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CN 11-1911/B

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    25 October 2012, Volume 44 Issue 10 Previous Issue    Next Issue

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    Pronoun Processing during Language Comprehension:The Effects of Distance and Gender Stereotype
    QIU Li-Jing;WANG Sui-Ping;CHEN Hsuan-Chih
    2012, 44 (10):  1279-1288.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2012.01279
    Abstract ( 1407 )  
    To establish a coherent representation of a text, what is being read must be in line with previous information in the text. Personal pronouns are among the most important devices to establish coherence between linguistic expressions. Previous studies have shown that world knowledge about gender stereotype plays an important role in pronoun resolution. In other words, comprehension processes will be interrupted when a pronoun mismatches the gender stereotype of its antecedent. However, it is still controversial about the time course of the influence of gender stereotype on pronoun resolution. For example, in some eye movement studies, the gender mismatch effect on reading appeared relatively earlier, while in other studies this effect emerged relatively late. It has been suggested that, among different studies, discrepancies in the distance between a pronoun and its antecedent might be a contributing factor to the controversy. The main purpose of the current study was to examine whether the effect of gender stereotype on pronoun comprehension could be modulated by the distance between the two critical words. In the experiment, 29 Chinese participants were asked to read 160 short passages, during which their eye movements were recorded. Each of these contained a personal pronoun congruent or incongruent with the gender stereotype of its antecedent, while the distance between the two critical words was manipulated to be either short or long. The results revealed that reading times increased when the gender of the pronoun mismatched with the gender stereotype of its antecedent. Interestingly, the location of the mismatching effect varied with the distance between critical words. Specifically, in the short distance condition the mismatch effect was observed on first fixation duration and the second second-pass reading times at the critical pronoun region, whereas in the long distance condition the effect appeared in the second-pass reading times at the region after the pronoun. In addition, the first fixation duration and the gaze durations of congruent sentences were significantly longer at the region following the pronoun in the short distance condition relative to the long one. In sum, our results clearly suggested that both gender stereotype and the distance between a pronoun and its antecedent can affect the comprehension of Chinese pronouns. These findings provide evidence for the interactive model of sentence comprehension.
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    Effect of Item-specific Processing and Relational Processing on Cross - Language False Memory among Less Proficient Chinese - English Bilinguals
    MAO Wei-Bin;WANG Song;KANG Li-Li
    2012, 44 (10):  1289-1296.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2012.01289
    Abstract ( 1014 )  
    In recent years, there has been an explosion of research on false memory with Deese–Roediger-McDermott paradigm (DRM). But few of these studies have involved bilingual participants and cross-linguistic effects in false memory. Furthermore, there were some mixed results between Sahlin, Harding & Seamon’s (2005) and Marmolejo, Diliberto-Macaluso & Altarriba’s (2009). In the present experiments, we used 16 DRM lists (8 English and 8 Chinese lists) as study materials and manipulated the DRM list lengths (7 item-list and 15 item-list)to explore the effect of different activation strength in encoding phase on cross-language false memory among less proficient Chinese - English bilinguals. 2 experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of item-specific processing and relational processing on cross-language false memory: Experiment1 studied cross-language false memory under item-specific processing condition, namely the participants were instructed to recognize an item as the old item according to both the meaning and language of the item ; a 2× 2 × 3mixed design was used, with two within-subject variables (language congruence: the same languages, the different languages; list type: studied words, critical lures, unrelated words), one between-subject variable (list length:15item- list,7item- list). Experiment 2 studied cross-language false memory under relational processing condition, study materials and experiment procedure in Experiment 2 were same as that in experiment 1, the only difference was to emphasize the relational processing in experiment 2, namely the participants were asked to judge an item as the old item only according to the meaning regardless of its language. Results of 2 experiments indicated that: 1)cross linguistic false recognition also existed among less proficient Chinese-English bilinguals; 2) In item-specific processing condition, false recognition of critical lures was more higher in the same languages than different languages regardless of the list length. In relational processing condition, false recognition of critical lures was more higher in the different languages than the same language regardless of the list length; 3) only in item-specific processing condition, false recognition of critical lures was more frequent in long list than that in short list, regardless of whether is the same language or different languages. The outcome of 2 experiments is accordance to activation/ monitoring theory.
