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Effects of orthographic depth on Chinese word naming for Han and Uyghur students YANG Qun, WANG Yan, ZHANG Jijia 2019, 51 (1):  1-13.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2019.00001 Abstract ( 3808 )   China is a multi-ethnic country with a variety of languages. Successful communication among nationalities is basic and important. Hence, bilingual education is a special teaching form in which ethnic minorities inherit the national culture and familiarize Mandarin and Chinese characters. As a typical alphabetic language, Uyghur differs from Chinese. Specifically, mastering the Chinese polyphonic characters is difficult for Uyghur students, especially those with more than one pronunciation. Orthographic depth denotes the consistency in grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence. In terms of inner language, polyphonic characters are less consistent than monophonic words. In relation to cross languages, orthographic depth affects the encoding of the lexical process. The present study aims to investigate the effect of orthographic depth on Chinese word naming tasks for Uyghur and Han nationalities. The word naming task was conducted in experiments 1 and 2 to investigate the effects of orthographic depth. Thirty Han and thirty Uyghur students volunteered in each experiment, and each one participated in one experiment only. In experiment 1, eighty monosyllabic words with half poly and half monophonic characters were included. Among the poly and monophonic words, half reached high frequencies (343.3-3869.8/per million), and half had low frequencies (7.2-237.8/per million). During the experiment, the participants were asked to name words as quickly and accurately as possible. Repeated measure ANOVA was performed. The results corroborate that (a) naming latencies for polyphonic and monophonic words were longer for Uyghur than Han students, (b) monophonic words were named faster than polyphonic words for all the participants, and (c) the word frequency (WF) effect was larger for Uyghur than for Han students. Moreover, the authors recorded prepared responses using polyphonic words, which were pronounced with high frequency and named faster than the nondominant reaction but found no significant differences between the two groups. In experiment 2, eighty disyllabic words were selected, with the first syllables equally grouped into polyphonic and monophonic characters. Among the disyllable words, half reached high frequencies (222.2-2565.4/per million), and half had low frequencies (2.3-47.6/per million). The procedure was similar to that in experiment 1.The authors performed repeated measures ANOVAs by subject and item and found an interaction between WF and orthographic depth in the two groups. For the Uyghur participants, words with initial polyphonic characters were named slower than monophonic ones in high frequency disyllable words. However, significant differences did not exist between polyphonic and monophonic characters. For the Han students, words with initial polyphonic characters were named slower than monophonic ones in low frequency disyllable words and displayed the same result with high frequency disyllable words. The study validates that orthographic depth has different modes of influence on the naming of Chinese characters in the two nationalities. This finding is related to the differences in the characteristics of the mother tongue, the age of vocabulary acquisition, the level of language proficiency, and the manner of language processing between the two nationalities. Related Articles | Metrics

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The bilingual L2 advantage in associative recognition LIU Guixiong,JIA Yongping,WANG Yujuan,MAIHEFULAITI ·Kanji,GUO Chunyan 2019, 51 (1):  14-23.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2019.00014 Abstract ( 2796 )   Recent research has indicated that humans exhibit better item recognition when working with their second language (L2) than in their first (L1). Associative and item recognition are based on different retrieval information and retrieval processes, even though they share certain characteristics. In the present study, we investigated whether bilingual associative recognition performance was better in L2 than in L1. We asked participants to complete two study-test tasks that were presented in Chinese or Uygur, as appropriate. During the study phase, participants were instructed to remember either compound or unrelated word pairs. Participants were then asked to indicate whether word pairs were intact, rearranged, or new. According to the dual-process model of recognition memory, recognition can be mediated by two functionally distinct processes known as familiarity and recollection. Familiarity is a subjective feeling of prior encounter associated with an early (300~500 ms) frontal old/new effect (FN400). Recollection provides access to detailed information about the prior occurrence of an item and its associated episodic context, which is reflected by a later (500~800 ms) left parietal old/new effect (LPC). Traditionally, most researchers have assumed that associative recognition depended only on recollection, but more and more researchers have suggested that familiarity could also support associative recognition under unitized encoding conditions. In the present study, we manipulated levels of unitization (LOU) through semantic relations of word pairs. In the unitization condition (compound word pairs), two words can be processed as a single coherent entity or an object. In contrast, in the non-unitization condition (unrelated word pairs), two items can only be treated as two separate objects. The current experiment found (1) associative recognition was more rapid in L2 than in L1 for both compound and unrelated word pairs, and the accuracy of associative recognition was higher in L2 for