高中生选科的自我-他人决策差异：预期内疚的作用

本研究首次探讨高中生选科的自我-他人决策差异。结果发现：（1）当科目难度与兴趣存在冲突时,个体倾向于为自己选择低难度低兴趣科目,而为他人选择高难度高兴趣科目;（2）自我-他人决策差异存在程度效应：为近的社会距离他人（朋友）选科时自我-他人决策差异缩小;（3）预期内疚在高中生选科的自我-他人决策差异中起中介作用：相较于为自己选科,为陌生人选择低难度低兴趣科目诱发更高的预期内疚,从而降低其为陌生人选择低难度低兴趣科目的偏好。这些发现拓展了自我-他人决策差异的研究范畴,对家长、学校和教育咨询公司的选科指导具有一定的参考价值。     

权力与耐心：权力感对时间知觉与跨期决策的影响

已有研究发现高权力感会使个体更耐心,更偏好延迟的大奖励。本研究假设高权力感影响耐心也会体现在时间知觉上,并且时间知觉是高权力影响耐心的心理机制。研究通过考察权力感对时间知觉与跨期决策的影响,以及时间知觉的中介作用对此假设进行了检验。实验1通过回忆法启动权力感,检验权力感对时间知觉的影响;实验2采用角色扮演法启动权力感,考察权力感对跨期决策的影响,并检验时间知觉的中介作用。结果发现：相比低权力感,高权力感个体感觉时间过得更快,进而使个体在跨期决策中更偏好延迟的大奖励,但权力感并不直接影响跨期决策。研究揭示了权力感对时间知觉的影响,为权力感影响耐心行为的解释提供了时间知觉的新视角。     

得失框架效应的分离—— 来自收益与损失型跨期选择的研究

本研究通过创设收益和损失跨期选择情境, 采用不同表征方式(得框架、失框架)的跨期选择任务, 分别探讨了收益和损失情境下的跨期选择是否存在得失框架效应, 及其是否会受任务难度的影响。结果发现：(1)收益型跨期选择只在任务容易时存在得失框架效应, 与失框架相比, 被试在得框架下选择即时获益的概率更高; 任务困难时得失框架效应消失(实验a); (2)损失型跨期选择中不存在得失框架效应(实验b)。结果表明, 得失框架效应在损、益型跨期选择中出现了分离, 收益型跨期选择中的得失框架效应的内在认知机制很可能与风险决策中的框架效应类似并且是一种较为初级的认知加工过程。     

Accounting for auto-dependency in binary dyadic time series data: A comparison of model- and permutation-based approaches for testing pairwise associations

Many theories have been put forward on how people become synchronized or co-regulate each other in daily interactions. These theories are often tested by observing a dyad and coding the presence of multiple target behaviours in small time intervals. The sequencing and co-occurrence of the partners’ behaviours across time are then quantified by means of association measures (e.g., kappa coefficient, Jaccard similarity index, proportion of agreement). We demonstrate that the association values obtained are not easy to interpret, because they depend on the marginal frequencies and the amount of auto-dependency in the data. Moreover, often no inferential framework is available to test the significance of the association. Even if a significance test exists (e.g., kappa coefficient) auto-dependencies are not taken into account, which, as we will show, can seriously inflate the Type I error rate. We compare the effectiveness of a model- and a permutation-based framework for significance testing. Results of two simulation studies show that within both frameworks test variants exist that successfully account for auto-dependency, as the Type I error rate is under control, while power is good.     

Resistance to change and preference for variable versus fixed response sequences

In Experiment 1, 4 pigeons were trained on a multiple chain schedule in which the initial link was a variable-interval (VI) 20-s schedule signalled by a red or green center key, and terminal links required four responses made to the left (L) and/or right (R) keys. In the REPEAT component, signalled by red keylights, only LRLR terminal-link response sequences were reinforced, while in the VARY component, signalled by green keylights, terminal-link response sequences were reinforced if they satisfied a variability criterion. The reinforcer rate for both components was equated by adjusting the reinforcer probability for correct REPEAT sequences across sessions. Results showed that initial- and terminal-link responding in the VARY component was generally more resistant to prefeeding, extinction, and response-independent food than responding in the REPEAT component. In Experiment 2, the REPEAT and VARY contingencies were arranged as terminal links of a concurrent chain and the relative reinforcer rate was manipulated across conditions. For all pigeons, initial-link response allocation was biased toward the alternative associated with the VARY terminal link. These results replicate previous reports that operant variation is more resistant to change than operant repetition (Doughty & Lattal, 2001), and show that variation is preferred to repetition with reinforcer-related variables controlled. Behavioral momentum theory (Nevin & Grace, 2000) predicts the covariation of preference and resistance to change in Experiments 1 and 2, but does not explain why these aspects of behavior should depend on contingencies that require repetition or variation.     

