ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R

Top Read Articles

    Published in last 1 year |  In last 2 years |  In last 3 years |  All
    Please wait a minute...
    For Selected: Toggle Thumbnails
    Food labeling effects in marketing
    YANG Qiaoying, LIU Wumei, ZHANG Dong
    Advances in Psychological Science    2021, 29 (9): 1669-1683.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2021.01669
    Abstract555)           
    As a tool to convey food-related information to consumers, food labels can effectively solve the problem of information asymmetry in food consumption. With the popularization of food labels in practice, more and more scholars have begun to pay attention to the impact of different food labels on consumer behavior. However, most of the existing studies focus on a single food label type and its effects, lacking of comparison and discussion on the effects of different food labels and their inherent mechanisms and boundary conditions. Based on this, this paper reviews the research on food labels in the field of marketing, which focuses on how different types of food labels affect individuals' cognition, emotion and behavior. Meanwhile, this paper introduces the regulatory orientation theory to explain the different effects of different food labels, and on this basis, a more integrated food label effect framework is constructed in this paper.
    Through combing the existing literature, the existing research on food labeling has roughly underwent three stages. The first stage began in the early 1980s. The demand for the nutritional value of food led to the attention and research on the nutrition label. The second stage started around 2000. Scholars mainly focus on labels that can convey information about food safety and quality. In the third stage, in the last decade, eco-environmental labels attracted more attention from consumers and scholars. Based on the different levels of information coverage, food labels can be divided into two types: product-level labels and ingredient-level labels. The product-level label refers to the label which is used to explain the overall characteristics and quality information of the food (including date label, health warning label, organic label, natural label, brand information, genetically modified organism label, eco label, and fair trade label). However, the ingredient-level label refers to the label that is used to display the specific nutritional information of the food (including nutrition facts panel, GDA label, low-fat label, health claim, traffic light label, health star rating, calorie menu label, shelf label).
    Further analysis and comparison showed that different types of food labels differ in influencing results, mechanism of action, and boundaries. Specifically, the product-level labels can arouse consumers' perceptions of safety, risk, and morality, and can effectively increase consumers' trust in products. At the same time, after purchasing products with such labels, consumers will show more food waste and repeated purchases. Ingredient-level labels, on the other hand, mainly affects consumers' perceptions of product health, as well as subsequent food choices and food intake. The theory of regulatory orientation helps to explain the different effects of the two types of food labels. The product-level labels more often initiate consumer preventive orientation, while the ingredient-level labels activate consumer promotion orientation. In addition, the two types of food labeling effects are driven by the halo effect, information processing, conceptual metaphor, social identity, attribute inference and other mechanisms. Besides, these effects are moderated by social demographic factors, individual differences, and product characteristics.
    On the one hand, combing and commenting on the effects of different food labels can provide reference for food manufacturers to carry out food marketing practices. On the other hand, through the construction of food label research framework in the field of marketing, it can point out the context and direction for marketing scholars to carry out empirical research on food label. Based on the overall framework of food labeling effects constructed in this paper, we propose that further research on the topic of food label can be carried out from following aspects in the future: (1) Expanding the behavioral results of ingredient-level labels; (2) Expanding the behavioral results of product-level labels; (3) Exploring the impact of different food label presentation forms on consumers; (4) Expanding the outer packaging labels and related research; and (5) Exploring the reversal mechanism of the negative effects of food labels.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    A new type of mental health assessment using artificial intelligence technique
    JIANG Liming, TIAN Xuetao, REN Ping, LUO Fang
    Advances in Psychological Science    2022, 30 (1): 157-167.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2022.00157
    Abstract495)           
    The application of artificial intelligence and big data mining technology in the field of mental health has promoted the development of intelligent mental health assessment. Intelligent mental health assessment entails the application of artificial intelligence technology in acquiring and analyzing data and modeling the relationship between behavioral features and mental health problems. Intelligent mental health assessment has broadened the forms of data and the analysis methods of traditional mental health assessment, enabling researchers to obtain multi-modal data based on more simulated situations and achieve more efficient and accurate assessments.
    At present, researchers mainly carry out mental health assessments based on social media data, smart device data, video game data, and wearable device data to explore various features related to mental health and build predictive models. Social media data mainly refer to the text content posted by users on social media, which is widely used in psychological assessment. Researchers have explored text features related to mental health. Foreign researchers mainly predict users' mental health conditions based on the contents posted on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Domestic researchers mostly rely on Weibo and other platforms to conduct related research. Smartphones and other devices record individual daily behavioral data, including application software use, communication, location movement (based on GPS), etc. These behavioral data provided effective information for predicting the psychological characteristics of individuals. Besides, with the widespread use of smartphones and other mobile devices, collecting audio and video data has become more convenient. Researchers can extract features such as actions, voices, and expressions to achieve an immediate and automatic evaluation of participants' mental health. Video game data refers to the log data of the player during the game. It contains a wealth of behavioral performance information of the individual in the virtual environment. Researchers can evaluate the individual's abilities and psychological characteristics based on the data. Game-based assessment is mainly used to assess individual abilities and cognitive impairment. However, there are few studies on mental health assessment based on games, only some assessments of the positive personality. Mental health problems are often accompanied by obvious physiological reactions. Researchers use wearable devices to collect physiological indicators such as brain electricity, eye movements, heart rate, and skin temperature for mental health monitoring. Researchers use EEG data and eye movement data to identify mental health problems related to emotions and attention. Indicators of skin temperature and heart rate reflect the individual's mood and stress state and therefore have the potential to predict the level of individual mental health.