compound word pairs but equal for unrelated word pairs; and (2) associative recognition was better for compound than for unrelated word pairs both in L2 and in L1. The event-related potentials (ERPs) showed that in the unitization condition, recognition in L1 elicited both FN400 and LPC effects, indicating the unitization effect kept consistency in different language. However, recognition in L2 only elicited the FN400 effect. In addition, participants accomplished associative recognition at a time of 650 ms in L2. However, associative recognition was not completed until 900 ms in L1. This result pattern indicated that associative recognition in L2 can rely solely on familiarity. In the non-unitization condition, there was no FN400 effect, but the LPC effect occurred in both L2 and L1. Together, these results indicate similar to item recognition, bilingual associative recognition is better in L2 than in L1 in the unitization condition. In addition, unitization increases the relative contribution of familiarity to subsequent associative retrieval. The practical significance of this study is that it provides a cognitive neuroscientific basis for promotion of the national common language in minority regions of China. Related Articles | Metrics

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The effects of field dependent-independent cognitive style and abrupt rotation of the reference frame on multiple object tracking Lü Xin, LIU Jingyao, WEI Liuqing, ZHANG Xuemin 2019, 51 (1):  24-35.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2019.00024 Abstract ( 1727 )   PDF (515KB) ( 145 )   The Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) task was initially designed by Pylyshyn and Storm (1988) and has been widely used to study the visual attentional mechanisms people use when viewing dynamic scenes. Previous research has usually used this task to explore participants’ abilities to track multiple moving objects in a static reference frame. But more recently, some researchers have started to investigate observers’ tracking performance in nonstable scenes. However, few studies have explored the effects of field dependent-independent cognitive style on tracking tasks from the point of view of individual differences. Previous research has revealed that field dependent-independent cognitive style affects people’s ways of perceiving and thinking. Field-independent individuals rely on an internal reference frame and tend to perceive objects separately from the background, while field-dependent individuals are more likely to rely on an external reference frame and perceive objects as a whole. We tested the effects of field dependent-independent cognitive style and abrupt rotation of the reference frame on tracking performance in the MOT task. This study included two experiments. Experiment 1 compared performance differences between field- independent individuals and field-dependent individuals in the MOT task. Nineteen participants who scored ≥15 in the Embedded Figures Test (EFT) were classified as the extreme field-independent group, and twenty-three participants who scored ≤11 were classified as extreme field-dependent group. The two groups of participants were required to track 3, 4, or 5 targets in a static reference frame. Experiment 2 explored the tracking differences of the two groups in a nonstable reference frame with four targets. The procedure of Experiment 2 was the same as Experiment 1, except that after the motion of 6s in each trial, the reference frame abruptly changed 0°, 20°, or 40°. Meanwhile, the participants still needed to keep track of the targets. The two experiments found significant differences between field-independent individuals and field-dependent individuals. In the low-difficulty conditions (stable reference frame, 3 and 4 targets) and the medium-difficulty condition (reference frame abruptly changed 20°, 4 targets), the field-independent group performed significantly better than the field-dependent group. But in the high-difficulty conditions (stable reference frame, 5 targets and reference frame abruptly changed 40°, 4 targets), the performance of the field-independent group did not significantly differ from the field-dependent group. The results revealed that the tracking differences between the two groups of participants were influenced by task difficulty. In addition, participants’ tracking accuracy significantly decreased along with increases in the number of targets and the abrupt rotation of the reference frame. We speculate that the increased cognitive load and discontinuous scene made it more difficult for participants to track the targets, which contributed to the significant decline of tracking accuracy. In general, by using the MOT task and changing the motion reference frame, we explored the different performances of field dependent-independent individuals in the classic MOT task and an MOT task with a changing reference frame. This study offers an explanation for the different characteristic of field dependent- independent cognitive style from the perspective of multiple object tracking. In addition, changing the MOT to include rotation of the reference frame allows us to study tracking in a situation that is similar to shifts of perspective in the real world, which provides some evidence for how people deploy attention while processing in dynamic scenes. Related Articles | Metrics

