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Age of Acquisition Effects in Reading Chinese: Evidence in Favor of the Semantic Hypothesis Chen-Baoguo,You Wenping,Zhou Huixia 2007, 39 (01):  9-17.  Abstract ( 1757 )   Age of acquisition (AoA) is an important variable that has recently drawn considerable attention as a determinant of lexical processing. Several hypotheses have been advanced to explain the origin of the AoA effects. One of the hypotheses is the phonological completeness hypothesis, which assumes that AoA effects arise at the level of phonological representation (Brown & Watson, 1987; Gerhand & Barry, 1998). However, it had failed to explain the AoA effects in a phonological segment experiment (Monaghan & Ellis, 2002) and some experiments which phonological output was not necessary (Brysbaert et al., 2000). Another important hypothesis is semantic hypothesis, which assumes that at least parts of the AoA effect originate from the semantic system (Van Loon-Vervoon, 1989; Brysbaert et al., 2000). According to this hypothesis, the order of acquisition has a lasting effect on the time needed to activate the meanings of words. However, some studies have failed to support the claims of the semantic hypothesis (Morrison, Ellis, & Quinlan, 1992). In the present study, three experiments were conducted to examine the locus of the age of acquisition effects in the processing of Chinese and especially tested the semantic hypothesis of AoA effects. Method In Experiment 1, participants performed word naming and picture naming tasks. The stimuli comprised 36 single characters and 36 line drawings obtained from the Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) pictures. The 36 characters included 18 early-acquired and 18 late-acquired items. The 36 characters were also the corresponding Chinese names of the Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) .We aimed to compare the AoA effects between picture naming tasks and character naming tasks. To reduce the influence of the phonological output on the AoA effects in the picture naming task of Experiment 1, semantic category judgment task was used in Experiment 2, which required the subjects to judge whether the character belongs to the semantic category of “action”. There were 40 early-acquired and 40 late-acquired characters. In Experiment 3, picture classification task was used，which required the subjects to decide whether the object in the picture belongs to living things or non-living things. There were 28 pictures in each category, with 14 early-acquired and 14 late-acquired picture names. In all three experiments, the age-of-acquisition of words was rated by 30 subjects as Gilhooly and Logie (1980) did. Results Reaction times for correct responses and error rates were analyzed by subject and by item variance. In Experiment 1, there was an interaction between AoA and task, with substantial AoA effect in picture naming task (119ms), but no AoA effect in character naming task. In Experiment 2, the semantic category judgment task showed significant AoA effects (17ms). In Experiment 3, the significant AoA effects were also found in the task of picture classification of non-living things (20ms). Conclusion The results of the present study suggested that the AoA effects could be partially produced within the semantic processing system, rather than only within the speech output system Related Articles | Metrics

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Comparative Study on the Classifying of Basic Color Terms by Yi Nationality，Bai Nationality and Naxi Nationality’Students Zhang-Qirui,He-Xiumei,Zhang-Jijia 2007, 39 (01):  18-26.  Abstract ( 2463 )   The relation between the color terms and color cognition is a core issue in domains of cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics since it concerns the relation between language and cognition. Up till now，3 distinctive theories on this issue have emerged. Color–term evolution theory advocated that color terms and color cognition were mutual independent，the hypothesis of linguistic reality held that color terms affected color cognition，the compromise view believed that color cognition of human had universal pattern but language and culture exerted some influences on color cognition.In this research，three hypothesis mentioned above were examined by 3 nation students.This 3 nations were Yi nation，Bai nation and Naxi nation，they all lived in Yunnan province located in southwest of China. Method 238 undergraduate students（104 males and 133 females），they came from two universities of Yunnan province，took part in the Experiment. Among the students，85students （42males and 43females）came from Yi nation，93students（31males and 62 females）came from Bai nation，60 students（32males and 28 females）came from Naxi nation. The materials were 11 Chinese basic color terms：black，white，red，orange，yellow，green，blue，purple，palm，grey and pink.The subjects were asked to classify 11 color terms according to their own criterions. The outcomes of classifying were analysed by the method of multi-dimensional scaling . Results The results showed that 3 nations students’ classifying of basic color terms were consistent in general，but there were important culture differences in 3 nations stuents’classfying：⑴the numbers of category were different；⑵the categories of basic color terms were different；⑶the dimensions of the basic color terms’　semantic spaces were deferent，and ⑷the color terms of each category included and the number of color terms in each category were different also.These differences reflected the effects of cultures and languages on the cognition of color Related Articles | Metrics

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Reactivation and Integration of Goal Information in Text Comprehension with Inclusive Relations Leng-Ying,Mo-Lei,Wu-Jun,-Wang-Suiping 2007, 39 (01):  27-34.  Abstract ( 1926 )   Introduction. Readers continually integrate incoming information with evolving discourse representation during reading to maintain a fully updated situation model (O’ Brien et al., 1998). There are two different views about the process of updating -- the memory-based text processing view and the constructionist theory. According to the memory-based text processing view, every new piece of linguistic information is mapped into the information stored in working memory. Resonance of the ideas of the text is sufficient and necessary to make comprehension possible (McKoon et al., 1996; Albrecht & O’ Brien, 1995). On the other hand, according to the constructionist theory, readers pursue coherent relations throughout the text and attempt to explain why the actions, events, and states are mentioned in the text (Trabasso et al., 1989; Graesser et al., 1994). That is, related information in long-term memory is activated without the resonant process. Recently, there is convergence between the two views (Cook & Gueraud, 2005; van den Broek & Rapp, 2005). Within the constructionist theory, however, there are disagreements concerning what kind of goal information is to be reactivated. Some research has shown that unachieved goals are more available than achieved goals (Suh & Trabasso, 1993; Lutz & Radvansky, 1997; Magliano & Radvansky, 2001), but other research suggests the contrary (Richards & Singer, 2001; Singer & Richards, 2005). In the present study two kinds of goal-information integration were proposed, namely the reinstatement integration and the facilitation integration. When reading texts with goals containing an inclusive relation, goal information in long-term memory becomes reactivated by the achievement of sub-goals. On the other hand, when reading texts with goals containing a parallel relation, the failed goals facilitate the integration of goal information. Richards & Singer (2001) suggested that the signal of goals could activate the goal information in long-term memory, thus demonstrating reinstatement-integration. However, they did not explore whether the activation is primed by the signal or just represents spontaneous processing. The present study was to investigate this critical issue. Method. A moving-window display technique was used. Ninety-four participants read 18 paragraphs, in which two characters attempted to accomplish two independent sub-goals to achieve the joint main goal. A 3 (success vs. failure vs. control) x 3 (strong signals vs. weak signals vs. control) experimental design was adopted. Results. Repeated-measures ANOVA was performed to compare the recognition time of the probe words. The results indicated that there was a significant main effect of the success variable: success condition < failure condition < control. There was also a significant main effect of the magnitude of the signals: strong signals < weak signals < control. A significant interaction between the two independent variables was found: For the success condition, recognition time for strong signals was equal to weak signals, but lower than the control signals. For the failure condition, recognition time for strong signals was lower than weak signals, which was equal to the control signals. For the control condition, recognition time was the same for the three kinds of signals. Conclusion. The present study shows the following: (1) The reactivation and integration of goal information when comprehending text with an inclusive relation of goals belong to reinstatement integration. (2) The signal of goals activates the achieved goal in long-term memory. (3) The activation is not a spontaneous processing, but is primed by the closing signal. (4) If the signal is strong, then the failed goal in long-term memory will also be reactivated Related Articles | Metrics

