)和自我表达形式(直接、间接)对选择态度产生影响。无论是自己的主动选择还是强加的被动选择, 直接的自我表达会增加对所获对象的喜爱程度, 表现为对获得性的肯定。研究者认为, 两种选择方式下不同的心理加工过程导致了这种获得性：直接表达使个人态度暴露在外, 进行主动选择时要对他人的给予做出肯定回应; 而进行被动选择时, 人们要减缓因利益受损可能导致的失调, 同时中国文化下的面子策略也使人们增加对所获对象的喜爱程度。不过, 间接的自我表达对选择态度的影响不明显。研究者认为, 多个影响因素的相互消长使选择态度得以维持。     

Manual exploration of objects is related to 7-month-old infants’ visual preference for real objects

The present study examined whether infants’ visual preferences for real objects and pictures are related to their manual object exploration skills. Fifty-nine 7-month-old infants were tested in a preferential looking task with a real object and its pictorial counterpart. All of the infants also participated in a manual object exploration task, in which they freely explored five toy blocks. Results revealed a significant positive relationship between infants’ haptic scan levels in the manual object exploration task and their gaze behavior in the preferential looking task: The higher infants’ haptic scan levels, the longer they looked at real objects compared to pictures. Our findings suggest that the specific exploratory action of haptically scanning an object is associated with infants’ visual preference for real objects over pictures.     

The Characteristic Objects Method: A New Distance‐based Approach to Multicriteria Decision‐making Problems

Multicriteria decision‐making (MCDM) methods are concerned with the ranking of alternatives based on expert judgements made using a number of criteria. In the MCDM field, the distance‐based approach is one popular method for obtaining a final ranking. The technique for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) is a commonly used example of this kind of MCDM method. The TOPSIS ranks the alternatives with respect to their geometric distance from the positive and negative ideal solutions. Unfortunately, two reference points are often insufficient, especially for nonlinear problems. As a consequence of this situation, the final result ranking is prone to errors, including the rank reversals phenomenon. This study proposes a new distance‐based MCDM method: the characteristic objects method. In this approach, the preferences of each alternative are obtained on the basis of the distance from the nearest characteristic objects and their values. For this purpose, we have determined the domain and Fuzzy number set for all the considered criteria. The characteristic objects are obtained as the combination of the crisp values of all the Fuzzy numbers. The preference values of all the characteristic object are determined on the basis of the tournament method and the principle of indifference. Finally, the Fuzzy model is constructed and is used to calculate preference values of the alternatives, making it a multicriteria model that is free of rank reversal. The numerical example is used to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method with respect to results from the TOPSIS method. The characteristic objects method results are more realistic than the TOPSIS results. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Appearance matters: Attentional orienting by new objects in the precueing paradigm

Five experiments examined whether the appearance of a new object is able to orient attention in the absence of an accompanying sensory transient. A variant of the precueing paradigm (Posner & Cohen, 1984 Posner, M. I. and Cohen, Y. 1984. “Components of attention”. In Attention and performance X, Edited by: Bouma, H. and Bouwhuis, D. G. 55–66. Hove, , UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltd.  [Google Scholar]) was employed in which the cue was the onset of a new object. Crucially, the new object's appearance was not associated with any unique sensory transient. This was achieved by using the variant “annulus” procedure recently developed by Franconeri, Hollingworth, and Simons (2005). Results showed that unless observers had an attentional set explicitly biased against onset, a validity effect was observed such that response times were shorter for targets occurring at the location of the new object relative to when targets occurred at the location of the “old” object. We conclude that new onsets do not need to be associated with a unique sensory transient in order to orient attention.     

Visually guided grasping of common objects: Effects of priming

Priming effects were tested on the planning of the grasping of common objects under full vision during action performance. Healthy participants took part in four experiments which manipulated the nature of the prime (objects, circular block, rectangular bar) and priming context (blocked vs. mixed). Each experiment relied on four priming conditions: (1) congruent orientation, (2) incongruent orientation, (3) neutral prime, and (4) no prime. Priming was observed to have a facilitating effect on visually guided grasping when the object to be grasped was primed by a congruently oriented identical object. This effect was rather independent of the priming context (experimental set-up). Our data suggest an object's functional identity may contribute to the priming effect, as well as its intrinsic (e.g., shape, size) and extrinsic (orientation) visual characteristics. We showed that the planning of visually guided grasping is influenced by prior visual experience, and thus that grasping is not based exclusively on real-time processing of visual information.     