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Memory encoding, retention and retrieval of disgusting and fearful faces ZHANG Dandan, LIN Yiqin, LIU Yunzhe, LUO Yuejia, JIANG Donghong 2019, 51 (1):  36-47.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2019.00036 Abstract ( 6478 )   PDF (1083KB) ( 393 )   Emotional memory enhancement effect has been verified in various memory studies using negative material. So far as we know, four studies demonstrated that disgusting stimuli are associated with a higher recognition accuracy in memory task, compared to fearful stimuli. However, the underlying neutral mechanism is still unclear. Since emotional arousal and valence are two important factors showing emotional memory enhancement effect, they should be counterbalanced between disgusting and fearful material when the latter two emotions are compared in memory. The current study used event-related potential (ERP) to investigate different effect of disgust and fear on memory encoding, retention and retrieval. In particular, the following ERP components were examined: the P1, N170 and P3 both during memory encoding and retrieval, and the negative-going slow wave (NSW) during memory retention. A total of 60 healthy adults were recruited to participate a delayed recognition task, among whom ERP data were collected from 30 participants. It is found that the recognition performance was better for disgusting faces than fearful faces. During memory encoding, fearful faces evoked larger P1 amplitudes while disgusting faces evoked smaller P1 amplitudes, both compared to neutral faces. Similar ERP pattern was found in N170, i.e., fearful faces evoked larger N170 while disgusting faces evoked smaller (but not significant) N170. In contrast, the P3 component during encoding showed largest amplitudes in disgusting condition. During memory retention, the NSW was the largest for disgusting faces, smaller for fearful faces, and the smallest for neutral faces. During memory retrieval, the P1 pattern was the same as during encoding period. However, the N170 showed comparable amplitudes for fearful and disgusting faces, while the N170 evoked by neutral faces was the smallest. More importantly, the P3 was larger in the disgusting condition than in the fearful condition. In addition to emotion effect, this study also found the effect of memory load. High memory load resulted in lower recognition accuracy, longer response time, smaller P3 (both during encoding and retrieval) and N170 (during encoding), as well as larger N170 (during retrieval) and NSW (during retention), as compared to low memory load. Furthermore, the emotion effect on recognition accuracy, the P1, N170 and P3 during encoding was enlarged at high memory load. This study demonstrated that three mechanisms may contribute to the enhanced memory for disgusting than fearful stimuli. The first is that increased attention is allocated by top-down control system to elaborately evaluate disgusting stimuli at the stage of memory encoding (reflected by encoding P3). The second is that extra cognitive resources are employed for disgusting stimuli during memory rehearsal and retention (reflected by retention NSW). The third is that increased effort is made to retrieve the memory regarding disgust (reflected by retrieval P3). The current finding could help to further understand the cognitive mechanism underlying emotional memory enhancement effect. Related Articles | Metrics

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Reward improves cognitive control by enhancing signal monitoring WANG Yanqing, CHEN Antao, HU Xueping, YIN Shouhang 2019, 51 (1):  48-57.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2019.00048 Abstract ( 2398 )   PDF (530KB) ( 167 )   Cognitive control refers to two critical processes: signal monitoring and inhibitory control. Before executing inhibitory control, the individual first monitors the signal of conflict or warning. However, whether the reward influences signal monitoring or inhibitory control remains poorly understood. In addition, some literature employed pretask reward cueing to study the effect of reward, but the role of pretask reward cueing on cognitive control was influenced by response strategies rather than stimulus processing. To address the above issues, the present study designed three novel variants of the classical stop signal task that combined the reward with certain stimuli or stimulus features and held stimulus-processing demands constant while varying attention demands. For experiment 1, participants tried to cancel responses on trials that were interrupted by the infrequent triangle but not to slow the initiation of the response. The results indicated that the SSRTs could be further accelerated if successful response inhibition were rewarded. Experiment 2 involved separation of signal monitoring from the stop signal task. Participants responded by pressing the left or right button when the trials were interrupted by the infrequent triangle. The results showed that participants could monitor a signal faster when the signal was associated with reward and conflicted with current behavior tendencies. Accordingly, we considered that the individual could more quickly activate behavior in correspondence with the signal and control the conflict because the signal monitoring was enhanced by reward, which indicated that the process needs more attention. Experiment 3 is the same as the second experiment, except that when trials were interrupted by an inverse triangle, participants made a dual button press. We found that the reaction time of the reward-related signal was shorter than that of the reward-unrelated signal in Go trials, even though the processing of the stop signal depletes the attention resource. These findings indicate that the reward-related signal captures more attention and enhances signal monitoring. In summary, these findings show that the reward-related signal captures more attention than bias for the enhancement of signal monitoring, thereby leading to more efficient stimulus processing and improving cognitive control. Related Articles | Metrics