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The Influence of The Working Memory on Object-based Inhibition of Return in Dynamic Displays Zhang-Ming,Zhang-Yang,Fu-Jia 2007, 39 (01):  35-42.  Abstract ( 1716 )   Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to a bias against returning attention to a location that has been recently attended. Previous study has demonstrated that spatial working memory (WM) play a key role in determining and maintaining inhibition at cued locations. However, Tipper et al (1991) found that IOR not only existed in static but also in dynamic displays. It thus remains unclear which type of WM underlies the maintenance and updating of IOR in dynamic displays. Moreover, Despite IOR in dynamic displays has received a great deal of research, no consensus has yet been reached regarding the nature of the IOR in dynamic displays: Tipper et al (1991) suggested that IOR in dynamic displays was inhibited from return to recently attended objects. Robertson et al (2001, 2004), however, suggested that this effect could be reinterpreted as spatial reorienting processes. The present study aimed to examine 1) which type of WM underlies the maintenance and updating of inhibition in dynamic displays and 2) whether object-based IOR in dynamic displays was resulted from the updating of the spatial inhibition or the inhibition of object representation. Method The study employed Three 2×2 factorial within subjects design. The two factors are cuing (the target presented on the cued object, the target presented on the un-cued object) and have WM load or not (have WM load, have no WM load), with voice WM, spatial WM and visual WM load in three experiment respectively. 60 undergraduate students form northeast normal university volunteered to participate for paid. They ranged in ages from19 to 23 years old. All participants were naive to the purpose of the experiment and had normal or corrected-to-normal vision. Stimulus presentation and data collection were controlled by a LENOVO microcomputer running E-prime software. By using the dual-task paradigm, three experiments investigated the role of the voice, spatial and visual working memory in IOR, respectively. Results The results of present study showed that when the working memory task was non-spatial in nature (voice or visual), IOR was present, although overall reaction times were greater in the presence of the WM task. When the task involved a spatial WM load, IOR was eliminated. Conclusions Overall, the results suggested that spatial working memory system plays a key role in the maintenance and updating of the IOR in dynamic displays and provided new evidence for the idea that the so-called object-based IOR in the dynamic displays was the result of update of the spatial inhibition rather than the object inhibition Related Articles | Metrics

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Are Intentional Processes of Study List Necessary for the Creation of False Memory: Evidence for Unconscious Activation Zhou-Chu,Yang-Zhiliang,Qin-Jinliang 2007, 39 (01):  43-49.  Abstract ( 1781 )   Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm was adopted in the present 2 (manner of stimuli presentation: mixed vs. blocked) ×3 (levels of conscious processing) ×3 (types of items) factorial experiment to investigate whether unconscious activation was involved in the generation of false memory. The first and the second factors were between-subject while the third factor was within-subject. In the study phase, list of words was presented to three independent groups of normal participants. One group was instructed to identify the color of the list words as quickly and as correctly as possible, the second group was instructed to read the presented words aloud, and the last group was instructed to remember as many words as possible for a later memory test. The three types of task led to three different levels of conscious processing of the word list, i.e. unconscious, low conscious and high conscious processing. For half of the three groups of participants, the word list was presented in mixed way. While for the other half of the three groups of participants, the word list was presented in blocked way. In the recognition phase, all the three groups of participants were tested. The results showed that there was significant interaction between item types and conscious processing levels, i.e. the false alarm rates of critical lures were higher in the condition of high conscious processing than in the other two processing conditions, while the hit rates of learned items were stable in all conditions. False memory effects appeared even in the unconscious processing condition. The results also showed a significant main effect of stimuli presentation manner on critical lures. These results suggest that conscious processing is not necessary for the generation of false memory. Unconscious activation does exit and is enough for the generation of false memory. Furthermore, the accumulation of unconscious activation could lead to stronger false memory effect. The interruption of successive activation, however, could reduce false memory. The results are discussed under source-monitoring framework Related Articles | Metrics

