Parental authority,nurturance, and two‐dimensional self‐esteem

Tafarodi, R. W., Wild, N. & Ho, C. (2010). Parental authority, nurturance, and two‐dimensional self‐esteem. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. This study examined the relations of parental permissiveness, authoritativeness, authoritarianism, and nurturance with two dimensions of self‐esteem – self‐liking and self‐competence. In a sample of 207 two‐parent families, university students and both their parents provided independent reports on all the above variables. Covariance structure analysis was used to eliminate reporter‐specific bias and unreliability in predicting student self‐esteem from parenting behavior. The results revealed highly redundant positive associations of mothers’ and fathers’ authoritativeness and nurturance with both self‐liking and self‐competence. The pattern of these associations suggests that the significance of parental authoritativeness for the child’s self‐esteem is due mainly to the nurturance it provides. Contrary to expectation, mothers’ and fathers’ authoritarianism was also positively associated with self‐liking. As discussed, however, this is likely to be an artifact of the specific measures and testing methods used.     

Attitude Toward Asian Americans: Theory and Measurement

A theoretical framework to account for Whites' attitudes toward Asian Americans was developed and tested in 3 studies. An Attitude Toward Asians (ATA) scale was developed and found to be valid and reliable. Consistent with the framework, a negative factor and a positive factor were found to underlie attitudes toward Asian Americans. As expected, negative attitudes were shown to stem from both negative and positive instrumental attributes, whereas positive attitudes stemmed from positive instrumental and noninstrumental attributes. Predictions regarding emotional reactions to Asian Americans and attitude ambivalence were supported. Attitudes toward Asian Americans were also shown to influence judgments of African Americans. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

閃光信号的頻率选择实驗研究

一、問題 在現代生产技术中,人和机器可以看作是一个統一的系統。这一系統的中心环节是人。人凭借自己的感官从仪表和信号得到有关机器的运轉状态和生产过程的变化的信息,經过一系列的思惟活动,然后作出判断,并通过操作活动对机器和生产过程进行控制和調节。关于人和机器的这一方面的关系,以及关于机器、仪表、信号和操纵装置的設計如何适应人的感知、思惟和运动的特点,以便使“人机系統”达到最高效率的研究,已經形成一个新的学科分支,即“工程心理学”。本研究所涉及的閃光信号的頻率选择問題,就是属于工程心理学的范围。     

Kinematics of Goal-Directed Arm Movements in Neglect: Control of Hand Velocity

Do patients with unilateral neglect exhibit direction-specific deficits in the control of movement velocity when performing goal-directed arm movements? Five patients with left-sided neglect performed unrestrained three-dimensional pointing movements to visual targets presented at body midline, the left and right hemispace. A group of healthy adults and a group of patients with right-hemispheric brain damage but no neglect served as controls. Pointing was performed under normal room light or in darkness. Time-position data of the hand were recorded with an opto-electronic camera system. We found that compared to healthy controls, movement times were longer in both patient groups due to prolonged acceleration and deceleration phases. Tangential peak hand velocity was lower in both patient groups, but not significantly different from controls. Single peak, bell-shaped velocity profiles of the hand were preserved in all right hemispheric patients and in three out of five neglect patients. Most important, the velocity profiles of neglect patients to leftward targets did not differ significantly from those to targets in the right hemispace. In summary, we found evidence for general bradykinesia in neglect patients, but not for a direction-specific deficit in the control of hand velocity. We conclude that visual neglect induces characteristic changes in exploratory behavior, but not in the kinematics of goal-directed movements to objects in peripersonal space.     

Functional topography of early periventricular brain lesions in relation to cytoarchitectonic probabilistic maps

Early periventricular brain lesions can not only cause cerebral palsy, but can also induce a reorganization of language. Here, we asked whether these different functional consequences can be attributed to topographically distinct portions of the periventricular white matter damage. Eight patients with pre- and perinatally acquired left-sided periventricular brain lesions underwent focal transcranial magnetic stimulation to assess the integrity of cortico-spinal hand motor projections, and functional MRI to determine the hemispheric organization of language production. MRI lesion-symptom mapping revealed that two distinct portions of the periventricular lesions were critically involved in the disruption of cortico-spinal hand motor projections on the one hand and in the induction of language reorganization into the contra-lesional right hemisphere on the other hand. Both regions are located in a position compatible with the course of cortico-spinal/cortico-nuclear projections of the primary motor cortex in the periventricular white matter, as determined by the stereotaxic probabilistic cytoarchitectonic atlas developed by the Jülich group.     