‘Battling with the unlaid ghost’: psychotherapy with a child traumatised in infancy

This paper attempts to explore the nature and consequences of early trauma on the mental development of a 9-year-old boy I have called Luke. The traumatic event occurred within the context of a more chronic and ongoing trauma, which was due to the lack of receptive and containing parental figures. The combination of these two kinds of traumatic experiences had a destructive impact on the making of Luke's internal world and greatly disrupted the development of his capacity for thought. I will specifically refer to the theory of trauma and to Bion's theory of thinking in order to illustrate the crucial link between trauma and mental work and the complex challenge it brings. I will describe how, during the course of 2 years of intensive treatment, Luke gradually became able to restore his capacity for mental functioning, which made it possible for him to begin to think about and make sense of his extreme emotional experiences.

Dans cet article, l'auteur cherche à explorer la nature et les conséquences, pour le développement psychique d'un garçon de neuf ans qu'il appelle Luke, d'un traumatisme précoce. L'événement traumatique s'est produit dans le contexte d'une situation traumatique plus chronique et plus globale en raison de l'absence de figures parentales réceptives et contenantes. L'association de ces deux types de vécu traumatique, avec leur impact destructeur sur la construction du monde interne de Luke, a créé des perturbations majeures du développement de sa capacité à penser. L'auteur se réfère tout particulièrement à la théorie du traumatisme ainsi qu'à la théorie de l'activité de pensée de W. R. Bion afin d'illustrer le lien fondamental qui existe entre traumatisme et travail psychique, ainsi que le défi complexe que ce travail doit confronter. L'auteur montre qu'au cours de deux années de traitement intensif Luke a progressivement retrouvé ses capacités de fonctionnement psychique, de sorte qu'il a pu commencer à réfléchir à ses vécus émotionnels insoutenables et réussir à y comprendre quelque chose.

Mots-clés: Traumatisme, “pare-excitation”, fonctionnement psychique, théorie de l'activité de pensée, fonction alpha, attaques contre l'activité de liaison

Riassunto: In questo articolo si cerca di esplorare la natura e le conseguenze del trauma precoce sullo sviluppo mentale di un bambino di nove anni che chiamerò Luca. L'evento traumatico accadde all'interno di un contesto di trauma pi[ugrave] cronico e duraturo dovuto all'assenza di figure parentali recettive e contenitive. La combinazione di questi due tipi di esperienze traumatiche ebbe un impatto distruttivo sul mondo interno di Luca e interferì enormemente con lo sviluppo della sua capacità di pensare. Farò principalmente riferimento alla teoria del trauma e alla teoria del pensiero di Bion per illustrare il legame particolare tra trauma e lavoro mentale e la complessa sfida che ne consegue. Descriverò come durante il lavoro intensivo di due anni, Luca divenne gradualmente capace di recuperare la sua capacità di funzionamento mentale che gli permise di incominciare a pensare e dare un senso alle sue esperienze emotive estreme.

Parole chiave: trauma, scudo protettivo, funzionamento mentale, teoria del pensiero, funzione alfa, attacco al legame

Der Artikel versucht, die Eigenschaften und Konsequenzen von frühem Trauma auf die psychische Entwicklung eines 9-jährigen Jungens, den ich Luke nenne, zu betrachten Das traumatische Ereignis passierte im Umfeld eines mehr chronischen und fortdauernden Traumas, wegen Mangel an rezeptiven und haltenden elterlichen Figuren. Die Kombination dieser zwei Arten von Trauma hatte eine destruktive Auswirkung auf das Entstehen von Lukes innerer Welt und störte erheblich die Entwicklung seiner Denkfähigkeit. Ich werden mich speziell auf Traumatheorie und auf Bion's Theorie des Denkens beziehen, um die entscheidende Verbindung zwischen Trauma und mentaler Arbeit und der komplexen Herausforderung, die das mit sich bringt, zu illustrieren. Ich werde beschreiben, wie Luke allmählich im Laufe einer zwei-jährigen intensiven Behandlung in der Lage war, seine Fähigkeit für mentales Funktionieren wiederherzustellen, was es ihm ermöglichte anzufangen, über seine extremen emotionalen Erfahrungen nachzudenken und Sinn herzustellen