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    Numerosity Adaptation Effect on the Basis of Perceived Numerosity
    LIU Wei,ZHANG Zhi-Jun,ZHAO Ya-Jun
    2012, 44 (10):  1297-1308.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2012.01297
    Abstract ( 2072 )  
    Number sense means our ability to quickly understand, approximate, and manipulate numerical quantities. The adaptation effect of numerosity refers to the adaptation to the number of stimuli, with an aftereffect that can be revealed by the changes of perceived numerosity in the following numerosity judging tasks, in which numerosity adaptation effects can be quantified by asking subjects whether a test stimulus presented to the adapted region appears more or less numerous than a probe stimulus presented to the un-adapted area. The current debate of numerosity adaptation effect focuses on whether it is really driven from the numerosity of stimuli, or resulted from processing of surface information. In order to testify the independence of the numerosity adaptation effect from texture information, previous studies have concentrated on the influence of related spatial variables, such as dot density. In those experiments, different non-numerical surface characteristics were manipulated, while the perception of numerosity was not taken into consideration, in spite of its important links with surface characteristics of stimuli and adaptation respectively. So, the relationship among numerosity adaptation, numerosity perception and surface characteristics of stimuli was examined in our study. By changing the size of dots or grouping them into chunks, we investigated the influence of surface information on numerosity perception and adaptation. In experiment 1, two stimuli (dot sets) were presented horizontally and simultaneously, and they consisted of dots with different sizes (0.16°×0.16°as the small dimension, 0.16°×0.16°as the large dimension). Participants were asked to compare the numerosity of dots within the two stimuli. The result suggested no size-related influence in the numerosity judgment. In experiment 2, the 405-dot-stimuli were subjectively grouped into 45 chunks according to the spatial distribution and grayness information, each of which was composed of 9 dots. Participants were asked to estimate the numerosity of either chunks or total dots, and the estimation of 45 or 405 discrete dots were set as control. Subjects apparently underestimated the number of total dots, compared to the control condition. In experiment 3, one the hand, we found that the size of dots had no significant influence on numerosity adaptation, as long as the perception of their numerosity was unchanging, despite their apparent differences in surface characteristics. On the other hand, perceptual grouping of dots had a significant effect on numerosity adaptation, and a changed adaptation effect based on the changed perception of numerosity was observed under that condition. In conclusion, the present study provides evidence that adaptation of numerosity is based on perceived numerosity. Surface information does not affect the numerosity adaptation effect unless it affects the perception of numerosity as well. Humans correctly judge the number of dots with different sizes. Grouping has an effect on perceived numerosity, that is, there is a significant underestimation of total number of dots when they can be grouped into chunks. The numerosity adaptation effect keeps constant as long as the varied texture characters had no effect on the perception of numerosity. Otherwise, it will be apparently affected when the perceived numerosity is interfered with the changing of texture. Therefore, number adaptation effect is an adaptation based on perceived numerosity, rather than a co-product driven from the processing of surrogate surface features.
