Hormonal changes after competition predict sex‐differentiated decision‐making

Recent neuroendocrinology research has pointed out that testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) changes after social interactions can predict risk‐taking behavior in decision‐making, depending on the sex of participants. However, previous research has focused on the effects of the changes in only one hormone, rather than the interaction between them, even though C can suppress T activity. Our aim was to test, in men and women, the role of T changes moderated by C changes after competition in decision‐making. Thus, 48 males and 46 females completed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) after a laboratory competition or a noncompetitive task (control task). Saliva samples were collected before and after the competition/control task. IGT was employed to measure risk‐taking decision‐making, considering the degree of uncertainty. Our results showed sex‐differentiated effects of T and C changes on risk‐taking behavior. On the one hand, men from both task groups (Competition/Control) who had higher C and T changes after competition showed more risk‐taking decision‐making (higher IG Risk). On the other hand, women from the competitive task who had high C and T showed conservative decision‐making. Therefore, these results show sex‐differentiated decision‐making profiles, which would help to understand how men and women behave after experiencing a competitive social context.     

Aggression and risk‐taking as adaptive implementations of fast life history strategy

Within the evolutionary life history (LH) framework, aggression and risk‐taking are adaptive implementations of a fast LH strategy to adapt to environmental unsafety and unpredictability. Based on a longitudinal sample of 198 Chinese adolescents living in rural areas, half of whom were separated from their parents, this study tested LH hypotheses about aggression and risk‐taking in relation to safety constraints in the childhood living environments. The results showed that proxies of environmental unpredictability, including parental separation, were positively associated with aggression and risk‐taking and negatively associated with slow LH strategy, which in turn was negatively associated with aggression and risk‐taking. Children separated from their parents scored lower on slow LH strategies and higher on aggression and risk‐taking. These findings support the evolutionary assumption that human development responds to safety cues through behavioral implementations of LH strategies.     

Contributions of emotion understanding to narrative comprehension in children and adults

This study examined to what extent children and adults differ in how they process negative emotions during reading, and how they rate their own and protagonists’ emotional states. Results show that both children’s and adults’ processing of target sentences was facilitated when they described negative emotions. Processing of spill-over sentences was facilitated for adults but inhibited for children, suggesting children needed additional time to process protagonists’ emotional states and integrate them into coherent mental representations. Children and adults were similar in their valence and arousal ratings as they rated protagonists’ emotional states as more negative and more intense than their own emotional states. However, they differed in that children rated their own emotional states as relatively neutral, whereas adults’ ratings of their own emotional states more closely matched the negative emotional states of the protagonists. This suggests a possible difference between children and adults in the mechanism underlying emotional inferencing.     

Animal Faux Pas: Two Legs Good Four Legs Bad for Theory of Mind,but Not in the Broad Autism Spectrum

Research shows that the general population varies with regard to both autistic traits and theory of mind (ToM) ability. Other work has shown that autistic individuals may not underperform on ToM tests when the agent of evaluation is anthropomorphic rather than typically human. Two studies examined the relation between ToM and autistic trait profiles in over 650 adults using either the standard Faux Pas Recognition Test (FPT) or an anthropomorphized version of the FPT (FPTa). Results showed that autistic trait profiles were related to faux pas detection ability in the FPT but not the FPTa. Furthermore, while those with the broad autism phenotype scored significantly worse than those who were typically developed on the FPT, scores did not significantly differ on the FPTa. These findings add to a growing body of work suggesting that ToM ability is not at a global deficit in those on the autistic spectrum, but may relate to the mindreading of specifically human agents.     

Narrative imagination and taking the perspective of others

Narrative imagination, as MarthaNussbaum (1996) discusses it, is ``the abilityto be an intelligent reader of another person'sstory', an ability tied to being a democraticand cultivated world citizen, one whounderstands the lives of others. Narrativeimagination does not only need knowledge andlogical reasoning but also love and compassion.This article argues that in order to be agenuine tool for democracy, narrativeimagination and consciously taking theperspective of others has to be based on anunderstanding of humans as basicallypluralistic, as homines aperti. Criticalexamination and reflection should be broughtcloser to the lives we live and confront ourhabits and implicit values in order tocultivate us as humans so that we are genuinelyaffected and touched.     

