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ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B
主办:中国心理学会
   中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

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    , Volume 56 Issue 5 Previous Issue   

    Reports of Empirical Studies
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    Reports of Empirical Studies
    How semantic prosody is acquired in novel word learning: Evidence from the “Double-Jujube Tree” effect
    WU Shiyu, LI Zan
    2024, 56 (5):  531-541.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2024.00531
    Abstract ( 487 )   PDF (747KB) ( 784 )   Peer Review Comments
    Generally, a word's meaning consists of at least two components. The first is denotative meaning, representing the definitional meaning found in dictionaries and serving as the word's fundamental meaning. The second component involves semantics that a word “absorbs” from its linguistic context, not constrained by definitions; this is known as semantic prosody, described as a consistent aura of meaning with which a form is imbued by its collocates. While theories and empirical studies have shed light on mechanisms supporting the acquisition of the first word meaning component, the acquisition of the connotative meaning engendered by semantic prosody has been overlooked. It remains unclear whether readers can unconsciously acquire the semantic prosody (or emotional connotations) of a novel word after encountering it consistently in a context with a strong emotional polarity.
    Against this backdrop, we conducted a word learning experiment, manipulating context emotionality (negative vs. neutral vs. positive) and context variability (same-repeated vs. varied contexts) as crucial contextual variables. This aimed to address two understudied questions in vocabulary acquisition: (1) Does transfer of affect to a word from its linguistic context take place through reading exposures, facilitating the acquisition of semantic prosody for the word? If so, is such transfer influenced by context variability? (2) Does the emotionality of context affect the acquisition of word forms and meanings, and is this acquisition modulated by context variability? This experiment involved two sessions: a reading-and-learning phase and a testing phase. During the reading-and-learning session, participants read emotionally charged passages, simultaneously learning embedded target words. The testing session included an immediate posttest, incorporating four vocabulary tests—valence rating, orthographic choice, definition matching, and definition generation. A total of 196 Chinese speakers participated in the experiment.
    Mixed-effects models were utilized to analyze data from the valence rating task and the other three vocabulary knowledge tests. The findings revealed that, within the same-repeated context, manipulating context emotionality (positive vs. neutral vs. negative) significantly influenced valence ratings, showing significantly higher ratings in the positive condition compared to neutral and negative conditions. Conversely, in the varied context, no significant differences in valence ratings were observed. This result supports the hypothesis of the “Double-Jujube Tree” effect, emphasizing the effect of repetitive texts compared to multiple texts. However, in the varied context, valence ratings played a role in influencing participants' performances in the vocabulary tests, leading to better outcomes as valence ratings increased. In the same-repeated context, valence ratings had minimal effect on accuracy in the orthographic choice test and the definition prompting test.
    We posit that the effective mechanism for learning the semantic-prosody-engendered connotations of words involves the transfer of affect from their collocations. However, this transfer seems to be contingent on context variability, occurring only in the same-repeated context and not in the varied context. Furthermore, we illustrate that the emotionality of context influences the quality of both orthographic and semantic word learning, with words being better learned in positive contexts as opposed to negative or neutral ones.
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    Different effects of linguistic and perceptual symbolic representations on foreign language vocabulary learning: Evidence from behavioral and EEG data
    REN Weicong, YANG Ting, WANG Hanlin
    2024, 56 (5):  542-554.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2024.00542
    Abstract ( 340 )   PDF (1460KB) ( 550 )   Peer Review Comments
    Semantic representation is a way to achieve semantic access, which plays an important role in foreign language vocabulary learning. The linguistic symbolic and perceptual symbolic representations constitute two subsystems of semantic representations. Previous studies have found that the linguistic symbolic representation can provide quick approximate processing, which is suitable for shallow language processing tasks, while the perceptual symbolic representation can create a complete situation model, which is important for deep language processing tasks. In view of these different cognitive processing patterns, the effect of each symbolic representation system on foreign language vocabulary learning were investigated in this study to explore the mechanism of semantic representation on vocabulary learning.