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    The Influence of Body Form and Social Environment on the SNARC Effect: Based on the Embodied Cognition
    ZHANG Li;CHEN Xue-Mei;WANG Qi;LI Hong
    2012, 44 (10):  1309-1317.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2012.01309
    Abstract ( 1031 )  
    When participants are asked to judge the parity of presented digits, smaller numbers are associated with faster left-hand responses, and larger numbers with faster right-hand responses. This association of numbers with space is called as the Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (the SNARC effect). The effect has been examined and confirmed in an ever growing literature in cognitive psychology. Some researchers argue that the origin of SNARC can be attributed to the existence of a left-to-right oriented “mental number line”. Some others favor that a dual-route cognitive model can account for the SNARC effect. Both accounts above focus on the cognitive processing of the SNARC effect. However, few studies have investigated the impact of body form and social environment on the SNARC effect. In this study, the SNARC effect was further explored from the perspective of Embodied Cognition. According to Embodied Cognition, the mind, brain, body and environment are organized into an integrative system because the brain is embedded in the body and the body is embedded in the environment. Therefore, the states of body and its environment play a great role in cognitive processes. With 127 college students and three experimental tasks including a parity decision task, a Go/No-go task and a joint Go/No-go task, the present study aimed to explore the impact of body form and social environment on the SNARC effect. Participants were asked to respond to both even and odd numbers in Experiment 1, which served as a baseline for the following experiments. Consistent with previous studies, the SNARC effect was observed in this experiment. In Experiment 2, subjects were administered the Go/No-go task and required to respond to only one mode of parity with only one response key. It was found that the SNARC effect disappeared. We speculated that the disappearance of the SNARC effect could be due to that a point of body instead of a line was represented. It seemed that the physical form could affect the SNARC effect. In Experiment 3, two participants performed complementary actions, termed the joint Go/No-go task, with one responding to odd and the other to even. According to the consistency between sitting sides and hands, four conditions were designed. In the condition 1, the sitting sides and hands were completely consistent: The persons on the left responded with their left hands while those on the right responded with their right hands. In the condition 2, the sitting sides and hands were completely opposite: The left participants responded with their right hands while the right ones responded with their left hands. In the condition 3 and 4, the sitting sides and hands were partly consistent. Specifically, both left and right participants responded with their left hands in the condition 3 while both left and right participants responded with their right hands in the condition 4. Interestingly, the SNARC effect appeared only in the condition 1, which might be attributed to the role of human mirror neuron that could map the observation of external action on internal motor representation. In the joint Go/No-go task, actions of one person as well as actions of his/her cooperator were likely to be represented in the person, leading to the appearance of the SNARC effect. However, the SNARC effect did not appear in the other three conditions, suggesting that the effect only appeared when the sitting side was consistent with the hand. The results of Experiment 3 indicated that the SNARC effect could be affected by social environment and physical form.
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    Role of Hippocampal 5-HT1A Receptor and Its Modulation to NMDA Receptor and AMPA Receptor in Depression Induced by Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress
    WEN Li-Min;AN Shu-Cheng;LIU Hui
    2012, 44 (10):  1318-1328.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2012.01318
    Abstract ( 914 )  
    Stressors markedly influence central neurochemical and hormonal processes and thus play a pivotal role in the occurrence of depressive illnesses. As the center for stress response and the potential target for stressful provocation, the hippocampus is becoming a focus in depression research. Although a large number of behavioral paradigms have been proposed as animal models of depression, only a few are considered potentially useful research tools with sufficient validity. The most accepted one is the chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) rodent model, in which rats are chronically and unpredictably subjected to a variety of stressors including immersion in cold water, tail pinch, day and night reversal, and so on. There are several theoretical mechanisms for depression, such as the monoamine neurotransmitter imbalance theory and the neural plasticity theory, but none of them can fully elucidate the formation of depression. Due to the weak and irregular anti-depressant effects of monoamines, glutamate (Glu) and its receptors, especially N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptors and α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4- propionic acid (AMPA) receptors, have gained more attention in recent years. As an important isoform of the 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) receptor, the 1A receptor is highly expressed in the hippocampus. Numerous pharmacological and clinical studies show that the 1A receptor is correlated with the development and therapy of major depressive disorder, anxiety, and drug addiction. The present study investigates the expression and role of the 5-HT receptor 1A (5-HT1AR) and its relationship with NMDA and AMPA receptors in depression induced by CUMS. The CUMS induced depression model was done using Sprague-Dawley rats that were given intra-hippocampal microinjections of drugs. The location of injections was determined by rat brain stereotaxic coordinates. The behavioral observations were conducted by measurement of weight changes, sucrose preference test, open-field test, and tail suspension test. The expression of 5-HT1AR was detected by Western blot, and the expression and phosphorylation of the NMDA and AMPA receptor’s subunits were detected by Western blot and ELISA, respectively. The results showed that CUMS rats had depressive-like behavior, lower expression of 5-HT1AR, lower expression and phosphorylation of AMPA receptor subunits (GluR2/3), and higher expression and phosphorylation of NMDA receptor subunits (NR1and NR2B) in the hippocampus in comparison with the CON/SAL group. Microinjection of WAY100635 (an antagonist of 5-HT1AR) into the hippocampus of CON/SAL animals resulted in similar animal depressive-like behaviors, as well as similar expression levels and phosphorylation of NMDA and AMPA receptor subunits observed in CUMS/SAL animals. Pretreatment with microinjection of 8-OH-DPAT (an agonist of 5-HT1AR) could rescue CUMS-induced depressive behavior, decrease expression of AMPA receptor subunits (GluR2/3), and increase expression of NMDA receptor subunits (NR1 and NR2B) in the hippocampus. The results suggest that 5-HT may contribute to CUMS-induced depressive-like behaviors via 5-HT1AR, and the antidepressant effect of 5-HT1AR agonists may be mediated by NMDA and AMPA receptors.