    The future research directions of intelligent mental health assessment mainly include five aspects. First, previous research on intelligent mental health assessment has often used data-driven methods to explore features and construct predicting models, which is hard to explain the complex relationship between behavioral indicators and latent mental health state. Therefore, further improvement of pertinence and refinement is demanded. Researchers should design tasks based on psychological theories, carry out meaningful feature extraction, and gradually refine from rough dichotomous diagnosis to continuous and typed diagnosis. Second, unsupervised data mining is difficult to ensure the validity and interpretability of assessment. To carry out effective assessment and reduce errors in the new simulated environment, the task design of intelligent mental health assessment should be designed based on the evidence center. Third, the current intelligent mental health assessment mainly uses the indicators in the computer field, and the relevant research considering the reliability and validity is very rare. Researchers should select prediction models based on specific tasks and test the generalization and stability of prediction models in different datasets and scenarios. Fourth, different data sources and features have unique advantages. Researchers could obtain multi-modal data for modeling and analysis with the application of the advanced technology of artificial intelligence. Finally, privacy protection and ethical issues are essential for intelligent mental health assessment. Subjects should be notified before data acquisition and use.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    The influence of oxytocin, progesterone and estrogen on disgust and its neurophysiological mechanism
    ZHANG Xia, LEI Yi, WANG Fushun
    Advances in Psychological Science    2022, 30 (1): 85-97.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2022.00085
    Abstract430)           
    Disgust, as an important basic emotion, is commonly recognized as a toxin (pathogens) avoidance mechanism to protect individuals from diseases, and has far-reaching evolutionary implications and specific physiological mechanisms. Hormones are chemical messengers synthesized and secreted by endocrine cells, which affect the physiological activities of individuals by regulating the metabolism of various tissue cells. A large number of studies have found that the generation and expression of disgust involve many different hormones, including oxytocin, progesterone, estrogens, testosterone, corticosteroids, arginine-vasopressin, etc. These various systems of neuroendocrine regulations make individuals rapidly evaluate and integrate the information related to toxins and pathogen cues, and thus producing appropriate disgust and avoidance behaviors. In the current researches, oxytocin, progesterone and estrogens are the most widely studied hormones in the field of disgust. Based on animal and human researches, this article reviews and summarizes some evidence that the three hormones affect the processing of disgust and their neurophysiological mechanism and predicts future research direction.
    Oxytocin is synthesized in the hypothalamus and is widely involved in social cognition and social behaviors, such as attachment. Studies have proved that oxytocin affects the generation and acquisition of disgust based on olfaction and taste, and recognition of disgust expression by regulating the activities of several brain regions such as insula, anterior cingulate gyrus, amygdala, piriform cortex, putamen, and middle frontal gyrus. Among them, oxytocin may participate in disgust learning by modulating the activity of serotonin receptors.
    According to the compensatory prophylaxis hypothesis supported by quantities of animal and human researches, progesterone promotes the individuals' sensitivity of disgust to potentially infectious stimuli, thereby producing avoidance behaviors to reduce the risk of infection. At the same time, progesterone also affects the recognition of disgust expressions, but has no significant effect on the disgust learning of rodents. And amygdala activity is the main brain area affecting the processing of disgust and can be both promoted and inhibited by progesterone in the processing of disgust. Estrogens also play regulatory roles in perception and acquisition of disgust and recognition of facial expression of disgust. The amygdala and the anterior cingulate gyrus may also be the neural substrates that progesterone affects the processing of disgust, but further research will be necessary before we can draw firm conclusions.
    It is noteworthy that oxytocin, progesterone and estrogens affect the generation and expression of pathogen disgust to varying degrees, except for moral disgust. This may be because pathogen disgust is more closely related to hormones than moral disgust which has a higher cognitive component, and its physiological basis is more evident in evolution. However, this may be due to current questionnaires used to measure moral disgust making the measurement indicators insensitive enough, which causes no significant effects of the three hormones on moral disgust.
    In short, most of the current studies in this field are still confined to describe phenomena and doing correlational research, but know little about its internal mechanisms. Besides, there are still many contradictions in results. Future studies should explore the effects of these hormones on disgust in different sensory channels and consider their moderating roles in different genders by accurately measuring hormone levels and controlling the task difficulties. In addition, researchers can combine neuroimaging technologies with behavioral studies to clarify the neuroendocrine mechanism of these hormones affecting disgust processing.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    “Advantages and disadvantages” of individual proactive behavior in organizations
    LI Lingling, HUANG Gui
    Advances in Psychological Science    2021, 29 (8): 1484-1496.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2021.01484
    Abstract362)           
    Individual proactive behavior refers to the future-oriented and change-oriented work behavior, which is made actively by individuals in organizations. In the changing and uncertain organizational environment, whether an organization has appropriate individual proactive behavior determines whether the organization can survive and develop better. But does that mean that proactive behavior always has a positive impact on the organization? Scholars have given similar answers from different perspectives, that is, whether at the individual level or the organizational situation level, individual proactive behavior has advantages and disadvantages in the results. Specifically speaking: (1) On the themes of the researches, most studies found that individual proactive behavior could bring positive results, while some scholars also noticed the cost of individual proactive behavior; (2) From the perspectives of the analyses, the positive and negative effects of individual proactive behavior on individuals and organization situations were mainly included; (3) In terms of the theoretical mechanisms, the “advantages and disadvantages” due to individual proactive behavior could find answer in dominance complementarity theory, self-determination theory, attribution theory.
    Although the positive and negative effects of individual proactive behavior have attracted the attention of scholars, and some preliminary research attempts have been made on its principles, there is still a lack of integration. Such as dominance complementarity theory, self-determination theory, attribution theory, etc., explained the positive and negative effects of different characteristics of leaders or employees on individual proactive behavior results from different theoretical perspectives. In fact, just as “a coin has both positive and negative sides”, the three factors that affect the results of individual proactive behavior, namely, different forms of individual proactive behavior, the characteristics of proactive actors and observers and various aspects of the situation, also have inherent two sides. They just cover the two sides of the characteristics of leaders or employees explained by the previous three theories, which are relatively more comprehensive and can reveal the internal mechanism of the advantages and disadvantages of individual proactive behavior to a certain extent.
