Archive

25 July 2023, Volume 55 Issue 7 Previous Issue    Next Issue
---
Reports of Empirical Studies


For Selected:

Download Citations EndNote Ris BibTeX

Toggle Thumbnails

Reports of Empirical Studies

Select

The effect of reward prediction errors on temporal order and source memory ZHANG Hongchi, CHENG Xuan, MAO Weibin 2023, 55 (7):  1049-1062.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01049 Abstract ( 5062 )   HTML ( 291 )   PDF (5471KB) ( 6392 )   Peer Review Comments The human brain automatically segments continuous experiences into discrete events to better remember ongoing experiences in daily life. This automatic process is known as event segmentation. The time points between different events are called event boundaries—they indicate when one event ends, and another begins. Studies have shown that the event boundaries may enhance the item-context source memory of information at the boundaries but impair temporal order memory in across-event information. Notably, previous studies mainly focused on the boundaries caused by changes in the external environment and rarely paid attention to the subjective boundaries caused by changes in an individual’s internal psychological context. Moreover, Rouhani et al. (2020) first confirmed that reward prediction errors (RPE) could be used as event boundaries to influence memory. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that the RPE event boundary reduces the temporal order memory in across-event information. However, the effects of the RPE event boundary on temporal order and source memory and whether the mnemonic trade-off effect exists are not clear. The neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the effects of event boundaries on memory require further examination. This study used behavioral and event-related potentials (ERP) technology in three experiments to explore the effect of RPE event boundaries on temporal order and source memory, respectively, based on behavioral and neurophysiological mechanisms. Experiment 1 used a neutral scene picture matching value as materials. The value of successive pictures fluctuates around an average value to form an event, and event boundaries denote when there is a significant shift in the value, which is the reward prediction error. The participants were required to complete two memory tests: a temporal order memory test and a source memory test. The source memory test was presented with a neutral scene picture, and participants were asked to choose a value that matched the learning stage from the two alternatives. We aimed to explore the effect of the RPE event boundary on temporal order and source memory. However, no mnemonic trade-off effect was observed. Therefore, whether other factors might influence the mnemonic trade-off effect that exists is not clear. In Experiment 2, RPE was divided into high and low strength. We aimed to explore the effects of different RPE strengths on temporal order and source memory. After we obtained stable results, in Experiment 3, we used ERP technology to explore the N400 and P600 effects under different conditions at the memory retrieval stage in the high RPE condition to examine the detailed mechanism of the effect of event boundary on memory. The behavioral results showed that the RPE event boundary enhanced only the neutral scene picture-value source memory of information at the boundaries in Experiment 1. High and low RPE event boundaries affect temporal order and source memory differently. The high RPE event boundary enhanced the neutral scene picture-value source memory of information at the boundaries. Further it reduced the temporal order memory of information across-events, which caused the mnemonic trade-off effect between temporal order and source memory in Experiment 2. The ERP results showed that compared to the within-event/non-boundary condition, correctly retrieving information of temporal order and source memory in the across-event/boundary condition induced a larger N400 (350−550ms) effect but did not induce a larger P600 (600−1000ms) effect in Experiment 3. These two memory tests were activated in different brain regions. The temporal order memory in the across-events condition was mainly activated in the anterior region, while the source memory boundary condition was mainly activated in the parietal region. This study can be summarized as follows. The segmentation strength of the event boundary is an important factor affecting the mnemonic trade-off effect between temporal order and source memory. The mnemonic trade-off effect only occurs when the representation difference between events is sufficiently vast, and the segmentation strength of the boundary is sufficiently high. Furthermore, the N400 component is an important index that reflects the integration and segmentation of episodic memory using event boundaries. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The role of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on placebo effect of regulating social pain: A TMS study WANG Mei, CHENG Si, LI Yiwei, LI Hong, ZHANG Dandan 2023, 55 (7):  1063-1073.