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Future thinking in non-clinical depression: the relevance of personal goals HU Zhiguo, CHEN Jing, WU Huijun, Georg Northoff 2019, 51 (1):  58-70.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2019.00058 Abstract ( 2593 )   PDF (659KB) ( 213 )   Future thinking is an important process to psychologically simulate one’s perception of their future. It plays a crucial role in the recovery, persistence and recurrence of depression. Many studies have examined future thinking in depression and found that future thinking is disrupted in depression and is mainly manifested as weakened positive expectations and increased negative expectations for the future. However, the results of the existing studies have not been consistent, which may be due to the fact that ‘self’ in the future events have not been considered in previous research. In the present study, two experiments were conducted to investigate whether the abnormalities of future thinking in non-clinical depression can be modulated by the self in relation to the relevance of personal goals. For this purpose, the present study focused on comparing four different kinds of future events: future positive events either related or unrelated to personal goals, and future negative events either related or unrelated to personal goals. In Experiment 1, the future thinking task (FTT) was utilized; 23 non-clinical depressive subjects (whose BDI score was higher than or equal to 14) and 25 non-depressive subjects (whose BDI score was not higher than 4) were enrolled. The subjects were required to think about positive and negative future events that could happen to them in the next ten years, either related to or unrelated to their personal goals. After the FTT task, the subjects were asked to evaluate the likelihood that the events would occur to them in the future based on a 50-point Likert scale (1: not at all likely to occur, 50: extremely likely to occur). In Experiment 2, the likelihood estimation measure (LEM) paradigm was used, in which the four types of events were produced according to the interview with the participants before the formal experiment, and the subjects were instructed to evaluate the likelihood that the given events would occur to them in the future based on a 50-point Likert scale as in Experiment 1. Results of Experiment 1: The results of Experiment 1 showed that the depressive group imagined fewer positive events related to personal goals compared with the non-depressive group. In contrast, there were no significant differences between the two groups in the imagination of the other three types of events. Additionally, the depressive group (in contrast to the non-depressive group) considered that the positive events related to personal goals were less likely to happen to them, whereas negative events related to personal events were more likely to happen to them. This difference was restricted to events related to personal goals, as we did not observe a significant difference between the two groups in evaluating the likelihood of positive and negative events that were unrelated to personal goals. Results of Experiment 2: The results of Experiment 2 showed that the depressive group (in contrast to the non-depressive group) perceived the personal goal-related positive events to be less likely to occur to them. When assessing the likelihood of the negative events presented, the depression group (as opposed to the non-depression group) considered these events to be more likely to happen to them, whether the events were related to the personal goals or not. Taken together, the results of the current study demonstrated that (1) the abnormality in future thinking of positive events in non-clinical depressive individuals appears to be modulated by the relevance of the personal goals, and (2) the non-clinical depressive individuals showed an abnormal increased in future expectancy of negative events, regardless of whether personal goals were involved. In conclusion, our data demonstrate a deficit in the future thinking of positive events specifically related to personal goals in non-clinical depression. Our study thus shows that the relevance of personal goals is an important factor when investigating future thinking in depression. Related Articles | Metrics

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Effects of facial attractiveness and information accuracy on preschoolers’ selective trust TANG Weihai, ZHONG Rubo, XU Xiaoxu, LIU Xiping 2019, 51 (1):  71-84.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2019.00071 Abstract ( 3883 )   PDF (838KB) ( 223 )   The research area on children’s selective trust in testimony was initiated by Harris et al. (2014). Previous studies had found that knowledge, as a trustworthy source, is conditional. In addition, the certainty of new information that is decided by the knowledge cues can influence children’s selective trust. Bascandziev and Harris (2014) found that four- to five-year-old boys in an ask task did not show biased selective trust to an informant with a high facial attractiveness when they were learning new information. However, the difference in facial attractiveness was possibly not detected by the children and the children’s age was not controlled. Therefore, the aim of Experiment 1 was to find the characteristics of selective trust on the basis of facial attractiveness when children acquire new information. The goal of Experiment 2 was to examine whether information accuracy or facial attractiveness is the main factor influencing children’s selective trust. Experiment 1 adopted a 3 (age group: four-, five-, six-year-old children) × 2 (gender: male, female) × 2 (task: ask, endorse) mixed design. A total of 63 four-year-old children (Mage = 54.72 months, SD = 2.06 months, 30 girls) and 66 five-year-old children (Mage = 66.00 months, SD = 1.47 months, 33 girls) were selected from two kindergartens in Tianjin. In addition, 66 six-year-old children (Mage = 78.12 months, SD = 1.80 months, 30 girls) were selected from an elementary school in the same city. Experiment 2 adopted a 2 (accuracy of information: 50% vs. 50%, 25% vs. 75%) × 3 (age group: four-, five-, six-year-old children) between-subject