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    The Genetic and Environmental Influence on Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: A Genetic Sensitive Study
    HOU Jin-Qin;CHEN Zhi-Yan;Li Xin-Ying;Yang Xiao-Dong;Zhang Jian-Xin
    2012, 44 (10):  1329-1338.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2012.01329
    Abstract ( 1832 )  
    Epidemiological and developmental studies showed that one of the obvious phenomena during adolescence is a marked increase in depressive symptoms. Behavioral genetic studies found that shared environmental influences account for the majority of the variance for children’s symptoms while genetic factors are substantial for adolescent depressive symptoms. However, whether the results of behavioral genetic studies from Western countries can be generalized to adolescents in China with a collectivism culture remains unexplored. First, prevalence of depression varies dramatically across cultures with a lower rate in China than in other countries. Second, factors that are associated with depressive symptoms and the extent to which these factors are consequential for adolescents’ mood are also different across cultures. Existing evidences showed that the quality of family relationships and grades in school had significantly stronger associations with depressive symptoms among Chinese youths than among U.S. youths. Third, genes that contribute to depressive symptoms have different frequencies in different races. Moreover, culture may moderate the expression of genes. Therefore, the first objective of the study was to examine the heritability of adolescent depressive symptoms for boys and girls in China, respectively. Results from the family study, the adoption study and the twin study suggest that adolescent depressive symptoms are heritable (range 15-80%). Moreover, empirical work showed that the relative contributions of genetic and environmental influences to depressive symptoms vary as a function of age. The second objective of the study was to extend previous ones by examining whether the heritability of depressive symptoms in early-adolescence was different from that in mid-adolescence. We hypothesized that the heritability of depressive symptoms in early adolescence was higher than that in middle adolescence according to the theory and empirical work. Depressive symptoms tend to persist over time and the stability is evident in general population samples. The third objective of the study was to examine the contributions of genetic and environmental factors to the stability of adolescent depressive symptoms in early and middle adolescence, respectively. We hypothesized that genetic factors accounted for the stability of depressive symptoms in early adolescence whereas shared environmental influence contributed to the stability of depressive symptoms in middle adolescence. Data for the current study were from the Beijing Twin Study (BeTwiSt). Given obtaining written informed consents from twins and their parents, arrangements were made for the twins to stay in their classrooms after school time. Research staffs were there to answer any questions that students might ask about the questionnaires. After the twins completed the questionnaires, they were asked to provide their saliva samples using the Oragene® DNA self-collection kit (Genotek Inc.). Zygosity was determined by DNA analyses (89.5%) and questionnaire (10.5%). In DNA analyses, nine short tandem repeat (STR) loci which are highly heterogeneous in Chinese population were used. Same-sex twins with at least one different genetic marker were classified as dizygotic twins, otherwise classified as monozygotic twins. 508 MZ, 176 DZ twins participated in the longitudinal study with the interval of 1.37 years (SD=0.44), and the percentage of male was 46.2%. CDI (Children’s Depression Inventory) was used to measure adolescent depressive symptoms and Mx software was used to conduct the unique genetic analyses and bivariate genetic analyses. No gender difference was found in the present study. Genetic factors accounted for more variance of adolescent depressive symptoms in early adolescence than in middle adolescence, and the magnitude of nonshared environmental influence increased with time. Genetic factors contributed to the stability of depressive symptoms in early adolescence whereas environmental influence contributed to the stability of depressive symptoms in middle adolescence.