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01063 Abstract ( 3077 )   HTML ( 242 )   PDF (3205KB) ( 3472 )   Peer Review Comments Under the influence of the novel coronavirus epidemic, some negative social events, such as separation of family or friends and home isolation have increased. These events can cause negative emotion experiences similar to physical pain, thus they are called social pain. Placebo effect refers to the positive response to the inert treatment with no specific therapeutic properties, which has been shown to be one of the effective ways to alleviate social pain. Studies have shown that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a key role in placebo effect. Therefore, this study aimed to explore whether activating DLPFC by using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) could improve the ability of placebo effects to regulate social pain. Besides, we also combined neuroimaging and neuromodulation techniques to provide bidirectional evidence for the role of the DLPFC on placebo effects. We recruited a total of 100 participants to finish the task of negative emotional rating of the social exclusion images. Among them, 50 participants were stimulated by TMS at the right DLPFC (rDLPFC), while the others were assigned to the sham group. This study contained two independent variables. The between- subject variable was TMS group(rDLPFC-activated group or sham group) and the within-subject variable was placebo type (no-placebo and placebo). All participants received nasal spray in two blocks. In the no-placebo condition, participants were instructed that they would receive a saline nasal spray which helped to improve physiological readings; in placebo block, participants were told to administrate an intranasal fluoxetine spray (saline nasal spray in fact) that could reduce unpleasantness within 10 minutes. To strengthen the expectation of intranasal fluoxetine, participants viewed a professional introduction to fluoxetine’s clinical and academic usage including downregulating negative emotion, such as fear, anxiety, and disgust. Participants who received the placebo block first would be reminded that fluoxetine’s effect was over before the next block to reduce the carry-over for the following block. Self-reported negative emotional and electroencephalogram data were recorded. There was a significant two-way interaction of TMS group and placebo type. Results showed that compared with the sham group, participants in the rDLPFC-activated group reported less negative emotional feeling and had a lower amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP) in placebo condition, a component that reflects the emotional intensity, suggesting that activating rDLPFC can improve the ability of placebo effect to regulate social pain. The above finding suggested that activating DLPFC can improve the placebo effect of regulating negative emotion. Moreover, this study is the first attempt to investigate the enhancement of placebo effects by using TMS on emotion regulation. The findings not only support the critical role of DLPFC on placebo effect using neuroimaging and neuromodulation techniques, but also provide a potential brain target for treating emotional regulation deficits in patients with psychiatric disorders. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The developmental trajectory of oral vocabulary knowledge and its predictive effects on reading abilities among Chinese primary school students: A latent growth model CHENG Yahua, FENG Yao, LI Yixun, MA Jiaqi, SHEN Lanlan, ZHANG Wenjian, WU Xinchun, FENG Qiudi 2023, 55 (7):  1074-1086.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01074 Abstract ( 2215 )   HTML ( 126 )   PDF (1577KB) ( 2886 )   Peer Review Comments Oral language serves as the foundation for reading development. A growing body of studies has pointed to the close connection between children’s oral vocabulary knowledge and their reading abilities. To advance reading research and literacy education, it is vital to clarify the developmental trajectory of oral vocabulary knowledge in relation to reading abilities over children’s reading development. However, most existing research on this topic focused on either the starting point or the product of children’s oral vocabulary knowledge, instead of the developmental trajectory over an extended period of time. To fill in this gap, the present study sought to reveal the developmental trajectory of oral vocabulary knowledge and its association with reading abilities among Chinese children across elementary grades. This work recruited 149 Mandarin-Chinese-speaking, typically developing children from Mainland China, and they were followed up for six years from Grades 1 to 6. All participants were tested on a battery of reading-related tests for eight times (Time 1 to Time 8), and 117 children completed all tests from T1 to T8, thus in the final pool. Five testing time points had a 6-month interval (Time 1 to Time 5 were from the Fall semester of Grade 1 to the Fall semester of Grade3), and the subsequent three time points had a one-year interval (T6 to T8 were in the Fall semester from Grades 4 to 6). Children were assessed on their non-verbal IQ, phonological awareness (PA), morphological awareness (MA), orthographic awareness (OA), and rapid automatized naming (RAN) at Time 1, oral vocabulary knowledge from Time 1 to Time 8, and reading accuracy, reading fluency and reading comprehension at Time 8. Latent growth modeling was conducted to examine: (1) the developmental trajectory of children’s oral vocabulary knowledge over time and (2) the predictive effects of the initial level (Time 1) and growth rates (Times 1-8) of oral vocabulary knowledge on reading accuracy, reading fluency, and reading comprehension at Time 8 while controlling for IQ, PA, MA, OA, and RAN measured at Time 1. Children’s oral vocabulary knowledge appeared to improve significantly, consistently over grades, and children’s initial levels of oral vocabulary knowledge did not seem to be linked to their growth rates over the years. The results of the conditional latent growth modeling showed that oral vocabulary knowledge made a significant, direct contribution to reading abilities, reading accuracy (initial status: B = 0.35, p< 0.001; growth rates: B = 0.40, p< 0.001), reading fluency (initial status: B = 0.23, p= 0.037; growth rates: B = 0.27, p= 0.003), and reading comprehension (initial status: B = 0.39, p< 0.001; growth rates: B = 0.48, p< 0.001). Overall, initial status and growth rates of oral vocabulary knowledge were stronger predictors of reading accuracy and reading comprehension than that of reading fluency, and the growth rate was a stronger predictor of reading abilities than the initial status. Our findings elucidate the developmental changes in children’s oral vocabulary knowledge, as well as clarify their unique, significant predictive power of reading abilities (reading accuracy, reading fluency, and reading comprehension) in Chinese children from Grades 1 to 6. The findings shed light on the necessity of providing vocabulary learning opportunities for primary school children over their reading development. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The relationship between gratitude and social well-being: Evidence from a longitudinal study and a daily diary investigation YE Ying, ZHANG Linting, ZHAO Jingjing, KONG Feng 2023, 55 (7):  1087-1098.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01087 Abstract ( 4472 )   HTML ( 341 )   PDF (691KB) ( 5872 )   Peer Review Comments The positive psychological construct of gratitude is crucial for health and well-being. Previous studies have shown a significant positive correlation between gratitude and social well-being. However, no studies have examined this potentially reciprocal relationship from a longitudinal perspective. According to the broaden-and-build theory and gratitude amplification theory, we hypothesized that gratitude has a predictive effect on social well-being. In addition, based on the personality and social relationships model and self-determination theory, we proposed that social well-being is an antecedent to gratitude. In summary, this research combines a longitudinal study and a daily diary investigation to systematically explore the causal relation between gratitude and social well-being. Study 1 employs a two-wave cross-lagged design to explore the long-term relationship between trait gratitude and social well-being. The sample comprised 563 undergraduate students, who all participated online. Pursuant to the study purpose, participants were asked to complete the gratitude and social well-being scales twice, separated by a seven-month interval. The cross-lagged path analysis suggested reciprocal effects between trait gratitude and social well-being. To reduce recall bias and explore the short-term association between gratitude and social well-being, Study 2 employs a daily diary method. A total of 274 young adults completed daily gratitude and social well-being measures for 21 consecutive days. In Study 1, trait gratitude at T1 significantly positively predicted social well-being at T2, while social well-being at T1 also significantly predicted trait gratitude at T2. These effects remained significant after controlling for age and gender. Consistent with Study 1, Study 2 also revealed a reciprocal relationship: state gratitude on one day positively predicted social well-being the next day, while social well-being on one day also positively predicted state gratitude the next day. Moreover, these relationships were stable after controlling for time trend. Overall, the results of Study 1 and Study 2 support the hypotheses by showing reciprocal predictive effects between gratitude and social well-being. In summary, we predicted that experiencing gratitude would lead to higher social well-being, which would, in turn, result in higher gratitude, activating an upward spiral. This work deepens understanding of the interaction between gratitude and social well-being, paving the way for future intervention research to help increase both. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The role of cross-situational stimulus generalization in the formation of trust towards face: A perspective based on direct and observational learning YUAN Bo, WANG Xiaoping, YIN Jun, LI Weiqiang 2023, 55 (7):  1099-1114.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01099 Abstract ( 1552 )   HTML ( 132 )   PDF (12509KB) ( 2010 )   Peer Review Comments How do humans learn to trust unfamiliar others? Decisions in the absence of direct knowledge rely on our ability to generalize from past experiences and are often shaped by the degree of similarity between prior experience and novel situations. A previous study suggested that people use stimulus generalization from the same situation as a mechanism for learning to trust towards strangers. However, it is still unclear whether this stimulus generalization effect exists across different situations, and the role of intention perception in this effect. Here, we leverage a stimulus generalization framework to examine how perceptual similarity between known individuals and unfamiliar strangers across different interactive situations shapes people’s trust towards strangers. Given that the strong adaptability of the stimulus generalization mechanism, we assume that the faces associated with different degrees of unfairness will affect the individual's trust towards similar unfamiliar faces, and intention perception modulates this process. Three experiments were conducted to examine the above hypothesis. In Experiment 1a and Experiment 1b, participants play or observe an iterative ultimatum game with three partners who exhibit highly unfair, medium unfair, or highly fair behavior. After learning who was the fair/unfair allocator, participants select new partners for a trust game. Unbeknownst to participants, each potential new partner was parametrically morphed with one of the three original players. In Experiment 2, participants play a similar iterative ultimatum game with three partners, nevertheless the allocations were generated by a computer algorithm which excludes