Psychoanalysis and Diplomacy: Part I. Individual and Large Group Identity

Starting with Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysts have written on a variety of topics relating to the diplomatic and political realms; but thus far their contributions primarily have been theoretical in nature, and have offered little of practical use to most diplomats and politicians. Various psychoanalytic theories have been applied, resulting in diverse conceptualizations: Wars are inevitable because of our inherent aggressive drives; a nation-state serves a maternal function for its members; certain large groups exhibit behaviors similar to those of adolescents. Yet these ideas do not significantly help us understand day-to-day events around the world, practical political issues, or international relations and diplomatic decisions.     

A discrimination analysis of training-structure effects on stimulus equivalence outcomes.

Experiments designed to establish stimulus equivalence classes frequently produce differential outcomes that may be attributable to training structure, defined as the order and arrangement of baseline conditional discrimination training trials. Several possible explanations for these differences have been suggested. Here we develop a hypothesis based on an analysis of the simple simultaneous and successive discriminations embedded in conditional discrimination training and testing within each of the training structures that are typically used in stimulus equivalence experiments. Our analysis shows that only the comparison-as-node (many-to-one) structure presents all the simple discriminations in training that are subsequently required for consistently positive outcomes on all tests for the properties of equivalence. The sample-as-node (one-to-many) training structure does not present all the simple discriminations required for positive outcomes on either the symmetry or combined transitivity and symmetry (equivalence) tests. The linear-series training structure presents all the simple discriminations required for consistently positive outcomes on tests for symmetry, but not for symmetry and transitivity combined (equivalence) or transitivity alone. Further, the difference in the number of simple discriminations presented in comparison-as-node training versus the other training structures is larger when the intended class size is greater than three or the number of classes is larger than two. We discuss the relevance of this analysis to interpretations of stimulus equivalence research, as well as some methodological and theoretical implications.     

COMPETITION BETWEEN POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT IN THE TREATMENT OF ESCAPE BEHAVIOR

We compared the effects of reinforcing compliance with either positive reinforcement (edible items) or negative reinforcement (a break) on 5 participants' escape-maintained problem behavior. Both procedures were assessed with or without extinction. Results showed that compliance was higher and problem behavior was lower for all participants when compliance produced an edible item rather than a break. Treatment gains were achieved without the use of extinction. Results are discussed regarding the use of positive reinforcement to treat escape behavior.     

母亲积极养育行为对儿童顺从行为的早期预测与双向作用:从婴儿到学步儿

顺从是儿童早期重要的社会化成就。传统理论关注父母控制策略对顺从的作用,但实证结果表明其解释率有限;当前理论更加关注积极养育行为在顺从发展中具有发展适宜性的作用机制。本研究采用追踪设计考察了84个家庭从儿童6个月到3岁时母亲的敏感性和鼓励自主两种积极养育行为与学步儿顺从发展的关系。结果表明:(1)1岁前母亲敏感性对学步儿2岁时的合作性顺从有正向预测作用,对2岁到3岁合作性顺从的变化没有预测作用;(2)1岁前母亲敏感性对学步儿2岁时的情境性顺从和2岁到3岁的情境性顺从的变化均有负向预测作用;(3)在2岁到3岁期间,母亲的鼓励自主与学步儿的合作性顺从水平有双向正向预测作用,但与情境性顺从不存在双向预测关系。     

Social Anxiety and Peer Relations in Early Adolescence: Behavioral and Cognitive Factors

This study investigated factors associated with social anxiety during early adolescence using multiple informants, including self and peer perspectives, teacher ratings, and direct observations. Negative social performance expectations, maladaptive coping strategies, and social skill deficits were examined as correlates of social anxiety and mediators linking social anxiety with poor peer relations. Participants were 84 middle school students (47 girls, 37 boys) over-sampled for elevated social anxiety. Analyses revealed correlations linking social anxiety with decreased peer acceptance and increased peer victimization. Path analysis indicated that negative social performance expectations and social withdrawal-disengagement accounted for the association between social anxiety and decreased peer acceptance. Social anxiety, self-directed coping strategies, and social withdrawal-disengagement were each directly linked with increased peer victimization for boys. The results replicate findings based on clinical samples, extend understanding of cognitive, social, and behavioral factors associated with social anxiety in middle school, and provide new information regarding gender differences in the correlates of social anxiety.     