    Therefore, this study looks at proactive behavior from the perspective of contradictory duality, and points out that the duality of the factors affecting the outcome of proactive behavior is the main reason for the “advantages and disadvantages” effects of individual proactive behavior. In the long run, the two sides of the contradiction can partially or conditionally transform each other. From the perspective of organizational management, understanding how to deal with the inherent dual contradiction of individual proactive behavior and effectively manage it should also be included in the theoretical framework. This study proposes that future research can integrate the following theories from the perspective of two sides of contradiction:(1) Starting from the types of individual proactive behavior itself, its internal mechanism will be revealed, based on the perspective of wise proactivity theory; (2) From the perspective of the two sides of characteristics of actors or observers of individual proactive behavior, the mechanism behind it will be discussed empirically; (3) Dynamic researches will be conducted from the perspective of the development of the subjective and objective characteristics of proactive behavior. By revealing the dynamic and static internal mechanism of the “advantages and disadvantages” effects of proactive behavior, we hope to further develop the “advantages” side of individual proactive behavior, avoid its “disadvantages” side, especially the interference of subjective factors, complete the research framework of proactive behavior, and deepen the regular understanding of the result effects of proactive behavior.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Psychological and behavioral effects of personal names in real world: Evidence and theories
    BAO Han-Wu-Shuang, CAI Hua-Jian
    Advances in Psychological Science    2021, 29 (6): 1067-1085.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2021.01067
    Abstract354)           
    Personal names not only can influence others’ impression and evaluation, but also may affect individuals’ own psychology and behavior in real world. Over the past century, psychologists have conducted numerous empirical studies in the domains of decision making, achievement, health, and personality to examine the actual impacts of surnames or given names on individuals. Various dimensions of names (e.g., name uniqueness, name gender, name valence, and name warmth-competence) could, more or less, predict human psychology and behavior (e.g., career/life/economic decisions, career/academic achievements, physical/mental health, criminal behavior, personality traits, psychological needs, and facial characteristics). However, existing evidence is mixed, and current theories are far from adequate. Future studies should examine multiple dimensions of names, deal with methodological problems (e.g., replicability, causality, mechanisms, and cross-cultural generalizability), and try best to develop more systematic and inclusive theories to explain the psychological and behavioral effects of names.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Random intercept latent transition analysis (RI-LTA): Separating the between-subject variation from the within-subject variation
    WEN Congcong, ZHU Hong
    Advances in Psychological Science    2021, 29 (10): 1773-1782.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2021.01773
    Abstract318)           
    Traditional latent transition analysis (LTA) is usually done using single-level modeling, but can also be viewed as a two-level modeling from a multi-level perspective. In 2020, Muthén and Asparouhov proposed a so-called random intercept latent transition analysis (RI-LTA) model which separates between-subject variation from within-subject variation. By integrating a random intercept factor, latent class transitions are represented on the within level, whereas the between level captures the variability across subjects.
    The random intercept factor f is the most important. If the factor loadings on the random intercept factor are large, this indicates that the item probabilities are large and thus the cases have large differences on these items. From this perspective, RI-LTA can be viewed as absorbing the measurement non-invariance of the model. Due to large item differences, the different latent classes are easy to distinguish. These differences are absorbed by the random intercept factor but are not set to influence the latent class variables. Therefore, the off-diagonal values of the transition probability matrix are larger. In traditional LTA, large differences across classes are not absorbed by the random intercept factor, which leads to smaller off-diagonal but larger diagonal values of the transition probability matrix.
    Performing RI-LTA in Mplus software can be done in three to four steps. First, implementing LCA across different time points; second, implementing traditional LTA and RI-LTA; third, saving the parameter estimates obtained in the second step and using them as population values to do a Monte Carlo simulation study; fourth, in the event of previous knowledge or existing applications, one may include covariates or distal outcomes in the model. Researchers can also perform multiple-group analysis, Markov chain mover-stayer analysis, multi-level RI-LTA, or longitudinal factor analysis to have deeper insight into the data.
    In the current study, a two-wave longitudinal data collection from undergraduates attending in the year 2016 at a research-oriented university was used to demonstrate how to implement RI-LTA in Mplus. The first three steps used were as described in the previous paragraph. For the fourth step, we performed a multiple-group analysis and investigated the interaction effects by including a “type of university enrolment” covariate. Results showed that students of the class labeled “strong intrinsic and extrinsic motivation” class tended to switch to “strong intrinsic motivation but low extrinsic motivation” class and “low intrinsic and extrinsic motivation” class at a 33.0% transition probability of staying in the original class with RI-LTA analysis, while these students tended to stay in the original class at a 68.9% staying transition probability with traditional LTA analysis. This indicated that RI-LTA avoided overestimation on the transition probabilities of students staying in the original class and allowed for clearer interpretation of the data. The RI-LTA model was shown to be better than the traditional LTA model in this situation. By including a “type of university enrolment” covariate, the multiple-group analysis indicated that measurement invariance should be established. Most of the regression coefficients of latent classes on covariate were not significant except c1#1 on dummy2, which was significant at a value of -2.364. This indicated that students who were enrolled via the independent admission examinations and endorsed the “low intrinsic and extrinsic motivation” class were fewer than the recommended students We also found that the interaction effects of the covariate and c1 on c2 were not significant. Thus, a more parsimonious measurement invariant multiple-group analysis including a covariate but without interaction effect model should be chosen. Future research could use Monte Carlo simulation studies to investigate the applicability of RI-LTA, for example by manipulating sample sizes, numbers of indicators, latent classes, and time points. Inspired by multi-level modeling, the implementation of multi-level RI-LTA in statistical software should also be explored further.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Wisdom in old age
    CHEN Haobin, WANG Fengyan
    Advances in Psychological Science    2021, 29 (5): 885-893.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2021.00885
    Abstract291)           
    Wisdom is a general psychological quality that integrates morality and intelligence. It is learned from life experiences, serves as an important symbol of successful aging, and is the ideal endpoint of human development. Research has shown that self-reported measurements, such as the three-dimensional wisdom scale (3D-WS), self-assessed wisdom scale (SAWS), and the adult self-transcendence inventory (ASTI), and performance measures such as the Berlin wisdom paradigm (BWP) and wise reasoning (WR), perform well in the assessment of older adults’ wisdom. The development of wisdom in old age is influenced by internal factors such as openness, self-reflection, emotion regulation, and personality growth, as well as external factors such as education level, critical life experiences, and the social environment. In older adults, wisdom obtained from life experience improves well-being and life satisfaction, and reduces social alienation, loneliness, and depression. Future research should develop multi-faceted and integrated tools for the evaluation of older adults’ wisdom, to further investigate the predictive factors, effects, and internal mechanisms of wisdom in old age, and to explore the intervention and cultivating strategies of older adults’ wisdom in the community care services.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Understanding mechanisms of prediction error cost in Chinese reading for older adults
    LI Lin, ZHAO Sainan, ZHANG Lijuan, WANG Jingxin
    Advances in Psychological Science    2022, 30 (1): 1-14.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2022.00001
    Abstract282)           
    An important question for research on reading across the lifespan concerns whether mechanisms of cognitive processing undergo only quantitative changes or also qualitative changes with aging. To process written language effectively, readers use their existing knowledge to make predictive inferences about linguistic information. Quite often this will facilitate the processing of newly acquired information but will sometimes incur a processing cost due to predictive error. As Older adults appear to rely more heavily on lexical prediction during reading (Zhao et al., 2019, 2021). However, it is currently unknown whether, like young adults, they experience a processing cost due to predictive error, and whether the magnitude of this cost differs across age adult groups. Accordingly, the present research aims to understand the processing consequence of predictive error in both young and older adults, using methods that can shed light on both the behavioral and neural bases of these effects. This will be achieved using novel co-registration methods that synchronize the recording of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals with eye movements, so that behavioral and neural indices of language processing can be acquired simultaneously, in real-time, during natural reading. In particular, this approach will enable the analysis of fixated-related potentials (FRPs), which are averaged EEG waveforms time-locked to a fixation on a target word in a sentence during normal reading.
