Reproductive behavior and personality traits of the Five Factor Model

We examined associations between Five Factor Model personality traits and various outcomes of reproductive behavior in a sample of 15 729 women and men from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) and Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) survey. Personality and reproductive history was self‐reported in adulthood (mean age: 53 years). High extraversion, high openness to experience, and low neuroticism were associated with larger number of children in both sexes, while high agreeableness and low conscientiousness correlated with larger offspring number in women only. These associations were independent of marital status. There were also more specific associations between personality and timing of childbearing. The findings demonstrate that personality traits of the Five Factor Model are systematically associated with multiple reproductive outcomes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relativism and Assertion

Relativism entails that sentences like ‘Liquorice is tasty’ are used to assert relativistic propositions—that is, propositions whose truth-value is relative to a taste standard. I will defend this view against two objections. According to the first objection, relativism is incompatible with a Stalnakerian account of assertion. I will show that this objection fails because Stalnakerian assertions are proposals rather than attempts to update the common ground. According to the second objection, relativism problematically predicts that we can correctly assess beliefs as false but faultless. I will show that it doesn't. Such assessments come out as incorrect because correct relativistic assertion requires the absence of a presupposition of non-commonality.     

The impact of counsellor training on emotional intelligence

This study evaluated the impact of counsellor training on emotional intelligence (EI) in 45 undergraduates and 58 postgraduates. Significant improvements were recorded by students on completion of both programmes, suggesting that these were attributable to training which enhanced intra- and interpersonal aspects of emotional functioning. As a group, postgraduates were older than undergraduates, and at the outset of the study, EISAQ scores were comparable; however, at follow-up, undergraduates recorded significantly higher EISAQ scores. Students’ EI was not significantly related to their age, and these findings indicate the potential for effective EI-skills training which is unrelated to quantity of life experiences. It is hoped that this study contributes to a growing quantitative evidence base from which the counselling profession can evaluate its training profile.     

父母自主支持与青少年未来规划:基本心理需要与个人成长主动性的中介作用

基于自我决定理论,采用问卷法对广州市2所初中（初一和初二）和2所高中（高一和高二）共562名学生进行调查,考察了父母自主支持与青少年未来规划的关系,以及基本心理需要和个人成长主动性在其中的链式中介作用。结果发现：（1）父母自主支持显著正向预测青少年未来教育规划,但对未来职业规划的预测作用不显著;（2）基本心理需要和个人成长主动性在父母自主支持和青少年未来教育、职业规划之间均起着显著的链式中介作用;（3）纳入基本心理需要和个人成长主动性的中介作用后,父母自主支持对未来职业规划具有显著的负向残余效应,但对未来教育规划的残余效应不显著,这表明父母自主支持对青少年未来规划的影响可能存在坏的一面。因此,基本心理需要和个人成长主动性是影响父母自主支持与青少年未来规划之间关系的重要内因。     

Cultural difference in maladaptive functions of perfectionistic self‐presentation

Perfectionistic self‐presentation (PSP), which describes an expressive aspect of perfectionism in the interpersonal domain, is a defensive form of perfectionism that has been relatively understudied. Although existing evidence obtained from Western societies has consistently shown maladaptive functions of PSP, the question of whether these patterns are universal remains unanswered. The current research explored the potential moderating effect of culture by evaluating whether the negative influence of PSP is weaker in Asian societies that encourage the use of defensive interpersonal strategies than in Western societies. Two studies recruiting Chinese and North American participants were conducted. In Study 1 (n = 302), the results showed that the relation between PSP and personal mastery was positive among Chinese participants and was negative among North American participants. In contrast, a positive relation between PSP and perceived constraints was observed in both cultures. Study 2 (n = 295) replicated the findings obtained in Study 1. In addition, the findings showed that the relation between PSP and self‐esteem, but not that between PSP and depression, was moderated by participants’ cultural backgrounds. Taken together, these results indicate both universal and culturally specific patterns regarding the influence of PSP, suggesting that PSP is a complex construct.     

Whose voice counts? Gender,power, and epistemologies in the seminary classroom

This article wrestles with the question “whose voice counts?” as an entrée into a discussion of the challenges students encounter in learning to value different epistemologies and that professors encounter in attempting to teach for inclusion of voices. The essay reflects on an experience teaching a graduate seminar on gender and epistemology in which students encounter challenges reflecting on readings that present theology in the form of personal narratives, rather than in a more abstract or theoretical form. Course content and genres of writing are both gendered and subject to power dynamics associated with the uneven treatment of different types of knowledge. The paper focuses primarily on the lens of gender but notes as well the intersectional nature of gender – and the ways in which the course dynamics are complicated by the race, sexuality, and even the class of the authors, students, and teacher. The paper makes two substantial arguments. First, it names a pedagogical meta‐question at the intersection of gender and pedagogy: Even when women are on the syllabus, how are educators ensuring that the epistemologies at work in their classrooms allow for equal authorial authority in the classroom? Second, the paper challenges educators to make changes in their classrooms to allow students time to engage and employ epistemologies they discuss and to see the importance of these practices for wider systemic change in institutions and society.     

动机的目标理论

章对动机的目标研究领域的发展脉络、研究方法以及所取得的新近成果进行综述,总结各种目标理论的共同点和分歧,并对这一领域的未来发展方向做出了展望。作认为,目标理论将导致行为的情感因素、动机力量与认知过程有机结合,这体现了一种整合趋势;同时,目标理论强调目标对于人格功能、情绪以及健康的重要性,使得该领域的研究与社会生活密切相联。而这一研究领域的未来方向则是,探查动机倾向与个人目标之间的联结。     

Compensatory Control: Achieving Order Through the Mind, Our Institutions, and the Heavens

ABSTRACT— We propose that people protect the belief in a controlled, nonrandom world by imbuing their social, physical, and metaphysical environments with order and structure when their sense of personal control is threatened. We demonstrate that when personal control is threatened, people can preserve a sense of order by (a) perceiving patterns in noise or adhering to superstitions and conspiracies, (b) defending the legitimacy of the sociopolitical institutions that offer control, or (c) believing in an interventionist God. We also present evidence that these processes of compensatory control help people cope with the anxiety and discomfort that lacking personal control fuels, that it is lack of personal control specifically and not general threat or negativity that drives these processes, and that these various forms of compensatory control are ultimately substitutable for one another. Our model of compensatory control offers insight into a wide variety of phenomena, from prejudice to the idiosyncratic rituals of professional athletes to societal rituals around weddings, graduations, and funerals.     

个人主动性的研究现状与展望

人主动性是指个体自发地采取积极的方式,通过克服各种障碍和困难,去完成工作任务并实现目标的行为特征,它包括自发、率先行动和克服困难三个方面,可从质和量两个角度去测量,主要包括行为访谈测量和自我报告式测量两种形式。影响个人主动性的核心因素可分为最接近的和最深远的因素。以往研究认为最接近的因素应该比最深远的因素更能预测个人主动性,而最深远的因素将通过最接近的因素对个人主动性产生影响。本文提出未来值得深入研究的方面是：领导变量对员工主动性行为的影响机制;组织变量对个人主动性的影响机制;考察个人主动性量表的结构效度,开发科学可行的测量工具;探讨个人主动性与重要绩效变量之间可能存在的中介变量