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An Event-Related Potentials Study of Item Memory and Location Source Retrieval of Line Drawing Nie-Aiqing,Guo-Chunyan,Shen-Mowei 2007, 39 (01):  50-57.  Abstract ( 1961 )   Background Item memory and source memory are two important aspects of episodic memory. Recent studies about the behavioral characteristics and neural basis of item memory and source memory indicate that they are two different psychological processions. Two models have been proposed to describe the relation between these two kinds of memories: single-process model and dual-process model. Each model is supported by substantial evidence. Up to now, three kinds of paradigms have been formed to discriminate the relation between item memory and source memory: sequential task, three-button task and exclusion task. Reviews of these paradigms indicate that the results based on sequential task and three-button task are consistent whereas the results with exclusion task are not. Based on many event-related potential (ERP) studies, Cycowicz, et al. (2003) argued that the inconsistent results of exclusion task were due to the sensory-specific of source but not the test paradigm. To validate the results by Cycowicz, et al. and to extend previous study on item memory and source memory, the present ERP study was conducted to investigate the temporal and spatial distributions of the old/new effects for item recognition and location source retrieval on line drawing. Method Sixteen healthy undergraduates participated in this study. The stimuli were 400 drawings which were divided into 8 blocks. In each block, 30 drawings were presented either on left or on right screen during study phase, and then two tests were performed with 20 other drawings added. The first task was to decide whether each drawing presented at the central of the screen was learned or not, and the second task was to judge drawings learned from one location (left or right) as targets and other drawings as non-targets (called non-target-old or non-target-new) (exclusion task). Each drawing was displayed 500ms with the ISI of 1300ms and 1800ms during study phase and test phase respectively. EEG was recorded continuously using an Electro-cap with 62 locations (extended 10-20 system placements). Results The results were analyzed using a three-way repeated-measures ANOVA for three windows: 200~600ms, 600~1000ms,1000~1400ms. The three factors were memory judgment, left-right electrode sites and anterior-posterior sites. The ANOVA results indicated that the temporal distribution of the old/new effect for location source retrieval was longer than that of the old/new effect for item memory. Moreover, the spatial distribution of the former effect was wider than that of the latter. In other words, the old/new effect during 1000~1400ms for location source retrieval was not significant in item memory. The spatial and temporal distributive characteristics of the old/new effect for source memory were different from those of the previous studies. In addition, the old/new effects for target and non-target-old drawings were different. Conclusions First, location source retrieval is more difficult than item memory for drawing, which supports dual-process model. Second, Experimental paradigm and source characteristics regulate the spatial and temporal distributions of source retrieval effect together. Third, the level of consciousness during retrieval is also an important factor affecting source retrieval Related Articles | Metrics

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Character Effect of Mental Rotation in Different Planes You-Xuqun,Wang-Peng,Yan-Bihua 2007, 39 (01):  58-63.  Abstract ( 2415 )   The human visual system can represent an object’s spatial structure using either first-person perspective or third-person perspective. It can also utilize either first-person or third-person processing mode to perform mental rotation. Since Shepard and colleagues’ classic study, experiments over next 30 years did much to elucidate the basic nature of mental rotation. However, most of the studies were only the ones of first-person rotation, and third-person rotation has been neglected in the field of mental exploration. So, this study’s specific aim was to compare the relative difficulty of first- and third-person rotation of imagined environment by the experiments. The hypothesis was that third-person rotation would be made easier than first-person rotation in the transverse and coronal planes. Two experiments were conducted, each comparing first- and third-person performance in the transverse (Experiment 1) or coronal (Experiment 2) plane, respectively. Seventy-six right-handed undergraduates took part in the experiments at the age between 19 and 21. Each experiment was a 2 (character task: first- and third-person rotation) × 4 (degree) mixed-design. Each participant performed either first-person rotation or third-person rotation. In first-person task, participants were asked to imagine themselves rotating in the center of a four-object array a given number of degrees and were then asked to name the object at a particular position (experiment 1: right, left, front, or back; experiment 2: top, bottom, right, left) relative to their imagined orientation. In third-person task, participants were asked to imagine another person rotating in the center of a four-object array ahead of them a given number of degrees and were then asked to name the object at a particular position (experiment 1: right, left, front, or back; experiment 2: top, bottom, right, left) relative to the person’s orientation after rotation. Rts and number of errors were recorded and analyzed. RT was measured from the end of the experimenter’s question to the beginning of the participant’s response. The results confirmed the hypothesis. In experiment 1, the third-person task was performed faster and more accurately than the first-person task in the transverse plane. The ANOVA on reaction time revealed main effects of character task and degree, as well as a significant character task × degree interaction. More specifically, the first-person and third-person RTs were not different at 0°, but the overall latency of first-person responses was greater than that of third-person responses for 90°, 180°, and 270° of rotation. The ANOVA on errors also indicated main effects of character task and degree. The results of Experiment 2 were similar to the findings in Experiment 1.It was found reduced RTs and errors in the third-person rotation compared to the first-person rotation in the coronal plane in which people cannot naturally locomote. The present experiments revealed that there is an advantage of third-person rotation over first-person rotation. Third-person rotation is easier than first-person rotation in the transverse plane and coronal plane Related Articles | Metrics

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Online Processing of Facial Expression Recognition Sui-Xue,Ren-Yantao 2007, 39 (01):  64-70.  Abstract ( 2655 )   Human faces convey important messages, such as identity, age, sex, and emotional expression. The traditional view of facial expressions is that certain configurations of facial muscle contractions convey information about the emotional state of a person. Certain facial expressions and certain emotions are intimately tied together. There are many studies emphasizing on the influencing factor of facial expression recognition. The results indicate that influencing factors include age (Pfütze, 2002), emotion condition (Mullins, 2004), and healthy (Hall, 2004) so on. But there are few researches about how these factors influence facial expression recognition. During facial expression recognition, the eye fixation location plays an important role. Fixation sites and fixation durations are closely time-locked to ongoing perceptual and cognitive process during picture perception (Henderson, 2005). We can understand the essence of facial expression recognition through analyzing the eye movement of facial expression recognition. The aim of the research presented here was to explore the on-line process of facial expression recognition. This study consists of two experiments. The experiment 1 investigated the basic model of on-line process of recognizing the heterogeneity facial expression of undergraduate; the experiment 2 examined the effect of different facial part on recognition facial expression using shade technology. Method In two experiments, the recognition-decision paradigm was used. The participants were required to decide which kinds the facial expression pictures belong to- positive, neutrality and negative. Thirty-six undergraduate students participate in two experiments (18 in experiment 1 and 2 respectively). When participants performed, their eye movement was recorded by using 504 model eyetracker produced by America Science Laboratory. Excel managed the raw data. For testing significant differences between participants’ response to stimuli, ANOVA analyses were performed. The null hypothesis was rejected if a p-value less than 0.05 were obtained. All data were analyzed using SPSS 11.0 (SPSS inc, Chicago, USA). Results The data analyses showed that: (1) the eye trace of the heterogeneity expression recognition of subjects has common character which their eye moves the same path of "counter V"; (2) there is significant difference in behavior data and eye movement index when subjects recognized the heterogeneity expression recognition; (3) the pattern of eye movement have obviously changed when the diverse part of face were camouflaged. Defilade has influence on reaction time and accuracy data of facial expression recognition; (4) the information of different facial part has diverse effect on facial expression recognition. Eyes act as a most important role. Conclusion The results suggested that there is common character of eye movement model of the human individual recognizing the different facial expression. Psychological resources which needs during recognizing the heterogeneity facial expression are different. Moreover，facial expression recognition depended differently on different face parts. The eye part have most important role. Related Articles | Metrics