design. A total of 62 four-year-old children (Mage = 54.72 months, SD = 3.17 months, 28 girls) and 59 five-year-old children (Mage = 66.48 months, SD = 3.59 months, 27 girls) were selected from two kindergartens in Tianjin. Moreover, 56 six-year-old children (Mage = 78.12 months, SD = 1.80 months, 27 girls) were selected from an elementary school in the same city. All children in the two experiments participated in ask and endorse tasks using a laptop computer to selectively trust one of two informants with different levels of facial attractiveness. The results of Experiment 1 revealed that four- to six-year-old girls and boys show selective trust to informants with high facial attractiveness in the ask and endorse tasks. Moreover, five-year-old children have stronger degree of selective trust to informants with high facial attractiveness than four-year-old children. No difference was found between five- and six-year-old children and between four- and five-year-old children. Girls were stronger than boys in the ask task, no difference between was found between them in the endorse task. The results of Experiment 2 revealed that four- to six-year-old children in equal- and unequal-accuracy conditions show selective trust to informants with high facial attractiveness when they completed ask task. Moreover, no difference was found among the three age groups on the degree of selective trust to informants with high facial attractiveness. However, when they completed the endorse task, children in the equal-accuracy condition did not show any preference to informants with high or low facial attractiveness. By contrast, children in the unequal-accuracy condition tended to selectively trust informants who had low facial attractiveness but mentioned more accurate names. However, no difference was found among the three age groups on the degree of selective trust to informants with low facial attractiveness. On the basis of these results, this study proposes the following: (1) Girls and boys aged four-six years show selective trust on the basis of facial attractiveness if the information is deficient. Moreover, girls aged four to six years are more venerable to social bias factors than boys of the same age range. (2) Four- to six-year-old children can make rational judgments on the reliability of the information provided by informants if the information is sufficient. Related Articles | Metrics

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The predictive effects of maternal life event stress in early childhood on 5-year-old child behavioral problems: A chained mediation model HAO Yefang,WANG Zhengyan,DONG Shuyang,LIU Siman,WU Meng,LU Shan 2019, 51 (1):  85-95.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2019.00085 Abstract ( 4141 )   As the primary caregiver, mothers have the most frequent interactions with children and display the most significant influence on children’s development. If mothers experience intense life event stress, they may create a stressful environment for their children’s early development. Living in such a developmental environment raises children’s risk of behavior problems in later childhood. Regarding the predictive effects of maternal stress on child outcomes, two compensatory models are differentiated in previous research: one is the direct effect model, which emphasizes on the direct impact of parenting stress on children’s maladjustment; and the other one is the indirect effect model, which focuses on the mediating roles of parenting practices and child self-regulation in the associations between parenting stress and child behavioral problems. However, in contemporary Chinese society, urban mothers face different sources of stress in their daily life. Maternal life event stress represents a more comprehensive and ecologically-validated assessment of maternal stress in the modern China, than maternal parenting stress assessed solely. But it is still unclear that whether those models about parenting stress are applicable to maternal life event stress. Based on Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory, we focused on the direct and indirect effects of maternal life event stress throughout infancy and toddlerhood on child behavioral problems at preschool in this longitudinal study. Three research questions were examined: 1) Which life events are the main stressors for urban mothers during their children’s infancy and toddlerhood periods; 2) Does maternal life event stress in these periods exert a long-term direct effect on preschoolers’ behavioral problems; 3) Does maternal life event stress also impact preschoolers’ behavioral problems through parenting practices and children’s self-regulation? 107 families (50 boys and 57 girls) were recruited from the local communities and child care clinics in urban areas of Beijing. During this five-year longitudinal study, questionnaires were distributed to the mothers at five waves of assessments. At 9, 14, 25, and 38 months, data on maternal life event stress were collected through maternal reports on the Life Event Scale. When children were 61 months, mothers rated children’s behavioral problems and prosocial behaviors by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and child effortful control by the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire-Short Form, and reported their positive parenting practices on the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. The results showed that the most frequent negative life events included housing shortage, stress from work and studying, family members being seriously ill or injured, problems with spouse's parents, difficulty with caring for the child, and low quality in marital relationship. Although the correlation coefficients between the maternal life event stress at the adjacent time points were moderate, the top ranked stressor varied slightly when children were at the different ages. At 