The “identified victim” effect: an identified group,or just a single individual?

People's greater willingness to help identified victims, relative to non‐identified ones, was examined by varying the singularity of the victim (single vs. a group of eight individuals), and the availability of individually identifying information (the main difference being the inclusion of a picture in the “identified” versions). Results support the proposal that the “identified victim” effect is largely restricted to situations with a single victim: the identified single victim elicited considerably more contributions than the non‐identified single victim, while the identification of the individual group members had essentially no effect on willingness to contribute. Participants also report experiencing distress when the victim is single and identified more than in any other condition. Hence, the emotional reaction to the victims appears to be a major source of the effect. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于神经元群选择理论的脑信息处理模型研究

从认识论的角度,分析了国内外脑机能模型的研究概况。总结脑信息处理的三个特性:选择性、适应性及协同性,并论述了涵盖此三个特性的神经元群选择理论。基于神经元群选择理论,提出神经元群的三种类型,并据此建立脑信息处理的模型。     

不同风险态度大学生职业决策的线索偏好及信息搜索特点

探讨不同风险态度的大学生在职业决策中的线索偏好及信息搜索特点。以大学生为被试,以Weber的风险态度问卷为工具,筛选出风险寻求大学生26名,风险规避大学生23名,采用信息板技术进行模拟职业决策研究。结果发现：（1）风险寻求和风险规避大学生在职业决策中点击次数最多的职业属性均依次是工资、发展空间和兴趣;（2）在信息板的点击次数上,风险寻求被试比风险规避被试更多;在搜索模式上,风险寻求组被试和风险规避组的得分均为正值,但风险寻求组被试的得分显著高于风险规避组。因此,大学生职业决策中偏好的线索主要是工资、发展空间和兴趣;风险寻求者的信息搜索模式与风险规避者不同,风险寻求者更倾向于以选项为基础的搜索模式。     

Factor analysis and AIC

The information criterion AIC was introduced to extend the method of maximum likelihood to the multimodel situation. It was obtained by relating the successful experience of the order determination of an autoregressive model to the determination of the number of factors in the maximum likelihood factor analysis. The use of the AIC criterion in the factor analysis is particularly interesting when it is viewed as the choice of a Bayesian model. This observation shows that the area of application of AIC can be much wider than the conventional i.i.d. type models on which the original derivation of the criterion was based. The observation of the Bayesian structure of the factor analysis model leads us to the handling of the problem of improper solution by introducing a natural prior distribution of factor loadings.The author would like to express his thanks to Jim Ramsay, Yoshio Takane, Donald Ramirez and Hamparsum Bozdogan for helpful comments on the original version of the paper. Thanks are also due to Emiko Arahata for her help in computing.     

心理信息学:网络信息时代下的心理学新发展

在见证了社会计算与计算社会科学的勃兴之后,心理学和信息科学在网络信息时代相遇,催生出心理信息学这门新兴交叉学科。该学科旨在利用计算机与信息科学技术,通过开展网络调查和实验、开发和利用移动设备、建立数据库和分类体系、使用开源软件和数据挖掘技术等,获取、整理和分析心理学研究资料。其对大规模复杂数据的掌控能力,使心理学家可以从新的高度和视野,针对现实和虚拟网络中的个体与群体心理现象展开研究,重新检视已有理论假设并探索新发现。但是,心理信息学在展现巨大潜力的同时,也在技术和研究设计、伦理和研究规范、研究重心与人才培养等诸多方面面临挑战。     

The role of additional information in the compliance,satisfaction, psychological,and emotion responses of non-surgical patients with low back pain: An exploratory investigation

Abstract

Noncompliance and the psychological and emotional states of patients with low back pain are major concerns for health professionals. The current study evaluated whether amount of information available to patients enhanced compliance to a medical regimen and whether it reduced negative emotions in patients with low back pain. Forty-five orthopaedic non-surgical patients with low back pain were randomly assigned to one of three information presentation conditions: 1) Standard, 2) Pre-examination, and 3) Post-examination. Patients were also separated by compensation and noncompensation within each information group. Patients completed questionnaires at their initial visit and at their follow-up which evaluated their: levels of compliance to a prescribed treatment program, psychological, and emotional states. Results indicated that some patients benefitted from receiving additional information as the Pre-examination and Post-examination groups demonstrated superior comprehension and recall as well as higher levels of compliance to a physical therapy program. In addition, compensation patients complained of more negative psychological and emotional behaviors in comparison to noncompensation patients. Implications of the research and future research considerations were discussed.     

Different forms of causation in dynamical systems: Determinism,pattern generation,and information

The standpoint that three fundamentally inequivalent classes of system behavior exist, which deserve separate tools for their characterization, is developed. These classes are: determinism, pattern generation, and information. A simple explanation for the origin of these classes is given. The three classes are shown to correspond to the different possible ways in which the properties of the components of a system unfold in the course of the system's processes. Determinism will be defined as a form of causation in which the properties causing the behavior are factually the same as the ones which for the observer specify the current conditions of the system. As a consequence, deterministic systems can be characterized by state equations that describe how the observable properties change. Pattern generation is characterized here as a form of causation in which the observable properties and the behavior‐generating properties correspond to each other as one to the many. Consequently, we experience in terms of the observable properties a branching behavior which is characterized by a pattern of selections at the branching points, a pattern that stands in close correspondence with the visually perceivable patterns and forms, generated by the system's dynamics. Information will be understood as a name for a process and an instance of causation where properties that cause behavior differ from those which we directly observe. The behavior of the system appears to be a consequence of the content of information hidden in the components. This information is, in turn, epistemologically equivalent to the very causal process in which it is unfolded.