Delay discounting in Lewis and Fischer 344 rats: steady-state and rapid-determination adjusting-amount procedures

Lewis rats have been shown to make more impulsive choices than Fischer 344 rats in discrete-trial choice procedures that arrange fixed (i.e., nontitrating) reinforcement parameters. However, nontitrating procedures yield only gross estimates of preference, as choice measures in animal subjects are rarely graded at the level of the individual subject. The present study was designed to examine potential strain differences in delay discounting using an adjusting-amount procedure, in which distributed (rather than exclusive) choice is observed due to dynamic titration of reinforcer magnitude across trials. Using a steady-state version of the adjusting-amount procedure in which delay was manipulated between experimental conditions, steeper delay discounting was observed in Lewis rats compared to Fischer 344 rats; further, delay discounting in both strains was well described by the traditional hyperbolic discounting model. However, upon partial completion of the present study, a study published elsewhere (Wilhelm & Mitchell, 2009) demonstrated no difference in delay discounting between these strains with the use of a more rapid version of the adjusting-amount procedure (i.e., in which delay is manipulated daily). Thus, following completion of the steady-state assessment in the present study, all surviving Lewis and Fischer 344 rats completed an approximation of this rapid-determination procedure in which no strain difference in delay discounting was observed.     

Does the distance between us matter? Influences of physical proximity to others on consumer choice

Individuals’ physical closeness to one another can either increase or decrease their preference for distinctive products. When individuals perceive their proximity to others to be voluntary, they are likely to interpret it as an indication of their affiliation motivation. Consequently, in a product choice task, they choose options that others consider desirable. When people perceive that their close proximity to others results from circumstances beyond their control, however, they feel that their personal space is violated and experience a need for to express their individuality. In this case, they are more likely to choose products that distinguish themselves from others.     

Peter Martyr Vermigli on grace and free choice

Abstract

Within contemporary scholarship there has been considerable debate over the character and scope of Peter Martyr Vermigli’s scholasticism, which has sought to locate his thought between the two poles of the ‘via Thomae’ and the ‘via Gregorii.’ This paper traces the Augustinian-Thomist polarity throughout Vermigli’s doctrine of grace and free choice. In particular it seeks to discover Gregorian distinctives in his thought, namely, doctrinal points shared by Vermigli and Rimini, representing a development of Augustine and a departure from Aquinas. Without denying the important Thomist and Aristotelian elements of his thought, this paper concludes that renewed attention now needs to be paid to his profound debt to late-medieval Augustinian scholasticism and its global impact on his theology.     

Brief dynamic counselling: Making the right choice

Abstract

Brief dynamic counselling has become a frequently practised method of treatment. This paper examines the usefulness of short-term therapy for certain clients and describes the relevant selection criteria. However, it is argued that there exists a real danger to the client should they be inappropriately referred for this work. Demands upon therapy services often mean that therapists are under pressure to have a rapid ‘through-put’ of clients. This may lead to some clients being treated in a way that is unsuitable and inadequate for their needs. It is suggested that, more than being inadequate, such a situation could cause additional harm to the client. Professional assessment is considered to be of vital importance. Case material is included in order to illustrate the difference between clients who are likely to benefit from short-term counselling work and those for whom the longer time duration is an essential part of the therapeutic relationship and process. In terms of therapy service provision, the need for flexibility and the need for availability of a variety of treatments are discussed.     

Relationships between restrictive mother-child interactions and anxiety of the child

Abstract

The “two-process model” postulates that there are specific associations between patterns of parental child-rearing styles and the development of the child's anxiety and coping dispositions. Besides parameters of parental feedback to the child, this model considers support and restriction to be the central dimensions of child-rearing behavior. The present study aims at assessing behavioral indicators for restriction. For this purpose, the working and intervention behavior of 47 mothers and their ten- to 13-year-old children was observed and registered during a 15-minute period of common problem-solving (putting together a difficult puzzle-like cube). In order to register processes of problem-oriented cooperation between mother and child, transitional probabilities between defined state and event classes were analyzed. Based on the theoretical definition of the child-rearing style “restrictio”, hypotheses concerning the significance of variable transitional probabilities are formulated and tested regarding their correspondence with anxiety-related characteristics of the child.