9 months, housing shortage ranked the highest, whereas at 3 years old, difficulty with caring for the child ranked the highest, and the stress from low quality in marital relationship rose up. Furthermore, structural equation models showed that maternal life event stress across 9 to 38 months impacted children’s behavioral problems at 61 months in two ways. First, there were direct effects of maternal life event stress on preschoolers’ emotional symptoms and conduct problems. Second, the indirect effects included that the indirect effect of maternal life event stress on preschoolers’ emotional symptoms and peer problems through maternal positive parenting practices, and the chained mediating effect through maternal positive parenting practices and then child effortful control between maternal life event stress and preschoolers’ hyperactivity problems and prosocial behaviors. This study indicated two underlying mechanisms of maternal life event stress throughout early development on preschoolers’ behavior problems, including the direct influence and indirect influence through positive parenting practices and child effortful control. These findings suggested that children’s development was impeded in an early developmental environment where mothers were suffering from the stresses of intense negative life events, particularly for children’s emotional regulation and behavioral conduct. Besides, the alternative indirect mechanism has also been found that positive parenting practices and child effortful control were disrupted by maternal life event stress, which, in turn, increased children’s risks of attentional deficit symptoms and antisocial behaviors. The current study, thus, provided the empirical support for the non-negligible harm to children’s adjustment from maternal life event stress in early childhood. Overall, maternal life event stress might increase the risk of behavior problems. This alerts us that it is necessary to identify the high-risk families in the community samples and conduct effective intervention as early as possible. Related Articles | Metrics

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Enjoy the present or wait for the future? Effects of individuals’ view of time on intertemporal choice XU Lan,CHEN Quan,CUI Nan,LU Kaili 2019, 51 (1):  96-105.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2019.00096 Abstract ( 6027 )   Intertemporal choice refers to decisions involving tradeoffs among costs and benefits at different time points. Most research on intertemporal choice has explored the influence of choice attributes. The existing literature has also discussed the relationship between individuals’ subjective time conception and their intertemporal choice, especially from the perspective of individuals’ characteristics and internal states. However, few research has investigated the same relationship from the perspective of the general view of time among individuals. Individuals’ view of time can be classified into two types, namely, linear and circular views of time. We posit that views of time relate to individuals’ perception of change in their surrounding environment. Such views may affect individuals’ time perception and hence their intertemporal decision making. Three studies confirm our hypotheses. Hypothesis 1 states that people with a circular view of time, relative to those with a linear view of time, prefer the larger but later (LL) option in an intertemporal choice. Study 1 tested this main effect between the view of time and intertemporal decision making. The results of Study 1 confirmed Hypothesis 1. Hypothesis 2 states that participants with a linear view of time, relative to those with a circular view of time, perceive a longer time delay in the LL option in an intertemporal choice; thus, they prefer the smaller but sooner option. Hypothesis 2 also states that time perception of delay in the LL option mediates the effect of individuals’ view of time on intertemporal choice. Study 2 tested the mediating effect of time perception in intertemporal decision making. Sixty-four participants were randomly assigned to one group with a linear view of time and another group with a circular view of time. All participants were presented with the same task and asked to finish the corresponding computerized questionnaires. The results of Study 2 supported Hypotheses 1 and 2. The ANOVA results indicated that the participants with a linear view of time perceived a long time delay and thus preferred the SS option in intertemporal decision making. Bootstrap mediating analysis indicated that time perception of delay mediated the influence of the participants’ view of time on intertemporal choice. Hypothesis 3 posits that the presence or absence of a time marker moderates the effect proposed in Hypothesis 1. Study 3 was performed to test Hypothesis 3. A total of 122 participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups in a two (view of time: linear versus circular) by two (time marker: with marker versus without marker) between-subject experimental design. The participants were then asked to finish the corresponding experimental task. The ANOVA result revealed that the interaction term between view of time and time marker was significant. In the absence of a time marker, view of time significantly influenced the participants’ time conception. Such effect diminished with the availability of specific time markers. These findings supported Hypothesis 3. This research confirmed the differences between linear and circular views of time in the midst of an intertemporal choice. Results revealed that people with a circular view of time, relative to those with a linear view of time, prefer the LL option in an intertemporal choice. The effect of such preference is mediated by time conception and is significant when specific time markers are absent. Related Articles | Metrics