    Study 1 will manipulate whether a target word is predictable from the prior sentence context, using contexts in which the target word is predictable, ones in which it is unpredictable, and neutral contexts containing an unpredictable word. Crucially, comparisons of an unpredictable word in neutral compared to constraining contexts will provide a measure of prediction error, which is the cost incurred when the target word is unpredicted in a constraining context. The study will investigate the behavioral and neural correlates of this prediction error using a combination of eye movement measures and FRPs for target words. Moreover, by investigating age differences in these effects (i.e., for young compared to older adults) the study will reveal whether this prediction error differs across adult age groups.
    Study 2 will test these effects further by examining both the contribution to the prediction error cost of parafoveal information availability and individual differences in visual, cognitive and linguistic abilities. To examine the contribution of these individual differences, we will comprehensively assess the visual, cognitive and linguistic abilities of young and older adult participants prior their taking part in experiments. We will obtain information about participants' educational background, vocabulary knowledge and recent reading experience to match participants in terms of formal educational experience and to obtain indices of linguistic experience. In addition, we will assess processing speed, working memory, and inhibition as measures of cognitive capabilities. The data obtained will be used for the linear mixed-effects modelling of Study 3. Experiment 1 will use the boundary paradigm to investigate age differences in the prediction error cost when parafoveal information is available or not. The aim of this experiment is to establish whether limiting the availability of parafoveal information about an upcoming word differentially impacts lexical prediction by young and older adults. Experiment 2 will use masking text paradigm to investigate the aging effects on prediction error cost under high or low working memory load conditions. The aim of this experiment is to explore the effect of working memory load on prediction processing mechanism of young and older readers. Finally, in Experiment 3, the older adult participants will be divided into good and poor reading skill groups to examine whether there is a difference in the prediction error cost for older participants with good and poor reading skills as compared to skilled young adult readers. This will reveal how reading skills mediates predictive processing by older adults.
    Study 3 will use linear mixed-effects modelling and data-mining methods. All relevant factors will be included in the model analysis as covariates to investigate their effects on the prediction processing of older readers. Moreover, survival analysis and distribution analysis will be adopted to investigate the time course and individual differences of the above-mentioned effects (using data from Study 1 and 2).
    The findings from these studies will provide important insights into the nature of effects of cognitive aging and individual differences in visual, cognitive and linguistic abilities on neural and cognitive indices of word prediction in reading, and will form the basis for future models of these effects in Chinese reading. Moreover, the findings will shed light on the contribution of parafoveal processing, memory load, and reading skill on the predictive abilities of older adult readers.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Antisocial punishment in the game
    CHEN Jing, ZHANG Rong, YUAN Jiaqi, SHE Shengxiang
    Advances in Psychological Science    2022, 30 (2): 436-448.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2022.00436
    Abstract266)           
    Punishment has two sides, the “prosocial” side (altruistic punishment) and the “antisocial” side (antisocial punishment). Antisocial punishment is widespread in human society and seriously undermines cooperation, but it is ignored by researchers because it is difficult to observe and quantify, and does not have a positive effect similar to altruistic punishment. In this article, we systematically reviewed, analyzed, and evaluated the literature in this field; and put forward research prospects and theoretical hypotheses based on the concept and research paradigms of anti-social punishment, influencing factors, and theory hypotheses of production mechanism.
    First of all, combined with the diversified performance of anti-social punishment in the field of non-economic games, the classical concept of anti-social punishment is extended, and defined as: the phenomenon that the game participants implements economic punishment(with monetary cost), negative evaluation, or exclusion and suppression on others who exhibit high contributions or cooperation of prosocial behavior.
    Moreover, we sorted out the corresponding research paradigms and influencing factors; as a complex social behavior, antisocial punishment is affected by a variety of individual and environmental factors. Individual factors include both physical and psychological aspects. Testosterone, social cognition, subjective willingness, the role of the intuitive system, working memory, mental illness, and Dark Triad personality traits all have an impact on antisocial punishment. There are three main aspects in environmental factors, including task contextual factors (i.e., cost-to-impact ratio, information availability, and situational competitiveness), group factors (i.e., differences between internal and external groups, group decision-making, and individual decision-making, etc.), and sociocultural and developmental factors (i.e., social culture and social development level).
    Furthermore, five hypotheses of the production mechanism of antisocial punishment were summarized as follows: (i) the aggression hypothesis regards antisocial punishment as an aggressive behavior, which is derived from malicious motivation or internal negative traits of an individual; (ii) the revenge hypothesis holds that antisocial punishment is a behavioral response based on tit-for-tat strategy, which occurs when individuals themselves are punished by others; (iii) the social comparison hypothesis suggests that antisocial punishment is a defense against threats to reputation and self-concept; (iv) deviant group norm hypothesis holds that antisocial punishment is the maintenance of group norms; (v) the evolutionary strategy hypothesis, based on the perspective of evolutionary psychology, holds that antisocial punishment is a dominant strategy beneficial to individuals and groups, and a way to gain advantages. All the above hypotheses are partial and incomplete claims. By combining the social information processing theories with the dual-process theories of decision-making, we further proposed the dual-process model of antisocial punishment. We deem that antisocial punishment is the result of an individual's further processing and interpretation of social cues, interpersonal interaction, and emotional experience, which is based on one's own internal factors; for different individuals and situations, the deliberative processing system and affective processing system are activated respectively to further dominate decision-making behavior.
    Finally, the research prospects were put forward from five aspects. (i) Further clarify the concept and measurement indicators. (ii) Further innovate research methods, such as developing real-life decision scenario simulation tasks with more ecological validity, and developing implicit association tests. (iii) Expand studies of influencing factors. Specifically, further explore the impacts of demographic variables, interpersonal factors, and Chinese native culture on antisocial punishment. (iv) Further clarify the mechanism of antisocial punishment from the level of neuroscience, construct the psychological model to explain the mechanism of antisocial punishment and verify its effectiveness. (v) Conduct targeted intervention research.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Discriminating the concepts of goal and its influence on decision-making
    HE Jiamei, JIN Lei
    Advances in Psychological Science    2021, 29 (8): 1410-1419.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2021.01410
    Abstract250)           
    Decision-making is the process that individuals evaluate and make a choice among multiple alternatives, in order to maximize their possible benefits. Individuals usually think about and predict what may happen in the future and set reasonable goal to guide their decisions. The goal is not only the reason why the decision-maker makes their choice, but also the ideal result that the decision-maker anticipates to achieve.