    A total of 52 participants were randomly assigned to the two symbolic representation conditions and executed a vocabulary learning-recognition task. To manipulate the participants' semantic representations effectively when learning foreign language vocabulary, two types of spatial semantics, i.e., “up” and “down,” were chosen as the learning materials. Furthermore, to investigate the learning process effectively, the foreign words expressing the meanings of “up” and “down” were selected from languages that the participants were completely unfamiliar with. In the learning stage, Chinese characters or spatial cues of “up” and “down” were presented first as semantic priming stimuli to initiate the participants' linguistic symbolic or perceptual symbolic representations of the foreign words subsequently presented. The participants were then required to learn the foreign words. After every 20 words learned, a test on the semantic recognition of the foreign words was conducted. Behavioral and EEG data were collected to investigate the different effects of linguistic symbolic and perceptual symbolic representations on the learning and recognition stages.
    The behavioral results showed that no significant difference in judgment of learning were found between the linguistic symbolic and perceptual symbolic representation conditions, but the latter showed higher recognition accuracy rate than the former. The event related potential results showed that during the learning stage, the perceptual symbolic representation induced more positive LPC components (in the time window of 400~800 ms) than the linguistic symbolic representation condition. During the recognition stage, in relation to the linguistic symbolic representation condition, the perceptual symbolic representation evoked larger N400 components in the time window of 200~400 ms after the onset of the recognition words. The results of EEG time-frequency analysis showed that during the recognition stage, the perceptual symbolic representation condition elicited lower μ band power and higher θ band power than the linguistic symbolic representation condition (the time windows of the two bands were 200~800 ms after the onset of the recognition words).
    In conclusion, results indicated that compared with linguistic symbolic representation, perceptual symbolic representation had a delayed influence on vocabulary encoding. It promoted deep encoding processing of vocabulary and improved the efficiency of vocabulary semantic retrieval through perceptual simulation in the recognition process, thereby implicitly improving the semantic recognition of vocabulary.
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    Chunking feedback in instructor-learner interaction facilities long-term learning transfer: Behavioral and fNIRS hyperscanning studies
    ZHU Yi, HU Yi
    2024, 56 (5):  555-576.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2024.00555
    Abstract ( 396 )   PDF (3189KB) ( 651 )   Peer Review Comments
    Feedback is a crucial driving factor for attitude and behavior change, as well as the acquisition of knowledge and skills. Previous research has shown that providing and receiving feedback with elaborated content in teacher-student interactions can deepen the comprehension of conceptual knowledge and promote knowledge transfer to new contexts. However, the impact of altering the presentation of feedback during interaction on long-term learning and its underlying neurocognitive processes remains unclear.
    To address this question, the current study employed a naturalistic teacher-student dyadic question-answer feedback task. It conducted both a behavioral experiment and a fNIRS hyperscanning experiment to investigate the facilitative role of chunked feedback in long-term knowledge transfer, its cognitive processes, and the underlying neural basis during interpersonal interactions. In Experiment 1, students learned psychology concepts and received chunked (i.e., a set of two related concepts) or separate (i.e., one concept) feedback (i.e., correct answer and example) from the teacher. The prior knowledge levels were manipulated through a learning introduction phase. The between-subject design included feedback presentation (chunking vs. separate) × prior knowledge (high vs. low). Learning performance was measured after the task regarding knowledge recognition and transfer, with a second test conducted after 7 days to explore the long-term effect. Experiment 2 adopted fNIRS hyerscanning to simultaneously record teachers' and students' brain activity during interactions. Additionally, a pseudo-chunk (i.e., a set of two less-related concepts) feedback group was included to clarify potential confounding between feedback timing and format.