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The influence of embodied implicit power on fair decision making LI Xiao-dan,DING Dao-qun,YE Hao-sheng 2019, 51 (1):  106-116.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2019.00106 Abstract ( 3294 )   An expansive posture is known to make an individual display more implicit power than a contracted posture. Moreover, the priming effect of an expansive body posture is cross-cultural. The perception of power triggered by an expansive body posture is considered to be implicit. Subjective scoring has been used in most previous studies of power posing. Several kinds of measurements have been used in behavioral research to assess the perception of power. These include ratings of subjective power, power-related word-completion tasks, scenarios about power-related behaviors such as talking first in a debate. Also, power activated by expansive postures is known to have a stronger effect than recalling power-related experiences. However, there is a paucity of evidence on embodied power and fair decision making in previous research on risky decisions for detecting the influence of embodied effect. The ultimatum game and the impunity game can be used to explore how embodied power impact fair decisions without risk factors. These games were used in the current study to examine whether the metaphorical coupling of body posture and power, affected an individual's fair decisions. In Experiment 1, the influence of body posture on the proposer of an impunity game was examined. We instructed participants to keep an expansive or a contracted posture in two blocks as a proposer in which they were told that the game role was chosen by themselves. Participants’ (N = 40) allocation of 30 RMB was analyzed in Experiment 1. Experiment 2 manipulated participants’ postures and fairness of offers in the ultimatum game. The manipulation of posture and the experimental situation in Experiment 2 and Experiment 3 were identical to Experiment 1. Experiment 3 manipulated participants’ postures and fairness of offers in the impunity game. The number of valid participants’ rejection rates in Experiment 2 and Experiment 3 were 45 and 40. The three experiments controlled for the risk factor, and the mood between blocks, as well as other confounding factors. The results of Experiment 1 showed that participants in expansive posture condition allocated more money for themselves than in the contract posture condition. The results of Experiment 2 indicated that the rejection rate for unfair distribution and the rejection rate for unfair offers were higher in the expansive posture condition than in the contracted posture condition in Experiment 3. This suggests that implicit power initiated by the expansive posture affected the rejection rate of unfair offers even if the participants could not punish the proposer. Merging data of Experiment 2 and Experiment 3 indicated that the game condition had a significant main effect on the rejection rate with the rejection rate in the impunity game being higher than in the ultimatum game. These results indicate that the implicit power initiated by an expansive posture makes individuals conduct more advantages and unfair distributions in the impunity game and more rejection of unfair offers in the ultimatum game than in the contracted posture condition. Simultaneously, the implicit power triggered by the expansive posture strengthened the responders’ aversion to unfair distributions and caused aversion for the profit motive, and thereby improved the rejection rate of unfair distribution of responders in the impunity game. Related Articles | Metrics

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Authoritarian-benevolent leadership, active implementation and job performance: An investigation on the effectiveness of ambidextrous leadership in the Chinese context HOU Nan, PENG Jian 2019, 51 (1):  117-127.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2019.00117 Abstract ( 2937 )   Ambidextrous leadership is key to solving organizational tension and complex problems. This type of leadership has gained attention in the field of organizational behavior in recent years. Ambidextrous leadership refers to a set of two complementary leadership behaviors and the flexibility switch between two different behaviors. Existing studies noted the extensive benefits of ambidextrous leadership to employees and organizations. These advantages include enhancement of the psychological empowerment of employees, exploratory and exploitative behaviors, innovation, and organizational change. Prior studies focused on ambidextrous leadership from the Western context. These studies include opening-closing leadership and transformational-transactional leadership. However, the consequences of indigenous ambidextrous leadership in the Chinese context remain poorly understood. A particular ambidextrous leadership embedded in Chinese culture was identified, namely, authoritarian-benevolent leadership. The present study focuses on the combination of authoritarian and benevolent leadership, which is regarded as a type of indigenous ambidextrous leadership. The researchers aimed to investigate the effect of different combination modes of benevolent and authoritarian leadership on the work outcome of subordinates and its underlying mechanism. The researchers identified four scenarios by combining the two kinds of leadership, namely, high authority-high benevolence, low authority-low benevolence, high authority-low benevolence, low authority-high benevolence. This approach was based on the level of authoritarian and benevolent leadership. The former two forms of leadership fall under the congruence category, whereas the latter two fall under the incongruence category. By drawing on followership theory, the researchers expected that the active implementation of subordinates was high when leaders were at a high level of authoritarian leadership and benevolent