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A Case Study About Spatial Dysgraphia Yang-Shuang1--Liu-Xiangping1--Wan-Bin1--Wu-Hongjun1--Liu-Weiwei1--Ning-Ning 2007, 39 (01):  71-77.  Abstract ( 4265 )   Spatial dysgraphia is a type of writing disorders. It is characterized by irregularity of writings and poor coordination of writing movements. Children with spatial dysgraphia are usually normal in motor and language development. According to the theory of writing process, the mechanism of spatial dysgraphia lies in the level of allograph and graphic motor pattern. And deficit in the latter one is the main cause of spatial dysgraphia of Western words. As to Chinese developmental dysgraphia, there’s only one report about a case of dysgraphia caused by developmental coordination disorder. So far, no report has been published on Chinese spatial dysgraphia. Method QY is a 9 year old boy in the third grade of elementary school. He was normal in reading and motor development, but showed serious deficits in the legibility and spacing of handwriting. This deficit only appeared in spontaneous writing, with copying relatively normal. The control group consisted of five children with normal writing abilities. QY and normal children were matched in physiological age, IQ and reading level. Based on the theory of writing process, we studied the cognitive processing characters of a child with spatial disgraphia from three levels: allograph and graphic motor pattern and neuromuscular execution. The allograph level included visual image test, visual and spatial memory test, and visual holistic process test. In the graphic motor pattern level, there are motor sequences memory test, motor image test and motor coordination tests, the latter test then included four tests: visual discrepancy detection, tactical recognition, muscular movement judgment and interference in copied writing. Finally, test in the neuromuscular execution level was a finger tapping task. Results (1) The case QY have selective impairments in allograph level; he was difficult in holistic visual processes, which lead to the illegibility and improper structure of his spontaneous handwritings. But in other aspects (i.e. visual image and visual and spatial memory), no significant difference was obtained between QY and normal children. (2) The case QY are normal in graphic motor pattern level and neuromuscular execution level. Especially in the velocity of neuromuscular execution, the performance of QY was significantly higher than the normal children. Conclusions The case QY was a typical spatial dysgraphic child. The cognitive deficits primarily lay on the allograph level, characterized by the difficulties in holistic visual processes. The writing processes of QY were normal in the graphic motor pattern and neuromuscular execution level. Related Articles | Metrics

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Effects of Rumination and Distraction on Negative Emotion and Autobiographical Memory Cui-Lixian,Huang-Miner 2007, 39 (01):  78-87.  Abstract ( 956 )   Nolen-Hoeksema proposed a response style theory in 1987, which claimed that distraction would be more effective in alleviating a depressed mood than rumination. On the basis of this theory, a variety of studies have been conducted to investigate the effects of rumination and distraction. It is consistently suggested that rumination may lead individuals to recall more negative autobiographical memory and run into a kind of negative vicious circle, and then maintain and exacerbate depressed mood. However, the effects of rumination on physiological responses have been rarely discussed, and no significant differences between ruminating and distracting participants have been found so far. The present study investigated the effects of rumination and distraction on normal adults’ emotional subjective reports, physiological response and autobiographical memory when they were facing negative mood after emotion induction in laboratory. It was hypothesized that rumination would exacerbate ongoing negative mood and lead to more negative general autobiographical memories than distraction response according to previous studies. Method Seventy-two participants were recruited and 64 participants’ data were analyzed. During the experiment, participants were randomly divided into two groups. A dysphoric mood was induced in one half of them and a nondysphoric mood was induced in another half with stories and movie clips created by researchers. The participants were then randomly assigned to rumination and distraction tasks. Emotional subjective reports were filled in after adaptation phase of physiological device (BIOPAC MP150wsw), emotion induction and response style task. Physiological responses and autobiographical memory data were also collected. Repeated measures ANOVA and 2´2 factorial ANOVA were mainly used for data analysis after raw data transformation. Results The results showed that, after inducing dysphoric emotions in the laboratory and asking them to participate in the response style tasks, response style had no effects on participants’ negative emotion and physiological responses but rumination/negative group retrieved more negative general autobiographical memories, while distraction reduced general autobiographical memory. The results of negative emotion did not support the hypothesis but the results of autobiographical memories did. The physiological results were consistent with previous studies. Conclusions When negative mood was induced, rumination led individuals retrieve more negative moods, maintained general autobiographical memory and then likely exacerbated negative mood. This study extended Nolen-Hoeksema and many other researchers’ findings and supported Nolen-Hoeksema’s response style theory. Rumination seemed to have both positive and negative effects. When the participants’ dysphoric emotions were induced in the laboratory, which was unstable, and didn’t meet the clinical criterion, the analytical and evaluative thinking component of rumination would function dominantly and improve participants’ negative moods. The components of rumination should be examined in future studies. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Development of Reality Monitoring in Visual and Auditory Modalities Guo-Xiaojuan,Su-Yanjie 2007, 39 (01):  88-95.  Abstract ( 2235 )   Reality monitoring (RM) refers to the ability to discriminate internal memories from external events. It develops gradually from age 4 to 5, and reaches the level of adults at age 11~12. Some research on modality differences of reality monitoring showed a developmental trend, with the effect of visual passage being more predominant than the auditory passage. But little research investigated this trend using different materials in the same modality. The present study explored the developmental difference in visual and auditory passage on reality monitoring using different kinds of stimuli. Method In order to compare the developmental differences on reality monitoring between and within modalities, a total of 223 subjects including preschoolers (5yr.) and school children (7yr., 9yr.) were enrolled to make source discriminative reactions. The material of reality monitoring consisted of two visual stimuli including picture and flash, two auditory stimuli including natural sound and sounds of word, with the contents being matched. Results and discussion In visual condition, an ANOVA with 3 (age: 5 vs.7 vs. 9) × 2 (picture vs. flash) design showed that there was a significant interaction between age and material (F (2,110) = 3.31, p < 0.05). We found that performance on source discrimination of 5-year-old was poorer than that of 7- and 9-year-old children. No significant main effects of materials (picture or flash) were found in source discrimination tasks in the group of age 5 and 7, but performance on source discrimination tasks was better when using flash than when using picture for 9-year-old children. In auditory condition, similar analyses demonstrated significant main effects of age and materials. Performance on source discrimination tasks was better when using sound than when using words. Another ANOVA with 3 (age) × 4 (picture, flash, sound, and word) showed that there was a significant interaction between age and material (F (6,221) = 2.80, p = 0.012). Simple effect analysis showed that the predominance of source discrimination performance was as follows: RMpicture > RMword, RMflash = RMsound = RMword for 5-year-old children; RMpicture = RMflash > RMsound = RMword for 7-year-old children; and RMpicture = RMflash = RMsound > RMword for 9-year- old children. Conclusions The kind of stimuli did affect children’s source discrimination. First, the performance of picture source discrimination was better than that of flash for younger children and the performance of flash was better than that of picture for older ones in the visual condition. Second, the performance of sound discrimination was better than the word discrimination. Third, there existed a developmental trend of source discrimination: the reality monitoring of picture was predominant for 5-year-old children; the reality monitoring of picture and flash were predominant for 7-year-old children; and the reality monitoring of visual and sound were predominant for 9- year-old children Related Articles | Metrics

