Archive

26 January 2015, Volume 47 Issue 1 Previous Issue    Next Issue

---

For Selected:

Download Citations EndNote Ris BibTeX

Toggle Thumbnails

Select

Race Categorization and Perceptual Discrimination of Morphing Faces Are Modulated by Perceptual Adaptation YAN Linlin, WANG Zhe, LI Yuanyuan, ZHONG Ming, SUN Yuhao, ZHANG Zhijun 2015, 47 (1):  1-10.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00001 Abstract ( 1342 )   PDF (674KB) ( 108 )   The other-race effect (ORE) refers to the own-race discrimination advantage and the other-race categorization advantage. The perceptual expertise theory explains the ORE as a result of people’s long-term perceptual exposure to own-race faces much more than the other-race faces. However, recent findings suggest that short- term, social-cognitive factors, such as reduced motivation to individuate other-race faces, may also contribute to the ORE. To examine the effect of short-term factor on face perceptual processing, we manipulated perceptual adaptation in three experiments and investigated participants’ face race perception and discrimination. In Experiment 1, 20 Asian participants were presented with 704 color Asian-Caucasian morphed face stimuli for a race categorization task. These stimuli were generated with morphing software (MorphTM), allowing the creation of 11 blended face stimuli (from 0:100 to 100:0 for Asian:Caucasian proportions, respectively) for each of 64 Asian-Caucasian continua. In each continuum, the face that was equally often categorized as Asian and as Caucasian was identified as the ambiguous-race face. Result showed that the 52 Asian-Caucasian ambiguous faces were extracted and used as face stimuli in experiment 2 and experiment 3. In Experiment 2, we examined the effects of perceptual adaptation on face race categorization performance by presenting the ambiguous-race faces after prolonged exposure (5 seconds) to a Caucasian or an Asian face. Results showed that prolonged exposure to Asian faces causes the identical ambiguous-race morphed faces to appear distinctly Caucasian, vice versa. Furthermore, the identical ambiguous-race morphed faces were categorized faster when the faces were perceived as Caucasian but slower when the faces were perceived as Asian. In experiment 3, we examined the effects of perceptual adaptation on face discrimination by presenting the ambiguous-race faces after prolonged exposure (5 seconds) to a Caucasian or an Asian face. Results showed that the identical ambiguous-race morphed faces were discriminated more accurate when the faces were perceived as Asian but less accurate when the faces were perceived as Caucasian. Collectively, these findings indicate that the short-term, perceptual adaptation may affect participants’ face race categorization and perceptual discrimination, suggesting social-cognitive factors also play a role in the ORE. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Predictors of Action Picture Naming in Mandarin Chinese CHEN Yongxiang, ZHU Liqi 2015, 47 (1):  11-18.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00011 Abstract ( 1225 )   PDF (510KB) ( 110 )   Nouns and verbs are two main categories of content words, and they are learned early by children. It remains in hot debate regarding whether Mandarin Chinese is a verb-friendly language for children. However, few studies examined verb processing in Mandarin, and there were no standard experimental materials that are available for researchers. Therefore, it is unclear what factors may influence action picture naming in Mandarin and whether it is similar to the rules in object picture naming. Thirty-six adults participated in picture naming and 112 adults participated in rating tasks. All participants were native speakers of Mandarin Chinese. The materials were 275 pictures from the IPNP website (see http://crl.ucsd.edu/experiments/ipnp/) (Szekely et al., 2004), of which 10 pictures were deleted because Chinese adults could not name them correctly. Chinese verb names, naming latency, name agreement, H value, familiarity, visual complexity, image agreement, and oral age of acquisition (AoA) were obtained for the 265 action pictures. Results from stepwise regression analysis showed that H value familiarity and visual complexity explained 72.4% of the variances in picture naming latency, whereas other variables such as word frequency and AoA were excluded from the final model. Moreover, the pictures were categorized into five levels of difficulty based on the naming latency. A comparison of the present study to previous studies that examined object picture naming in Mandarin showed that action picture naming (with a mean latency of 1617 ms) was more difficult than object picture naming (with a mean latency of 1324 ms or 1044 ms, Liu, Hao, Li, & Shu, 2011; Zhang & Yang, 2003). In addition, name agreement of action pictures was lower than that of object pictures, and visual complexity of action pictures was higher than that of object pictures. These results indicated that action picture naming was difficult for adult participants. One possibility is that it might be particularly difficult for Mandarin speakers to extract meaning out of the static action pictures and verbalize them. More investigations are needed to explore the mechanisms of verb processing in Mandarin Chinese, and the measures obtained from the present study can provide valuable tools for future researchers to examine verb processing in Mandarin. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Age Alters the Effects of Emotional Valence on False Memory: Using the Simplified Conjoint Recognition Paradigm XIAO Hongrui, HUANG Yifan, GONG Xianmin, WANG Dahua 2015, 47 (1):  19-28.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00019 Abstract ( 1234 )   PDF (817KB) ( 231 )   Previous research has revealed robust differences between young and older adults’ accurate emotional memory. Typically, negative emotion prompts memory performance in young adults, while positive emotion benefits memory performance in older adults. Relatively, much less efforts have been devoted to investigating how emotion divergently influences false memory in older adults compared to young adults. The main purpose of the present study is to explore, first, how age alters the effects of emotional valence on false memory; and second, what are the cognitive mechanisms for the interaction effect of age and emotional valence on false memory. The Fuzzy Trace Theory (FTT) uses verbatim memory trace and gist memory trace to interpret individuals’ false memory, especially false memory under the framework of Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. According to recent research, we proposed some flaws of traditional paradigms (such as the Remember-Know paradigm) in the area of false memory; and we also argued that it would be critical to include response bias in addition to verbatim and gist memory trace to investigate false memory. To fulfill this need, the simplified conjoint recognition (SCR) paradigm, combined with a statistical method of multinomial processing tree model, was used in the present study to investigate false memory and its associated cognitive mechanisms. A sample of 34 young adults (aged 23 ± 2 years) and 28 older adults (aged 68 ± 5 years) completed the SCR task. In the task, the Cornell/Cortland emotion word lists, along with neutral word lists adopted from previous research, were implemented as experimental materials. The results displayed a significant interaction effect of emotional valence and age on false memory (i.e. false alarm). Specifically, positive emotion decreased older adults’ false memory, while negative emotion decreased young adults’ false memory. The method of multinomial processing tree model was further employed to model, parameterize and inference the cognitive mechanisms related to the effect of emotional valence on false memory within young and older group. It was found that negative emotion contributed to a lower level of false memory in young adults by lowering their response bias toward negative words. As to older adults, positive emotion boosted retrieval of verbatim memory trace and hampered retrieval of gist memory trace, then led to less false memory for positive words. Our study uncovered interesting age-related differences in emotional false memory; it also confirmed the necessity of a simultaneous consideration of verbatim memory trace, gist memory trace and response bias when investigating false memory. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The Role of Visual Perceptual Stress in Primary Mental Ability Aging MAO Xiaofei, PENG Huamao 2015, 47 (1):  29-38.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00029 Abstract ( 871 )   PDF (827KB) ( 149 )   Sensory function is considered a basic resource for the aging of cognition. According to the information- degradation hypothesis (Schneider & Pichora-Fuller, 2000), the decline of sensory function reduces the input of peripheral stimulating information to the central neural system of older adults, and so more attention resources are demanded to process the limited quality sensory information. With the result of fewer resources being left for cognitive processing, older adults have worse cognitive performance than younger adults. The present study adopted a 2 (age: old and young) × 4 (visual perceptual stress: high, medium, low, no-noise) mixed design, with age as a between–subject variable and visual perceptual stress as a within-subject variable, to examine the role of visual function on cognitive aging. Three primary mental abilities (PMA), spatial orientation ability, numerical ability and inductive reasoning ability, were used as the indexes of cognitive functions. All cognitive tests were displayed under four different levels of visual perceptual stress by standardized programs on the computer. The visual perceptual stress was created by covering stimuli with Gaussian noise. Notably, the visual perceptual stress of each subject was determined by the condition of each individual. Therefore, all participants undertook equal visual perceptual stress towards task–related stimuli in each stress condition. It was expected that the age–related differences would decrease significantly or disappear completely when the older and younger participants undertook the same level of visual perceptual press. Thirty–three younger adults (aged 18 to 33 years old) and thirty–one older adults (aged 62 to 87 years old) were recruited. Two–way repeated measures ANOVA analysis showed that: 1. The performance of the younger group for spatial orientation ability was significantly worse in the high visual perceptual stress condition (F(1,60) = 5.02, p < 0.05), while no significantly difference was found than that of the older group in medium stress condition (F(1,60) = 0.01, p > 0.05), in low stress condition (F(1,60) = 0.41, p > 0.05) and in no–noise condition (F(1,60) = 0.25, p > 0.05). 