    The results of Experiment 1 showed that in teacher-student interaction, presenting feedback in a chunked manner, compared to separate feedback, was more beneficial for the long-term transfer performance of students with lower prior knowledge. With the introduction of the pseudo-chunk feedback group as a control, Experiment 2 replicated this finding and revealed no significant difference in long-term transfer performance between the pseudo-chunk and separate feedback groups. This indicates that merely changing the timing of feedback does not lead to long-term transfer gains for students with lower prior knowledge. Furthermore, it was found that chunked error correction partially mediated the relationship between feedback presentation format and long-term transfer performance. In Experiment 2, students receiving chunked feedback reported greater cognitive effort compared to those receiving non-chunked feedback, but no relationship was found between cognitive effort and learning. These results provide support for the possibility that the long-term transfer effect of chunked feedback for low-prior-knowledge students may be due to more organized error correction rather than cognitive effort. Additionally, Experiment 2 revealed that during the process of providing and receiving chunked feedback, greater brain-to-brain synchrony was observed in the frontal and parietal areas between teachers and students, with frontal brain-to-brain synchrony predicting long-term transfer performance and chunked error correction, suggesting it as the interpersonal neural basis of chunked feedback promoting effective error correction and facilitating long-term deep learning such as transfer.
    This study provides practical insights for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of feedback in real classroom settings. Moreover, it suggests that interpersonal frontal brain synchronization may play a crucial role in organized information representation, effective knowledge correction, and long-term transfer during real instructional interactions, thereby contributing to a better understanding of the cognitive and neural basis of instruction and learning activities.
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    Social inclusion regulates the effect of social exclusion on adaptation to emotional conflict
    MENG Xianxin, LUO Yi, HAN Chenyuan, WU Guowei, CHANG Jiao, YUAN Jiajing, QIAN Kun, FU Xiaolan
    2024, 56 (5):  577-593.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2024.00577
    Abstract ( 822 )   PDF (533KB) ( 1370 )   Peer Review Comments
    Social exclusion is a very painful experience that threatens people's physical and mental health, potentially increasing their risk of developing emotional problems. However, the psychological mechanism by which social exclusion affects emotional problems remains unclear. Studies have found that an impaired adaptability to emotional conflict plays an important role in emotional problems. Therefore, the first objective of the present study is to explore whether and how social exclusion affects adaptation to emotional conflict. After a person experiences social exclusion, social inclusion can promote positive emotions and lessen negative emotions. Therefore, the second objective of the present study is to explore whether and how social inclusion has the potential to regulate the effect of social exclusion on adaptation to emotional conflict.
    The present study used the Cyberball game and face-word Stroop paradigm to explore the effect of social exclusion on adaptation to emotional conflict (Experiment 1), and whether social inclusion had the potential to regulate the effect of social exclusion on adaptation to emotional conflict (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 used a mixed experimental design with 2 (social situation: exclusion, inclusion) × 2 (previous trial consistency: consistent, inconsistent) × 2 (current trial consistency: consistent, inconsistent) format. The consistency of the previous trial and the consistency of the current trial were the within-subject factors, while the social situation was the between-subject factor. In Experiment 1, participants were randomly assigned to either the inclusion group or the exclusion group. Experiment 2 used a mixed experimental design with 2 (Game 1: exclusion vs. inclusion) × 2 (Game 2: exclusion vs. inclusion) × 2 (previous trial consistency: consistent, inconsistent) × 2 (current trial consistency: consistent, inconsistent) format. The consistency of both the previous trial and the current trial were the within-subject factors, while Game 1 and Game 2 were the between-subject factors. In Experiment 2, participants were randomly assigned to the inclusion-exclusion, exclusion-exclusion, exclusion- inclusion, or inclusion-inclusion groups.
    In Experiment 1, the emotional conflict adaptation effect in reaction times of the exclusion group was lower than that of the inclusion group. In Experiment 2, the inclusion-exclusion group showed a greater emotional conflict adaptation effect in its reaction times than the exclusion-exclusion group. There was no significant difference in the emotional conflict adaptation effect in reaction times between the exclusion-inclusion group and the inclusion-inclusion group.
