Loading...
ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B

Archive

    25 October 2015, Volume 47 Issue 10 Previous Issue    Next Issue

    For Selected: Toggle Thumbnails
    Mourn with Deep Grief for Professor XU Liancang
    Editorial office
    2015, 47 (10):  1199-1200. 
    Abstract ( 632 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Facial Familiarity Modulates the Interaction between Facial Gender and Emotional Expression
    WU Binxing, ZHANG Zhijun, SUN Yusheng
    2015, 47 (10):  1201-1212.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.01201
    Abstract ( 1620 )   PDF (667KB) ( 65 )  

    The interaction between facial gender and emotional expression has been a consistent debate. In some impactful theories about face cognition, such as the theory of Haxby, Hoffman and Gobbini (2000), facial gender and emotional expression are described as processing independently. But there are also empirical evidences to suggest that facial gender and emotional expression process interdependently. Researchers who concerned about the interaction between facial gender and emotional expression seemed to ignore the role of facial familiarity. Based on given evidences of facial familiarity’s effects on the processing of facial gender and on the processing of emotional expression, we hypothesize that facial familiarity will module the relationship between facial gender and emotional expression. The experiments were all based on Garner’s selective attention paradigm (Garner, 1976). The main logic of this paradigm is that, if selective attention is possible in the presence of irrelevant dimension, then the two dimensions under investigation could be declared independent or “separable,” if not, the dimensions are “integrality.” In our experiments, participants were required to make speeded facial gender (or expression) classification to four types of stimuli (angry-male, angry-female, happy-male, happy-female). They were instructed to ignore facial gender (or expression) when making expression (or facial gender) classification. Stimuli were presented in two different conditions termed control and orthogonal conditions, and participants should finish both conditions. In the control condition, stimuli varied along only the relevant dimension and the irrelevant dimension was held constant. In the orthogonal condition, stimuli varied along both the relevant dimension and the irrelevant dimension. In experiment 1 (low facial familiarity), we used 16 strange face stimuli with 16 identities. Each stimulus was presented only once in both control condition and orthogonal condition. With a between-subjects design, half of all the 72 participants made the facial gender classification, and the other half made expression classification. Another 72 participants took part in experiment 2 (medium facial familiarity). All settings of experiment 2 were same as experiment 1, except that the stimuli were another 16 faces with 8 identities and each identity has two expressions. 48 participants attended experiment 3 (high facial familiarity), and face stimuli in this experiment were same as experiment 1, but each face was presented repeatedly in both control condition and orthogonal condition. In experiment 4, 48 participants were trained with neutral faces with same identities as 16 faces used in experiment 1, so that they could get familiar with the stimuli’s identities. Then participants were asked to make same tasks as experiment 1. Overall, this study explored whether or not facial familiarity modulate the interaction between facial gender and emotional expression directly. We applied 2(condition: orthogonal, control)×2(facial gender: male, female)×2(expression: angry, happy) repeatedly measured ANOVA on the reaction times (RTs) of facial gender tasks and expression tasks. In experiment 1, there was a main effect of condition in facial gender task (F(1,35) = 16.07, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.32). RTs in the orthogonal condition were significantly lager than RTs in the control condition (namely Garner effect). But in expression task, there wasn’t a significant Garner effect (p > 0.05). This suggested that under low facial familiarity situation, emotional expression had a unidirectional effect on the processing of facial gender. In experiment 2, no significant Garner effect was found in facial gender task (p > 0.05), but the interaction between facial gender and expression reached significance (F(1,35) = 19.35, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.36). Angry female faces took longer to be classified as females than did happy female faces, whereas male faces were the contrary. This interaction implied that emotional expression influenced the processing of facial gender. In expression task, there’s a marginal significant Garner effect (F(1,35) = 2.71, p = 0.109, ηp2 = 0.07), facial gender influenced the processing of emotional expression to a certain degree. In experiment 3, there wasn’t a significant Garner effect in facial gender task (p > 0.05), but a significant interaction between facial gender and expression was found again (F(1,23) = 31.46, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.58). Participants were slower to judge angry female faces as females than to judge happy female faces as females, but there was no difference in RTs to judging angry and happy male faces as males, this suggested again that expression influenced the processing of facial gender. In expression task, there was a significant Garner effect (F(1,23) = 15.95, p = 0.001, ηp2 = 0.41), it meant that facial gender had an impact on the processing of expression. Results of experiment 2 and 3 suggested that under high facial familiarity situation, facial gender and emotional expression influenced the processing of each other. The experiment 4 obtained almost the same results as experiment 3, proved the research hypothesis directly. In conclusion, for unfamiliar faces, emotional expression had an unidirectional effect on facial gender’s processing, but with the increasing of facial familiarity, a bi-directional interaction arisen between facial gender and emotional expression. The future work may focus on the mechanisms behind the facial familiarity’s modulation effect on the interaction between facial gender and emotional expression.