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Preschool children’s understanding of illness Liqi-,Guangyi-Liu 2007, 39 (01):  96-103.  Abstract ( 1072 )   Research on children’s understanding of illness is particularly concerned from the perspective of conceptual change and cognitive development. Instead of focusing on general logical structures as Piaget did, recent idea of conceptual change presupposes the domain-specificity of cognitive development. There is still debate on whether young children acquired a separate biological domain and how that domain can best be characterized. This research was designed according to the 3 components of naïve biology to shed light on the above issue. Study 1 investigated whether preschool children regarded illness as a biological process to distinguish living and nonliving things. Study 2 further investigated their understanding of non-intentionality of the cause and prevention of illness. Study 3 explored how children explained the causes of illness spontaneously and compared their responses with adults. The sample in the 3 studies comprised the same group of 90 preschoolers, with 30 children in each of the following age groups: 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds, with equal numbers of boys and girls. Participants were recruited from different SES families in Beijing, China. Study 3 also recruited 30 college students as a comparison of adult group. In study 1, a classification task was used. Children were requested to classify sets of living and non-living things in terms of illness. In study 2, several stories were told to children, asking them to tell whether some specific behavior might cause or stop illness. Study 3 was an interview task, asking children and adults to offer their own explanation of the cause of illness. Participants responses were coded into one of the 5 coding categories: Psychogenic, Biological, Behavioral, Symptomatic and others. Results indicated that preschoolers’ performance increased with age in the classification task, they understood better that living things could get sick, while non-living thing couldn’t when getting older; Even 3-year-olds realized that illness was non-intentional, intention could neither cause illness nor stop illness; Children neither used intention nor moral rules to explain illness but from behavioral perspective most frequently. This may support that they had separated theory of naïve biology.. However, their explanations were different from adults’ level and scientific biological concept, since adults offered more biological and psychogenic explanations. The studies also found educational background influenced children’s illness understanding, while high SES children outperformed their low SES counterparts in all the 3 studies, implying family and preschool education may enhance children’s cognitive development on biological world by enriching children’s knowledge through informal and preschool experience Related Articles | Metrics

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Influence of Special Syntax Cues on the False Belief Understanding in 3-4-year-olds Mo-Shuliang,Su-Yanjie,Zhang-Yaxu 2007, 39 (01):  104-110.  Abstract ( 2182 )   Language skills play an important role in the development of theory of mind in children. According to de Villiers’ point, complement syntax is a prerequisite of false belief understanding, because it provides a powerful framework for children’s representation of false belief state. Some other researchers questioned this point. The purpose of the present study was to examine the influence of complement syntax on false belief understanding in Chinese preschoolers. The hypotheses were (1) according to de Villiers, providing the complement syntax framework including a mental verb could improve the performance on false belief tasks, (2) the special syntax cues could have different influence on unexpected content tasks and location transferred tasks, despite their similar influence on prediction questions and explanation questions in false belief tasks. A total of one hundred and twenty-four 3- or 4-year-old preschoolers were administered with four false belief tasks. Each age group was divided into three subgroups, in which three types of special syntax cues were manipulated. These syntax-cuing conditions were called zero level, first level and second level cuing, respectively. The participants were not given any syntax cue in the zero level subgroup; the first level subgroup was given a partial syntax cue, such as “where did the boy (a character in the false belief story) think the chocolate was?” The second level subgroup was given a fully syntax cue, such as “the boy thinks that the chocolate was in the cupboard”. In each false belief task, the participants were asked a prediction question as well as an explanation question. They obtained one score if they answered one question correctly. The results showed that the performance of the false belief tasks in the first and second level syntax-cuing conditions was significantly better than the performance in the zero level condition; however, there was no significant difference between the first and the second level conditions. There was also no significant difference of the syntax-cuing effects between location transferred task and unexpected content task. A similar pattern was found when comparing the performance on prediction questions with the performance on explanation questions. This indicated that the special syntax cues significantly facilitated children’s false belief understanding. Finally, the role of the special syntax on the false belief understanding was discussed Related Articles | Metrics

