Moral judgment in adults with autism spectrum disorders

The ability of a group of adults with high functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger Syndrome (AS) to distinguish moral, conventional and disgust transgressions was investigated using a set of six transgression scenarios, each of which was followed by questions about permissibility, seriousness, authority contingency and justification. The results showed that although individuals with HFA or AS (HFA/AS) were able to distinguish affect-backed norms from conventional affect-neutral norms along the dimensions of permissibility, seriousness and authority-dependence, they failed to distinguish moral and disgust transgressions along the seriousness dimension and were unable to provide appropriate welfare-based moral justifications. Moreover, they judged conventional and disgust transgressions to be more serious than did the comparison group, and the correlation analysis revealed that the seriousness rating was related to their ToM impairment. We concluded that difficulties providing appropriate moral justifications and evaluating the seriousness of transgressions in individuals with HFA/AS may be explained by an impaired cognitive appraisal system that, while responsive to rule violations, fails to use relevant information about the agent’s intentions and the affective impact of the action outcome in conscious moral reasoning.     

The accidental transgressor: morally-relevant theory of mind

To test young children’s false belief theory of mind in a morally relevant context, two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, children (N = 162) at 3.5, 5.5, and 7.5 years of age were administered three tasks: prototypic moral transgression task, false belief theory of mind task (ToM), and an “accidental transgressor” task, which measured a morally-relevant false belief theory of mind (MoToM). Children who did not pass false belief ToM were more likely to attribute negative intentions to an accidental transgressor than children who passed false belief ToM, and to use moral reasons when blaming the accidental transgressor. In Experiment 2, children (N = 46) who did not pass false belief ToM viewed it as more acceptable to punish the accidental transgressor than did participants who passed false belief ToM. Findings are discussed in light of research on the emergence of moral judgment and theory of mind.     

Thinking about representations: the case of opaque contexts

To address the question of whether young children are differentially sensitive to referential opacity, an advanced Theory of Mind skill, we assessed 4-, 6-, and 8-year-olds on three types of opaque contexts: epistemic, quotational, and intentional. Children’s performance improved as a function of age and varied significantly by opacity type. Performance was best for epistemic opacity (using the verb “know”) and poorest for intentional opacity (using “mean to”), with quotational opacity (using “said”) falling in-between. Importantly, the current results suggest that children’s sensitivity to referential opacity is not an all-or-nothing competence but rather one that varies across the contexts examined. Possible reasons for this variability are discussed.     

《管子》修养思想探究

《管子》含有丰富的修养思想,既有实践层面上针对不同人群的修养要求,又有形上层面的修养理论构建。在其产生意义,指导思想,保障措施,修养重点上均有不同于其他修养思想的理论特点。     

象山心学视野下的九卦之序——兼与张勇先生商榷

宋代理学的易学维度,是中国学术史上浓墨重彩的一笔。陆九渊虽然没有像程颐、朱熹那样系统地注释《周易》,但对九卦说的重视程度实远胜程、朱。陆九渊赋予了九卦丰富的心学内涵,而其中的某些内容与康德的实践哲学亦有一定程度的相通性。陆九渊对于九卦之序的心学诠解,是其道德哲学的缩影。     

权近《天人心性合一之图》研究

韩国有着悠久的学《易》历史,早在汉代,中国儒学便已传入其国。到李朝时期,作为易学一部分的易图学研究就已经达到了相当高的水平。代表人物是高丽末期、李朝初期的哲学家权近。他在中国易学家周敦颐《周氏太极图》的影响下,创制了《天人心性合一之图》。《天人心性合一之图》与《周氏太极图》的轮廓大体相同,都是黑白相间、酷似人形,反映了太极为本、阴阳互补、天人合一的特征。但《天人心性合一之图》又有它独特的一面,将伦理、心性等问题纳入易学体系,完成对前者的超越。由此可见,中韩易学文化融合的过程中,既有借鉴和吸收,又有创新和超越。     

儿童特质推理中的信息利用

特质研究是心理理论框架中一个重要方面。儿童进行特质推理时对特质信息的利用,是考察其是否拥有完整特质概念的一个重要指标。综述以往研究可以看到在获得完整的特质概念之前,儿童倾向于运用到特质以外的其他信息做出跨特质范畴的推论,尤其是这些信息比特质信息更加具体明显时。文章概述了六个可能影响到儿童特质推理的信息:情境信息、行为频率、示例频率、效价信息、随意性信息、规则信息。在此基础上,对该领域的研究趋势作了展望。     

错误信念任务中的知识偏差

有观点指出,年幼儿童在错误信念任务上的发展变化,不是发生了概念变化的质变,而是知识偏差的表现。知识偏差是指当我们尝试理解一个更不知情的观点时,不能忽略自己拥有的额外信息并受此影响而产生偏差的倾向。本文对知识偏差的含义及其在错误信念任务中可能产生的影响做了较为详细的综述和分析,并就在错误信念任务中消除知识偏差影响的可能性进行了探讨。     

研究心理理论的新方法——失言识别任务

心理理论是对他人心理状态进行推论的能力。考察心理理论的经典范式是错误信念任务, 而青少年和成人在这种任务上可能出现天花板效应。为了测量青少年和成人的心理理论, Valerie E. Stone和她的合作者设计了失言识别任务。征求了Stone意见, 对失言识别任务的提出、构成、使用进行了介绍, 说明了该任务相对于经典范式的优势; 与此同时, 分析了失言识别任务范式存在的一些问题, 比如其效度指标问题, 与言语能力的分离问题, 失言识别任务与执行功能之间的分离等。未来研究可以尝试编制失言识别任务的本土化的量表, 并利用其探讨年长个体心理理论水平发展变化的规律。     

孤独症的认知障碍研究及其评述

执行功能紊乱理论(Theory of Executive Dysfunction)、弱的中央统合理论(Weak Central Coherence theory)和心理理论假说(The Theory of Mind Hypothesis)是解释孤独症认知障碍的三种重要理论。本文着重通过回顾以往的实验研究来探讨三种理论的产生、发展及前进的方向, 以及三大理论之间的关系。三者可能从不同侧面诠释了孤独症认知障碍的机制, 如何综合起来更好地揭示孤独症的认知障碍和病理机制, 尚需深入和全面的研究。同时更多地考虑不同认知因素的交互影响以及研究的生态学效度, 可能是进一步研究需要考虑的问题。