the intention of the allocator. A mixed linear regression was conducted, with both (un)fairness type (whether faces were morphed with the original fair, medium unfair, unfair allocator’ face) and perceptual similarity (increasing similarity to the original face, 23%, 34%, 45%, 56%, 67%, 78%) were entered as predictors of choosing to play with the morphed face. The result of Experiment 1a and Experiment 1b show that compared with the medium unfair condition, as the perceptual similarity between the morphed trustee’s face and the face of the fair (unfair) allocator in the previous interaction increases, the degree of trust (distrust) towards the trustee gradually increases. In addition, this effect is asymmetrical, participants preferentially avoided more the unfair morphs in comparison with the fair morphs. This suggests an asymmetric overgeneralization toward individuals perceived to be morally aversive. Using Drift-Diffusion Modeling (DDM), we found that the drift rate ν under unfair condition is significantly smaller than that under medium unfair or fair conditions, and most of them are in the range of less than 0. This suggests that individuals are more likely to accumulate evidence of distrust when making trust decisions about unfamiliar faces that are similar to the allocator who was unfair in previous interactions. In Experiment 2, under an unintentional situation, the above-mentioned cross-situational generalization effect disappeared. Together, our results demonstrate that the individuals use the associative learning mechanism to capture the moral information of the interactive objects from the past experience, and then guides subsequent trust decision- making. This mechanism draws on prior learning to reduce the uncertainty associated with strangers, ultimately facilitating potentially adaptive decisions to trust, or withhold trust from unfamiliar others. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The influence of implicit theories and ethnic identities on the intergroup attitudes and the sense of community for the Chinese nation in the offspring of Chinese interethnic unions ZHANG Hang, FENG Xiaohui, ZHANG Jijia 2023, 55 (7):  1115-1132.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01115 Abstract ( 2245 )   HTML ( 137 )   PDF (1571KB) ( 2673 )   Peer Review Comments Social perception research focused on categorization and identity, but most previous studies merely examined the intergroup relations among the perceptually evident and categorically typical groups. The intergroup attitude of the multiethnic individuals is still unclear, including their identity choices and implicit theories. Hence, this study aims to explore these issues with the offspring of interethnic unions in China. Research on mixed race showed that biracial people can flexibly switch between their racial identities, demonstrating that multiracial individuals who grew up in multicultural backgrounds were less likely to hold essentialist views of race. We therefore hypothesize that offspring of Chinese interethnic marriages would have similar implicit theories of ethnicity. Moreover, such offspring would have a less strong identification with their ethnicity and more positive attitudes toward outgroup members compared with their peers of endogamous marriages. A total of 3481 students (ages: 14.38 ± 1.03y) were selected as research participants, among these, the numbers of offspring of exogamous marriage were 1317, and the offspring of endogamous marriage were 2164. The distribution areas of the participants spreading all over the 5 province, and the ethnic types of participants including Han and 14 Chinese minorities (Mongol, Oroqen, Lahu, Dai, Wa, Blang, Maio, Bai, Yao, Dong, Zhuang, Maonan, Tibetan, Daur). The implicit theories, ethnic identity, outgroup attitude, and superordinate identity were measured by using questionnaire method. Descriptive statistics and correlation were analyzed with SPSS 25.0 and the conditional process analysis was using PROCESS 3.3 macro (in SPSS). Based on the hypotheses of Social Identity Theory, the serial mediating role of essentialism and ethnic identity between interethnic marriage types of parents (1: intermarriage, 0: intramarriage) and outgroup attitude of offsprings was investigated. Then, the mediating effect of superordinate identity between parental marriage types and offsprings’ intergroup attitudes was examined based on Common Ingroup Identity Model. Finally, we examine whether the intermarriage is a good indicator of intergroup relation. Results show that offspring of intermarriages (vs. offsprings of intramarriage) are less likely to hold ethnic essentialist beliefs and have a lower sense of their ethnic identity. However, they are reported to have more positive attitudes toward outgroups and higher interest in intergroup contact and are more likely to develop a superordinate level of identity (Chinese nation identity). For the offspring of intermarriages who have successfully built the Chinese Nation identity, the sense of community for the Chinese national identity mediates the impact of parents’ intermarriage on their intergroup attitudes. On the contrary, for those who still hold a subordinate group identity, the ethnic implicit theories (essentialism or social constructionism) and subgroup identity play the chain mediation effect of interethnic marriages on improvement in outgroup perceptions. Additionally, the offspring of intermarriages and intramarriages have more positive interethnic attitudes in ethnicity with higher interethnic marriage rates than with lower interethnic marriage rates. These results demonstrate that the interethnic marriage of parents plays a key role in shaping their children’s ethnic essentialist beliefs and subgroup identity. Moreover, the