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Children’s Deceptive Behaviors And Related Social Characters Shi-Bing,Su-Yanjie 2007, 39 (01):  111-117.  Abstract ( 2210 )   The author’s prior research (Shi & Su, 2006) suggested that children’s deception not only related to their executive function as indicated in the studies of Carlson (1989) and Hala (2001), it may also relate to the magnitude of the situational intimidation children felt when they were deceiving or going to deceive. In study 1 of this paper, different interactive partners were adopted in the overt deceptive situation where children had got to bear some pressures to deceive directly in the face of their partner. When facing various partners, children may feel more or lesser intimidations and hereafter may appear different deceptive behaviors. Specifically, this experiment focused on 6-year-olders’ deceptive/honest behaviors when facing a male adult, a female adult, a same-age boy and a same-age girl as their competitive targets in overt situations. Results indicated children’s gender，target’s gender and their age interactively affected children’s deceptive/honest behaviors. Children tended to cheat the amiable female adult while honest with the stricter male. In some extent, this result proves our hypothesis and additionally suggested to us that there is a significant interactive effect between the genders of the same-age deceivers and deceivees. Boys tended to cheat the same-age boy while girls tended to cheat the same-age girl. Combining the results of studyt 1 and our prior research, we found that children’s deception is in fact so complicated that it correlates with various factors including situational intimidation and children’s theory of mind. Besides there are some researches (Shapiro, 2005; Ostrov, 2006) indicated that other factors such as children’s relational aggression, temperament, etc. associated with children’s deception too. In order to systematically understand the possible antecedents of children’s deception which could predict children’s future internal and external problematic behaviors, in study 2, we adopted the social development scale for 4-7-year-olders which covering multiple dimensions of children’s social developmental characters to further explore whether other social characters were involved in children’s deception in different situations. Results suggested deception in covert situation correlated significantly with children’s will; Behavioral overt deception correlated with emulative anxiety significantly; Lying correlated significantly with self-conception. These results demonstrated that if the deceptive action is relatively difficult to behave as the covert deception, children’s strength of will may affect their deceiving. While if the deceptive action is easy to carry out as the overt deception, then children’s emulative anxiety takes the advantage and associates with children’s deception. As to lying, children who have a high self-conception tend to lie more likely. All these results reminded us that deception related to various social characters in different deceptive situations. When we study children’s deception and regard if we need to intervene children’s deception, we need to take all these factors mentioned above into our account. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Relation between Vocabulary and Reading in English Learner of Mandarin-Speaking Children Liu-Xia-,Tao-Sha 2007, 39 (01):  118-128.  Abstract ( 1385 )   Although oral vocabulary has been revealed to play crucial roles in reading development, the nature of the relation between oral vocabulary and reading development need to be explored further. The phonological sensitivity approach (PSA) and the comprehensive language approach (CLA) are two major views in this area. PSA claims that oral vocabulary has only indirect effects on reading development via the phonological awareness. In contrast, CLA proposes that oral vocabulary plays important direct roles in reading development, and the role of phonological awareness may be overemphasized in previous research. The debates between the two views are focused on whether oral vocabulary has direct effects on reading development and whether phonological awareness has significant mediating effects. This study aimed to examine the relation between English oral vocabulary and reading development and the mediating effects of phonological awareness among Chinese primary school children in the context of ESL (English as the second language) learning. Fifty seven children in Grade 4 and sixty three children in Grade 5 participated in this study. They had the same duration of English learning (three years and two months) at the time of assessment. All the children had normal IQ measured by the Chinese version of Raven Progressive Matrices. Tasks in four domains were administered. (1) English oral vocabulary. Expressive vocabulary was measured by a picture naming task and receptive vocabulary was measured by a sound-picture matching task. (2) Chinese oral vocabulary. Similarly, e expressive vocabulary was measured by a picture naming task and receptive vocabulary was measured by the Chinese version of Peabody Picture Vocabulary -Revised (PPVT-R of China; Sang, 1991). (3) Phonological Awareness. Deletion tasks were used to assess children’s awareness of English syllables, onset-rimes and phonemes. (4) English reading. English word naming task, English word comprehension task and English word attack task were used. The results indicated that both expressive and receptive vocabulary were positively and significantly correlated with all English reading tasks, even controlling for the effects of nonverbal IQ and Chinese oral vocabulary. Hierarchical regression analysis confirmed the unique roles of English oral vocabulary in English reading. In particular, English expressive vocabulary contributed more to English word naming while English receptive vocabulary contributed more to English word comprehension. In addition to the direct effects, English expressive vocabulary also had significantly indirect effects on all reading measures via phonological awareness while English receptive vocabulary had significantly indirect effects on English word comprehension task. Furthermore, compared with the indirect effects via phonological awareness, English expressive vocabulary had stronger direct effects on all the three tasks of English reading, and English receptive vocabulary had stronger direct effects on English word comprehension task. The results from this study suggests that oral vocabulary is critical for learning to read in a second language, especially for the beginning readers whose major challenge is to decode print into sound. Teachers and parents should pay enough attention to children’s speaking and listening expereince. Furthermore, the data also support the views of comprehensive language approach (CLA) that oral vocabulary plays important direct roles in reading development beyond the influence of phonological awareness. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Relations Between Personal Construction And School Adjustment in Adolescents Chen-Huichang,Zhang-Hongmei 2007, 39 (01):  129-134.  Abstract ( 1346 )   After George Kelley proposed the personal construction theory, researchers have examined the developmental processes of personal construction in various areas. Research finding based on this theory in Western cultures have indicated that individual cognitive complexity may influence performance, academic achievement, conflict coping abilities. Nevertheless, most of the studies were conducted with adults. Little is known about how personal construction is associated with children’s school achievement and adjustment. The purpose of present study was to examine relations between adolescents’ personal construction and school adjustment. The participants were 512 students from grade 1 to grade 6 in high schools (253 in senior high school, 259 in junior high school, 257 boys, and 255 girls). The Role Construct Repertory Test developed by George Kelley, the Test of School Adjustment, and the Scale of Ways of Coping developed by Folkman and Lazarus were used in this study. Specifically, the students were asked to list names of persons they were familiar with including teachers, classmate, neighbors, parents and siblings. They were then asked to select three names and describe them in terms of similarities and differences, and to repeat this process for 20 times. The personal construction scores were created based on these descriptions about others and self. Results indicated that there were significant relations between adolescents’ personal construction complexity and school achievement, school adjustment and ways of coping stress. Students with higher scores on construction complexity tended to perform better in school and coping. After sex, grades, school adjustment and personal construction complexity were controlled, personal construction accounted for 2.8% of the variance in school achievement. Finally, personal construction contributed to school Achievement in multiple ways; personal construction complexity contributed to academic achievement directly, as well indirectly through the mediation of school adjustment and stress coping Related Articles | Metrics