2. The older group’s performance of numerical ability was significant lower than that of the younger group in medium stress condition (F(1,55) = 20.28, p < 0.001), in low stress condition (F(1,55) = 13.58, p < 0.01) and in no-noise condition (F(1,55) = 210.95, p < 0.001), except in the high stress condition (F(1,55) = 0.99,p > 0.05). The age differences reduced gradually when the visual perceptual stress increased. 3. Significant age differences were found in inductive reasoning ability when the visual perceptual stress was matched between younger and older adults. The younger performed better in the four levels of visual perceptual stress than the older in medium stress condition (F(1,46) = 36.40, p < 0.001), in low stress condition (F(1,46) = 53.23, p < 0.001) and in no–noise condition (F(1,46) = 28.05, p < 0.001), while no difference was observed in the high stress condition (F(1,46) = 3.61, p = 0.064). The age differences also decreased gradually when the visual perceptual stress increased. The results supported the information–degradation hypothesis to some degree. The decline of visual function plays an important role in the aging of numerical ability and inductive reasoning ability. The relationship between visual perception and the aging of spatial orientation ability needs to be considered deeply. In conclusion, visual function may play an important role in the aging of PMA, while the role of visual function in the aging of PMA may be moderated by cognitive resource. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Impact of Reward/punishment Conditions on Behavioral Inhibition and Automatic Physiological Responses in the Stages GU Li, BAI Xuejun, WANG Qin 2015, 47 (1):  39-49.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00039 Abstract ( 1039 )   PDF (797KB) ( 100 )   Though the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) provides a biological interpretation for the relationship between emotions and behavioral inhibition aroused by reward/punishment, it is still somewhat limited when attempting to explain specific phenomena. This may be attributed to factors such as the type, degree, and duration of reward/punishment stimuli, which have differed across studies. For instance, in many studies reward/punishment is a within-subjects factor, however, in clinical situations a cumulative and constant reward/punishment model is more commonly encountered, such as persistent praise or criticism of a certain individual. Furthermore, the emotion triggered by cumulative reward/punishment could manifest at any stage of the task completing process. Accordingly, this research investigated the impact of cumulative reward/punishment conditions on inhibition and automatic physiological responses during different time stages. Forty-five college students were allocated to a reward group, punishment group, or control group at random. The experiment used the Super Lab system to present stimuli and record the response time and rate of error inhibition shown by the subjects during the stop-signal task. Automatic physiological responses were collected continuously throughout the whole procedure (preparatory stage, working stage, feedback stage and reward/punishment stage) by a 16-channel physiological recording system. The results showed that: (1) in the absence of the stop-signal task, the response time of the reward group and punishment group was significantly longer than that of control group, and during the stop-signal task, the error inhibition rate of the reward group and punishment group was significantly lower than that of control group. However, there were no difference between the reward group and punishment group; (2) Heart rates within the reward group were much higher than those in the punishment group and control group, and finger temperatures were much higher than those in the control group; however, skin conductance responses in the reward group weremuch lower than those in the punishment and control groups;(3) Compared with other stages, the variation of these physical signals was much lower at the feedback stage; (4) The three groups differed in heart rate, finger temperature, and finger pulse rate at all stages, but skin conductance responses did not show significant differences across the groups. The results reveal that behavioral arousal is not synchronized with physiological arousal during reward and punishment conditions. Both the reward and punishment conditions showed inhibition to the behavioral measures, but they showed significant differences in physical arousal. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The Impact of Pre-Service Teachers' Emotional Complexity on Facial Expression Processing: Evidences from Behavioral, ERP and Eye-Movement Study WANG Haibin, LU Jiamei, YAO Benxian, SANG Qingsong, CHEN Ning, TANG Xiaochen 2015, 47 (1):  50-65.