present finding supports the Common Ingroup Identity Model. The reason is that the offspring of intermarriages are likely to develop a superordinate level of identity, indicating that those multiethnic groups are more flexible in self-identity categorization. In addition, we found that the model of social cognitive theory is unsuitable to the actual ethnic relations in China. That is, the ethnic identity was positive with intergroup attitudes, suggesting that different ethnic groups have unity and harmonious intergroup relations. Finally, we found that social situational factors have an important influence on ethnic essentialist beliefs and intergroup attitudes. Ethnic groups with high levels of inter-ethnic intermarriage can hold relatively high ethnic identities and positive intergroup attitudes, vividly reflecting the pattern of diversity in the unity of the Chinese nation. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Emphasizing recovery or improvement in charitable fundraising should depend on event controllability SONG Wenjing, CHEN Yixuan, HUANG Yunhui 2023, 55 (7):  1133-1147.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01133 Abstract ( 942 )   HTML ( 50 )   PDF (2326KB) ( 1036 )   Peer Review Comments The framing of charity advertising is important for charitable fundraising and common prosperity. Using a static perspective, previous research has identified different ways to classify charitable fundraising information, with framing such as positive vs. negative or for-self vs. for-other. In contrast, the current research focuses on the process of change and suggests classifying fundraising information from a new perspective that emphasizes recovery vs. improvement. This research examines the following hypotheses: 1) a description of recovery focuses on reducing loss, while that of improvement focuses on increasing gain; 2) uncontrollable events lead people to focus on reducing loss, while controllable events lead people to focus on increasing gain; and 3) matching the fundraising description and event controllability increases willingness to donate. One secondary data analysis and six experiments were conducted to test these hypotheses. Study 1, the secondary data analysis, confirmed that classifying fundraising information by a “recovery-improvement” framework is reasonable, and found that recovery-description (vs. improvement- description) and uncontrollable events (vs. controllable events) often appear together in charity advertising. Study 2 adopted a one-factor (fundraising information: recovery vs. improvement) between-subjects design to conceptually replicate that association. The results showed that participants wrote down more uncontrollable events (vs.controllable events) when recalling a charity advertisement emphasizing recovery (vs. improvement). Using real and recalled fundraising information generated from Studies 1 and 2, Studies 3a and 3b adopted a one-factor within-subject design to demonstrate H1. Participants reported that recovery-description (vs. improvement-description) tended to focus more on reducing loss rather than increasing gain. Study 4 adopted a one-factor between-subjects design to demonstrate H2. Participants who encountered an uncontrollable (vs. controllable) event focused more on providing aid to help-seekers for reducing loss (vs. increasing gain). Studies 1-4 showed that participants encountering uncontrollable events focused more on reducing loss, which is also the focus of recovery-description; whereas those encountering controllable events focused more on increasing gain, which is also the focus of improvement-description. Drawing on regulatory fit theory, Studies 5a and 5b aimed at showing that matching fundraising information and event controllability through their regulatory focus contributed to willingness to donate (i.e., H3). The results of these two studies showed that for uncontrollable events, recovery-description led to higher willingness to donate than improvement-description; for controllable events, improvement-description led to higher willingness to donate than recovery-description. This research is the first to propose and demonstrate the validity of classifying fundraising information into recovery-description and improvement-description, and thus it contributes to the comprehensive understanding of how charitable appeal makes an effect. Moreover, by demonstrating that the regulatory fit between fundraising information and event controllability increases willingness to donate, this research adds to regulatory fit theory and offers practical strategies to increase personal donation. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Lost radiance: Negative influence of parental gender bias on women’s workplace performance XU Minya, LIU Beini, XU Zhenyu 2023, 55 (7):  1148-1159.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01148 Abstract ( 4433 )   HTML ( 351 )   PDF (729KB) ( 5376 )   Peer Review Comments Parental gender bias is critical for the early socialization of gender inequality, and it plays a vital role in women’s personality and development. Although the labor market continues to improve and develop, women’s career development still faces obstacles from gender bias. Gender inequality at home continues to constrain gender equality at work. However, most current research about the influence of parental gender bias focuses on girls’ early childhood and adolescence, neglecting its profound effects on women in the workplace. Identifying the underlying factors that influence women’s career choices and performance is key to promoting gender equality in the workplace. Drawing on the self-concept theory, this study aims to examine the serial mediating roles of self-esteem and career compromise in the