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The Conceptual Structure of Creativity of Scientists with Creative Achievements Zhang-Jinghuan,Jin-Shenghua 2007, 39 (01):  135-145.  Abstract ( 1194 )   It was in the 1950s’ when scientific psychological method was introduced into the field of scientific creativity and creative eminence. Many researchers since then have reported their results and provided the scientists with creative achievements (SCA) specific descriptions. A puzzling situation was that many characteristics of SCA presented were parallel or overlap. As a result, it was difficult to form a clear idea as to what is the most important characteristic trait for SCA, and also their descriptions were conflicting. From methodological point of view，all the previous researchers viewed the problem from an outsiders’ point of view. It is assumed that those who are SCAs would understand the concepts better. This study took the standpoint of “inner looker” to examine how SCAs regarded their own creative achievement and to identify the conceptual structure of creative achievement. Method 2 pre-studies and a formal study were conducted. In the first pre-study, 34 SCAs were interviewed with a structured interview program; in the second pre-study, an important psychological characteristic inventory was developed, and the test-retest reliability information was computed (r=0.737, n=21, answered with Q-sort technique). In the formal study, 30 SCAs in five disciplines -- mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography and life science -- sorted the psychological characteristics in two contexts (creative achievement/general achievement) with Q-sort technique, and then multiple scaling was used to analyze the data. Results (1) The SCAs’ conceptual structure of creative achievement includes two dimensions: achievement pursuit/self-experience pursuit and initiative/down-to-earth and (2) The most important properties of creative achievement were “achievement pursuit” and “initiative”. Conclusions (1) Both creative achievement and general achievement had the same property of achievement pursuit, but the creative achievement saw initiative as the power to break through further; whereas the general achievement placed emphasis on knowledge as the basis; (2) To achieve a creative achievement, both general achievement base and initiative were needed. Initiative can generalize the former research results and cover a broader characteristic of SCA Related Articles | Metrics

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The Effects of Job Satisfaction, Affective Commitment and Job Involvement on Job Skill Ratings Li-Wendong,Shi-Kan,He-Dan,Zhuang-Jinying, 2007, 39 (01):  146-154.  Abstract ( 3676 )   Introduction: A growing body of literature has been focusing on sources of variance in job analysis ratings and there are mainly two theories to explain differences in job analysis ratings under the same job title, treating these differences as substantial differences and perceptual differences respectively. The objective of this study was to explore the effects of job attitudes, job satisfaction, affective commitment and job involvement, on job skill ratings using data from incumbents of four jobs after partialing out variance due to other variables, and to figure out which of the three job attitudes would have the strongest influence on skill ratings. Method: Two skill scales, both importance and level, from Occupational Information Network (O*NET) were administered to 272 job incumbents of four jobs, human resource managers in public sectors (50), computer software designers (54), web editors (100) and newspaper salesmen (68). Hierarchical regression analyses were adopted to test hypotheses. Results: The results indicated that, after controlling for effects of jobs and individual demographic variables, job satisfaction, affective commitment and job involvement had significant effects on skill ratings, both importance and level ones. Specifically, job satisfaction significantly affected importance and level ratings of organizational skills and cognitive skills, as well as level ratings of technical skills. Affective commitment had significant positive effects on both importance and level ratings of cognitive skills. Besides, the effects of job involvement were positively significant on both importance and level ratings of organizational and cognitive skills. It was also found that among the three affective variables of interest, job satisfaction had the strongest impact on both skill importance and level ratings. Conclusions: This study extended studies on sources of variance in job analysis by exploring effects of job attitudes on job skill importance and level ratings with other variables controlled for on data across a variety of jobs, including management, research and development, and sales. Coupled with findings in previous studies, the findings of this study also suggested that job attitudes influence job analysis ratings on many scales, including importance, level scales. Finally, among the three job attitude variables studied, this study suggested that job satisfaction had the relatively strongest affects on skill ratings. HR professional need collect job information from job incumbents with both high and low level job attitudes when conducting job analysis Related Articles | Metrics

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The Impact of Psychological Contract Breach on the Work-Related Attitude and Behavior of Employees Shen-Yimo,Yuan-Denghua 2007, 39 (01):  155-162.  Abstract ( 1472 )   The psychological contract has been viewed as an explanatory framework for understanding the employment relationship, and is regarded by some researchers as central to the understanding of employee attitudes and behaviors. Despite the importance ascribed to this concept, it remains theoretically underdeveloped and has received limited empirical attention. Method Using a sample of 398 employees from 32 firms, the present study examined whether perceived organizational support (POS) and leader-member exchange (LMX) mediate the relationship between psychological contract breach and its outcomes by applying the structural equation modeling analysis. Results Results indicated that perceived organizational support and leader-member exchange mediate the relationship between psychological contract breach and its outcomes: (1) POS was found to fully mediate the relationship between psychological contract breach and organizational identification; POS only partially mediates the relationship between psychological contract breach and intention to remain. (2) LMX was found to mediate the relationship between psychological contract breach and organizational citizenship behavior. (3) POS fully mediates the relationship between LMX and work-related attitudes, including intention to remain and organizational identification. Conclusions PPS and LMX mediate the relationship between psychological contract breach and employees’ work-related outcomes. Results highlight the importance of POS and LMX in enhancing the understanding of the links between psychological contract breach and its work-related outcome Related Articles | Metrics