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00050 Abstract ( 1089 )   PDF (1175KB) ( 156 )   Propositional knowledge for emotional complexity is also called emotional awareness, which has been regarded as the most fundamental skill to emotional intelligence. It refers to the ability of recognizing and describing one’s own and others’ emotions. This kind of ability is important to the processing of individual mental health and interpersonal interaction. In the present study, the electrophysiological correlates and the eye movement of the facial expression processing among the pre-service teachers who have different emotional awareness were investigated. To screen participant of high or low emotional awareness, 800 Pre-Service Teachers were surveyed by the Chinese version of leaves of emotional awareness scale (LEAS). As paid volunteers, 40 pre-service teachers were recruited to take part in study1 and the other 60 pre-service teachers in study2. The participants in the experiment were all right-hand, had normal or corrected-to-normal vision and had no neurological or psychological disorders. This study was approved by the local ethics committee, and all participants signed an informed consent form prior to their inclusion in the experiment. The participants were instructed to judge the emotion of faces (happy, anger, fear and sadness) while recording EEG and eye movement. Behavioral results showed that the mean accuracy rate was higher for pre-service teachers who have high emotional awareness score group than that of the low score group, and the mean reaction time of the high score group was significantly shorter than that of the low score group. Relative to the case of the low score group, it was observed that the amplitudes of P100, N170 and LPP were higher while the amplitudes of VPP, P200 and N200 were lower in high score group. Eye movement results showed that the number of total eye fixation, monitoring frequency and the diameter of the pupil of high score group were higher than the low score group, while their saccadic time and saccade amplitude were lower. These results suggested that the emotional complexity has an influence on the processing of the emotional facial expressions. Pre-service teachers with higher emotional complexity were more sensitive to the categorization information of emotion, and probably adopt a more efficient and better pattern. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Better with More Choices? Impact of Choice Set Size on Variety Seeking LIU Lei; ZHENG Yuhuang; CHEN Rui 2015, 47 (1):  66-78.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00066 Abstract ( 1283 )   Firms today offer more diverse products to induce consumption. Does the variety of choices always enhance consumers’ choices of more varieties? Intuitively, the larger the choice set size, the more varieties consumers will choose. However, the present research argued and found that there was an inverted-U relationship between choice set size and variety seeking. Specially, as choice set size increased, consumers’ variety seeking first increased and then decreased. When choice set was too large, consumers were more likely to use heuristic processing of information, which led to the decrease of variety seeking. Studies 1A and 1B first showed the inverted-U relationship between choice set size and variety seeking with different products. Both experiments used a single factor between-subject design with three choice set size groups: a small choice set (6 flavors), a moderate choice set (12 flavors), and a large choice set (30 flavors) of yogurt (Study 1A) or ice cream (Study 1B). Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the three choice set size groups. Results showed that, for both experiments, consumers’ variety seeking first increased as choice set size increased from small to moderate, but consumers’ variety seeking then decreased when choice set size increased from moderate to large, supporting the inverted-U relationship between choice set size and variety-seeking (H1). Studies 2A and 2B aimed to test the proposed underlying mechanism, namely the heuristic information processing, by examining the moderation effect of individuals’ need for cognition (NFC). Study 2A used a 3 choice set size (6 vs. 12 vs. 30) × 2 NFC (low vs. high) between-subject design and showed that NFC moderated the inverted-U relationship. Specifically, the inverted-U relationship was only observed for low-NFC participants, but not for high-NFC participants (H2). Furthermore, in the large choice set condition (30 flavors), participants with low NFC showed more variety seeking than those with high NFC (H3). These results suggested that low-NFC individuals applied heuristic information processing to pursue more choice variety, while high-NFC individuals applied analytic information processing to pursue the most desirable choice. Study 2B used a 2 choice set size (6 vs. 30) × 2 NFC (low vs. high) between-subject design and demonstrated that NFC moderated the information processing style, which led to the inverted-U relationship between choice set size and variety seeking. Specifically, low-NFC individuals showed more heuristic information processing in the large choice set condition (30 flavors) than in the small choice set condition (6 flavors), while high-NFC individuals showed more analytic information processing in the large choice set condition (30 flavors) than in the small choice set condition (6 flavors). Study 3 was designed to further test the underlying mechanism by manipulating cognitive difficulty. The results showed that the heuristic information processing caused by difficult-to-read font could lower variety seeking even in the moderate choice set. Together, these results provide consistent evidence for the proposed heuristic information processing underlying mechanism. In summary, the current research has shown that, contrary to the common wisdom that more choices lead to more variety seeking, there is an inverted U-relationship between choice set size and variety seeking. These findings have important implications for firms. To induce more variety seeking and more consumption, firms may want to offer moderate rather than large assortments of products. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