    Individual decision making under the guidance of a goal involves two mental processes, such as setting a goal and accomplishing the subsequent decision task. Based on goal's content, motivational function, and other features, previous studies believe that the goal is a future result that individuals anticipate to achieve and it has motivational effects on their cognition and behavior. However, only one future result that individuals intended to achieve was discussed in previous researches. Usually, individuals want to attain multiple goals at the same time, potential conflict of interest among these future results might exist. So, in the first step, individuals have to make a choice among these future results that they wish to achieve at the same time. The one that is chosen would possess motivation power to arouse individuals' cognitive process and behavior. Therefore, goal is the winner of the competition for motivation. On the basis of the evaluation of their desirability and feasibility, specific future results are selected as the goal and endowed with motivation by the decision-maker.
    Behavior habits, personality traits, and life experience affect individuals' goal setting. For example, high construal level helps decision makers to recognize better their goal and focus their attention on decision scheme that is conducive to the goal's achievement. Among decision-makers with high trait self-control, a temptation has lower subjective value, compared with the goal. Individuals with high trait self-control would have less intention to approach the temptation and might experience fewer conflicts between the goal and the temptation. The asymmetric effect between temptation and goal caused by the successful experience in executing self-control has changed the value of the future results assigned by the decision-maker. The cues related to the temptation can activate the goal while they inhibit the temptation among individuals with high trait self-control.
    The goal can influence decision-making by changing the decision-maker's attitude and selective attention towards decision scheme in accomplishing subsequent decision tasks. In the process of achieving a goal, decision-makers are more likely to overestimate the positive emotions related to the goal. Therefore, positive anticipation would be endowed on the decision scheme that is benefit for the goal. The activated goal can drive selective attention and allocate attention resources to benefit the goal achievement. Moreover, selective attention increases the time duration that the decision-maker pays their attention on its corresponding decision scheme. It further helps the decision maker to improve its subjective value estimation.
    In the future, it is necessary to investigate how an unconscious goal weakens the effect that it has on negative consequences and how to measure the two mental processes directly.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    The incubation effect of creative thinking
    LI Ziyi, ZHANG Ze, ZHANG Ying, LUO Jin
    Advances in Psychological Science    2022, 30 (2): 291-307.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2022.00291
    Abstract247)           
    Incubation effect refers to the phenomenon that when people are confronted with an unsolvable problem, they temporarily put it aside and switch to complete other irrelevant tasks instead, which is beneficial to the ultimate solution of the original problem. In recent years, researchers have conducted extensive studies on incubation effect of creative thinking and its influences, and put forward many theories to explain incubation effect. The representative theories include “selective forgetting theory”, “spreading activation and cue assimilation theory” and “unconscious work theory”. They explain the mechanism of incubation effect from different perspectives and predict different influences and phenomena respectively. For example, the attention-withdrawal theory supposes that the length of incubation will not influence the incubation effect. And the forgetting-fixation theory recommended a longer break to incubate. Furthermore, some factors are mentioned in many theories, such as the length of incubation and the length of preparation period. So the empirical researches about them can be explained by these related theories. While some factors are only mentioned by a few theories. For example, the function of beneficial cues can only be explained by the opportunistic assimilation theory. However, the research field of incubation effect has begun to combine with mind wandering and sleep. Many of the results of these studies are difficult to be well explained by the above theories, but should be explained in the light of the characteristics of mind wandering and sleep. Until now, related researches of mind wandering and sleep further shed light on the mechanism behind incubation effect. For example, mind wandering increases unconscious associate processing to serve creative problem-solving. Sleep, as a special long period of incubation, may promote problem solving through various mechanisms such as the reconstruction of memory representation and the reactivation of memory. But there is also conflicting evidence as to whether mind wandering and sleep promote the incubation effect. There are many studies that have failed to prove the effect of mind wandering and sleep on creative problem solving. The psychological processes underlying the incubation effect includes at least two cognitive components: the transformation of problem representation and the formation of remote associations. Different brain mechanisms are responsible for these two basic components. During the incubation period, memory systems are regulated by the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to break the fixation caused by false assumptions. The cooperation of right frontal lobe, temporal lobe and parietal lobe was beneficial to assimilation of beneficial cues. The striatum-hippocampus-prefrontal lobe network continued to catalyze the reconstruction of representations during incubation period. Mind wandering promotes insight through the interaction of the medial temporal lobe, default network and executive network. The research on sleep can reflect the mechanism of long-term incubation in real life, and future research can further investigate the role of different sleep stages and their corresponding brain mechanisms. Future research needs to improve the ecological validity of relevant studies, promote the development of incubation theories, improve reproducibility, explore the positive factors that promote the incubation effect, and pay attention to the relationship between the incubation effect and emotion or other non-cognitive factors.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    A cognition-affective processing framework of psychopathy based on the TriPM model
    CHENG Cheng, GUO Peiyang, YANG Li, WANG Mengya
    Advances in Psychological Science    2021, 29 (9): 1628-1646.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2021.01628
    Abstract231)           
    As an important predictor of violent crime, recidivism, and juvenile delinquency, psychopathy has received extensive attention in clinical psychology and justice research. Recent studies have conceptualized psychopathy as multidimensional constructs, proposed to further understand various phenotypic constructs of psychopathy through the interaction of distinct psychopathic dispositions. The Triarchic Model of Psychopathy (TriPM) conceptualizing psychopathy as three phenotypic structures (boldness, meanness, and disinhibition) with independent etiologic pathways, provides a framework for integrating the previous findings of the assessment, development trajectory, and neurobiological process of psychopathy.
    At first, the TriPM boldness includes the characteristics of stress immunity, low fear, and insensitivity to punishment. It is an adaptive expression of fearlessness genotype, which corresponds to the neurobiological dimension of low threat sensitivity. Previous studies have shown that psychopathic individuals with high affective-interpersonal (Factor 1) or boldness features are expected to exhibit reduced aversive startle potentiation, difficulty in establishing threat-related conditioning, abnormal amygdala volume, and lower levels of amygdala activation in threat context. These findings reflect the core defensive system of psychopathy—based in the amygdala and affiliated structures—is insensitive to threat or punishment cues.