    Related Articles | Metrics
    Attentional Bias Toward Face-related Words Among Females with Facial Negative Physical Self: Evidence from An Eye-movement Study
    KOU Hui, SU Yanhua, LUO Xiaochun, CHEN Hong
    2015, 47 (10):  1213-1222.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.01213
    Abstract ( 2583 )   PDF (791KB) ( 332 )  

     Previous studies found cognitive bias toward body-related information among individuals with fat negative physical self. However, little is known about the cognitive bias toward face-related information among individuals with facial negative physical self (FNPS).

    The current study aimed to investigate the attentional bias towards face-related words among females with FNPS. A modified dot probe paradigm was adopted. In the experiment, we used positive and negative face-related words as stimuli. A pair of words was presented in each trial. There were totally four types of word pairing conditions: positive face-related word-neutral word condition (PosNeu), negative face-related word-neutral word condition (NegNeu), positive face-related word-negative face-related word condition (PosNeg), and neutral word -neutral word condition (NeuNeu). We recorded the eye-movement while subjects were viewing the words.
    In NegNeu condition, we found that, compared to controls, females with FNPS were more frequently and faster to direct their initial gazes to negative face-related words. Furthermore, they also showed a longer fixation on the negative word. However, the total gaze durations on both types of words were not significantly different. These results implied an attention vigilance-maintenance pattern for negative face-related words. In contrary, females with FNPS showed a slower rate to direct their gazes to positive words in PosNeu condition. Consistently, in PosNeg condition, females with FNPS showed the same attentional bias toward negative face-related words compared to positive face-related words. Furthermore, behavioral results showed that females with FNPS had difficulty in attention disengagement from negative face-related words, which were evident in both NegNeu and PosNeg condition.

    In conclusion, our results demonstrated that females with FNPS had an attention vigilance-maintenance pattern toward negative face-related words.