relationship between parental gender bias and female employees’ workplace in-role performance and creativity. We tested our hypothesis using multi-source data collected from female college students recruited from a university in northern China. We collected our data in three separate waves to reduce the impact of common method bias. In the first wave survey (Wave 1), female college students were asked to provide information on their demographics, parental gender bias, and self-esteem. Once they secured a job (Wave 2), the participants were asked to provide information on their career compromise. Three months after they were officially hired after passing the probationary period (Wave 3), female employees were asked to rate the perceived gender bias at work, and supervisors evaluated their in-role performance and creativity. Finally, we reviewed 225 valid matching questionnaires. We used structural equation modeling in Mplus 8 for data analyses and hypotheses testings. The results showed that: (1) parental gender bias was negatively related to women’s self-esteem; (2) self-esteem was negatively related to women’s career compromise; (3) self-esteem mediated the relationship between parental gender bias and women’s career compromise; (4) career compromise was negatively related to women’s in-role performance/creativity; (5) women’s self-esteem and career compromise serially mediated the relationship between parental gender bias and in-role performance/creativity. Our findings contribute to the current literature in several ways. First, this study focuses on the more fundamental factor of early socialization−parental gender bias, to identify antecedents that prevent women from becoming high-performing and creative employees. This temporal independence allows for a clearer causal relationship and expands the research perspective on female career development barriers. Existing literature has also emerged on the influence of parents on individuals upon entry into the workplace. Our study complements the literature on the influence of upbringing on workplace performance. Second, this study reveals that parental gender bias negatively affects women’s workplace performance through self-esteem and career compromise, and that there is no difference in the effects of fathers and mothers. In doing so, we provide a two-fold expansion and addition to the literature on the far-reaching effects of parenting styles. On the one hand, this study provides a useful addition to previous studies that have mainly focused on maternal gender bias. On the other hand, our study expands the influence of fathers’ parenting on children after they enter the workplace. Third, external (parental gender bias) and internal (self-esteem) factors are combined to identify women’s career decision- making mechanisms in response to previous scholars’ call. Furthermore, this study explores in-role performance and creativity, which are more conducive to women’s career development, enriching previous research on the negative outcomes of career compromise. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Can leader gratitude expression improve employee followership behavior? The role of emotional expression authenticity ZHU Yanghao, LONG Lirong, LIU Wenxing 2023, 55 (7):  1160-1175.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01160 Abstract ( 3403 )   HTML ( 262 )   PDF (942KB) ( 4249 )   Peer Review Comments Gratitude, as a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation, has been widely focused on by scholars, who in recent years have begun to shift their focus from trait gratitude and state gratitude to the interpersonal interaction outcomes of gratitude expression. We drew on the dual-strategy theory of social rank and the social functions of emotion and hypothesized that leader gratitude expression has a positive impact on positive followership behavior via perceived leader prestige and a negative impact on negative followership behavior via perceived leader dominance. Furthermore, we expected that the above relationship is stronger when employees perceive that the emotional expression authenticity of their leaders is high. We tested these hypotheses in an experimental study (N = 184) and a field sample of leader−employee dyads (N = 192). In Study 1, a between-participant scenario experimental design was used to manipulate the independent variable, namely, leader gratitude expression, with the scenario material developed by Ritzenhöfer et al. (2017) (leader gratitude expression condition vs. neutral condition), and 200 participants were invited to participate in the experimental study. When the test was administered, the participants were randomly assigned to a scenario to eliminate the effect of their own differences on the experimental results. A total of 184 participants who passed the attention test were retained. In Study 2, we collected 192 leader−employee dyadic data at two time points. At Time 1, employees needed to report leader gratitude expression and perceived authenticity as well as provide their demographic information. At Time 2, employees needed to report perceived leader prestige and dominance, while the leader needed to report the followership behavior of employees. We applied analysis of variance, confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis, and Monte Carlo method to analyze the data. The results were as follows: leader gratitude expression positively impacted the positive followership behavior of employees through perceived leader prestige and negatively impacted the negative followership behavior of employees through perceived leader dominance. Perceived authenticity also moderated the direct effects between leader gratitude expression and perceived leader prestige and dominance as well the