    Second, individuals with high levels of trait disinhibition are characterized by lack of planning and foresight, poor regulation of emotion and impulse, insistence on immediate gratification, and lack of behavioral restraint. They showed reduced P3 and ERN amplitudes in go/no-go tasks and flanker tasks, fail to process and attend to contextual or environmental cues when engaged in a dominant response set (e.g., goal-directed behavior). Give the evidence that individuals with high disinhibition tend to exhibit poor performance in various cognitive tasks, it can be speculated that the impairment of executive function, in particular the impaired ability of attentional modulation, is closely associated with psychopathic disinhibition. Moreover, the motivational system (i.e., reward-seeking) may exacerbate the deficits of executive function in individuals with high disinhibition disposition.
    Finally, as the maladaptive expression of the fearless genotype, meanness describes a constellation of various phenotypic attributes including arrogance, rebelliousness, lack of intimacy, excitement seeking, and empowerment through cruelty. On the one hand, impaired emotional processes will lead to an empathic deficit, which may contribute to the development of psychopathic meanness. Extensive research has shown that abnormalities in physiological structures such as the insula and anterior cingulate cortex in psychopathy are associated with reduced subjective emotional experience and poor ability to recognize other's distress cues. On the other hand, insecure attachment associated with empathic deficit may be an important environmental factor that exacerbates individual meanness disposition.
    By integrating the low threat sensitivity, impaired executive function, and empathic deficit of psychopathy with the boldness, disinhibition, and meanness of the TriPM model, the current study establishes a relatively complete cognition-affective processing framework of psychopathy, provides some useful information for theoretical research and clinical treatment about this personality disorder. However, this framework can not account for all the clinical conditions of psychopathy, as the factors that influence the phenotype of psychopathy are diverse. For example, previous research has demonstrated that gender, race, age, sample type, and psychopathic measures are all important moderators in the study of psychopathy. There are also controversies about the conceptualization of psychopathic variants or subtypes. In addition, the exclusivity of psychopathic phenotypes and their underlying neurobiological processes is still unclear.
    Therefore, future research should consider the influence of these moderators on the explanation of the results. And greater attention should be paid to the underlying etiological pathways among different psychopathic constructs, it is also a verification of the discriminative validity among three dimensions of the TriPM model. Moreover, further exploration of the precursors of adult psychopathic traits will provide important information about the development of psychopathic deviant behavior, which does great help for the early treatment and intervention of this disorder.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    The mechanisms of histone modification in post-traumatic stress disorder
    ZHANG Yingqian, ZHAO Guangyi, HAN Yuwei, ZHANG Jingyi, CAO Chengqi, WANG Li, ZHANG Kunlin
    Advances in Psychological Science    2022, 30 (1): 98-114.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2022.00098
    Abstract222)           
    Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder with complex etiologies that usually occurs after people are exposed to traumatic events. In the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the criteria for PTSD included symptoms of intrusion, avoidance, negative alterations in cognitions and mood, and alterations in arousal and reactivity. The World Mental Health Surveys on Trauma and PTSD showed that more than 70% of individuals would experience traumatic events at least once in lifetime, while only a few would develop PTSD, suggesting individual differences in the genesis and development of PTSD.
    Previous studies have proved that both genetic and environmental factors could influence the risk of PTSD, thus epigenetics, as a discipline investigating the interaction between environment and genes, has attracted the attention of researchers. Among the epigenetic mechanisms, histone modification has received widespread attention and has been researched in depth. Modification of histones by adding one or more chemical groups (such as acetyl group, methyl group, etc.) can lead to changes in chromatin structure and gene transcriptional activity, consequently regulating the level of gene expression. In recent years, histone modification has been implicated as an essential part in the pathogenesis of PTSD for the following reason: the development of PTSD is usually related to the maladaptation of fear memory induced by traumatic events, and histone modification plays an important role in the consolidation and extinction of fear memory correspondingly.
    At present, techniques commonly used for the measurement of histone modification are Western Blotting and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), both based on the antibody technology. By combining ChIP with quantitative PCR (qPCR) technology, DNA microarray (also known as gene chip) technology or deep sequencing (Seq) technology, researchers can study the relationship between various types of histone modification and gene expression. What's more, animal models are the main methods to explore the association between histone modification and PTSD, using electric shocks (e.g., inescapable foot shock, tail shock, and tone shock), social stress (e.g., predator exposure), and single prolonged stress (SPS) to simulate symptoms of PTSD in the laboratory.
    We systematically searched and screened the literatures of histone modification in PTSD through PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/), PsychINFO (http://psycnet.apa.org/), and PsychArticles (http://psycnet.apa.org/), with finally 16 literatures selected for detailed integration and discussion. In spite of the nonnegligible heterogeneity among these studies, they proved the overall effect of histone modification was closely associated with the development of PTSD. Histone modification that enriched in the promoter regions of candidate genes like the Bdnf and Cdk5, could significantly increase the risk of PTSD. Alterations in levels of histone acetylation and methylation in hippocampus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex are associated with PTSD, playing key roles in the consolidation, reconsolidation, and extinction of fear memory in PTSD-like animals. It is worth noting that histone modification is mainly involved in the regulation of the immune system, the serotonergic system, the neuropeptide Y-ergic system, and the NMDA receptor-related pathways. In addition, histone modification can be regulated by a variety of enzymes, leading to flexible regulation of PTSD, making drugs that target histone modification good choices for clinical treatment of PTSD.
    Studying the neurobiological mechanisms of PTSD in human patients has been blocked by many factors; moreover, applying the results of animal models of PTSD to clinical research is a long way off. Therefore, using animal models to investigate the role of histone modification in the etiology of PTSD will remain a mainstream approach for some time to come.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    The impact of trust in technology and trust in leadership on the adoption of new technology from employee's perspective
    XU Yi, LIU Yixuan
    Advances in Psychological Science    2021, 29 (10): 1711-1723.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2021.01711
    Abstract217)           
    In today's knowledge-based economy, new technology adoption is crucial for companies to increase their core competitiveness. The success of new technology diffusion in enterprises depends on employees' trust in new technologies to overcome risks and uncertainties surrounding new technology. Although many scholars recognize the positive role of trust in the adoption of new technology, the extant literature lacks empirical evidence and theoretical underpinning. To fill the gap, we aim to explore how trust in technology and leadership affects employees' decision to adopt new technology through four different studies. Further, we introduce perceived risk and technology self-efficacy as mediators to explore the underlying mechanisms.