A Cross-level Analysis of Achievement Goal Orientation and Performance Control on Team Member’s Creativity MA Jun; ZHANG Haomin; YANG Tao 2015, 47 (1):  79-92.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00079 Abstract ( 1184 )   In the critical period of innovation-driven development and transformation, employee creativity is regarded as an important source of competitive advantage, and organizations are increasingly seeking innovative ways to foster individual creativity. Against this background, managers are facing the dual challenges, not only to identify employees with creativity potential, but also managing team context to render it more conducive to individual employee creativity. Hence, organizational researchers had devoted great attention to uncovering variables that influence employee creativity both on individual level and on team level. Previous researches have revealed strong links between achievement goal orientation and employee creativity, however the empirical studies show mixed results and this relationship has remained ambiguous and contested. For example, it is uncertain whether there is always a positive relationship between mastery goal orientation and creativity in different team contexts, and whether there is always a negative relationship between performance goal orientation and creativity under any circumstances. The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework about the cross-level influences of individual goal orientation and the team context on team member’s creativity. Adopting a cross-level approach, we examined how achievement goal orientation may relate to individual creativity in different team contexts. Multi-source data were collected from 540 members within 54 R&D teams. Although both individual differences in dispositions and team context play important roles in the creative process, person-in-situation approaches that account for their interactive influences are still in development. Our study also enriches and extends the nonlinear cross-level approach in organizational behavior research, providing further evidence for the promise of this approach. The results are as follows: firstly, mastery goal orientation is positively related to creativity, and low performance control strengthens this positive relationship; but in the high-performance control context, mastery goal orientation has an “S-type” effect on creativity, which means excessive learning and exploratory behaviors suppress team member’s creativity, thereby supporting the learning overload theory. Secondly, performance- approach goal orientation has a significant positive effect on creativity in the low-performance control context. Thirdly, performance-avoidance goal orientation is negatively related to creativity in the low performance control context, but the relationship is positive in the high-performance control context. The findings support the performance contingency theory and trait activation theory. Performance control practices are a more complex issue. Our study shows that team performance control practices may regulate and influence individuals’ goal-directed behavior to activate or inhibit the creative expression of goal orientations. This inspired that we should shift the focus from employees’ goal-orientations trait differences to constructing performance control system that matched with them when managing employee creativity. Specifically, considering that in the high-performance control context, learning behaviors beyond a certain point (i.e., at high levels of mastery goal orientation) may diminish creativity, we need to control the learning and exploratory behaviors in a reasonable range for efficiently investing in practices that promote creativity. At the same time, vertical control should be adopted for the avoid-oriented team members, while the horizontal control is suitable for the approach-oriented individuals. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Emotional Regulation of Implicitly Measured Stereotypes: Automatic and Controlled Processes WANG Pei; WANG Xuefeng; CHEN Qingwei 2015, 47 (1):  93-107.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00093 Abstract ( 1987 )   Emotion for a long time has been thought as the main reason causing the cognitive obstinacy of the stereotype and the stereotype expression. However, researches discussing directly how emotion regulates expression of implicitly measured stereotypes are few. Relevant researches so far only discussed the effect of diffuse moods and there were differences and disputes in specific experimental results and theoretical explanation. In the light of the deficiency of the previous researches this study improves the relevant theory of emotional regulation of implicitly measured stereotypes expression through two series of experiments based on the clarification of the definition and classification of the emotion. Experiment 1 employs music to awake different diffuse moods (sadness vs. cheer) of the participants and operates their real-time thoughts (stereotype consistent vs. stereotype inconsistent) thus to investigate their influence on implicitly measured stereotypes expression. Experiment 2 employs video to evoke participants' different directional emotions (sympathy vs. dislike), investigating how these regulate college students' implicitly measured stereotypes expression of AIDS patients