Development of a facial-expression database of Chinese Han,Hui and Tibetan people

Recently, cross-cultural facial-expression recognition has become a research hotspot, and a standardised facial-expression material system can significantly help researchers compare and demonstrate the results of other studies. We developed a facial-expression database of Chinese Han, Hui and Tibetan ethnicities. In this study, six basic human facial expressions (and one neutral expression) were collected from 200 Han, 220 Hui and 210 Tibetan participants who lived in these regions. Four experts on each ethnicity evaluated the facial-expression images according to the expressions, and only those achieving inter-rater agreement were retained. Subsequently, 240 raters evaluated these images according to the seven emotions and rated the intensity of the expressions. Consequently, 2980 images were included in the database, including 930 images of Han individuals, 962 images of Hui individuals and 1088 images of Tibetan individuals. In conclusion, the facial-expression database of Chinese Han, Hui and Tibetan people was representative and reliable with a recognition rate of over 60%, making it well-suited for cross-cultural research on emotions.     

The Multiple Source Effect and Synthesized Speech

Two experiments examine the effect of multiple synthetic voices in an e‐commerce context. In Study 1, participants (N= 40) heard five positive reviews about a book from five different synthetic voices or from a single synthetic voice. Consistent with the multiple source effect, results showed that participants hearing multiple synthetic voices evaluated the reviewed books more positively, predicted more favorable public reaction to the books, and felt greater social presence of virtual speakers. The effects were mediated by participants’ feelings of social presence. The second experiment (N= 40) showed that the observed effects persisted even when participants were shown the purely artificial nature of synthesized speech. These results support the idea that characteristics of synthetic voices in doubly disembodied language settings influence participants’ imagination of virtual speakers, and that technological literacy does not hinder social responses to anthropomorphic technologies such as text‐to‐speech (TTS).     

社会转型与农村青少年基督徒的宗教信仰——以甘肃W村基督教群体为例

本文借助于问卷调查与田野调查两种方法,对148名农村青少年基督徒的宗教信仰进行研究。研究发现,社会转型过程中,农村青少年基督徒的宗教信仰出现了分化,一部分青少年脱离了宗教信仰,另一部分青少年则依然保持着宗教信仰;农村青少年基督徒宗教卷入程度较低,个体私人性的宗教卷入行为相对较多,群体公共性宗教卷入行为较少;农村青少年基督徒的宗教态度趋于理性化。因此,世俗化会带来信仰的多元化。     

中国心理学史研究的新进展

新开拓的一个分支学科——中国心理学史已经宣告建立。它填补了世界心理学史的一项重大空白,为国内外心理学界所瞩目。它正朝着纵深的方向发展:研究对象和指导思想更加明确,划清了一些基本的界限;基本范畴与术语的研究更加深入,整理出了一套中国古代心理学思想的范畴体系;开展了中西比较研究,更有说服力地确立了中国古代心理学思想的历史地位;建立和发展了国际学术联系,扩大了中国心理学的影响。     

塞辅音和声调知觉问题

本文报告的两个实验以合成的汉语普通话CV音节作刺激,研究了塞辅音与声调之间在知觉上的相互作用问题。主要结果是:(1)塞辅音的发音方式影响声调的知觉,不送气音使听者在辨别声调时倾向于基频曲线起点高的声调反应;(2)音节的声调也影响对塞音发音方式的判断,在一、四声音节里,听者倾向于将塞辅音听成不送气音,在二、三声音节里,听成送气音。     

Forgetting of pictures over a long retention interval in young and older adults

Young and older adults were presented with pictures for study. Their recognition of the information was tested at five retention intervals: immediately, and 48 hr, 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks later. The main finding of interest was that picture recognition did not show an age-related decline until the 1-week retention interval.     

Interpersonal underpinnings of request strategies: general principles and differences due to culture and gender.

Several hypotheses derived from P. Brown and Levinson's (1987) politeness theory were tested with Ss from the United States and Korea. Ss imagined themselves in situations in which they were to make a request. They then indicated exactly what they would say in each situation and what their perceptions of the request size, the hearer's power, and the closeness of their relationship with the hearer were. Consistent with P. Brown and Levinson's theory, power, distance, and size contributed significantly to politeness. Significant predictor variable interactions suggested that an additive model is not appropriate. Finally, there was evidence of cultural and gender differences in the weighting of these predictor variables. These differences can partially account for cultural and gender differences in language use.     

Altruism in surgery of AIDS patients

There is usually a long period of time between infection with the AIDS virus and manifestation of symptoms. Asymptomatic patients often would benefit from elective surgery for diseases such as arthritis which are unrelated to their infection. The surgeons' decisions to accept the risks to themselves, their spouses, and their operating teams in order to relieve pain and suffering appear to be based upon two covenants; one concerns their role within the doctor-patient relationship, and the other concerns their relationship to what they see as the ultimate meaning in life.     

词切分的韵律学线索

本文是关于汉语普通话词切分的一个实验报告。用无意文重复句和合成句作语音材料,探讨音节时长分布、基频曲线、音节强度以及共振峰等韵律学线索在词切分中的作用。得到的主要结果是,在排除语义和音段层面信息的条件下,听者能够根据句子的韵律学特征进行句子结构的判断和词的切分;在对切分有效的韵律学线索中,最重要的是音节的时长分布模式,其次是基频曲线,音节的强度和共振峰变化对切分没有贡献。