    In conclusion, social exclusion has the potential to reduce the individual's adaptation to emotional conflict, while social inclusion has the potential to regulate the excluded individual's adaptation to emotional conflict. These findings contribute to understanding the relationship between social exclusion and emotional problems and provide a feasible program to mitigate the risk of emotional problems caused by social exclusion.
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    “Buddha-like” mentality in workplace: The building of fundamental theory and the empirical test of its validity in Chinese context
    YAN Yu, FENG Ming, ZHANG Yong
    2024, 56 (5):  594-611.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2024.00594
    Abstract ( 1320 )   PDF (701KB) ( 2402 )   Peer Review Comments
    As a combination of traditional Buddha culture and modern network culture, Buddha-like mentality has been a popular work attitude in the workplace, yet limited scholarly attentions have been paid to investigate this concept, which is partly due to a lack of established scale. This lack, in turn, lead to incomplete understandings of the facets as well as the consequences of employees' Buddha-like mentality.
    To construct the framework of Buddha-like mentality and examine its consequences, we used qualitative research and quantitative research in this study. We firstly collected participants' views on Buddha-like mentality through interviews and questionnaires, and searched the contents related to Buddha-like mentality through the Internet. Secondly, the classical grounded theory was adopted to encode the descriptions derived from open survey, so as to conduct an exploration study on the concept and structural dimensions of the Buddha- like mentality in the working context. Based on this qualitative study and the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), an 18-item questionnaire was compiled according to the structural dimension of Buddha-like mentality. Then we conducted a correlation analysis with a sample of 290 participants to examine the discriminant validities between the Buddha-like mentality and existing concepts. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is conducted to test the construct validity with 478 samples. Finally, a time-lagged study is used to test the predictive validity of Buddha-like mentality with 402 valid matching questionnaires collected from 29 enterprises.
    The results of grounded theory show that the Buddha-like mentality in the work situation can be divided into four dimensions: unconcerned, satisfied with the status quo, friendly and not argumentative, and letting nature take its course. EFA and CFA of the Buddha-like mentality questionnaire show good reliability and validity, and there is no redundancy of questions. In addition, in the second-order four-factor model, the correlation coefficients of these factors are significant, and all of the standardized loadings of the first-order factor and the second-order factor are significant, which further confirms that the Buddha-like mentality in the workplace is a second-order structure composed of four first-order factors. Correlation analyses show (1) Buddha-like mentality correlates negatively with extraversion, (2) Buddha-like mentality has no significant correlation with agreeableness. The prediction validity study shows (1) Buddha-like mentality has a significant negative impact on creativity, (2) Buddha-like mentality has a significant positive impact on workplace well-being, (3) The impact of Buddha-like mentality on job performance is not significant.
    These findings enrich the scholarly understandings of Buddha-like mentality and offer a reliable instrument for the assessment of Buddha-like mentality, which may benefit much for future studies on this concept.
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    Trapped by family or compensated from work? The influence of daily negative family events on daily effective leadership behaviors
    LIU Depeng, LI Juexing, ZHANG Shengjun, PANG Xuhong, WANG Zheng
    2024, 56 (5):  612-629.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2024.00612
    Abstract ( 430 )   PDF (655KB) ( 819 )   Peer Review Comments
    Negative family events and experiences have been major social problems in recent years due to the intersection and influence of technical, economic, and epidemic shocks. Negative family events influence leaders' family domain and also have a cross-domain effect on leadership behaviors at work. However, there are two contradictory views on the relationship between negative family events and effective leadership behaviors. Some scholars claim a negative effect because of the depletion of leaders' self-control resources, called the “trapped-by- family effect.” Others propose a positive effect owing to cross-domain compensation, called the “compensation effect.”