and HIV carriers of different routes of infection. Series research leads in Quad Model analysis based on IAT paradigm to find out whether the effect of emotional regulation of implicitly measured stereotypes expression happens in automatic processes or controlled processes of cognitive process, and through which psychological elements (AC,OB,D,G) the different emotions regulate implicitly measured stereotypes expression. The results show: 1.When real-time thoughts and stereotype are consistent, positive diffuse moods promote implicitly measured stereotypes expression; Conversely, positive diffuse moods inhibit implicitly measured stereotypes expression; 2.Diffuse moods regulate implicitly measured stereotypes expression by adjusting the automatic processes (AC) of the cognitive process, but not involved in the regulation of controlled processes presented by D parameters; 3. Directional emotion valence and the route of inflection influence college students' implicitly measured stereotypes expression: directional emotions with positive valence inhibit participants' implicitly measured stereotypes expression of AIDS patients, while that with negative valence promote participants' implicitly measured stereotypes expression of AIDS patients. 4. Directional emotions regulate the automatic processes of implicitly measured stereotypes expression, that is, the regulation of implicitly measured stereotypes expression through automatic activation (AC) elements. It also involved in the regulation of controlled processes of implicitly measured stereotypes expression, that is, the regulation of implicitly measured stereotypes expression through detection (D) elements. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The Influence of Facial Attractiveness and Personality Labels on Men and Women’s Mate Preference WANG Yuqing, YAO Pengfei, ZHOU Guomei 2015, 47 (1):  108-118.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00108 Abstract ( 6936 )   PDF (310KB) ( 806 )   As a complex social, cultural and psychological phenomenon, mate selection has in recent years become a hot research topic in both psychology and sociology. Some studies have found that when it comes to mate selection, physical attractiveness of a romantic partner such as appearance, figure are more important to men than they are to women while ability, resources and personality of a romantic partner show an opposite pattern. However, this view has recently been challenged by researchers who propose that a partner’s physical attractiveness may be as important to women as it is to men (Eastwick, Eagly, Finkel, & Johnson, 2011; Eastwick & Finkel, 2008; Fisman, Iyengar, Kamenica, & Simonson, 2006). Choosing a lover is an important and complicated issue that deserves further study with experimental investigation. The present study manipulated the degree of face attractiveness and personality traits. We evaluated the partner choices made by both men and women. As for face attractiveness and personality traits, people think that beautiful people have more positive qualities, and their unique characteristics or qualities can get more favorable perception (Lorenzo, et al, 2010). On the other hand, people who have positive qualities are often judged as more beautiful (Gross, Crofton, 1977). To understand the influence of facial attractiveness and personality labels on men and women’s mate, we included the two independent variables in one experiment and examine their interactive effects on men and women's mate preferences. Chinese male faces and female faces along with Big-Five personality information materials were presented to 30 female students and 30 male students for rating of attractiveness and desirability as a lover (only for opposite-sex photos) .The results showed as that: (1) When seeing a photo of a beautiful opposite-sex face, men were more willing to have her as a lover than women. (2) Those people whose photos were labeled with positive personality were more likely chosen as lovers by women. (3) Compared with those labeled with negative personality, photos with positive personality were more likely to be chosen as lovers and such likelihood was clearly increased when the photos were more beautiful. (4) All five dimensions of Big-Five personalities influenced mate preferences of men and women, with the power gradually decreasing from conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, emotional stability to extroversion. While women preferred extrovert men, whether or not women were extrovert had no effect on men’s mate preferences. These findings provide further evidence for understanding sex differences in mate selection. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Predictive Effect of Implicit Safety Attitudes on Safety Performance in Aviation Safety Culture YAN Bihua; JI Ming; ZHAO Xiaojun; TU Jinlu; YOU Xuqun 2015, 47 (1):  119-128.