    In study 1, we validate the measurement of trust in technology with functionality, reliability, and helpfulness as three antecedent factors. The positive effects of trust in technology and trust in leadership on employees' new technology adoption are examined through an experiment. In study 2, we collect employees' data within organizations. Perceived risk and technology usefulness are added into the model to explain the relationship between trust in technology, trust in leadership, and new technology adoption from the employees' perspective. In study 3, we first refine the measurement of technology self-efficacy. Then, through an experiment, we manipulate the trust in technology (High, Low, Control) and measure employees' technology self-efficacy and new technology adoption. We propose that trust in technology can increase technological self-efficacy and further facilitate employees' new technology adoption. In study 4, we examine the contextual effects of industries' backgrounds and organizational cultures. We suggest that in high-tech industries, trust in technology could have a greater effect on employees' adoption of new technology. In addition, organizational culture could moderate the effects of trust. In particular, collectivistic organizational culture could moderate the effects of trust in leadership, while individualistic organizational culture could moderate the effects of trust in technology.
    Overall, the current research constructs a theoretical model and extends our understanding of employees' adoption of new technology. First, it investigates factors that affect new technology adoption from the employees' perspective with consideration of both individual and contextual factors. We propose employees' technological self-efficacy as individual differences and organizational culture and industry background as contextual factors that equally matters. Second, the current study clearly identifies trust in new technological adoption processes in organizations, as both trust in technology and trust in leadership. We further analyze the effects of the two types of trust and the underlying mechanisms. This enriches the literature of the influence of trust and its mechanism in new technology adoption. Third, we suggest that technological self-efficacy can explain the mechanism of trust in technology, which could lay the foundation for future research of trust in technology. Lastly, this study has managerial implications. Based on our findings, effective management strategies can be implemented to support new technologies integration.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Do positive stereotypes have a negative impact?
    WANG Zhen, GUAN Jian
    Advances in Psychological Science    2021, 29 (9): 1657-1668.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2021.01657
    Abstract213)           
    Positive stereotypes are defined as positive traits describing social groups. Previous research on stereotypes has mainly focused on negative stereotypes while overlooking positive stereotypes, especially their negative effects. Here, we will discuss positive and negative effects of positive stereotypes from racial, gender and aging stereotypes and conditions for their emergence and further future research
    The positive effects of positive stereotypes are mainly evinced through the stereotype boost. For example, activation of positive racial stereotypes, positive gender stereotypes and positive aging stereotypes has a positive effect on targets' minds and behaviors. The negative effects of positive stereotypes on targets' behaviors and cognition are caused by the choking under pressure effect and compensation effect of social cognition, respectively. For example, targets with positive racial stereotypes have negative attitudes and evaluations towards the stereotyper. Targets are prone to underperform in stereotyped domains in positive gender stereotypes situation. As for positive aging stereotypes, the mental and psychical health of targets can be adversely affected. Generally, positive stereotypes still induce negative effect similar to negative stereotypes in certain conditions, although having the positive side.
    The effects (positive or negative) of positive stereotypes depend on the following four moderators: (1) Activation of positive stereotypes. Compared with the subtle activation of positive stereotypes, blatantly activating positive stereotypes easily cause the “choking under pressure” of targets and their sense of being depersonalized, finally resulting in a negative impact. (2) Accuracy of expressing positive stereotypes. Compared with accurately expressing positive stereotypes, the one who states positive stereotypes in an extreme way tends to generate the feeling of untruth, resulting in conflicted response of targets. (3) Individuals who state positive stereotypes. Compared with an ingroup member, positive stereotypes stated by an outgroup member easily cause the prejudice by targets, which then result in targets' negative attitudes and evaluations towards the stereotyper. (4) Culture context of positive stereotypes. Compared with collectivistic culture, positive stereotypes in individualistic culture are prone to have a sense of being depersonalized and be thread.
    Further research on positive stereotypes can be discussed from the following aspects: (1) Exploration of effects of positive stereotypes in collectivistic culture. For example, China is the representative country of collectivistic cultures which emphasize “fundamental connectedness of human beings to each other”, and positive stereotypes as positive beliefs about members of social groups based on the category membership. Therefore, the Chinese feel less depersonalized when the stereotyper describe them in ways related positive stereotypes. (2) Exploration of positive stereotypes from research fields and targets, such as fields of sexual orientation and academic discipline. Academic discipline stereotypes deem that science students are superior to arts students in science, and arts students are superior to science students in arts. As a result, male science students may underperform on the science test and female arts students may underperform on the arts test when priming their major and gender identities simultaneously, due to the feeling of untruth present when activating two positive stereotypes. In addition, researchers can explore positive stereotypes of children as there are no stereotype awareness of children under 7 ages. That is one of the prerequisites for positive stereotypes having influence on targets. (3) Exploration of interventions of negative effects reduced by positive stereotypes. By far there is no research on the interventions of negative effects of positive stereotypes. However, it is not hard to assume that would be difficult to reduce the negative effects of positive stereotypes because of the complimentary nature of positive stereotypes. (4) Exploration of positive effects of negative stereotypes. Based on our knowledge, only two studies have found that negative stereotypes have positive consequences. Once more empirical evidence to support the findings can be confirmed, this would play a significant role in the domain of stereotype research, especially for the interventions of negative effects of stereotypes.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Moral foreign language effect and its moderating variables: A systematic review and meta-analysis
    ZHU Lin, LIU Jinru, LI Jing, LIU Conghui
    Advances in Psychological Science    2022, 30 (1): 32-50.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2022.00032
    Abstract202)           
    Individual decisions in the field of moral judgement are often related to "hurting or sacrificing the innocent" and "tolerating immoral behaviors." Previous studies have shown that when presented with the moral decision-making situation within a foreign language context, the individuals will show a stronger utilitarian and a more tolerant moral evaluation tendency compared with the same situation within the native language context. This phenomenon is defined as the moral foreign language effect. The influence of the language context on the moral judgement has been investigated by numerous studies. However, the results were far from consistent. To this end, we used meta-analysis to explore the effect of the language type (native language vs. foreign language) on the individuals' utilitarian tendency in moral judgments, and we analyzed several moderating variables.
    A total of 19 papers were retrieved from literature, with 46 independent samples, 97 effect sizes and 9672 participants that met the inclusion criteria of the meta-analysis. First, we analyzed the effect of the language type (native language vs. foreign language) on the utilitarian tendency in moral judgments using the ‘metafor' R package. Next, the potential moderation effects of several factors were examined, including the moral dilemmas story type (personal moral dilemmas vs. impersonal moral dilemmas vs. daily moral evaluation situations), sex, scoring method (two-point scoring vs. multi-point scoring) and language family type (same vs. different). In addition, we used Bayesian factor estimation for secondary exploration of the results that had a nonsignificant moderating effect.