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    Meditation Makes A Peaceful State of Mind: People’s Positive and Negative Emotional Response Can Be Reduced by Meditation Training
    REN Jun;HUANG Lu;ZHANG Zhen-Xin
    2012, 44 (10):  1339-1348.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2012.01339
    Abstract ( 2642 )  
    Previous studies have proved that meditation contributes to emotion regulation, but more researches are needed on if it works by making positive and negative emotion more positive, or making positive emotion more negative and negative emotion more positive. The present study was designed to explore the effects of meditation on evaluation of emotional pictures (from CAPS) and changes of brain alpha wave. 62 university students without any previous meditation experiences were selected in this study. A random 31 participants learned meditation (for 5 days, 20 minutes everyday), and the remaining participants had a usual rest with eyes closed in the same time. All participants were asked to evaluate emotional pictures before and after meditation\usual rest, as well as take alpha wave assessments. The scores of emotional pictures evaluation were recorded by E-prime, the dates of alpha wave were collected by the HXD-I brain electrical collector, and all of the dates were analyzed by SPSS 12.0. All participants rated emotional pictures (positive, neural and negative, 10 pieces for each kind) before the experiment, before the fifth meditation\usual rest, and after the fifth meditation\usual rest. (1) On the evaluation of positive and negative pictures, the result of variance analysis showed significant differences in meditation group, but no significant differences in control group. (2) From the dates before experiment to that after the fifth meditation\usual rest, the increment rest of two groups showed significant differences on negative pictures, but no significant differences on positive and neural pictures. The experiment collected the participants’ alpha wave at times before, in the process of, and after the fifth meditation\usual rest. The result of variance analysis showed that there were significant differences of alpha wave in meditation group, but no significant differences in control group. On the increment of alpha waves before and after the fifth meditation\usual rest, there were significant differences between two groups, which meant that the alpha waves increment of meditation group was higher than that of the control group. The experiment showed that, after 5 days’ meditation, participants in meditation group were more peaceful on emotional pictures evaluation compared to the ones in the control group who have a usual rest. Further analysis showed that meditation could reduce some negative content in people’s emotion cognition, and in the meanwhile reduce some positive content. The EEG data showed that the brain alpha wave increased significantly in meditation, and 5 minutes after a meditation exercise, the alpha wave could still keep on the increasing state.
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    The Chinese Indigenous Psychological Capital and Career Well-being
    WU Wei-Jiong;LIU Yi;LU Hong;XIE Xue-Xian
    2012, 44 (10):  1349-1370.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2012.01349
    Abstract ( 3480 )  
    The issue of career well-being has been widely concerned by scholars and managers. Previous studies clarify our understanding of career well-being by investigating the external factors such as income, job characteristics, stress, leaderships and so on. However, far too little attention has been paid to employees’ psychological resources. Psychological capital theory, which not only concerns about the organization's competitive advantage and employees’ performance but also emphasizes employees’ growth and development, and provides a fresh perspective on career well-being. Accumulating evidence suggests that employees’ psychological capital has positive impacts on good work attitudes and behaviors, well-being and performance. Some indigenous researches indicated that the indigenous psychological capital construct has two high-order factors, task-oriented psychological capital and guanxi-oriented psychological capital. It would be worthwhile to examine the eastern psychological capital theory in Chinese educational employee (i.e., teachers). Although there are a few empirical studies in China, those are mostly replications of western psychological capital structure. What is more, the mechanism between psychological capital and well-being is still mysterious. We need more indigenous