    Related Articles | Metrics
    The Attentional Capture of Internet Addicts under the Guidance of Visual Working Memory
    ZHANG Wei, ZHOU Bingping, ZANG Ling, MO Shuliang
    2015, 47 (10):  1223-1234.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.01223
    Abstract ( 1683 )   PDF (895KB) ( 101 )  
    Some studies have demonstrated an improved selective attention of Internet Addicts compared with normal people. However, most of these studies were done based on the single-task experimental paradigm, in which participants were required to perform only a visual search task. This single-task paradigm has neglected the inseparable relationship between the visual working memory and selective attention. In the present study, we employed a dual-task paradigm that required the participants to perform a visual search task while keeping an object in working memory. The purpose of this study was to exam the differences of attentional capture between Internet Addicts and normal people.
    In our experiments, participants were instructed to remember a color object as the target item, and then to seek the target among five distractors. Experiment 1 used a single distractor under three conditions: (1) the distractor matched with the target item in color; (2) the distractor differed from the target item in color; (3) the distractor had no color. There were 16 participants in the Internet addition group (13 male, 18~22 years old, M = 19.25, SD = 0.86) and 24 participants in the control group (18 male, 18~20 years old, M = 18.96, SD = 0.84). Experiment 2 used multiple distractors under two conditions: (1) three (out of five) distractors matched with the target item in color and shape (matching trials); (2) all five distractors differed from the target item in color and shape (control trials). The proportion (20% or 80%) of matching trials was varied across different experimental groups to induce different levels of inhibition motivation. There were 31 participants (21 male, 18~22 years old, M = 19.35, SD = 1.05) in the Internet addition group and 32 participants (22 male, 18~20 years old, M = 19.56, SD = 1.05) in the control group.
    Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to analyze the RTs. In both experiments, participants in the Internet addition group responded faster than those in the control group. There was no evidence for a speed-accuracy trade-off in both groups. When there was only one distractor in the search task (Experiment 1), the distractor would capture the attention of participants in the control group under all conditions, but would not capture the attention of participants in the Internet addition group. When there were multiple distractors in the search task (Experiment 2), the attentional capture effects differed by the level of inhibition motivation. At a low level of inhibition motivation, search RTs were shorter in matching trials than in control trials for both groups, demonstrating a classical memory-based attention capture effect induced by memory-matching distractors. This effect was smaller in the Internet addition group. At a high level of inhibition motivation, search RTs were shorter in matching trials than in control trials, suggesting that there was a memory-based attention inhibition affected by top-down control. There was no difference in the attention inhibition effect between the two groups.

    These findings suggest that Internet Addicts differ from the normal controls in the attention capture led by working memory. When facing with common irrelevant visual stimuli, the Internet Addicts may perform faster in visual processing.

    Related Articles | Metrics
    Dynamic Updating Process of Readers’ Temporal Situation Model: From Short-term Working Memory to Long-term Working Memory
    HE Xiayou, YANG Huilan, ZHANG Wei, ZHAO Xueru, XIE Yi
    2015, 47 (10):  1235-1246.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.01235
    Abstract ( 941 )   PDF (631KB) ( 23 )  

     

    The situation model is a hot topic in current narrative comprehension research. The Event-indexing model proposed by Zwaan, Langson, and Graesser (1995) suggests that readers establish a mental representation of events by tracking them through five dimensions: time, space, characters, causality, and protagonist/object. A large number of previous studies have shown that the temporal dimension plays an important role in constructing the situation model. The Scenario Account (Anderson, 1983) argues that scene provides clues for temporal shifts, but the Strong Iconicity Assumption (Zwaan, 1996) argues that readers update the situation model as soon as temporal shifts appear. In this study, we designed two experiments to resolve the disagreement between the Scenario Account and the Strong Iconicity Assumption. We assume that the Scenario Model and the Strong Iconicity Assumption do not contradict each other due to how the updating of a situation model has a variable processing mode in different stages of memory processing. We designed two experiments to test this hypothesis: Experiment 1 examined the effects of temporal shifts on the updating of the situation model in short-term working memory, and Experiment 2 examined this effect in long-term working memory.
    In this study, a moving-window technique was used to explore the extent to which temporal shifts (long/short) affect updating of readers’ situation model. Experiment 1a and 1b examined whether long temporal shifts or short temporal shifts affected updating of readers’ situation model in short-term working memory. A single factor within-subjects design (time shift of a moment after or a day later) was used. We predicted the long temporal shifts (Experiment 1a) would not result in the updating of readers’ situation model due to the time limitation and difficulties of processing in short-term memory, but that short temporal shifts (Experiment 1b) would. Experiment 2 further examined the extent to which long temporal shifts affected updating of the situation model in long-term working memory. We predicted that long temporal shifts would cause the updating of the situation model because there was sufficient time for processing and increased memory capacities associated with long-term working memory.
    The results confirmed our predictions that latencies of retrieval of removing entities showed no significant differences as a function of long temporal shifts and non-temporal shifts, which suggested that long temporal shifts did not result in situation model updating in Experiment 1a. However, Experiment 1b revealed the latencies of retrieval of removing entities were much slower in the short temporal shifts condition than those in the non-temporal shifts condition. In addition, when the filler sentences were increased in Experiment 2, we also found slower latencies of retrieval of removing entities in the long temporal shifts, which suggested the situation model had been updated both in Experiment 1b and Experiment 2.

    In sum, temporal shifts play an important role in the updating of readers’ situation model. The findings showed that longer the temporal shifts were associated with greater difficulty to update the situation model. Therefore, only the short but not long temporal shifts condition resulted in situation model updating in short-term memory, but when information was stored in long-term memory, updating was possible in the long temporal shifts condition. The results collectively demonstrate that temporal situation model updating is dynamic.

    Related Articles | Metrics
    Effects of Agent’s Motivation on Mental Simulation during Sentence Comprehension
    ZHANG Jijia, WANG Xinxia, HE Xiumei
    2015, 47 (10):  1247-1259.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.01247
    Abstract ( 830 )   PDF (711KB) ( 30 )  

     

    When reading sentences of motions, readers mentally simulate the motions of the sentences. This research investigates the effects of sentence protagonist’s motivation on mental simulation during sentence comprehension. Experiment 1 applied moving window technique to investigate participants’ reading time of the target word in the sentence. Sentences in experiment 1 describe motion events, which include an agent, a path and a goal (e.g. It’s hot, he walks along the path to the beverages store.). The target word is the goal word. The results show that with higher levels of agent’smotivation, the reading time of the goal word is shorter, which indicates that readers mentally simulate the emotion and action of the agent mentioned in the sentences during the comprehension. Study2 applied eye-tracking technique to investigate how inferences about agent’s motivation influence the time course of attention to a visual scene that matches themotion events in the sentences. Eye movements were recorded as participants were listening to the sentences with high (e.g. It’s hot, he walks along the path to the beverages store.) or low (e.g. It’s cool, he walks along the path to the beverages store.) levels of agent’s motivation. When the participants were listening to the sentences, they were looking at pictures depicting an agent and a path, which lead to a goal object. The results indicate a mapping of events onto the visual picture, which is consistent with participants mentally simulating the movement of the agent along the path towards the goal: with the context of low level of motivation, participants look more and longer along the path to the goal; with the context of high level of motivation, participants tend to look shorter at the goal and less on the path.
    The description of path in the sentence plays an important role in the simulation of the events. Without mentioning path, the differences between high and low levels of motivation would not arise in Experiment 1. The pattern in Experiment 2 is also affected by the presence of path. If path is mentioned in the sentence, the discrepancy between high and low level of motivation would center on the area of path. While without describing path, the discrepancy would center on the area of goal. In Experiment 1, the presence of path made sentences longer and more concrete, leading to the discrepancy between long and short sentences. In Experiment 2, the presence of path attracted more visual attention to the path region. Otherwise, more attention would be allocated on the goal region.

    In summary, these results reveal that event comprehension with the presence of visual stimuli involves establishing and dynamic updating the locations of entities in response to linguistic descriptions of events. In consistent with Study1, Study2 proved that both motivation and motion are simulated and the former influences the simulation of the latter. Conforming to the theory of mental simulation, sentence comprehension induces the simulation of the context. While processing events, readers are immersing in the situation and get information of emotion as well as objective facts.

    Related Articles | Metrics
    Interaction Effects between rs6323 Polymorphism in the MAOA Gene and Peer Relationship on Early Depression among Male Adolescents
    WANG Meiping, JI Linqin, ZHANG Wenxin
    2015, 47 (10):  1260-1268.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.01260
    Abstract ( 897 )   PDF (519KB) ( 215 )  

     

    Prior evidence suggested that MAOA gene was an potentially important candidate gene of depression, and its association with depression was mediated by environmental factors. However, most of the studies in this area have been guided by the “diathesis and stress model” and have typically focused on the interaction between MAOA gene and adverse environments, such as child maltreatment and stressful life events. Peer relationship, including peer accept and peer rejection, is among the important interpersonal relationships during early adolescence and plays a critical role in adolescent psychosocial development. However, it still remains unclear whether and how peer relationships interact with MAOA gene on adolescent depression. Additionally, previous studies examined mainly the effects of MAOA-uVNTR polymorphism on depression, and rarely focused on rs6323 polymorphism, which has been identified as a common polymorphism site among Asians. This study aimed to examine the interaction between rs6323 polymorphism and peer acceptance/rejection on early adolescent depression, with the differential susceptibility model as the theoretical frame.
    The participants in this study included 683 male adolescents originally drawn from a 3-year longitudinal study (n=1323) which investigated 11 junior high schools obtained through a random cluster sampling method. During the initial assessment (in 2010), adolescents (grade 7) were on average 13.53 years old (SD=0.51). Adolescents’ depression were measured using self-rated Children’s Depression Inventory (2010: a = 0.87; 2012:a = 0.88), while peer relationship (including peer acceptance and peer rejection) were rated by peer nomination. DNA was extracted from saliva. Genotype at rs6323 was performed in real time with MassARRAY RT software version 3.0.0.4 and analyzed using the MassARRAY Typer software version 3.4 (Sequenom). A series of linear regression analyses were conducted using SPSS 19.0, followed by the “region of significance” analysis to guarantee the stability of the interaction effect and determine whether the observed interaction term was better accounted for by the differential susceptibility model.
    The results showed that rs6323 polymorphism significantly interacted with peer acceptance in predicting early adolescents’ depression. Specifically, male with G allele exhibited lower levels of depression when experiencing higher levels of peer acceptance (above 0.79 SD), but reported higher levels of depression when they were exposure to lower levels of peer acceptance (below 3.41 SD), relative to their counterparts with T allele. The above interaction between rs6323 polymorphism and peer rejection was not observed. The main effect of MAOA gene rs6323 polymorphism on male adolescents’ depression was not statistically significant.

    In summary, the results of the present study demonstrated that the G allele in the rs6323 locus, which was regarded as the risk genotype in some previous studies, could respond more favorably to peer acceptance among male early adolescents. This finding lends partial support for the differential susceptibility model, such that plasticity allele can yield better or worse outcomes depending on the nature of environmental inputs. It, therefore, contributes to MAOA gene-depression literature by elaborating the moderating effect of peer relationships among early adolescents. Future research should consider the inclusion of clinical sample which can enlarge the variations in peer relationships, and the employment of the gene-gene-environment design to further capture the association between rs6323 polymorphism and adolescent depression.

    Related Articles | Metrics
    Orbitofrontal Cortex 5-HT1A Receptor Modulate Glutamate and GABA in Depression Induced by Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress
    LI Jiangna; AN Shucheng; LI Zhen
    2015, 47 (10):  1269-1278.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.01269
    Abstract ( 709 )  

     

    Stress response and depression have a crucial impact on modern society. Although the symptoms are well characterized, the molecular mechanisms underlying depression are largely unknown. Currently, the monoaminergic systems, especially serotonergic systems, have received the most attention in the research of depression. Accumulating evidence suggests that the glutamatergic and GABAergic system play an important role in the neurobiology and treatment of this disease. Multiple studies have shown that serotonin (5-HT) could modulate the neurotransmission of glutamic acid (Glu) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), which is involved in the pathophysiology and treatment of depression, plays a critical role in the control of higher brain functions and it mainly receives a dense 5-HT innervation from the dorsal raphe nucleus. There exist some 5-HT1A receptors on glutamatergic neurons and GABAergic neurons in the OFC. The purpose of this research was to elucidate the modulatory action of 5-HT1A receptor on the functions of Glu and GABA, which are the principal neurotransmitters mediating excitatory and inhibitory signals in the OFC respectively, in a well-established animal model of depression induced by chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS).
    We used CUMS in rat to mimic the core symptoms in human. Using the pharmacology approaches by microinjecting of 5-HT1A receptor agonist 8-OH-DPAT and its antagonist WAY100635 to the OFC, we detected behavioral changes by using behavior tests including sucrose preference test, open field test and tail suspension test. In addition, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to detect the level of neurotransmitters such as 5-HT, Glu and GABA in the OFC, respectively.
    CUMS group showed a variety of behavioral characteristics of depression, including a significant reduction in the sucrose preference, and locomotion, rearing and grooming in the open field test, and a significant increase in immobility time in the tail suspension test compared with control group. In addition, CUMS group showed that a significant increase in the concentration of Glu, but no significant difference in the levels of 5-HT and GABA in the OFC. Depression-like behaviors of CUMS rats were obviously ameliorated after being treated with 8-OH-DPAT, while the concentration of Glu was decreased. Rats received WAY100635 in control group showed similar depression-like behaviors and similar increased Glu levels. However, 5-HT level and GABA concentration were not altered in both groups received 8-OH-DPAT or WAY100635.

    These findings indicated that the mechanism through which CUMS could induce depression-like behaviors, probably is not due to the decrease of 5-HT level within the OFC, but because of excessive release of Glu that resulted from that 5-HT could not regulate glutamatergic neurons or the decrease of 5-HT1A receptor function on glutamatergic neurons within the OFC during stress. Our data suggested that 5-HT1A receptor in the OFC plays an important role in modulating the synthesis and release of Glu during CUMS. This study provided insights on modulation of glutamate transmission in depression.

    Related Articles | Metrics
    The Developmental Patterns of Working Alliance in Counseling: Relationships to Therapeutic Outcomes
    ZHU Xu; HU Yue; JIANG Guangrong
    2015, 47 (10):  1279-1287.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.01279
    Abstract ( 1564 )  

     

    Working alliance in counseling has been a highly attended research area for several decades. Although a positive relationship between working alliance and counseling outcome has been well established, little do we know how working alliance functions in counseling process. Studying the development of working alliance would contribute to this understanding. Some theories have focused on describing developmental patterns of working alliance based on existing research findings, such as the U-shaped model and the rupture-repair episodes model. However, empirical effort has failed to show significant effect of these hypothesized developmental patterns on counseling outcomes. This naturalistic study aimed at exploring the developmental patterns of working alliance as emerged in counseling sessions and examining the relationship between these patterns and therapeutic outcomes.
    The participants included 30 clients from 4 university counseling centers, 10 males and 20 females, with the number of sessions ranging from 4 to11, M = 6.53, SD = 2.03, Mdn = 6. By the time of data collection, all of the clients had finished their therapies. There were 20 therapists in the study, 3 males and 17 females, with professional experience from 1 to 22 years. They rated their therapeutic orientations using a 5-point Likert scale, which resulted in the strength of endorsement, from high to low, on person-centered, cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic approaches. Each therapist offered 1 to 3 cases respectively. Clients filled out measurements of working alliance and depression symptoms after each session. Four shape-of-change parameters (Stiles et al., 2004) were used to describe the developmental patterns of working alliance in the counseling process of these 30 cases.

    Results from the cluster analysis revealed three developmental patterns, labeled as linear increase, linear decrease, and quadratic increase. However, none of these developmental patterns had significant effects on the counseling outcomes. Then, correlations between the four shape-of-change parameters (i.e., indicators of developmental patterns) and outcomes were tested, but none of the correlations was significant either. It was also found that the rupture-repair episodes defined in terms of various criteria could not differentiate good outcomes from poor ones. Notably, the levels of working alliance were still found to predict outcomes. In order to explore the reasons why the developmental patterns had no relationship with outcomes, we conducted case studies comparing the working alliance developmental patterns in cases with good or poor outcomes. Results showed that the same developmental patterns emerged in both types of cases, but these pattern may have different meanings for different clients. It appeared that therapists’ regulations of working alliance in early sessions may have great influence on therapeutic outcomes.

