Semantic facilitation and translation priming effects in Chinese-English bilinguals

In two experiments, semantic facilitation and translation priming effects in Chinese-English bilingual speakers were demonstrated with a lexical decision task. A 300-msec stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) was used between display of the prime and the target item. Experiment 1 showed that subjects' lexical decision responses were facilitated to a greater extent when primed by a translation equivalent than a semantically related between-language word. In Experiment 2, we found that pictorial, between-language, and within-language primes produced comparable effects of semantic facilitation. These results are in line with the hypothesis that lexical items in different languages and pictures are processed by means of an amodal conceptual system.     

Children's ideas about the bank: A new zealand replication

A Hong Kong study by Ng (1983) showed that the development of the understanding of bank interest and profit was essentially similar to that of a Scottish sample reported by Jahoda (1981). It also uncovered two minor stages in addition to Jahoda's six. The present study confirmed the presence of these two stages as well as the others; and, like the Scottish sample, showed a New Zealand ‘lag’ behind Hong Kong.     

THE FACTOR STRUCTURE OF THE BEM SEX-ROLE INVENTORY (BSRI)

Research on the factor structure of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory generally indicates the existence of a number of smaller factors in addition to a major Masculine factor and a major Feminine factor. This has led to a suggestion that contrary to Bern's proposal, the scale is multidimensional. The present study attempted to examine further the factor structure of BSRI when applied to a non-Western sample. The results of a factor analysis appear to confirm the suggestion that BSRI is multidimensional. There are also indications that both the Masculine and the Feminine scales have high internal consistencies which can be improved further if certain items were removed.     

Equity,Intergroup bias and Interpersonal bias in Reward allocation

Decisions to allocate rewards to ingroup and outgroup members are under the dual pressures of equity and intergroup bias. This study examined variations in equity and bias resulting from the incongruity and salience of intergroup status. Incongruity arose from a mismatch between high subjective and low accorded status. Congruity occurred when subjective status and accorded status were both high or both low. By pairing school classes with known subjective and accorded statuses, an incongruous and a congruous status setting were derived naturally. The setting was made either salient or nonsalient experimentally. It was hypothesized that bias would progressively increase, and equity would progressively decrease, with incongruity and salience. Each set of hypotheses was partially supported. Further data analysis showed a robust tendency to under-reward both ingroup and outgroup members. This interpersonal negativity bras was shown by incongruous status allocators either when rewarding superior performance or in the salient condition. Apparently, it served to safeguard personal rather than social identity. The implications for equity and social identity theories were discussed.     

Too hot to help or too cold to care? On the links between ambient temperature,volunteerism, and civic engagement

We investigated the relationship between ambient temperature and prosocial behaviour in real-life settings. It was guided by two mechanisms of opposite predictions, namely (1) higher temperatures decrease prosociality by harming well-being, and (2) higher temperatures increase prosociality by promoting the embodied cognition of social warmth. In Study 1, U.S. state-level time-series data (2002–2015) supported the first mechanism, with higher temperatures predicting lower volunteer rates through lower well-being. Study 2 furthered the investigation by probing the relationship between neighbourhood temperature and civic engagement of 2268 U.S. citizens. The data partially supported the well-being mechanism and reported findings contradictory to the social embodiment mechanism. Higher temperatures predicted lower interpersonal trust and subsequently lower civic engagement. The unexpected finding hinted at a cognitive effect of heat and a compensatory mechanism in social thermoregulation. We discussed the findings regarding their methodological strengths and weaknesses, with cautions made on ecological fallacies and alternative models.     

On becoming a leader: Effects of gender and cultural differences on power distance reduction

The present research focused on power processes in a simulated organizational structure consisting of three hierarchical levels occupied by different numbers of mules and females. Subjects were presented with a chart showing the organizational hierarchy of which they were a member placed at the lowest level, and asked to nominate any person for the leader position vacated by the current incumbent. The results of Experiment I (n = 88 Dutch male and female university students) showed that male subjects strongly overnominated themselves, whereas a majority of the female subjects nominated either self or another female. Of the others that were nominated by both males and females, almost all were occupants of positions immediately below the leader position, indicating the normative influence of a bureaucratic rule of leader succession. Experiment 2 was a replicational study carried out in a different culture (n = lOl Polish male and female university students). Polish subjects adhered to the bureaucratic rule more strongly than their Dutch counterparts, and both females and males nominated mostly males. Results are discussed with reference to gender self-stereotypes and cultural differences.     

Chicks Injected with Antisera to either S-100α or S-100β Protein Develop Amnesia for a Passive Avoidance Task

The cellular expression of S-100β protein is upregulated in Alzheimer's disease and in Down's syndrome, and this protein has been implicated in memory-related processes in laboratory animals. However, the possibility that the α subunit of S-100 is also involved in memory has not yet been examined. In the present study, day-old black Australorp white Leghorn cockerel chicks (Gallus domesticus) received injections of monoclonal antisera to S-100α (1:50) or S-100β (1:500) into each hemisphere immediately after training on a one-trial passive avoidance task. The chicks displayed significantly lower retention levels than control birds that had been injected with antisera to carbonic anhydrase, or with saline (p< .01). S-100α antisera had an amnestic effect when injected between 0 and 20 min after training, with memory deficits occurring from 30 min postlearning, at the point of transition between the A and the B phases of the Gibbs-Ng intermediate memory stage. By contrast, the S-100β antisera needed to be injected either 5 min before or immediately after training and produced amnesia 10 min earlier, at the start of the A phase of the intermediate memory stage. We conclude that the two subunits of the S-100 protein are required at different points in the sequence of events leading to the consolidation of passive avoidance memory.     

Immediate and delayed transfer of training effects in statistical reasoning

Ss were trained on the law of large numbers in a given domain through the use of example problems. They were then tested either on that domain or on another domain either immediately or after a 2-week delay. Strong domain independence was found when testing was immediate. This transfer of training was not due simply to Ss' ability to draw direct analogies between problems in the trained domain and in the untrained domain. After the 2-week delay, it was found that (a) there was no decline in performance in the trained domain and (b) although there was a significant decline in performance in the untrained domain, performance was still better than for control Ss. Memory measures suggest that the retention of training effects is due to memory for the rule system rather than to memory for the specific details of the example problems, contrary to what would be expected if Ss were using direct analogies to solve the test problems.     

Sex differences in perceptions of interpersonal work style,career emphasis,supervisory mentoring behavior,and job satisfaction

This study examined the perceptions of career-oriented men and women with respect to their interpersonal work style, career emphasis, supervisory behavior, and job satisfaction based on their current or most recent work experience. The results show that women subjects in this study perceived themselves to be less assertive in work situations and also continued to emphasize home life over their career success and advancement when compared to men. In the context of supervisory behavior, women subjects perceived male supervisors as exhibiting less mentioning behavior towards them and had lower job satisfaction when compared to male subjects under male supervisors in the study. Some implications of these results with respect to training and career management were also discussed.     

THE IMPACT OF ROLE STRESSORS AND PERSONAL RESOURCES ON THE STRESS EXPERIENCE OF PROFESSIONAL WOMEN

This study explored the contributions of role stressors and personal resources in predicting strain symptoms experienced by 117 professional women employed full-time in academia. Results of multiple regression analyses revealed that, while role stressors alone accounted for only a moderate amount of the variance in reported strain symptoms, 51 % of the variance was explained when both stressors and personal resources were combined. Womend, who experienced higher levels of personal control and social support as well as a greater number of roles occupied reported lower levels of strain symptoms. These results support the use of a transactional model of stress in future multiple role research.