    The inconsistency in existing literature prompts us to reconcile it using the theory of cross-domain leader identity. We argue that the influence of daily negative family events on leader identity and effective leadership behaviors depends on the leaders' extraversion levels. Specifically, when leaders have higher levels of extraversion, the compensation effect will come into play; that is, daily negative family events will be positively associated with daily effective leadership behaviors by promoting daily leader identity. In contrast, when leaders have lower levels of extraversion, the trapped-by-family effect will play a role; that is, daily negative family events will be negatively associated with daily effective leadership behaviors by reducing daily leader identity.
    To capture within-person variance and test our model, we conducted two experience sampling studies of middle managers across 10 consecutive workdays. In Study 1, participants were middle managers from three merchant banks in three cities. Before initiating the daily survey, participants were asked to complete a basic survey containing demographic questions and an extraversion personality inventory. After matching procedures, 461 observations from 67 managers were included in our final sample. Data analysis supported our hypotheses for both initial structure and transformational leadership that are typical effective leadership behaviors in the literature. In Study 2, we collected data from participants from different regions and industries, and the final sample included 307 observations from 42 managers. The data analysis results showed that negative family events did have both a trapped-by-family effect on leader identity and effective leadership behavior through ego-depletion and a compensation effect on leader identity and effective leadership behavior through compensation.
    The theoretical contributions of this paper are fourfold. First, we integrate the inconsistent ideas of the relationship between negative family events and effective leadership behavior using the theory of cross-domain leader identity. We find that the levels of leaders' extraversion play a vital role in deciding whether negative family events will have a trapped-by-family effect or a compensation effect on effective leadership behavior via leader identity. Second, unlike existing empirical studies, our findings suggest that negative family events will not always lead to negative leadership behaviors. At the within-person level, leaders with high levels of extraversion will exhibit more effective leadership behaviors at work after experiencing negative family events. Third, we extend the current research to further explore the effect of personality on leadership behaviors. Prior studies have suggested that extraversion assists leaders in handling the challenges of work, while we find that extraversion will also promote leaders to actively respond to negative family events by engaging in effective leadership behaviors. Fourth, we also contribute to leader identity studies by shifting its antecedents from work domain to family domain and by exploring the interactive effect of personal and situational factors on leader identity. The present study also provides practical guidance for organizations and leaders to cope with the challenge of negative family events and promote its potential positive effects.
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    Empowerment or ostracism? The consequences of interpersonal interaction between star employee and team leader
    ZHAO Kai, YU Xi, ZHANG Shanshan
    2024, 56 (5):  630-649.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2024.00630
    Abstract ( 763 )   PDF (703KB) ( 1421 )   Peer Review Comments
    Star employees can enhance the organizational value creation not only through their direct and disproportionate contribution, but also by their extensive and profound influence on colleagues via interpersonal interaction. Current research primarily focuses on the interpersonal effect of stars on non-star employees; however, investigations into the interpersonal dynamics between star employees and their leaders remain limited. Based on social interdependence theory and dominance complementarity theory, this study built a moderated mediation model to explore the “double-edged sword” mechanisms and boundary condition of the interpersonal interaction of star employees on team leader. We designed a scenario experiment and a field study to test the model.
    In the scenario experiment (Study 1), we manipulated “the subordinate's stardom” (i.e., star or non-star) and “the subordinate's dominance trait” (i.e., high or low), resulting in a 2 by 2 categories of the scenarios. Data was collected from the participants in an Executive Development Program hosted by a Chinese university through an online questionnaire platform (https://www.wjx.cn). The final sample size was 356. The results revealed that: (1) Through the mechanism of leader's trust in subordinate, the subordinate's stardom had a positive influence on his or her leader's empowerment (tendency) and a negative impact on the leader's ostracism (tendency); via the mechanism of perceived threat to status, the subordinate's stardom negatively affected his or her leader's empowerment (tendency) and positively influenced the leader's ostracism (tendency). (2) The subordinate's dominance trait moderated the relationship between the subordinate's stardom and the leader's perceived threat to status, such that the more dominant of the subordinate, the more likely the leader perceived threat to status caused by the subordinate's stardom, thus exhibiting less empowerment (tendency) and more ostracism (tendency) toward the subordinate.