Response-initiated imaging of operant behavior using a digital camera

A miniature digital camera, QuickCam Pro 3000, intended for use with video e-mail, was modified so that snapshots were triggered by operant behavior emitted in a standard experimental chamber. With only minor modification, the manual shutter button on the camera was replaced with a simple switch closure via an I/O interface controlled by a PC computer. When the operant behavior activated the I/O switch, the camera took a snapshot of the subject's behavior at that moment. To illustrate the use of the camera, a simple experiment was designed to examine stereotypy and variability in topography of operant behavior under continuous reinforcement and extinction in 6 rats using food pellets as reinforcement. When a rat operated an omnidirectional pole suspended from the ceiling, it also took a picture of the topography of its own behavior at that moment. In a single session after shaping of pole movement (if necessary), blocks of continuous reinforcement, in which each response was reinforced, alternated with blocks of extinction (no reinforcement), with each block ending when 20 responses had occurred. The software supplied with the camera automatically stored each image and named image files successively within a session. The software that controlled the experiment also stored quantitative data regarding the operant behavior such as consecutive order, temporal location within the session, and response duration. This paper describes how the two data types--image information and numerical performance characteristics-can be combined for visual analysis. The experiment illustrates in images how response topography changes during shaping of pole movement, how response topography quickly becomes highly stereotyped during continuous reinforcement, and how response variability increases during extinction. The method of storing digital response-initiated snapshots should be useful for a variety of experimental situations that are intended to examine behavior change and topography.     

《齐物论》与竹林玄学

《庄子》作为“三玄”之一,在魏晋玄学中大行其道。阮籍和嵇康是两位在任自然的旗帜下发挥庄子思想的名士。分析发现,阮籍对庄子的理解,大致来自《齐物论》。然《齐物论》对他的意义是双重的：既排遣其对现实的不满,又给因对现实的无能为力而游戏人生的生活态度提供掩饰。嵇康学理上的表现在于,其“声无哀乐”的见解,以乐论的形式,对《齐物论》中齐是非的观点作独特的补充,同时,却又在讨论人格的公（诚）私（伪）之分时,把它同是非问题联系起来,从而显露自己无法掩饰的价值立场。阮、嵇无论是言还是行的矛盾,都与庄子齐是非的悖论有关。     

自发性观点采择对宽恕不同程度人际伤害的影响

设计并采用“换位体验”的社会互动范式,结合自陈报告法和情感错误归因程序的内隐态度研究范式,通过2个实验比较了面对不同程度的人际伤害,自发性观点采择和语言劝说这两种不同的人际伤害消解方式分别对外显和内隐宽恕的影响。结果发现：无论面对何种程度的人际伤害,（1）与自发性观点采择相比,语言劝说可以有效的促进外显宽恕;（2）自发性观点采择可以有效减少负面内隐态度,促进内隐宽恕,而语言劝说会提高负面内隐态度,阻碍内隐宽恕。该研究结果说明不同人际伤害消解方式对内隐和外显宽恕的影响是不同的,同时也证明了观点采择可以在人际互动中自发产生,并且会对人际关系产生隐性影响。     

Offenders’ claims of taking the victims’ perspective can promote forgiveness,or backfire! The moderating role of correctly voicing the victims’ emotions in collective apologies

In the context of collective apologies, we investigate whether offenders’ claim to have taken the victims’ perspective enhances victims’ conciliation. We argue this depends on whether offenders acknowledge emotions in victims that match victims’ emotional experience. In Studies 1 and 2 (Ns = 152 and 171), using scenarios, we experimentally manipulated offenders’ claim and the qualitative or quantitative match of acknowledged emotions. When acknowledged emotions matched victims’ experience, claimed perceptive‐taking increased conciliatory victim responses; but when emotions did not match, the offenders’ claim reduced conciliatory victim responses. In Study 3 (N = 138), African‐Americans were presented with the U.S. government's apology for slavery. We manipulated the perspective‐taking claim and measured the similarity of the emotion profile expressed in the apology to that experienced by African‐Americans over their enslavement. With greater mismatch, the perspective‐taking claim backfired, reducing conciliatory responses. Correct acknowledgment of emotions is key for victims perceiving perspective‐taking and responding conciliatorily.     

观点采择是否一定促进内隐宽恕?——受害者对伤害动机认同的调节作用

以往研究多认为观点采择可有效促进宽恕,近期研究则开始关注观点采择诱发宽恕等亲社会行为的边界条件。结合“换位体验”和内隐态度测量范式,本研究考察了受害者对伤害动机的认同在被动和自发观点采择影响内隐宽恕过程中的调节作用。实验1发现当人际伤害中存在人们无法认同的恶意不道德动机时,被动和自发观点采择都抑制了受害者对施害者的内隐宽恕且后者的抑制效应更显著。实验2则进一步操纵了不同类型受害者对施害者伤害动机的认同差异,低认同组与实验1结果相同,即被动和自发观点采择中都抑制了内隐宽恕且后者的抑制效应更显著,但高认同组在两种观点采择中都促进了内隐宽恕且二者的促进效应无显著差异。本研究揭示了伤害动机认同在不同类型观点采择影响内隐宽恕过程中起到的调节作用,进一步丰富了对观点采择和宽恕间复杂关系的认识。