studies to demonstrate the Chinese indigenous psychological capital and career well-being. The first purpose of this study is to develop a scale of indigenous psychological capital construct for Chinese educational employees. Several methods were taken to collect the measurement items of indigenous psychological capital scale, including observation, depth interview, literature review, and unstructured questionnaire survey. After that, we used item analysis, reliability analysis, factor analysis, and correlation analysis to test the reliability and validity of the developed scale. The results of 1566 Chinese teachers indicates that task-oriented psychological capital includes hope, optimism and resiliency, guanxi-oriented psychological capital consists of self-confidence/self-efficacy, emotion quotient/emotional intelligence, altruism, thanksgiving, and self-modesty. Indigenous psychological capital is significantly related with job performance, job satisfaction, occupational commitment and reward level. It also suggests that not only cultural differences, but also career differences should be taken into consideration when it comes to psychological capital measurement. A second purpose of this study is to model psychological capital effects on a full set of career well-being after controlling for the other processes known to be determinants of career well-being. Well-being was operationalized in terms of burnout, engagement, turnover intention and job satisfaction. A model of career well-being that does not account for these other processes (i.e., demographic, human capital, and organizational variables) may provide a biased estimate of the effect of psychological capital on career well-being. The third purpose of this study is to combine Chinese indigenous psychological capital theory with Job Demands–Resources Model and Conservation of Resource Theory. It proposes that: (1)there are two parallel processes involved in psychological capital effect career well-being, namely first energy process (i.e., indigenous PsyCap→burnout→ job satisfaction/turnover intention) and first motivation process (i.e., indigenous PsyCap → engagement → job satisfaction/turnover intention); (2)there are positive reciprocal process (i.e., gain spiral of engagement ↔ job satisfaction) and negative reciprocal process (i.e., loss spiral of burnout↔job satisfaction) between indicators of career well-being; (3)there are secondary energy process (i.e., indigenous PsyCap→burnout→loss spiral→burnout→turnover intention) and secondary motivation process (i.e., indigenous PsyCap→engagement→gain spiral→job satisfaction→ turnover intention) on the basis of well-being reciprocal processes and first energy and motivation processes. Structure equations modeling (SEM) was used to explore the relations among indigenous psychological capital and positive and negative indicators of career well-being, such as job satisfaction, turnover intention, job engagement, burnout. The data from 2280 Chinese teachers were randomly split into two parts. One part was submitted to an exploratory SEM and the other part was submitted to a confirmatory SEM. The results confirmed the existence of most processes, even though the guanxi-oriented PsyCap seems to be more prominent in China. More specifically, (1)positive reciprocal process were found between job satisfaction and work engagement(i.e., gain spiral); (2)task-oriented PsyCap effect career well-being only through first motivation process (i.e., task-oriented PsyCap→engagement→job satisfaction→turnover intention) and secondary motivation process (i.e., task-oriented PsyCap→engagement → gain spiral → turnover intention), and secondary energy process (i.e., task-oriented PsyCap→engagement→gain spiral→burnout→turnover intention); (3) guanxi-oriented PsyCap effect career well-being not only through first motivation process (i.e., guanxi -oriented PsyCap→engagement→job satisfaction→turnover intention; guanxi -oriented PsyCap→job satisfaction→ turnover intention) and secondary motivation process (i.e., guanxi-oriented PsyCap→job satisfaction/ engagement→gain spiral → turnover intention), but also through first energy process (i.e., guanxi-oriented PsyCap→burnout→turnover intention; guanxi-oriented PsyCap→job satisfaction→burnout→ turnover intention) and secondary energy process (i.e., guanxi-oriented PsyCap→job satisfaction/engagement→gain spiral→ burnout→turnover intention). The robustness of these findings is underscored by the fact that they were obtained in one half of the sample and cross-validated in the other half. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.