    To replicate these findings and increase their external validities, we then conducted a multi-source, multi-wave field study. Employees and their direct supervisors from a Chinese new material manufacturing company were invited to participate in our survey. We collected the data at two time points (i.e., a one-month time lag) through another online questionnaire platform (https://end.huajuetech.com). The paired sample size was 291. Study 2 replicated most of the findings in Study 1, except for the non-significant indirect effect of subordinate's stardom on leader's empowerment behavior through perceived threat to status.
    In summary, our study makes three important theoretical contributions: (1) We clarified the consequences and mechanisms of star employees' interpersonal interaction on team leaders, thereby enriching research on the interpersonal effect of star employees. (2) By examining the boundary conditions of stars' impact on team leaders, our study prompted scholars and managers to explore how to build a proper work context to leverage stars' value. (3) Our study aided leadership researchers to further investigate the antecedents of positive or negative leadership behaviors (i.e., empowerment and ostracism) from the perspective of “the interpersonal relationship between a leader and the key minority subordinates”.
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    Impact of repeated two-syllable brand names on consumer ethical responses in different moral contexts: A mind perception theory perspective
    YE Weiling, XU Su, ZHOU Xinyue
    2024, 56 (5):  650-669.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2024.00650
    Abstract ( 477 )   PDF (670KB) ( 748 )   Peer Review Comments
    Brand names serve as crucial touchpoints for establishing brand-consumer relationships and are integral components of brand assets. Linguistic studies on branding have established that the phonetic features of brand names can influence consumers' cognition, emotions, and behavior. However, research on the impact and mechanisms of phonetic features on consumers' ethical responses is limited. Based on the mind perception theory, this study explores the asymmetric paths through which the use of repeated two-syllable brand names influences consumers' moral reactions in two different situations. Based on seven experiments, we determined that in the context of brands as moral agents, compared to non-repeated two-syllable brand names, repeated ones can alleviate consumers' negative moral reactions (anger, disgust, blame, punishment intention) toward the brand by reducing the think dimension of brand mind perception (rather than the feel dimension). However, in the context of brands as moral patients, repeated two-syllable brand names enhance consumers' positive moral reactions (sympathy, compassion, regret, and purchase intention) toward the brand by increasing the feel dimension of brand mind perception (rather than the think dimension).
    Experiment 1a was designed to derive experimental evidence on the relationship between repeated two-syllable brand name and consumers' negative moral reactions in the context of moral agent. Experiment 1a (N = 200) was a single factor (repeated two-syllable: yes vs. no) between-subjects design in which participants were randomly assigned to different groups to read a news report regarding an incident of vulgar advertising with repeated or non-repeated two-syllable brand names. Participants then reported their level of anger, disgust, and blame toward the brand. Experiment 1b (N = 200), which had a similar between-subjects design as Experiment 1a, verified the relationship between repeated two-syllable brand name and consumers' positive moral reactions in the context of moral patient. The participants were randomly assigned to two groups to read a news report regarding an incident of corporate data breach. They then reported their level of sympathy, compassion, and pity for the brand. Experiment 2a (N = 196) was designed to confirm the mediating role of the think dimension of the brand in the relationship between repeated two-syllable brand name and consumers' negative moral reactions in the context of moral agent. The experimental design was the same as that of Experiment 1a. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups to read a news report regarding an incident of drug companies raising drug prices despite patients. Participants then reported their level of anger, blame, feel dimension, think dimension, brand warmth, and brand competence toward the brand. Experiment 2b (N = 196) verified the mediating role in the relationship between repeated two-syllable brand name and consumers' positive moral reactions in the context of moral patient. The experimental design and procedure were identical to that in Experiment 1b. After reading a news report regarding the incident of corporate data breach, participants reported their level of sympathy, support, feel dimension, think dimension, brand warmth, and brand competence toward the brand. Experiment 3a sought to confirm the influence