对中国宗教及其积极社会功能的正面认识

本文为2011年度中国宗教研究五十人论坛的命题文章,仅对中国宗教及其积极的社会功能作正面探讨。限于篇幅,简要探讨了什么是中国宗教,中国宗教三元并存的格局,中国宗教的包容风格,中国宗教的组织原则,中国宗教扮演的经济角色,中国宗教是多神教,中国人宗教信仰的功利性等问题。     

A changed perspective: How gratitude can affect sense of coherence through positive reframing

We hypothesized that gratitude would be related to sense of coherence via positive reframing, which is a process by which negative events or circumstances are seen in a positive light. We tested this hypothesis in two studies. In Study 1 (N = 166) we found a strong, robust relationship between trait gratitude and sense of coherence above and beyond life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, happiness, and social desirability. Study 2 (N = 275) showed that gratitude at Time 1 predicted sense of coherence at Time 2, controlling for baseline scores. Positive reframing mediated the relationship between gratitude and SOC. Results are discussed in terms of their practical implications.     

Longitudinal relations among perceived parental warmth,self-esteem and social behaviours from middle childhood to early adolescence in China: Disentangling between- and within-person associations

Although several studies have addressed the relations between perceived parental warmth and social behaviours, few have distinguished their between- and within-person effects or explored their within-person mediating mechanisms. This study examined the transactional relations among perceived parental warmth (i.e. maternal warmth and paternal warmth), children's self-esteem and children's positive/negative social behaviours (i.e. prosocial behaviour and delinquent behaviour) along with the mediating role of self-esteem after disentangling between- and within-person effects. A total of 4315 Chinese elementary children (44.9% girls; M_age = 9.93 years, SD = 0.73) completed relevant measures on four occasions employing 6-month intervals. Results of random-intercept cross-lagged panel models showed that (a) perceived parental warmth reciprocally and positively predicted prosocial behaviour and self-esteem; (b) perceived paternal warmth reciprocally and negatively predicted delinquent behaviour; (c) self-esteem reciprocally predicted prosocial and delinquent behaviour; (d) perceived maternal warmth reciprocally and positively predicted prosocial behaviour through self-esteem; (e) perceived parental warmth reciprocally and negatively predicted delinquent behaviour through self-esteem; and (f) perceived maternal and paternal warmth differed in their relations with prosocial and delinquent behaviours through self-esteem. These findings illuminated the complicated longitudinal within-person interactions among perceived parental warmth, self-esteem, and social behaviours, the specific mediating mechanism of self-esteem, and the differing results associated with perceived maternal and paternal warmth, all of which yield significant implications for assessments and early interventions aimed to promote positive social behaviour.     

Making Probabilistic Relational Categories Learnable

Theories of relational concept acquisition (e.g., schema induction) based on structured intersection discovery predict that relational concepts with a probabilistic (i.e., family resemblance) structure ought to be extremely difficult to learn. We report four experiments testing this prediction by investigating conditions hypothesized to facilitate the learning of such categories. Experiment 1 showed that changing the task from a category‐learning task to choosing the “winning” object in each stimulus greatly facilitated participants' ability to learn probabilistic relational categories. Experiments 2 and 3 further investigated the mechanisms underlying this “who's winning” effect. Experiment 4 replicated and generalized the “who's winning” effect with more natural stimuli. Together, our findings suggest that people learn relational concepts by a process of intersection discovery akin to schema induction, and that any task that encourages people to discover a higher order relation that remains invariant over members of a category will facilitate the learning of putatively probabilistic relational concepts.     

Reaching Across the DMZ: Identity Uncertainty and Reunification on the Korean Peninsula

Drawing on uncertainty‐identity theory (Hogg, 2012), we explore the effects of uncertainty concerning a specific social identity on group identification and attitudes toward subgroup integration and separation in South Koreans' nested identity context (N = 148). All variables were measured. Path analysis revealed, as predicted, that superordinate identity uncertainty weakened superordinate identification and subgroup identity uncertainty weakened subgroup identification. We also found that subgroup identity uncertainty strengthened superordinate identification. This effect was stronger for those who perceived their superordinate group prototype and subgroup prototype to be distinct and nonoverlapping. Furthermore, superordinate identity uncertainty decreased reunification intentions by weakening superordinate identification. Subgroup identity uncertainty increased reunification intentions by strengthening superordinate identification only for those who perceived their superordinate group prototype and subgroup prototype to be distinct and nonoverlapping. Implications for uncertainty identity theory and intergroup relations are discussed.