Genetic and Environmental Influences on the Development and Stability of Executive Functions in Children of Preschool Age: A Longitudinal Study of Japanese Twins

Executive functions (EF) are an important predictor of later adaptive development. A number of environmental influences, such as parenting, have been suggested as important promoters of EF development. However, behavioural genetic research has demonstrated that many environmental influences could be affected by genetic influences. Therefore, it is important to consider genetic variations when investigating environmental influences on EF development in children. To date, few studies have used genetically informative designs to assess the etiology of EF development during the preschool years, a period of rapid development. As a result, it remains unclear how and to what extent the environmental influences that are not confounded by genetic influences affect EF development during this developmental period. The present study explored EF development during the preschool years using a longitudinal and genetically informative design and a non‐Western population. Japanese twins were visited at their homes and individually tested on EF measures at 24, 36, and 48 months of age. Phenotypic correlations and confirmatory factor analyses suggested that EF are less cohesive at 24 months of age and emerge as a common single factor at 36 and 48 months. Additionally, longitudinal and multivariate behavioural genetic analyses indicated that the EF developmental change during this period is promoted by both shared and nonshared environmental influences as well as genetic influences, while EF stability is brought about by shared environments. The present findings elucidated the etiology of EF development during the preschool years and confirmed that this period is an important transitional stage for EF development. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

人类基本数学能力的进化证据

数学能力是人类重要的高级认知能力。人类的基本数学能力从进化上而言是一种适应性的表现,对个体的生存和繁衍有重要的意义。近年来比较心理学研究发现,成年人、婴儿的基本数学能力的行为表现和脑神经机制与其它物种相似,分子遗传学研究表明基本数学能力具有一定的遗传性。这些发现有助于人们更深刻地理解基本数学能力的本质及发生发展机制。     

Rethinking the Asymmetry

According to the Asymmetry, we’ve strong moral reason to prevent miserable lives from coming into existence, but no moral reason to bring happy lives into existence. This procreative asymmetry is often thought to be part of commonsense morality, however theoretically puzzling it might prove to be. I argue that this is a mistake. The Asymmetry is merely prima facie intuitive, and loses its appeal on further reflection. Mature commonsense morality recognizes no fundamental procreative asymmetry. It may recognize some superficially similar theses, but we will see that they derive from more familiar principles, and are compatible with there being moral reason to bring happy lives into existence.     

颜色偏好的性别差异研究进展

颜色偏好是人在心理上所喜爱或偏好的颜色,性别是影响颜色偏好的重要因素之一。本文区分一般人群和特殊人群,结合不同的心理发展阶段,评述对抽象颜色和具体物色的偏好的性别差异研究进展,具体比较了打猎者-采摘者理论、视锥-对立对比成分理论、性别图式理论以及生态效价理论等,并且讨论分析了以往研究者在内容和理论解释等方面存在的不足。未来研究者应采用多元化的方法,深入探索颜色偏好性别差异的机制,期望整合得到解释力更强的理论观点。     

山东省人类辅助生殖技术服务利用人群特征调查研究

对山东省人类辅助生殖技术(Assisted Reproductive Techology,ART)服务利用人群特征进行了调查和评价研究.主要包括不孕症门诊病人社会学特征,知情权,不孕症患者意愿,满意度评价等;并建议进一步加大宣传教育的力度,普及ART健康知识,提高对ART的知晓率,树立正确的社会观念,达到充分有效的利用ART的目的.     

生育伦理与人口控制社会化

在影响人口发展的诸因素中,生育伦理是影响相对持久、相对直接的一个重要因素。在现代人口发展理论的框架下,人口控制社会化,是人口控制的必然选择,这种控制方式的实施,就必须把正确的社会生育伦理转变为人们的生育观和生育意愿。使人口控制的手段由他律为主转变为自律为主。     

County-Level Basics of Living Affects Overall Mortality Rate in the United States – 2000

Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory proposed that there is a hierarchy of human needs, which range from the basics of survival to creativity. Building from Maslow's idea, this paper examines the first level of human needs and empirically constructs a basics of living (BOL) index for every United States county from 28 candidate factors. The final BOL Index includes nine measures of air, water, and income. This study examined whether county-level health would be poor if the BOL were not met. Findings showed a positive correlation between the BOL index and all cause mortality, the fewer BOL, the worse the all cause mortality. Strikingly, poor BOL is most often found in small jurisdictions (<25,000 population) and less often in larger jurisdictions (>150,000 population). In the mapping of the BOL index, areas of greatest need can be observed and in multivariate modeling, highest overall mortality is regional. The BOL index predicts a substantial amount of variation observed in county overall mortality and is independent of county poverty and quality of life.     

Right-wing adherence and objective numeracy as predictors of minority group size perceptions and size threat reactions

Racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual minority populations are growing rapidly in the West. We investigate predictors and consequences of threat responses to perceived minority group size, and perceptions of minority group size itself. Study 1 (N = 274) finds that right-wing adherence predicts greater size threat, whereas lower numerical ability predicts larger perceived group size (confirmed in Studies 2–3). Study 2 (Sample 1, N = 124; Sample 2, N = 263) finds that the relation between right-wing adherence and prejudice toward minorities exhibits an indirect effect via group size threat (but not perceived size), explaining 35–66% of this relation. Study 3 (N = 310) finds a comparable indirect effect explaining 27–40% of this relation, even after statistically controlling for indirect effects of realistic, symbolic, and terroristic threat. These findings provide novel insights into psychological processes surrounding perceived minority group size, identifying size threat as especially crucial in understanding intergroup relations.