of repeated two-syllable brand name on downstream behavioral intention in the context of moral agent. Experiment 3a (N = 296) was a single factor (repeated two-syllable: yes vs. no vs. “little”) between-subjects design; participants were randomly assigned to three groups to read the same news report as in Experiment 2a. They then reported their level of anger, disgust, blame, feel dimension, think dimension, and punishment intention toward the brand. Experiment 3b (N = 292) verified the influence of repeated two-syllable brand name on downstream behavioral intention in the context of moral patient and was a similar between-subjects design to Experiment 3a. The participants were randomly assigned to three groups and asked to read a news report on an incident of one company being coerced by another. They then reported their level of sympathy, compassion, regret, feeling, thinking, and purchase intention for the brand. Experiment 4 (N = 363) used a 2 (repeated two-syllable: yes vs. no) ´ 2 (moral agent vs. moral patient) between-subjects design to more rigorously demonstrate the effect of repeated two-syllable names in the same moral situation. Participants were randomly assigned to four groups and asked to read a news report on an incident of commercial bullying. In the moral agent group, the brand was a game production company that bullies other firms, and in the moral patient group, the brand was a game operation company that is bullied by other firms. The participants reported their level of unethical judgment on the incident and the level of feel and think dimensions toward the brand.
    A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) in Experiments 1a and 1b suggested that repeated two-syllable brand name could decrease consumers' negative moral reactions toward the brand when it was a moral agent, whereas such brand name could increase consumers' positive moral reactions when the brand was a moral patient. The ANOVA results of Experiment 2a and an examination of parallel mediation revealed that the think dimension of brand mind perception mediated the influence of repeated two-syllable brand name on consumers' negative moral reactions. Based on the ANOVA and parallel medication analysis, the results of Experiment 2b revealed that feel dimension of brand mind perception mediated the influence of repeated two-syllable brand name on consumers' positive moral reactions. At the same time, Experiment 2a ruled out alternative explanations for the stereotype content model. On the other hand, Experiment 2b established that after controlling for the indirect effect of the stereotype content model, a significant mediating effect of the mind perception theory remained. Meanwhile, the results of the serial mediation mechanism analysis in Experiments 3a and 3b revealed that in the moral agent context, repeated two-syllable brand names ultimately influence consumers' intentions to punish by influencing the think dimension and negative moral reactions. However, in the moral patient context, repeated two-syllable brand names ultimately influence consumers' purchase intention by influencing the feel dimension and positive moral reactions. In addition, the ANOVA and multi-category mediation mechanism analyses of Experiments 3a and 3b documented that repeated two-syllable brand name and “little” could produce similar effects in the moral agent and moral patient context. Finally, the results of the two-way ANOVA for Experiment 4 indicated significant interactions between repeated two-syllable names and moral roles in the immoral judgment of the incident and the feel and think dimensions of the brand. In the moral agent condition, participants in the repeated two-syllable group made fewer unethical judgments about the incident and perceived a lower level of the think dimension of the brand than participants in the non-repeated two-syllable group, but no significant difference was observed in the perceived level of feel dimension. In the moral patient condition, participants in the repeated two-syllable group made more unethical judgments about the incident and perceived a higher level of the feel dimension of the brand than those in the non-repeated two-syllable group, but no significant difference was observed in the perceived level of the think dimension.
    This study provides an innovative theoretical exploration of the causal relationship between sound symbolism and consumers' reactions to business ethical crisis. Meanwhile, we reveal the mechanism by which the two dimensions (think and feel) of brand mind perception exist as asymmetric mediators. In addition, we employ the theory of mind perception to discover how people anthropomorphize non-human things, which deepens the exploration of the mechanisms of anthropomorphism-generating processes in the brand anthropomorphism literature. In a practical sense, our research not only provides reference for the design of brand names and nicknames but also directly assists in crafting public relations content for handling ethical crises and creating content for public service announcements.