Keywords: Trauma, Schutzschild, mentales Funktionieren, Theorie des Denkens, Alphafunktion, Angriffe auf Verbindungen     

Using optical illusions in the shoulder of a cycle path to affect lateral position

An important factor in single-sided accidents of older cyclists is that they ride off the cycle path onto the verge. Two experiments were performed to assess the feasibility of using virtual 3D objects in the verge to affect the lateral position of bicyclists. In the first experiment, different virtual objects were placed in the shoulder and 1150 passing bicyclists were observed using a fixed camera. The (standard deviation of the) lateral position and speed in four conditions with virtual objects differing in colour, structure, or 3D effect were compared with a control condition in which no virtual objects were applied. In a second experiment, the behaviour of 32 bicyclists aged 50 years or older was measured by mounting two digital action cameras with GPS on the participants’ bicycles. The participants cycled a route of approximately 12 km in which several locations were passed, one of these contained 15 virtual objects similar to the ones used in the first experiment placed in the shoulder of the cycle path. Cyclist behaviour was compared with behaviour at a control location consisting of a solitary two-way cycle path with a grass shoulder. Results indicate that the virtual objects in the tested format had little overall effect on cyclists’ behaviour. However, bicyclists were positioned closer to the virtual objects and the shoulder when they looked at the objects or when they reported that they saw them while cycling. This suggests that the overall visibility of the object design may have been too conservative.     

Rage and hatred in infants: conditions which facilitate development versus those which result in tragic delays or alarming distortions

The paper traces some possible trajectories of aggressive behaviour in children and adolescents. It distinguishes three contributing factors: 1. Disturbance or Disorder; 2. Deficit and Neglect; and 3. Deviance. Therapeutic technique may need adjusting depending on which factor is dominant at any moment. Two dimensions which seem to run through these categories are first, the question of which type of violence is occurring - that is, the motivation and emotion which accompany the violence; the second question is whose violence: that is, when we study the inner world of aggressive children we discover vast differences in the relationships between the self and the internal objects or representational figures of other people. These two questions will be raised whenever we try to treat these children or adolescents.     

The consistency of inconsistency in serial homicide: patterns of behavioural change across series

Linkage analysis is a crucial part of the investigative process when faced with a possible series of related offences. Establishing behavioural consistency (i.e., offender's behaviours consistently present across the series) is at the core of linkage. Recent empirical studies have found little evidence of consistency looking at either individual or groups of behaviours in serial homicide. It is argued that behavioural changes are rooted in the changing cognitive strategies that offenders use to reach their ultimate goal (i.e. the commission of multiple homicides). Factors that could account for these changes include learning, situational factors, loss of control, and changes in the offender's fantasy. Patterns of behavioural change have been identified in serial crimes, such as rape. However, no empirical studies have looked at patterns of behavioural change in serial homicide. The present study examined patterns of consistency and change using a combination of thematic and behavioural subgroup approaches that use Multidimensional Scaling. Thematic differentiation indicative of behavioural manifestations of cognitive strategies was found in all three examined subgroups: planning, wounding, and offender–victim interaction, and patterns of change within these subgroups provided support for the above theories. Looking at behavioural patterns rather than individual behaviours, may be a more fruitful way of examining consistency in serial homicide, and could have significant implications for linkage analysis. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

场景知觉中物体加工的背景效应

在场景中加工物体信息时, 与物体相伴随的背景会影响对物体的加工。这种物体加工的背景效应在很多的研究中得到了证实。场景知觉中的背景效应有不同的表现, 对于场景中物体识别和背景的关系, 研究者从功能独立、相互作用和背景引导等理论角度给予了解释。其次, 自然场景材料和非自然场景材料所提供的背景信息不同, 研究者从不同的刺激水平探讨了这二者之间的背景效应存在的差异。同时, 随着技术的进步, 研究者也在探讨场景知觉过程中物体加工背景效应的生理机制, 并发现了一些与物体识别的背景效应有关的脑区定位。这些相关的研究为深入了解人是如何知觉和加工真实而复杂的环境提供了新的研究内容和视角。