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00119 Abstract ( 1161 )   The fundamental feature of safety culture is represented by safety attitudes. In terms of measuring safety cultures, many researchers have mainly focused on explicit safety attitudes and generally relied on specific survey instruments. It is questionable, however, whether self-report measures can capture all aspects of organizational safety culture. Instead of getting direct answers, it is necessary to introduce implicit measures and the implicit safety attitudes test into safety culture evaluation. The basic hypothesis of this study was that while various enterprises share different safety culture, the structure and intensity of implicit and explicit safety attitudes differ for employees. The present study was aimed at investigating the complete model of aviation safety culture and the importance of implicit safety attitudes by detecting the relationship between explicit and implicit safety attitudes as well as the prediction effect of implicit safety attitudes. The Flight Management Attitudes Questionnaire (FMAQ 2.0, international version) was adopted in this study which was based on the work characteristics of modern airlines pilots. With the purpose of evaluating explicit safety attitudes under the background of aviation safety culture, FMAQ 2.0 is comprised of three subscales, including basic organizational attitudes, cockpit work attitudes, and flight automation attitudes. Moreover, Evaluative Implicit Association Test and Affective Implicit Association Test were developed for aviatic implicit safety attitudes test. 134 pilots were involved in the investigation, 126 valid cases were obtained. Safety performance were obtained from airline company on four dimensions, including safety regulation, flight style, flight skill and organizational management was applied for validity criterion. The results showed that (1) IAT of aviation safety attitudes indicated a high effect value, aviation safety led to more positive evaluation and feelings while flight risk and adventure were more connected with negative evaluation and emotion. (2) Implicit and explicit safety attitudes were both relevant and relative separation. There was a positive relation between evaluative implicit safety attitudes and cockpit work attitudes. Affective implicit safety attitudes showed significant positive correlation with cockpit work attitudes and flight automation attitudes. And the model data showed that implicit and explicit safety attitudes were separation structure. (3) Both the flight management attitudes and implicit safety attitudes were able to predict safety performance. The former were doing better on predicting flight style, flight skill and organizational management, while the latter had higher prediction rate on safety regulation. The common prediction model fitted well. The study demonstrated a high intensity of aviation safety attitudes. IAT can be used as an effective evaluation tool for implicit safety attitudes. Explicit and implicit safety attitudes are both unified and separated structure. The explicit safety attitudes, implicit safety attitudes and safety performance together constitute a complete model of aviation safety culture. And in this model, the outer layer is aviation safety performance, the middle layer is explicit safety attitudes which can be measured directly, the inner layer is implicit safety attitudes which can be evaluated by indirect measurement methods. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Exposure Control Methods and Termination Rules in Variable-Length Cognitive Diagnostic Computerized Adaptive Testing GUO Lei; ZHENG Chanjin; BIAN Yufang 2015, 47 (1):  129-140.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.00129 Abstract ( 657 )   Comparing to the nonadaptive testing, the major advantage of computerized adaptive testing (CAT) is that the examinees achieve the same degree of measurement precision (i.e., fixed precision). But few studies are devoted to the termination rules in variable-length cognitive diagnostic computerized adaptive testing (CD-CAT). Inspired by the termination rule research in traditional CAT, this paper proposed four termination rules for variable-length CD-CAT. The new termination rules were standard error of attribute method (SEA), difference of the adjacent posterior probability method (DAPP), halving algorithm (HA) and hybrid method (HM), respectively. Then, the four new termination rules were compared with the HSU and KL method under two scenarios: with and without item exposure control. Three exposure control methods were considered, i.e., simple, modified restrictive progressive (MRP) and modified restrictive threshold (MRT) method. The MRP and MRT methods were extension of the Wang et al.’s (2011) work to the variable-length CD-CAT scenario. The results indicated that: (1) When the criterion of variable-length termination rule was conservative, the mean of the test length and the percentage of examinees reaching the maximum test length were large, and the classification accuracy rate for examinees who finished the CAT using fixed precision was high. (2) Without the item exposure control, the four new variable-length termination rules had a similar performance compared to the HSU method. With the increase of maximum posterior probability and the decrease of e, the classification accuracy rate and the mean test length presented a increasing trend. But the item pool usage was unsatisfactory. (3) With the item exposure control, item pool usage was greatly improved in the six variable-length termination rules while the classification accuracy rates were maintained. Different exposure control methods had a different effect on the different variable-length termination rules. The relative criterion termination rules such as DAPP and KL methods were easily affected by the item exposure control. (4) Taken all together, the SEA, HM, and HA methods were comparable to the HSU method, and followed by the KL and DAPP method. Some future directions were suggested in the end of this paper. Related Articles | Metrics