indirect effects between leader gratitude expression on the positive and negative followership behaviors of employees through perceived leader prestige and dominance. Specifically, when perceived authenticity is high, the positive effect of leader gratitude expression on positive followership behavior is stronger via the perceived leader prestige of employees, while the negative effect of leader gratitude expression on negative followership behavior via the perceived leader dominance of employees is weaker. This study has the following theoretical contributions. First, this study examined the effectiveness of leader gratitude expression and expanded the research on the outcomes of such expression. Second, based on the dual-strategy theory of social rank, we revealed the mediating mechanism of leader gratitude expression on the followership behavior of employees, thus responding to Locklear et al.’s (2022) call that “further research is needed to understand fully the mechanisms underlying the effects of gratitude.” Third, this study examined the boundaries of leader gratitude expression based on the social functions of emotion and found that the perceived emotional expression authenticity of leaders plays a moderating role. In the process of emotional expression, many scholars focus on the potency (positive or negative) and intensity (strong or weak) of emotion but ignore the role of emotional expression authenticity. This study answers the call of Locklear et al. (2022) and enriches the empirical research on emotional expression authenticity. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The U-shaped effect of intimacy on word-of-mouth intention about consumption failure: Based on the perspective of motivational conflict model SUN Hongjie, WANG Meiling, ZHONG Ke 2023, 55 (7):  1176-1191.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01176 Abstract ( 2425 )   HTML ( 167 )   PDF (912KB) ( 3106 )   Peer Review Comments Consumers often share their shopping experiences with others. The strength of different social relationships can impact a consumer's word-of-mouth behavior, especially when an unpleasant purchase occurs. While some studies have explored that interpersonal closeness plays an important role in a social context, little has been known about how this diverse range of relationships affects consumers' word-of-mouth behavior in the case of consumption failures. Previous research has shown that consumers are more likely to spread negative information to individuals with whom they have high (vs. low) levels of interpersonal closeness. However, these studies have only taken a binary approach to classifying interpersonal closeness, ignoring the what would happen when the closeness was on the middle level. Literally, the impact of the diversity of relationships needs further investigation. In this study, the impact of interpersonal closeness on consumers' word-of-mouth intention after a consumption failure was explored through six experiments, both online (Experiments 1, 2, and supplementary Experiment 1) and offline (Experiments 3, 4, and supplementary Experiment 2), in common social settings. Based on the literature on the attitudinal ambivalence literature, this research uses the SIM model to determine the level of motivation conflict and examines the U-shaped impact of interpersonal closeness on word-of-mouth intention in the event of a consumption failure. Experiment 1 (N = 143) is a between-subject design with a single factor of three levels of interpersonal closeness (low vs. medium vs. high). Participants were randomly assigned to different groups and asked to imagine a negative hotel service experience. They then had the opportunity to share the experience with others and answer related questions. The reading materials for the different experimental groups varied only in terms of the manipulation statement for interpersonal closeness. Experiment 2 (N = 155) was designed to verify the mediating role of motivation conflict. The manipulation method for interpersonal closeness was changed and the stimulus material was changed to a poorly performing cell phone purchase. Participants answered related questions after reading the materials. Experiment 3 (N = 126) was conducted in an offline airport waiting room to simulate a more natural face-to-face communication setting. The social background of the experiment was transferred from WeChat to the waiting room. The U-shaped relationship between interpersonal closeness and word-of-mouth intention was verified and the mediating effect of motivation conflict was determined. Experiment 4 (N = 298) is a 3 (interpersonal closeness: low vs. medium vs. high) × 2 (merchant responsibility: low vs. high) between-subject design to validate the moderating effect of merchant liability. The stimulus material describes a negative private custom tour experience, and interpersonal closeness and merchant responsibility were manipulated. In the low merchant responsibility condition, the merchant only provided relevant reference options and the consumer chose the travel route. In the high merchant responsibility condition, the consumers chose the strongly recommended travel route provided by the merchant. The domestic samples were recruited from a professional survey website (Credamo) and completed online questionnaires, while the foreign samples were recruited from another professional survey website (Prolific). Samples can be considered representative of the mainstream consumer group. The main findings of this study are as follows: (1) Consumers are least likely to discuss their negative consumer experiences in front of objects with medium interpersonal closeness, compared to low and high interpersonal closeness, therefore there is a U-shaped relationship between