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A Test On 3-Dimensional Model of Sport Achievement Goal： An Empirical Study on Elite Table Tennis Players Si-Gangyan,Lee-Hing-chu,Liu-Hao 2007, 39 (01):  163-175.  Abstract ( 1395 )   This study aimed at testing Harwood, Hardy and Swain’s (2000) proposed 3-dimensional model of achievement goals in sport. The three dimensions are pure task, self-referenced ego involvement and norm-referenced ego involvement. Their proposal came about in the context of criticisms of Nicholl’s (1984, 1987) popular 2-dimensional task-ego goal orientation theory in sport and its related instruments, namely, Task and Ego Orientation Sport Questionnaire and Perception of Success Questionnaire. Harwood, Hardy and Swain questioned (a) the rationale of the differentiation of effort and ability in competitions; (b) the appropriateness of using the two questionnaires as the items have failed to effectively discriminate among individuals who are truly high, low or moderate in task or ego involvement. Two studies were conducted. Study 1 was the development of a 9-item Achievement Goal Questionnaire (AGQ). Reliability and validity of the questionnaire were assessed. The objective of Study 2 was to assess the nature of achievement goal orientation and involvement states of four elite table tennis players (M=2; F=2) before, during and after competition. Four important matches were selected and videotaped for interviews, conducted within three days of an important match. Any changes in the achievement goal orientation and involvement states were noted when the players recalled experiencing an adverse or good situation during the match in question. Qualitative method was used to analyze the interview content. Confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a clear 3-factor solution. Test-retest (2 weeks apart) statistics showed good reliability of each of the three factors. Consistent results of the coaches’ evaluation of the four players and the players’ responses to the AGQ lent further support to the convergent validity of the questionnaire. Findings of the four players in Study 2 suggested: (1) there was an inconsistency between their achievement goal orientation and involvement states before an important match, reflecting the influence of individual characteristics and the qualities of particular opponents; (2) before and during competition goal involvement states showed a multiple-goal tendency, players could emphasize on a single goal as well as two or three goals at the same time; (3) after competition goal involvement states tended to be affected by competition process and result; and (4)sub-goal involvement states (characterized by a lack of strong achievement goal motivation) was also observed when players experienced major setbacks in competition. Results of this study supported Harwood, Hardy and Swain’s 3-dimensional model of achievement goals. A reliable and valid questionnaire was developed to test the model. The questionnaire should, however, be further refined by using it for other sports and a wider variety of athletes. In addition, the study showed the nature of goal orientations and goal involvement states of players before, during and after competition. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used for data analysis. The study also implied that an understanding of the nature of achievement goals in athletes may better help them cope with competition stress. For example, it is hypothesized that an athlete with self-referenced ego involvement (rather than norm-referenced) might be more likely to interpret a stressful event (e.g., competition) as a challenge than a threat or harm, then he/she might be able to cope with stress more effectively. Perhaps, athletes can be trained to appraise their achievement goals differently when under different competition stresses Related Articles | Metrics

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Response Styles of Chinese Middle School Students and Their Effects on Personality Tests Guo-Qingke,Han-Dan,Wang-Zhao,Shi-Kan 2007, 39 (01):  176-183.  Abstract ( 2328 )   Response style is an important form of bias and error variance in psychological testing. But there is no study explored the characteristics of response styles in Chinese people, and to which extend they affect reliability and validity of psychological testing. In this study, one form of NEO-FFI with 60 positive narrated items was administrated at one time to 486 middle school students. A negative form of the measure was administrated to the same student group two weeks later. In addition, a positive and negative narrative form of EPQ was also administrated to 465 middle school students in two weeks interval. Four kinds of response styles are calculated: acquiescence, extremeness, indifference and flexibility. The several results were found.. First, response styles do exist in Chinese students. Second, Response styles that affect reliability and validity of personality tests most seriously are indifference and flexibility response styles. Extremeness response style reduces test reliability and validity, but acquiescence style does not. Third, The negative form of NEO-FFI has lower in reliability and validity than the positive form, suggesting that middle school students may have difficulties understanding negative narrated items. These results indicatethat response styles of Chinese students are different from those of western countries. Whereas indifference and flexibility are most important in Chinese students, extremeness is less important. Acquiescence as a response style does not exist Related Articles | Metrics

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Theoretical Psychology in a Post-Empiricist Era Ye-Haosheng 2007, 39 (01):  184-190.  Abstract ( 2437 )   With the progressive undermining of empirical positivism， psychology is now entering a post-empiricist era. New understanding has been taken on the relation between theory and observation. Theory is no more a second-class enterprise psychologists make in spare time after completing the difficult empirical researches. Rather, theory is active and the empirical facts gain their meanings from their theory. On this account, theory is not from the generalization and induction of empirical facts, instead theory is a social construction and is invented by the people in a particular culture and society. In addition, theory in a post-empiricist era is not a finished product. They are only provisional and are the conversation with our colleagues in the field of psychology. In the empiricist era, philosophical fundamentals of theoretical psychology is empiricism and positivism, but in the post-empiricist era, theoretical psychology is based on Kuhn’s theory of paradigm, Husserl’s phenomenology, hermeneutics and social constructionism. All the doctrines have stood as the critical counter to the empiricist tradition. Kuhn claims that the paradigm is in essence a theoretical framework that dictates which is a fact and which is not a fact. Therefore, theory is of importance in scientific activity. The phenomenological tradition emphasize the metaphysical method which is a kind of theoretical thinking. The hermeneutic perspective criticize the empiricist view that understanding can be derived from observation. It has laid the groundwork for what is commonly viewed as an interpretive science. According to the perspective, the study of psychological phenomena is irreducibly interpretive. Interpretation is also a way of theoretical thinking. Therefore, the hermeneutics can be in support of theoretical psychology. Social constructionism argue that no theoretical views can warrant its own truth either with evidence or empirical data, for all the theories are a social construction and we have no way to validate these claims. Psychological phenomenon are also a product of social construction. Therefore we need theoretical thinking to facilitate the capacity of theory construction. Due to the demise of the empiricist standards for evaluating theoretical positions, we need alternative criterion for evaluation. The conceptual and logic standard is one of them. The evaluation of theory does not always need the correspondence with empirical evidences. For the most problems on which psychologists investigate, theoretical psychologists can analyze them by thought with the help of the logics. The second one is value and ideological standard. For the empiricism, good science is value-neutral, ideological evaluation should not be involved in scientific investigation. However, scholars have become increasingly aware of the relationship of science to the society and culture, and have reached the conclusion that there is no means of achieving scientifically neutral theory. Therefore, the value and ideological standard can be taken as an useful criterion for theoretical psychologists. Rhetorical and narrative analysis also play an increasingly important role in scientific thinking. It is recognized that the way in which we represent the world in our theories is strongly influence by conventions of representation. Because rules of rhetoric and narration guide the process of representation, therefore, they also have an impact on the scientific inquiry. Rhetorical and narrative analysis thus become another criterion for evaluating theory. Finally, social practice and application may also function as an evaluating standard. By the combination of theory and action, the validity and usefulness of theories can be confirmed Related Articles | Metrics