Performance Assessment: Is Creative Thinking Necessary?

The study examined the relationship between creative thinking ability of 13 to 14‐year old female students and their ability in tackling problem solving situations in the science laboratory. The latter has been variously labeled as hands‐on problem‐solving tasks, scientific investigations, and performance assessment. No tutoring or guidance concerning how to solve the problem was provided. The scientific concepts embedded in the tasks are within the scope of the 13 to 14‐year old students, but the setting for the tasks are novel and not likely to be dealt with by their class teacher during the course of instruction. The solution process for these tasks is likely to involve the following components: preliminary trialing, planning, performing, communicating, interpreting and reflecting on the task to provide feedback for further refinement of the task (Department of Education & Science, U.K., 1987; Toh, 1990). The paper looks into the correlation of creative thinking ability and each of the six performance components, as well as the overall performance.     

Explaining Delay in Care Seeking for Breast Cancer Symptoms1

From a theory of care-seeking behavior, this study answered two questions: Do psychosocial variables (anxiety, utility, norm, and habit) and objective, facilitating conditions (e. g., regular practitioner) influence care-seeking delay with a breast symptom directly, or are psychosocial influences moderated by facilitating conditions? Do demographic or clinical factors explain delay, controlling for psychosocial variables and facilitating conditions? Women with breast cancer symptoms (N= 106) completed questionnaire measures. Delay was measured by the days between symptom detection and first contact with the health system. Norm and having a regular practitioner were related inversely to delay. The influence of anxiety was moderated by having a regular practitioner. Among women lacking a practitioner, anxiety was related inversely to delay; among women with a practitioner, anxiety was not related to delay. Controlling for psychosocial variables and facilitating conditions, women of color delayed longer than did Caucasians. Findings can guide research and theory about care seeking.     

开关板电表刻度线粗细、长短、间隔与观察距离的初步研究

电测量指示仪表标度盘的刻度、数字、符号等合理配置的研究,是工程心理学的一个重要组成部分。开关板电表,由于观察距离随工作现场的情况而有相当大的差别,刻度线的粗细、长短、间隔对阅读速度及准确度的影响,便显得更为重要了。本文就是有关课题的一系列研究报告之一。     

学前儿童因果思惟发展的初步实驗研究(Ⅱ)

目的 本研究是在实驗第一部分的基础上,探索学前儿童怎样从实际中掌握客体的因果依存性的特点,向理解(即推理的思惟)水平过渡。 研究的問題,包括两个主要方面:(一)学前儿童在什么条件下能使带有因果性貭的实践动作順利地向因果思惟过渡?在教学影响下,怎样实現这一过渡?在实現过渡的內化过程中,有哪些特点?(二)在学前儿童的因果思惟发展过程中,有无所謂“可逆性”?学前儿童是否如皮亚杰(J.Piaget)所說,只能有“从特殊到特殊”的所謂“轉导推理”而沒有可     

閃光頻率辨認中的时間知觉問題

一、問題 这項研究是从“閃光信号的頻率选择实驗研究”总課題派生出来的一个問題。在进行上述研究,尤其是有关“閃光頻率辨认和等辨量表”的实驗时,許多被試口头报告曾使用数数法,帮助自己辨认閃光的頻率。經与实驗結果对照,发現在閃光頻率低于30—40周/分时,用数数法确实有效,頻率較高(例如100周/分以上)时,則漸难使用数数法了,其轉折点似在50周/分左右。由于閃光頻率与閃光每周的时距有一定的关系,閃光頻率的辨认,归根結底,主要是以时間知觉为基础的。