interpersonal closeness and word-of-mouth intention. (2) The cause of this difference lies in the conflict between the motivation to protect others' interests and the motivation to protect self-image: when faced with individuals of medium interpersonal closeness, consumers are most concerned with protecting their self-image, which leads to a high degree of motivational conflict and results in the lowest willingness to spread word-of-mouth. (3) The level of responsibility taken by merchants moderates the effect of interpersonal closeness on word-of-mouth intention. When merchants take low responsibility, the effect of interpersonal closeness on word-of-mouth intention is U-shaped. However, when merchants take high responsibility, consumers' motivation to protect their self-image decreases in the presence of individuals with medium interpersonal closeness, causing the motivation to protect others' interests to become dominant and leading to low levels of motivational conflict. This results in an increase in word-of-mouth intention as interpersonal closeness increases, yielding an approximately linear effect of interpersonal closeness on word-of-mouth intention. This study contributes to the important fields of word-of-mouth communication, social relationships, and word-of-mouth intention, and provides valuable insights for marketing professionals involved in market research, word-of-mouth management, social media operations, and marketing. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Missing data analysis in cognitive diagnostic models: Random forest threshold imputation method YOU Xiaofeng, YANG Jianqin, Qin Chunying, LIU Hongyun 2023, 55 (7):  1192-1206.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01192 Abstract ( 1211 )   HTML ( 47 )   PDF (879KB) ( 1209 )   Peer Review Comments In recent years, interest in cognitive diagnostic assessments (CDAs), as a new form of test, has increased drastically. Due to the specific design of the test, missing data is an inevitable problem in CDAs. Proper handling of missing data in CDAs is important to provide accurate diagnostic feedback to students and teachers. With the use of machine learning in education, relevant advancements have been made in missing data imputation. Research showed machine learning techniques have more desirable features for missing data imputation than traditional approaches. The random forest algorithm has been extended to become the random forest imputation (RFI) method in handling of CDAs missing data for CDAs. The method takes into consideration the characteristics of the data rather than assumes certain missing mechanism. RFI is a new non-parametric method that makes full use of the available response information and characteristics of response patterns to impute missing data. Making use of advantages of RFI in categorization/prediction and its non-reliant on missing mechanism type, we improved and proposed the new random forest threshold imputation (RFTI) method. It could be used to impute missing responses in the widely used DINA (Deterministic Inputs, Noise “And” Gate) model. This research proposed to apply the Response Conformity Index (RCI) in the missing data imputation to set the threshold of imputation and to develop a method for missing response treatment for CDAs without totally relying on imputation. Two simulation studies were conducted to compare the performance of the proposed method and traditional models. Study 1 began by introducing the theoretical background and algorithm implementation of RFTI. Then, RFTI and RFI were compared in terms of accuracy rate of imputation for data with different proportions of missingness (10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%) and missing data mechanisms (MIXED, MNAR, MAR, MCAR). This was to affirm the necessity of including RCI during imputation. Study 2 aimed to investigate the performance of RFTI, as well as RFI and EM algorithm in imputing missing data under different conditions. The manipulated design factors were identical to those in Study 1. We evaluated RFTI in terms of its accuracy in assessing the model attributes and item parameters. We also compared RFTI against the traditionally better performed EM and RFI under various design conditions to explore the advantages and conditions of using RFTI. Results of Study 1 showed that RFTI, as compared to RFI, improved accuracy when imputation threshold was one. In various design conditions, RFTI imputation rate and accuracy were also better. Study 2 showed that RFTI outperformed other methods (RFI, EM algorithm) in accurately assessing the attribute pattern and attribute margin. This advantage was affected by the missing data mechanism and the proportion of missing data. Notably, RFTI was particularly better than other methods in handling mixed type of missing or MNAR data, and when the proportion of missing data was higher than 30%. However, RFTI was not any better than other methods in its accuracy of item parameter estimates. In most conditions, EM algorithm provided the most accurate parameter estimates. In sum, we propose a method to impute missing data in CDAs by applying machine learning methods in measurement models. The advantage of this new method is affirmed through its accurate assessment of attribute pattern and attribute margin of DINA model. Theoretically, the current study provides a missing data imputation approach with less assumptions, which extends the traditional methods to impute missing data in CDAs framework. Moreover, we investigate how to estimate the attribute pattern of students accurately through the responses of a few items. It sheds lights on imputing missing data due to particularly designs in assessment or teaching. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics