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Reports of Empirical Studies


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Influence of time stress on mood-congruent false memories Yiping ZHONG, Wenjie ZHANG, Yalei LI, Wei FAN 2018, 50 (9):  929-939.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2018.00929 Abstract ( 12569 )   PDF (1071KB) ( 560 )   A large number of studies have revealed that memories not only easily fade away but also can occasionally be changed spontaneously; memory errors are everywhere, reminding us that memories are not an exact copy of the experienced events. The influences of the various types of stimulus and emotional states on false memories were first studied by using the classical DRM paradigm. Furthermore, we investigated the influence of time stress on mood-congruent false memories. The first experiment was performed to identify the influences of different emotional stimuli on false memories under time pressure. The hybrid design method was used, namely, 2 (time stress: stress group and control group) × 3 (word titer: positive word, negative word, and neutral word). The between-subject variable was time pressure, the within-subject variable was word titer, and the dependent variable was the number of the false recognitions of the critical lures. The results of experiment 1 showed that the main effect was remarkable under time stress, as was the valence of words. The interaction between the time stress and valence of words was significant. The results demonstrated that the number of false recognitions for the subjects in the stress group with respect to the negative critical lures was much higher than were those of the neutral and positive ones. The second experiment sought to uncover the influences of different emotional states on the false memory under time pressure. The design method of 2 (time stress: stress group and control group) × 3 (emotion titer: positive emotion group, negative emotion group, and neutral group) was used, and the dependent variable was the number of the false recognitions of the critical lures. The results of experiment 2 showed that the main effect was marginally significant under the time stress, and the emotion was significant. The interaction between time stress and emotion was significant. The results revealed that the false recognition for the subjects in the positive emotion group with respect to the critical lures had the largest number. The third experiment utilized the hybrid design method of 2 (time stress: stress group and control group) × 4 (mood type: positive mood-congruency, negative mood-congruency, positive mood-inconsistency, and negative mood-inconsistency) to investigate the influences of time pressure on mood-congruent false memories, demonstrating that both the pressure group and the control group subjects showed a significant mood-congruent false memory. The results of experiment 3 showed that the number of false recognitions with respect to the mood-congruency for the subjects in the stress group and the control group were both higher than that of the mood-inconsistency, and the stress group had a larger number of false recognitions than did the control group under the condition of mood-congruency. The results of three experiments show that time pressure has a positive effect on false memories and further promotes negative mood-consistency false memories. Individual negative emotions can undermine the generation of false memories under time pressure. Related Articles | Metrics

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Effects of nicotine on implicit and explicit memory Jingyuan LIN, Wuji LIN, Yingfang MENG 2018, 50 (9):  940-952.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2018.00940 Abstract ( 6089 )   PDF (784KB) ( 136 )   Studies have shown that choline is a substance that is closely related to memory. Previous studies focused on the effect of cholinergic drugs on explicit memory, and those results revealed that explicit memory is sensitive to most cholinergic drugs. However, relatively few studies have discussed the effect of cholinergic drugs on implicit memory. Furthermore, whether the effect of cholinergic drugs on implicit memory is consistent with explicit memory is still uncertain. The effect of cholinergic drugs on memory was investigated by drawing a comparison between the participants with nicotine condition and those without. We used lexical decision and lexical recognition tasks to test implicit and explicit memory, respectively. In experiment 1, 30 subjects participated in two occasions, 2 days apart. They participated once in memory tasks after receiving 12 mg/ml body weight of nicotine and once after receiving 0 mg/ml placebo. Experiment 2 examined whether receiving treatment before encoding or before the retrieval phase would moderate the cholinergic effect in explicit and implicit memory. In experiment 2, 19 subjects participated in two experimental occasions, 2 days apart, as follows: after receiving 12 mg/ml body weight of nicotine before the encoding phase; after receiving nicotine before the retrieval phase. In addition, we adopted event-related potential (ERP) technology to observe the affected ERPs. Participants were instructed to response to corresponding items by pressing keyboard. The Reaction Time and Accuracy data on retrieval phase of the two memory tasks were recorded and analyzed. Implicit and explicit memory performance declined under nicotine condition in both experiments. It reflected that receiving nicotine not only impacted explicit memory but also implicit memory. Furthermore, nicotine effects are moderated by the level of processing at the encoding phase. Such impact only occurred on the deep processing level. Moreover, memory retrieval after receiving nicotine was affected. These effects were more remarkable on implicit memory retrieval than on explicit memory. The results of ERP data also showed that related ERPs of memory were affected by nicotine. In conclusion, results from the current study revealed that effects of cholinergic drugs were similar on implicit and explicit memory. The rest of the segregated results might have been due to the discrepancy of memory tasks rather than the differences in physiological mechanisms of the two memory types. Implicit memory and explicit memory might not belong to two extremely independent memory systems, because there are some covariant effects existing between them. Related Articles | Metrics

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Effect of the spatial linguistic symbol on the container metaphor of seniority rules Xinxiao WANG, Shan JIANG, Jijia ZHANG 2018, 50 (9):  953-964.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2018.00953 Abstract ( 1960 )   Kinship words are those that represent each relative in the language system. These words contain a variety of information about genetics, sociology, and culture. Therefore, the study of these words has always been a very popular topic in many research fields. According to Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), people acquire abstract and difficult concepts by connecting them with some concrete and simple representations. Spatial metaphors are the most basic and universal type of metaphor, which means that spatial concepts often serve as the source domain to help people understand other abstract concepts better. Recent studies have shown that the multidimensional spatial representation of different semantic concepts of Chinese kinship words are psychologically real. Thus far, only a few studies have explored the container metaphorical representations of the nature of the kinship (blood relation vs relation by marriage). A past study has shown that the embodied kinship type might be explained through an inside-outside spatial relation. To be specific, blood kinship inside, marriage kinship outside. Nevertheless, whether the process of kinship automatically activates the inside-outside spatial concept or otherwise has not been explored. Furthermore, the influence of linguistic symbol has not been fully considered in the literature. Some Chinese blood kinship words feature a linguistic symbol “外,” which means “outside” in English, whereas some marriage kinship words contain the linguistic symbol “内,” which means inside. Whether these symbols would influence the association between kinship words and the inside-outside spatial concept thus requires further research. Three experiments were carried out to investigate whether and how the linguistic symbol changed the container metaphorical representation of the embodied relation type. Experiment 1 used a parallel spatial Stroop paradigm. Results showed that the marriage kinship words containing the linguistic symbol “内” have a higher error rate when presenting outside a circle. Moreover, the symbol “外” changed the container metaphorical representations of blood kinship words to react faster when presented outside a circle. Experiment 2 used a spatial attention orientation paradigm, and the results showed that both “内” and “外” changed the direction of the original metaphor schema of the type of kinship words. Experiment 3 actually indicated that activating the inside-outside schema changed how people recognized Chinese kinship words containing the spatial linguistic. The results of Experiment also indicate that the process of Chinese kinship words is serial. Related Articles | Metrics

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Is implicit knowledge abstract? Evidence from implicit sequence learning transfer Hui DAI, Chuanlin ZHU, Dianzhi LIU 2018, 50 (9):  965-974.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2018.00965 Abstract ( 1975 )   Studies have shown that whether implicit knowledge is abstract is still under dispute, and transfer is an effective way to test this. The present study was designed to investigate transfer of implicit sequence knowledge under five different RSI conditions, to explore the status of consciousness underlying transfer, and then to prove the abstractness of implicit knowledge. Ninety volunteers (college students) were randomly assigned to five experimental groups. Twelve randomly selected college students were assigned to the control group. A classic implicit sequence learning task was adopted. Participants were required to press a key corresponding to the spatial location of the dark dot as quickly and accurately as possible. Each experimental group completed this task under one of five RSI conditions (0 ms, 250 ms, 500 ms, 750 ms, and 1000 ms). The task included a training and a transfer phase. In both phases, the spatial location arrangement for the sequence of dots followed the second-order conditional rule, but differed slightly. The control group did not undergo the training phase and were tested directly during the transfer phase, with the procedure being similar to that of its matched experimental group. Pure and novelty-influenced learning magnitude, two different indexes of implicit learning magnitude, were adopted. Similarly, two different indexes of implicit transfer magnitude, pure and novelty-influenced, were adopted. The results showed: (1) By using a transfer design changed first-order structure, we found that the migration occurs with the increase of RSI, which proves that the implicit knowledge is abstract. (2) Implicit sequence learning is a necessary condition for migration learning. The novelty stimulus promotes implicit learning and transfer, and the effect is more obvious when RSI is small. (3) Moreover, in this study, a special type of fringe consciousness was found (RSI = 500 ms, 750 ms, 1000 ms), in which people can transfer knowledge that has cognitive flexibility and availability, but they cannot orally report the specific rules. By using a transfer design changed first-order structure, this study proves that implicit knowledge is abstract under the fringe consciousness. Additionally, the effects of RSI、implicit sequence learning, and stimulus novelty on implicit learning and transfer were proved. This study provides abundant first-hand information to the field of implicit learning. Related Articles | Metrics

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The influence of different status of the observer’s responding hands on observational learning in the joint task Xiaolei SONG, Yangyang LI, Qian YANG, Xuqun YOU 2018, 50 (9):  975-984.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2018.00975 Abstract ( 2162 )   PDF (591KB) ( 174 )   Observational learning, which refers to improving performance by observation without physical practice, is one of the most important human capacities. Although a large amount of studies have shown that observational and physical practice can both acquire a comparable motor learning in individual context, and the status of the responding hands play a crucial role in this process, few researches focused on observational learning in joint context. Hence we presented three experiments that adopted a joint Simon task to explore the conditions under which observational learning occurred by assessing whether it is affected by the status of the observer’s responding hands. By adopting a modified version of the social transfer of learning paradigm, three behavioral experiments were conducted to explore the emergence of observational learning under joint task and the influence of status of body-parts (response hands) on observational learning. The aim of experiment 1 was to investigate whether observational learning took place in joint context. In Experiment 2, the status of the observer’s hands were changed in observational learning. It should be noted that during practice phase, observers positioned their hands constrained on the knee in front of them. In Experiment 3, the possible influence of view range furtherly on observational learning was clarified by manipulating the view range and status of the observer’s hands. Specifically, the observer was asked to constrain his hands behind the back in practice phase. The results above demonstrated that either the observer or the actor in switch condition showed a significant joint Simon effect, while both of them didn’t show this effect in non-switch condition. Contrast to the condition in which the observer’s hands were free, the joint Simon effect increased in constrained condition when the observer’s hands were within his sight. Meanwhile, the same effect was also present when the observer’s hands constrained behind the back as compared to in front of them. It can be concluded that both observational learning and physical keypress practice in joint context could transfer into comparable motor learning which has an effect on the subsequent joint task. Moreover, the occurrence of observational learning depends on the potential motor abilities of the observer, which suggests that changes in body status affect the observer’s cognitive performance in subsequent joint task whether in or out of his sight. All of above provide empirical research for embodied cognition. Related Articles | Metrics

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The habituation of hedonic and eudaimonic affect Yangmei LUO, Fan MO, Xuhai CHEN, Hongda JIANG, Xuqun YOU 2018, 50 (9):  985-996.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2018.00985 Abstract ( 4382 )   Affect unfolds over time. Thus, it is crucial to understand the temporal dynamics of affect. Affective habituation, a form of affective temporal dynamic, refers to the psychological process by which the affective response becomes weak for repeated or continuous stimulation. Although substantial interest has been directed at delineating the affective habituation, it is still unclear that how hedonic affect (pleasure attainment and pain avoidance) and eudaimonic affect (meaning and self-realization) habituate across time. Additionally, it is unknown whether variety affects the habituation and how individual differences in the two types of affective habituation relate to people’s depression. The current study examines the process of the eudaimonic and hedonic habituation in a short time and its relation to depression. Two experiments were designed in the current study. Experiment 1 was designed to investigate the habituation of positive and neutral affect. It was a 2 (stimulus variability: 1-stimulus vs. 4-simuli) × 2 (positive vs neutral) within-subject design. Thirty-eight participants completed the habituation paradigm, in which people assessed the affective reactions to the repeated positive and neutral pictures using a visual analog scale and their depressive states were measured. We used hierarchical linear models to model the affective habituation and its relation with depression. The results showed that positive affect is more likely to habituate than neutral affect is; variety counteracted habituation; and there is no relationship between affective habituation and depression. From the hedonism and eudaimonism perspective, we divided positive affect into hedonic and eudaimonic affect. Experiment 2 was a 2 (variety: 1-stimulus vs. 4-simuli) × 3 (affective types: eudaimonic vs. hedonic vs. neutral) within-subject design. The procedure was almost identical to Experiment 1. Hedonic affect was defined as high pleasure but low meaning, such as the scenes depicting a person enjoying delicious food; eudaimonic affect was defined as high pleasure and high meaning, such as the scenes depicting a person helping others in need and spending time with family. The images were standardized with another sample. Seventy-one participants completed this habituation paradigm and their depressive states and neuroticism were measured after the experiment. The results showed that the hedonic affect is more likely to habituate than are eudaimonic affect and neutral affect. Variety counteracted hedonic and eudaimonic affect habituation. Their depressions were associated with rapid habituation of eudaimonic affect, but there was no such association for hedonic affect. Moreover, neuroticism moderated the relationship between the eudaimonic affect habituation and depression. In general, evidences from the current study found that eudaimonic affect is difficult to habituate relative to hedonic affect in a short time. Variety counteracted both types of affect habituation. Furthermore, depression was associated with rapid habituation of eudaimonic affect and neuroticism could moderate this relationship. The findings may provide insight into temporal dynamics of eudaimonic affect and its implications in mental health of human beings. Related Articles | Metrics

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Trait anxiety predicts the response to acute psychological stress Huini PENG, Jianhui WU, Xiaofang SUN, Qing GUAN, Yuejia LUO 2018, 50 (9):  997-1006.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2018.00997 Abstract ( 3112 )   Recently, An increasing number of studies are focusing on individual differences in response to acute psychological stress. Emerging evidence suggests that personality, especially trait anxiety, might be a significant predictive factor of individual difference in response to acute stress. Most of the previous studies have taken trait anxiety as a categorical (discontinuous)construct. However, a full-range analysis of trait anxiety could result in greater statistical power and less parameter estimation bias. The present study aims to examine whether and how the continuum of trait anxiety scores predict the acute psychological stress response induced by a standardized laboratory stress induction procedure (the Trier Social Stress Test, TSST) while controlling for the potentially confounding factors of gender, age and education years. A total of 54 healthy students (35 males, 19 females), aged 18~25 years (mean: 22.57 ± 1.67) and educated for 13~18 years (mean: 15.89 ± 1.34), were recruited from universities in Beijing. Several inclusion criteria were employed to control for potential factors influencing the stress response (see 2.1 for details). The acute psychological stress was induced by the TSST and the stress response was measured with heart rate (the index of the response in sympathetic adrenal medulla) and salivary cortisol (the index of the response in hypothalamus pituitary-adrenal). Two hierarchical multiple regression analyses were utilized to study how trait anxiety predicts the heart rate and salivary cortisol response toward stress. The result showed that the TSST elicited significantly acute psychological stress responses. Specifically, both heart rate and salivary cortisol during the TSST were higher than that measured at any other time points. Regression analysis corroborated that after controlling for gender, age and education years, trait anxiety significantly and negatively predicted heart rate response (β = -0.35, p < 0.01), but not salivary cortisol response to acute psychological stress. The present findings suggest that trait anxiety is a powerful predictor of sympathetic adrenal medulla response, i.e., individuals with higher level of trait anxiety perform lower sympathetic nerve activity in rapid response to acute psychological stress. Individuals with high trait anxiety may experience long-term anxiety in their daily life and chronic consumption of psychophysiological resources, thereby resulting in the limited response to acute stressors. Related Articles | Metrics

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Interaction effects between BDNF gene rs6265 polymorphism and parent-involved education on basic mathematical ability in primary school children Mingliang ZHANG, Jiwei SI, Weixing YANG, Shufen XING, Hongxia LI, Jiajia ZHANG 2018, 50 (9):  1007-1017.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2018.01007 Abstract ( 1943 )   Mathematics is an essential subject related to many fields such as science, engineering, economics, and medicine, which are of great and increasing importance for the development of modern society. In recent years, many studies using quantitative genetics, which adopted the twin-study design, were conducted to identify the heritability of performance related to mathematical ability and disability. Although the underlying mechanism is poorly understood, the qualitative behavioral genetics study demonstrated that mathematical abilities are moderately heritable. However, extant evidence was mainly obtained from quantitative genetic research, solely reported by a few molecular genetic studies, which specifically investigated mathematical ability or disability. To the best of our knowledge, till date, only a single molecular genetic study has investigated the effect of the gene (G) × environment (E) interactions on mathematical ability in children. The present study was designed to extend the previous research by examining the effect of the interaction between brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene rs6265 polymorphism and parent-involved education (PIE) on the basic mathematical ability in primary school children. Further, we assessed these two competing models, the classic diathesis-stress model vs. the newly developed differential susceptibility model. Primary school (PS) children (n = 602, male = 297, female = 305) from 23 classes ranging from grade-3 to grade-6 were included in the study. Their basic mathematical ability was assessed using the Chinese rating scale of pupil’s mathematical abilities and PIE was examined by employing a behavior questionnaire of pupil’s PIE (version answered by parents). The genomic DNA of PS children was extracted from their saliva samples. Genotyping of these DNA samples to identify rs6265 polymorphism in BDNF was performed using real-time PCR with MassARRAY RT software version 3.0.0.4 and analyzed using MassARRAY typer software version 4.0. A series of linear regression statistical analyses were conducted using statistical package for social sciences software version 19.0. Further, re-parameterized regression models were constructed to examine the effect of the interaction between BDNF rs6265 polymorphism and PIE on basic mathematical ability in PS children using the two potential competing G × E hypotheses. In this study, we obtained three major results, which are as follows: (1) BDNF rs6265 polymorphism was significantly associated with logical thinking (LT) and spatial vision (SV) abilities in PS children. Especially, PS children carrying the AA genotype exhibited a better performance of LT and SV abilities compared to PS children carrying the G allele. (2) The interaction between rs6265 polymorphism and PIE substantially predicted LT and SV abilities in PS children. The PIE behavior positively predicted LT and SV abilities among PS children carrying the G allele but not the AA genotype. (3) The indexes in re-parameterized regression models supported the strong diathesis-stress model. In conclusion, by elaborating the moderating effect of PIE, the present study enriches the literature on the association between BDNF rs6265 polymorphism and basic mathematical ability in PS children. This study expands our knowledge regarding the G × E underpinnings of basic mathematical ability and the novel as well as newly developed methods, which are proving to be highly efficient and legitimate. Related Articles | Metrics

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Pay-forward effect of resource allocation in preschoolers: Role of theory of mind and empathy Dongjie XIE, Hao LU, Yanjie SU 2018, 50 (9):  1018-1028.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2018.01018 Abstract ( 3261 )   PDF (633KB) ( 187 )   Previous studies found that children would reciprocate those having benefited them previously, a behavior termed direct reciprocity. When there was no opportunity to reciprocate, the recipient would pay it forward to a third one. The current study aimed to find whether preschoolers would pay it forward if their absolute gains would be dependent on their allocations and its potential socio-cognitive mechanisms. We hypothesized that preschoolers would pay forward others’ selfish, fair or generous allocations, but this tendency would be stronger in the selfish and fair conditions; theory of mind (ToM) as well as empathy would play a role in it. Children aged 4 to 6 (N = 118, 63 females; Mage = 64.25 months, SD = 6.76) were randomly assigned into 3 experimental groups and 1 control group. In the experimental groups, each child was firstly asked to help an anonymous partner complete a jigsaw game (the child and the partner were to make equal contributions in the game), and then was allocated a reward of 1 token (selfish), 3 tokens (fair) or 5 tokens (generous) as the partner proposed (allocating a total of 6 tokens); subsequently, each participant completed another jigsaw game with another anonymous recipient, to whom the participant then acted as an allocator. In contrast, participants in the control group only completed the resource allocation task once as an allocator after cooperating with an anonymous partner in the jigsaw game. Participants’ abilities of ToM were measured with first-order and second-order ToM tasks. Their abilities of empathy were assessed with the Griffith Empathy Measurement (GEM), filled by their teacher-in-charge. We found that preschoolers would pay the selfish allocations forward, and even generous ones in spite that their absolute self-interests were dependent on their decisions. Specifically, compared with children in the control group, children in the selfish or generous groups were more likely to propose a similar pattern of allocation for the anonymous recipient, which indicated that others’ patterns of allocation exerted influence on children’s decisions. In contrast, there was no significant difference between the proportion of fair allocations in the control group (80%) and the fair group (80%). Moreover, children in the generous-allocation group who paid it forward had higher levels of second-order ToM and (cognitive) empathy than those who did not do so. However, there were no such differences between these two types of participants in the selfish-allocation and fair-allocation groups. It was suggested that preschoolers were sensitive to the patterns of allocations made by others, and they would pay it forward whether the allocations were advantageous or disadvantageous to themselves. Socio-cognitive abilities (e.g., ToM, empathy) could be important explanatory factors for this pay-forward effect. Besides, preschoolers in a collaborative context were more likely to comply with the norm of equity. Future studies might test other moderators, such as group membership of the partner, the way children acquire the resources, and explore other explanatory factors like executive functions. Related Articles | Metrics

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The influence mechanism of parental care on depression among left-behind rural children in China: A longitudinal study Xinghua FAN, Xiaoyi FANG, Yuesheng HUANG, Fengju CHEN, Si YU 2018, 50 (9):  1029-1040.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2018.01029 Abstract ( 4966 )   PDF (804KB) ( 339 )   There are about 61.02 million left-behind rural children in China, who were left at their hometowns by one or both of their rural-to-urban migrant parents. As a result of parental migration, left-behind children receive compromised parental care and are at higher risk for depression than non-left-behind children. In light of the huge number of Chinese left-behind children and their heightened risk for depression, the association between parental care and left-behind children’s depression and the underlying mechanisms were examined in a sample of 279 fourth-graders and seventh-graders over 2.5 years. The analytic sample included 72 children left behind by both parents, 79 children left behind by fathers, and 56 non-left-behind children. These children’s family structure, guardians, and the left behind type remained stable across the 2.5 years. The results showed that children left behind at home by one or both of their migrant parents reported less parental care and higher depression at both the pretest and the posttest than non-left-behind children. Depression assessed at posttest was higher than that at pretest among children left behind by both parents. When controlling for gender, parental care at pretest was associated with concurrent depression among left-behind children via self-esteem and neuroticism; parental care at pretest also was associated with left-behind children’s depression at posttest via self-esteem and neuroticism at posttest. When controlling for gender and posttest parental care, pretest parental care was marginally associated with posttest depression but the mediation effects via posttest self-esteem and neuroticism disappeared. Under either controlling condition, the interaction between pretest parental care and pretest friendship quality predicted posttest self-esteem and neuroticism. Specifically, associations between pretest parental care and posttest self-esteem and neuroticism were stronger among left-behind 7th-graders with higher friendship quality than those with lower friendship quality. The findings of this study supported some propositions of the diathesis-stress theory on depression. Moreover, the findings have several practical implications for future intervention on reducing depression among left-behind children. Programs that aim to decrease those children’s depression should pay attention to strengthening their parental care, improving their self-esteem and emotional stability, and promoting their friendship quality. Related Articles | Metrics

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The relationship between relative deprivation and online gaming addiction in college students: A moderated mediation model Qian DING, Yun TANG, Hua WEI, Yongxin ZHANG, Zongkui ZHOU 2018, 50 (9):  1041-1050.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2018.01041 Abstract ( 7320 )   Online gaming is very popular among college students in China. Whereas low to moderate levels of online gaming may be entertaining and provide opportunities to interact with other players online, excessive gaming can lead to online gaming addiction and associated problems such as depression and anxiety. Prior studies have investigated the risk for online gaming addiction in terms of the ecological context in which addiction occurs. The present study has taken a further step by focusing on students’ perceptions of relative deprivation as a macrosystem influence on online gaming addiction. According to the cognitive-behavior model of Pathological Internet Use (PIU), the perception of relative deprivation may increase the risk for online gaming addiction by inducing negative thoughts and emotions or by increasing escape motivation. Importantly, the effect of relative deprivation may be mediated by maladaptive cognition; that is, the perception of relative deprivation may lead to maladaptive cognition, which in turn would predict online gaming addiction. Furthermore, individual differences in mindset may moderate this mediation process, in that entity theorists may be more vulnerable to maladaptive cognition than incremental theorists. In sum, we proposed a moderated mediation model to account for online gaming addiction. Specifically, we tested the relationship between relative deprivation and online gaming addiction, the mediating effect of maladaptive cognition, and the moderating effect of mindset, in a sample of college students. The participants of this study were 1,008 college students (mean age = 19.03 years, SD = 0.97 year; 795 males, 213 females) who had experience in online game playing. Their average time gaming was 1.74 hours (SD = 2.21 hours) per day in the past half year. The participants completed a battery of questionnaires, including the Financial Relative Deprivation Questionnaire, Maladaptive Cognitions Scale, Implicit Person Theory Measure, and Internet Gaming Disorder Scale. The proposed moderated mediation model was tested using regression analysis and the PROCESS macro. Previous studies have suggested that online gaming addiction may differ by gender and age. Hence, the effects of gender and age were controlled in all analyses. Results showed that: (1) Relative deprivation positively predicted online gaming addiction in college students. (2) Maladaptive cognition partially mediated this association. (3) This mediating effect was moderated by student mindset, in that it was stronger for students who were entity theorists than for those who were incremental theorists. The present study is the first to demonstrate the detrimental impact of perceived relative deprivation and the moderated mediation effect of maladaptive cognition and mindset on online gaming addiction. Our findings provide further evidence of the role of ecological context in the risk for online gaming disorder. They also have potential applied value with regard to online gaming addiction in college students. Because incremental theory may be more helpful than entity theory for online gaming addicts, and because incremental theory can be learned through training, understanding students’ self-theories can inform the development of prevention and intervention programs for online gaming addiction. Related Articles | Metrics

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The effect of violent exposure on online aggressive behavior of college students: The role of ruminative responses and internet moral Tonglin JIN, Guizhi LU, Lu ZHANG, Yuntena WU, Xiangzhong JIN 2018, 50 (9):  1051-1060.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2018.01051 Abstract ( 5470 )   With the development of science, the internet has become an indispensable tool in college students' study and daily life. However, online aggressive behavior has become a much more serious problem for college students in recent few years. It is necessary to find out which factors have significant effects on online aggressive behavior of college students. According to the previous researches, the violent exposure was found to be able to predict aggressive behavior significantly. In addition, some theorists also have confirmed that ruminative responses and aggressive behavior are strongly related. However, as a special form of aggressive behavior, there was little research focused on online aggressive behavior and violent exposure. So the purposes of the present study is to explore the relationship between violent exposure, ruminative responses, internet moral and online aggressive behavior as well as the mechanism the effect of violent exposure on online aggressive behavior of college students. A total sample of 1000 college students from some universities was selected, with 326 males and 508 females, the average age was 20.74-year-old. All subjects were gathered in the class and finished the questionnaires within about 30 minutes. The questionnaires included the Violent Exposure Questionnaire (VEQ), Online Aggressive Behavior Scale (OABS), Ruminative Responses Scale (RSS), and the Internet Moral Questionnaire (IMQ). Data was collected and analyzed with SPSS 24.0, Amos 21.0 and Mplus 7.4, and the bias-corrected percentile Bootstrap method was used to analyze the role of ruminative responses and internet moral between violent exposure and college students' online aggressive behavior. A single factor analysis was calculated to test the common method variance. Results showed that the study was in-existent common method variance. The results show that: (1)The relationships between each pair of violent exposure, ruminative responses, internet moral and online aggressive behavior are correlated significantly and positively, the correlation coefficient ranges 0.07 from 0.96 (p < 0.01); (2)The structural equation model (SEM) reveals that the data fits the theoretical model well (c 2/df = 2.45, CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.98, SRMR = 0.03, RMSEA = 0.04). (3) Violent exposure has a significant direct effect on online aggressive behavior (β = 0.29, p < 0.01); Violent exposure has a significant direct effect on ruminative responses (β = 0.23, p < 0.01); Ruminative responses has a significant direct effect on online aggressive behavior (β = 0.17, p < 0.01); Internet moral has a significant direct effect on online aggressive behavior (β = -0.17, p < 0.01); Interaction has a significant direct effect on online aggressive behavior (β = -0.17, p < 0.01). (4)Violent exposure has a significant indirect effect on online aggressive behavior through ruminative responses, and the confidence interval of 95% is [0.025, 0.061]; (5) Internet moral moderates the relation between violent exposure and online aggressive behavior of college students, that is, there is a significant positive relation between violent exposure and online aggressive behavior under the low internet moral level, however, there is a non-significant relation between violent exposure and online aggressive behavior under the high internet moral level. It is concluded that in the structural equation model of violent exposure on online aggressive behavior of college students, ruminative responses plays a partial mediating role and internet moral moderates the direct effect. These findings suggest some measures of prevention and treatment for college students’ online aggressive behavior should be taken. Schools and families should set up a good core self-evaluation system in order to help them improve their moral level and eradicate online aggressive behavior. Related Articles | Metrics

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Changes in loneliness among elderly people and its effect factors: A latent transition analysis Guoting WU, Minqiang ZHANG, Yuhan NI, Yawei YANG, Chengming QI, Jianxing WU 2018, 50 (9):  1061-1070.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2018.01061 Abstract ( 3677 )   The high prevalence of loneliness and various accompanying adverse consequences (e.g., depression, higher blood pressure, insomnia, immune stress responses and worse cognition) are becoming serious public concerns. To provide insights on prevention and intervention programs, this study examines the properties and development of loneliness behaviors in elderly people. Taking a longitudinal perspective enables researchers to understand who is expected to transition to a higher risk status in the future, which will help to predict symptoms so that tailored interventions can be designed to protect the elderly from loneliness. Two-wave longitudinal data over 4 years were derived from the American Health and Retirement Study (HRS). A total of 3238 women and 2205 men in their 50s were recruited. Latent class and latent transition models were used to identify meaningful subgroups of the elderly with different symptoms (i.e., lack of companionship, being left out, isolation from others, lack of belonging, and withdrawn from society) to describe transitions between those classes over the study period and to examine the effects of covariates on the latent transition model. Six covariates, including gender, marital status, attitudes toward aging, life orientation, social support and daily activities, were examined as potential predictors of loneliness. Four loneliness subgroups were identified: Mild Loneliness (Class 1), Social Loneliness (Class 2), Emotional Loneliness (Class 3), and Severe Loneliness (Class 4). Mild Loneliness status was the most prevalent, barely showing any lonely behavior, while relatively serious loneliness occurred in Social Loneliness, Emotional Loneliness and Severe Loneliness. Specifically, individuals in Social Loneliness lacked social intercourse relation, individuals in Emotional Loneliness lacked a close relationship, and individuals in Severe Loneliness had a high probability of exhibiting all the above mentioned symptoms. Elderly people in Mild Loneliness and Severe Loneliness were highly stable, while Social Loneliness and Emotional Loneliness tended to change to other statuses rather than remaining in the original status. Particularly, the participants in Social Loneliness demonstrated a prominent trend to transition to a less problematic status (Social Loneliness to Mild Loneliness), and the participants in Emotional Loneliness tended to change to a more problematic status (Emotional Loneliness to Severe Loneliness). All participants in the four subgroups showed a strong willingness to communicate with others. Results of multinomial logistic regression revealed that elderly males were more likely to be in the Emotional Loneliness group. In addition, more social support as well as a positive attitude toward aging and optimistic life orientation were more likely to keep elderly people from entering more severe loneliness statuses, indicating an ameliorated trend of loneliness that was expected. This study demonstrated a transition pattern in elderly people loneliness with an individual-centered approach. Differential treatment effects were found across baseline loneliness classes, suggesting the benefits of tailoring intervention programs to yield good outcomes in elderly people. Related Articles | Metrics