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    Development of Online Calibration Method based on SCAD penalty and EM perspective in CD-CAT: G-DINA model
    TAN Qingrong, CAI Yan, WANG Daxun, LUO Fen, TU Dongbo
    2024, 56 (5):  670-688.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2024.00670
    Abstract ( 163 )   PDF (972KB) ( 163 )   Peer Review Comments
    Cognitive diagnostic computerized adaptive testing (CD-CAT) provides a detailed diagnosis of an examinee's strengths and weaknesses in the content measured in a timely and accurate manner, which can be used as a reference for further study or remediation planning, thus meeting the practical need for efficient and detailed test results. The successful implementation of CD-CAT is based on an item bank, but its maintenance is a very challenging task. A psychometrically popular choice for maintaining an item bank is online calibration. Currently, the research on online calibration methods in the CD-CAT that can calibrate Q-matrix and item parameters simultaneously is very weak. The existing methods are basically developed based on the deterministic input, noisy and gate (DINA) model. Compared with the DINA model, the generalized DINA (G-DINA) model has been more widely applied because it is less restrictive and can meet the requirements of a large number of test data in psychological and educational assessment. Therefore, if the online calibration method that jointly calibrates the Q-matrix and item parameters can be developed for models with few constraints such as G-DINA, its meaning is understood without explanation.
    In current study, a new online calibration method, SCADOCM, was proposed, which was suitable for the G-DINA model. The construction of SCADOCM was based on the smoothly clipped absolute deviation penalty (SCAD) and marginalized maximum likelihood estimation (MMLE/EM) algorithm. For the new item j, the log-likelihood function with SCAD can be formulated based on the examinees' responses in this item and the examinees' attribute marginal mastery probability, and the q-vector of the new item can be estimated by the q-vector estimator based on SCAD. Then, the EM algorithm was used to estimate the item parameter of the new item j based on the posterior distributions of examinees' attribute patterns, the examinees' responses to new item j and the estimated q-vector.
    To examine the performance of the proposed SCADOCM and compare it with the SIE method, two simulation studies (Study 1 and Study 2) are conducted. Study 1 is based on a simulated item bank while Study 2 is based on the real item bank (Internet addiction item bank; Shi, 2017). In these simulation studies, four factors were manipulated: the calibration sample size (nj = 50 vs. 100 vs. 500 vs. 1000 vs. 2000), the distribution of the attribute pattern (uniform distribution vs. high-order distribution vs. normal distribution), the item quality (U (0.05, 0.15) vs. U (0.1, 0.3)), and the online calibration methods (SCADOCM vs. SIE). The results showed that (1) SCADOCM has satisfactory calibration accuracy and calibration efficiency, and is superior to the SIE method. In addition, the traditional SIE method is not applicable for the G-DINA model, and its Q-matrix estimation accuracy rate is low under all experimental conditions. (2) The item calibration accuracy of SCADOCM and SIE increases with the increase of calibration sample and item quality under most conditions, and its item calibration accuracy in the uniform distribution/higher-order distribution is greater than that in the normal distribution. (3) The calibration efficiency of SCADOCM decreases with the increase of calibration samples, but it is less affected by the item quality and the attribute pattern distribution; the calibration efficiency of SIE decreases with the increase of calibration samples, but it is less affected by the item quality. Moreover, the calibration efficiency of the SIE method in the normal distribution is slightly slower than that of uniform distribution/high-order distribution.
    To sum up the results, this study demonstrated that the SCADOCM has higher item calibration accuracy and calibration efficiency, and outperforms the SIE method; meanwhile, the traditional SIE method is not suitable for G-DINA model. All in all, this study provides an efficient and accurate method for item calibration in CD-CAT, and provides important support for further promoting the application of CD-CAT in practice.
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