    Related Articles | Metrics
    When and Why Shared Leadership Influences Team Outputs? The Pivotal Roles of Information Exchange, Passionate Tone and Environmental Uncertainty
    HAO Po; LONG Lirong; HE Wei
    2015, 47 (10):  1288-1299.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.01288
    Abstract ( 1238 )  

    With the increasing external competition faced by firms in today’s business world, organizations have relied more on team-based management to confront with the environmental uncertainty and the rapid changes. Vertical leadership, a top-down process wherein a formal leader who possesses the managerial role influences team members through his/her authority, fails to provide efficient solutions to all kinds of emerging issues in such an organizational context. Therefore, shared leadership, which refers a dynamic and interactive influence process among members in group aiming to lead one another mutually to achieve group or organizational goal, has received burgeoning scholarly attention in both the leadership literature and the team management research. Despite the increasing interests in shared leadership, very a few researchers have systematically examined shared leadership in the organizational science. To extend shared leadership research, several research purposes were included in the present study. Specifically, we first investigated the effects of shared leadership on team information exchange and team passionate tone. Second, we tested the mediating roles of these two team process variables in the relationships between shared leadership between team performance and team creativity. Finally, we examined the moderating effects of environmental uncertainty on the mediational relationships between shared leadership and team outputs via team information exchange and team passionate tone, respectively.

    Empirical data were collected from 286 employees working in 79 work teams from 19 different companies. Data were collected from multiple sources to avoid the common method bias. Specifically, team members were asked to rate shared leadership, team passionate tone, team information exchange, task interdependence, and team size. The formal leaders of each team were asked to rate team performance and team creativity. Moreover, qualitative coding method was applied to obtain data on team environmental uncertainty. Hierarchical regressions with SPSS and bootstrap with RMediation were applied to test our hypotheses.

    Empirical results showed that shared leadership was positively related to both team information exchange and team passionate tone, which exhibited different effects on team performance and team creativity. Specifically, team information exchange was positively related to team performance, whereas team passionate tone was positively related to team creativity. Moreover, mediation analyses revealed that team information exchange mediated the positive relationship between shared leadership and team performance, and team passionate tone mediated the positive relationship between shared leadership and team creativity. Finally, moderated mediation analyses suggested that the mediation relationship between shared leadership and team creativity via team passionate tone was moderated by environmental uncertainty, such that the mediation relationship was more positive when environmental uncertainty was higher than when it was lower.

    Our findings contribute to the leadership literature in several ways. First, we reveal the theoretical black-box of why shared leadership facilitates team outputs by identifying team information exchange as a cognitive explanation, and team passionate tone as an affective explanation. More importantly, we find that the cognitive mechanism is effective in linking shared leadership with team performance, whereas the affective mechanism is effective in linking shared leadership with team creativity. Finally, we extend the shared leadership research by demonstrating environmental uncertainty as a crucial contextual moderator affecting its effects on team outputs.

    Related Articles | Metrics
    Extension of Cognitive Diagnosis Models Based on the Polytomous Attributes Framework and Their Q-matrices Designs
    CAI Yan; TU Dongbo
    2015, 47 (10):  1300-1308.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2015.01300
    Abstract ( 548 )  
    Based on the traditional cognitive diagnosis models (CMDs), this study developed two new cognitive diagnosis models, PA-rRUM and PA-DINA model respectively, to handle the polytomous attributes. Through Monte Carlo simulation, it indicated that:
    The parameters in the models could be identified, and robustness of the parameter estimation is relatively strong. Furthermore, the correct match ratios and accuracies of parameter estimation are decent. All these findings verified that the models are feasible for ploytomous attribute cognitive diagnosis.
    It also found that the precision of might be influenced by the sample size and the number of replications for the RP*matrix. The larger the sample size is, or the greater the number of replications is, the more precise they might be. The results suggested that the Q matrix should include the RP* matrix while the attribute is polytomous.

    In conclusion, the models overcame the shortcomings stemmed from dichotomous attribute models, thus they might provide a richer diagnostic result and more flexible models.

    Related Articles | Metrics