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    Empowering Leadership Behavior and Perceived Insider Status: The Moderating Role of Organization-based Self-esteem
    YIN Jun;WANG Hui;HUANG Ming-Peng
    2012, 44 (10):  1371-1382.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2012.01371
    Abstract ( 1285 )  
    Perceived insider status (PIS) is defined as the extent to which an employee perceives him/herself as an insider in a particular organization which has exhibited positive correlation with organizational commitment, task performance and organizational citizenship behavior in previous studies. Underpinned by the organizational investment model, the objective of the research is to develop a process model linking empowering leadership behavior to organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) with the mediating role of perceived insider status (PIS). The moderating effects of organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) on the relationship between PIS and OCB, as well as on the mediating role of PIS are also investigated. We tested this model with a dataset from a sample of 150 subordinate-supervisor dyads from the People’s Republic of China. Two versions of questionnaires were mailed to the supervisors and subordinates respectively. We asked all the participants to complete the questionnaires and return them directly to the researchers in postage-paid envelopes that we provided to them. Participation in the study was voluntary, and confidentiality was ensured. After deleting unmatched dyads, we obtained 146 dyads of subordinate and supervisor in the final data set. Mediated and moderated regression was performed. Results showed that empowering leadership behavior had significantly positive effect on PIS. OBSE moderated the relation between PIS and OCB, and also moderated the mediating role of PIS. Furthermore, PIS fully mediated the relation between empowering leadership behavior and OCB. Our results demonstrated the importance of investing in employees to enhance the feeling of social inclusion. Research implications and future research directions are also discussed.
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    Effects of Team Communication and Job Insecurity Climate on Innovative Behavior: The Moderating Role of Creative Self-Efficacy
    YANG Fu;ZHANG Li-Hua
    2012, 44 (10):  1383-1401.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2012.01383
    Abstract ( 2028 )  
    Most previous research has revealed the positive relation between team communication and employees’ innovative behavior, as well as the negative relation between job insecurity climate and employees’ innovative behavior. However, in previous studies, no clear conclusions have been made on the relationship among team communication, job insecurity climate and employees’ innovative behavior. Practice has proves that complete positive context or complete negative context would not help inspiring employees’ innovative behavior. In addition, an important amount of literature about job insecurity and its consequences has been developed during the past few decades (Sverke, Hellegren, & Näswall, 2002), but most of this research has focused on an individual-analysis perspective, without taking into account social context. Although job insecurity climate has not been empirically examined, several authors have implicitly assumed that job insecurity contexts exist in some organizations where layoffs have occurred. The current study aims to examine a conceptual model on the role of team communication and job insecurity climate in Chinese employees’ innovative behavior. Based on the person-situation interaction theory, it is hypothesized that there is a reversed U shape relation between team communication, job insecurity climate and employees’ innovative behavior. Consistent with self-efficacy theory, it is proposed that creative self-efficacy may moderate the relationship among team communication, job insecurity climate and innovative behavior. In addition, the current study also aims to validate the concept of job insecurity climate at the team level. The research sample consists of 75 teams from 13 large companies in China, with 334 employees in total. The questionnaire for employee included creative self-efficacy, and innovative behavior. The questionnaire for team included team communication and job insecurity climate. Creative self-efficacy and innovative behavior were rated by employees, while team communication and job insecurity climate were rated by employees and their immediate supervisors. Theoretical hypotheses were tested by hierarchical linear modeling and structural equation modeling. As the result showed, team communication and job insecurity climate had reversed U shape impact on innovative behavior, and creative self-efficacy had positive effect on innovative behavior. In addition, creative self-efficacy moderated these relationships among team communication, job insecurity climate and innovative behavior such that the effect of job insecurity was stronger for employees with low creative self-efficacy. At last, job insecurity climate is shown as a contextual variable that may act as a contextual stressor, The present study demonstrated that, high team communication level was not always beneficial for employees’ innovative behavior, and its effect on innovative behavior was moderated by the employees’ creative self-efficacy, low job insecurity climate level was not always help inspiring employees’ innovative behavior, and the effect of job insecurity climate was moderated by employees’ creative self-efficacy. In application, it is suggested that, moderate negative stimulation benefits to inspire the motivation and interests of innovation, adding to their enthusiasm; and it should be worth trying for managers to train employees’ creative self-efficacy. Moreover, job insecurity climate adds, under certain circumstances, detrimental effects to those produced by job insecurity on employees’ attitudes. Thus, organizations must take care of their climate and facilitate supportive climates for employees’ innovative behavior.