leadership than when at a low level of authoritarian leadership and benevolent leadership. The researchers also found that the active implementation of subordinates was high when the benevolent leadership of leaders exceeded authoritarian leadership rather than when authoritarian leadership exceeded benevolent leadership. Third, the active implementation of subordinates carried the joint effect of benevolent and authority leadership to the job performance of followers. A multiwave, multiresource survey was used to test the hypotheses. Surveys were given to 204 voluntary subordinates at Time 1. They were required to report their leaders’ benevolent leadership and authoritarian leadership and demographic information. The researchers obtained 183 effective survey responses. After one month, the researchers conducted Time 2 survey, which required leaders to rate the job performance of their subordinates. The subordinates were then required to rate their active implementation. A total of 130 effective survey responses were obtained. The researchers used polynomial regression combined with response surface analysis based on the two-wave data. The results supported the hypotheses. The findings offered several contributions to literature. First, different combination modes of benevolent and authoritarian leadership have different effects on the work outcome of subordinates. Second, the researchers uncovered the dynamics between authoritarian-benevolent leadership and work outcome of subordinates. These findings can aid Chinese scholars to gain an improved understanding of indigenous ambidextrous leadership. These findings advance the understanding on how authoritarian leadership combined with benevolent leadership affects the performance of followers. The findings also provide further practical insights to practitioners. Related Articles | Metrics

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Hostile retaliation or identity motivation? The mechanisms of how newcomers’ role organizational socialization affects their workplace ostracism WANG Haibo,YAN Ming,WU Haibo,LI Jinrong,WANG Xiaohui 2019, 51 (1):  128-140.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2019.00128 Abstract ( 2664 )   The term "workplace ostracism" refers to the acts of ignoring or excluding others in a workplace. Most previous studies on workplace ostracism are based on the revenge perspective, arguing that revenge cognition triggered by interpersonal conflict is the main motivation of workplace ostracism. However, this logic may not be applied to the newcomers. This is because they are part of the relatively disadvantaged groups in the organization and are eager to involve themselves to the new settings rather than engage in interpersonal conflicts that can worsen their situation. Drawing on identity theory, we attempt to explore the mechanisms by which newcomers’ role organizational socialization contributes to their workplace ostracism. Specifically, our model integrates both mediating and moderating mechanisms into a single model, thus providing an explanation of how newcomers’ role organizational socialization affects their workplace ostracism through the mediating and moderating roles of work alienation and insiders’ developmental feedback, respectively. To test the hypotheses in our model, we conducted a survey on 249 employee-supervisor dyads from four companies in Guangdong Province, China. The survey was conducted in three waves. In the first wave, newcomer participants were asked to complete a questionnaire, including demographic information (gender, age, tenure, education), role organizational socialization, and interpersonal conflict. In the second wave, newcomer participants reported their work alienation, revenge cognition, and developmental feedback. In the third wave, their leaders were required to rate the newcomers’ workplace ostracism. We examined our hypotheses with MPLUS 6.12 and SPSS 22.0. Empirical results showed that the role identity mechanism can significantly explain newcomers’ workplace ostracism after controlling the traditional conflict-retaliation mechanism. Specifically, we found support for our arguments as follows: 1) newcomers’ role organizational socialization is negatively related to their workplace ostracism, 2) newcomers’ work alienation serves as a mediator in the relation between their role organizational socialization and workplace ostracism, and 3) developmental feedback moderates the relationship between newcomers’ role organizational socialization and work alienation. Specifically, the negative relation between newcomers’ role organizational socialization and work alienation is stronger when the level of developmental feedback they received is low. Furthermore, 4) developmental feedback moderates the negative and indirect effect of newcomers’ role organizational socialization on their workplace ostracism. Specifically, work alienation mediates the negative effect when developmental feedback is low, but not when it is high. This study contributes to the theoretical and empirical literature in the following ways. First, we extend previous studies on workplace ostracism by demonstrating that newcomers and experienced employees can have different reasons for their workplace ostracism. The verification of the role identity mechanism for newcomers’ workplace ostracism significantly extends our understanding of the unique features of their behaviors during the organizational socialization period. Second, our findings deepen our understanding of the role identity mechanism by examining the mediating role of work alienation and the moderating effect of developmental feedback under a general theoretical framework. Finally, our work uses identity theory to build a comprehensive frame work for understanding the antecedents of workplace ostracism, thus providing a uniquely generative frame work for future research. Related Articles | Metrics