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    Multidimensional Grade Response Model
    DU Wen-Jiu;XIAO Han-Min
    2012, 44 (10):  1402-1407.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2012.01402
    Abstract ( 2021 )  
    Multidimensional Item Response Theory (MIRT), which is based on factor analysis and unidimensional Item Response Theory (IRT), is one of a new development trend of IRT. It’s a fact that MIRT is in an early-developing stage and most studies are mainly concentrated on MIRT models for items with two score categories. With respect to polytomous MIRT models, it’s until 1993 that Muraki and Carlson produced a generalization of unidimensional Grade Response Model (GRM) and it uses response functions that have the normal ogive form. Some other models such as multidimensional Generalized Partial Credit Model (MGPCM) and Continuous Response Model (MCRM) are even developed in recent years (Yao & Schwarz, 2006; Ferrando, 2009). In the paper, a form of logistic Multidimensional Graded Response Model (MGRM) is firstly presented. The graphics, which are plotted by Matlab 2007, and properties for a special case of two-dimensional GRM are demonstrated. Then, base on the definition of item information for a dichotomous MIRT models, the item information function for MGRM is derived and item information for a case of two-dimensional GRM discussed. Moreover, the main ideas of Joint Maximum Likelihood Estimation (JML) and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods to estimate MGRM parameters are stated. Finally, some significant further researches, which include research of item and test information, developing parameter estimate program for MGRM, are illustrated in the paper.
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    Assessing Point and Interval Estimation for the Mediating Effect: Distribution of the Product, Nonparametric Bootstrap and Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods
    FANG Jie;ZHANG Min-Qiang
    2012, 44 (10):  1408-1420.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2012.01408
    Abstract ( 1324 )  
    Because few sampling distributions of mediating effect are normally distributed, in recent years, Classic approaches to assessing mediation (Baron & Kenny, 1986; Sobel, 1982) have been supplemented by computationally intensive methods such as nonparametric bootstrap, the distribution of the product methods, and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. These approaches are suitable for medium or small sample size and do not impose the assumption of normality of the sampling distribution of mediating effects. However, little is known about how these methods perform relative to each other. This study extends Mackinnon and colleagues’ (Mackinnon, Lockwood & Williams, 2004; Yuan & Mackinnon, 2009) works by conducting a simulation using R software. This simulation examines several approaches for assessing mediation. Three factors were considered in the simulation design: (a) sample size (N=25, 50, 100, 200, 1000); (b) parameter combinations (a=b=0, a=0.39 b=0, a=0 b=0.59, a=b=0.14, a=b=0.39, a=b=0.59); (c) method for assessing mediation (distribute of the product method, nonparametric percentile Bootstrap method, bias-corrected nonparametric percentile Bootstrap method, MCMC method with informative prior and MCMC method with non-informative prior). A total of 30 treatment conditions were designed in the 3-factor simulation. 1,000 replications were run for each treatment condition. For the Bootstrap method, 1,000 bootstrap samples were drawn in each replication. For the MCMC methods, 11,000 Gibbs iterate were implemented in each replication, 10,000 posterior samples of the model parameters were recorded after 1,000 burn-in iterations. The methods were compared in terms of (a) Bias (absolute of bias), (b) Relative mean square error, (c) TypeⅠerror, (d) Power, (e) Interval width. The simulation study found the following results: 1) the performance of MCMC method with informative prior were superior to that of the other methods for Relative mean square error and Bias. 2) The Power of the MCMC method with informative prior was greatest among all the methods. However, extra power comes at the cost of underestimation of Type I error. Power of bias-corrected nonparametric percentile Bootstrap method was the second greatest, with elevated Type I error in some conditions. 3) Interval width of MCMC method with informative prior is smallest among different methods. The simulation results indicated that 1) when informative prior was available, MCMC method with informative prior was recommended to analyze mediation. 2) If informative prior was not available, bias-corrected nonparametric percentile Bootstrap method should be adopted to analyze mediation. We also provide Mplus6 syntax to facilitate the implementation of the recommended bootstrapping and MCMC methods.
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