    Our meta-analysis resulted in the following findings. First, the main effect test indicated that the language type has a significant effect on the utilitarian tendency in moral judgment, with a small but stable moral foreign language effect (g = 0.23). Second, the moderation analysis indicated that the moral foreign language effect was influenced by the story type; there was a small but stable effect of the language type for personal moral dilemmas (g = 0.32), but not for impersonal moral dilemmas (g = 0.11) or daily moral evaluation situations (g = 0.12). The foreign language effect under impersonal moral dilemmas was affected by the scoring method; a significant effect was found under multi-point scoring (g = 0.27), but not under two-point scoring (g = 0.05). On the other hand, there was no significant moderating effect for the sex or language family type. In addition, Bayesian analysis showed only moderate evidence for the absence of moderating effect regarding the factors of sex, scoring methods and language family type. The stability of these conclusions can be further verified in future research.
    In summary, this study used meta-analysis to systematically explore the robustness and influencing factors of foreign language effects in moral judgment and answered the disputes about the stability of the moral foreign language effect. The results showed a small but relatively stable effect of the language type on the utilitarian orientation in moral judgment. We analyzed the moderating effects of multiple variables, including variables that have not been well-considered in previous studies, such as the scoring methods (two-point scoring vs. multi-point scoring). Our work did not only find the moderating effect of the type of moral dilemmas, but it also revealed the potential impact of the scoring method on the effect size. This provides certain enlightenment and guidance for future empirical studies when selecting the experimental materials and statistical methods. Finally, we used a variety of data processing methods to increase the robustness of the results. For example, robust variance estimation (RVE) was used to control the correlations between dependent effect sizes and compare our results with those of traditional meta-analysis, so as to understand how the results of the meta-analysis are influenced by the correlations between multiple dependent effect sizes.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    The structural and functional changes of the insula in people with addiction
    HE Xinyu, HE Qinghua
    Advances in Psychological Science    2021, 29 (8): 1438-1449.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2021.01438
    Abstract192)           
    Located deep in the lateral sulcus, the insula is associated with a variety of psychological functions such as emotions and interoception. As an important nerve center of the interoception, the insula plays a critical role in the formation, maintenance, withdrawal and relapse of addiction.
    The function and structure of the insula show distinctive heterogeneity and anterior-posterior distribution. The differentiation of the anterior and posterior insula is mainly reflected in the posterior insula being more responsible for perceptual activities such as sensory motor, pain and language processing, while the anterior insula is more involved in cognitive and executive functions.
    In addicted individuals, the structure of the insula has changed, most of the findings point to a decrease in the volume and density of the insula gray matter, and this change is correlates with the length of time the addictive substance was used. Addiction has also led to changes in salience network function and connectivity between insula and executive function areas. In various types of addiction, the insula-centric network function and its functional connection are generally weakened.
    Therefore, how stimulations in the insula could lead to changes in addictive behaviors becomes the focus of ongoing research. A large number of studies have shown that insula is a highly promising target area for intervention in addiction. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) are both effective methods of brain stimulation. Currently, published human experience with DBS for drug addiction is limited to a few promising case series or case reports, and further animal and human studies are needed to determine the role of DBS in drug addiction treatment. High-frequency rTMs targeting insula regions have been beneficial for craving associated with nicotine use disorder, but the available evidence does not adequately support the effectiveness of rTMs in the treatment of alcoholism. In terms of behavioral addiction, although there are no stimulation studies that target the insula, it is worthwhile to explore the cognitive and neurophysiological characteristics unique to behavioral addiction, and to establish separate brain stimulation methods targeting the areas related to behavioral addiction. Brain stimulation technology is progressing, which also allows researchers to use the insula as the direction of treatment of addiction, to provide promising treatment results for addicts.
    Although most studies have shown a decrease in the volume and density of the insula gray matter and the function of the network centered on the insula and its functional connections were generally weakened, some studies have shown the opposite conclusion. On the one hand, the contradictory results of the insula may be related to the functional and structural heterogeneity of the insula itself, the different sub-regions of the insula have different functions and participate in different functional networks, and some of the above conclusions do not distinguish the sub-regions of the insula. On the other hand, the insula is a typical region with dynamic functional changes, and changes in the interoceptive state (such as whether the patient is in a state of withdrawal or craving) are critical to the functional response of the insula. In addition, the commonalities and characteristics of different addictions also need to be considered. A large number of studies have shown that long-term adaptive changes in the nervous system under the action of addictive drugs are the basis for the formation of substance addiction behavior. Compared with the addictive behavior of substance dependence, behavioral addiction is not affected by any intake of substances, so the formation of its dependence state is mainly due to psychological mechanisms. Even different substance addictions have different characteristics. Therefore, future research should further investigate the specific role of insula in addiction through fine segmentation and a combination of multiple methods, and explore the commonalities and characteristics of different types of addiction in order to better carry out brain-based addiction intervention.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Intensive longitudinal data analysis: Models and application
    ZHENG Shufang, ZHANG Lijin, QIAO Xinyu, PAN Junhao
    Advances in Psychological Science    2021, 29 (11): 1948-1969.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2021.01948
    Abstract180)           
    In the fields of psychology, education, and clinical science, researchers have devoted increasing attention to the intraindividual dynamics of behaviors, minds, and treatment effects over time, making personalized modeling a growing concern. Traditional cross-sectional and longitudinal studies only have a few measurement time points for each individual, which is not suitable for studying intraindividual dynamics. Intensive longitudinal design collects a set of measures from individuals at multiple time points with higher frequency over longer periods. With its strengths in more immediate, accurate, and authentic assessments, this design is more suitable to investigate the dynamics and mechanisms of intraindividual processes. With the development of mobile phones and other mobile devices, researchers can conveniently collect intensive longitudinal data for various aspects of psychology, including individual emotion, personality, cognition, and behavior patterns.
    The intensive longitudinal design has recently become one of the most prominent and promising approaches in psychological research, but most of these studies still relied on traditional analyzing methods. We first reviewed a conventional method of intensive longitudinal data analysis, the multilevel linear model (MLM), and discussed its limitations in analyzing intensive longitudinal data. We then introduced the principles, empirical applications, strengths, and weaknesses of two advanced modeling methods, dynamic structural equation model (DSEM) and group iterative multiple model estimation (GIMME). DSEM is a top-down approach of modeling intensive longitudinal data while GIMME is a bottom-up one, both being implemented in commonly used software. DSEM is one of the most promising methods for intensive longitudinal modeling and can be regarded as a multilevel extension of the dynamic factor model (DFM). It combines the strengths of various modeling approaches, including multilevel modeling, time-series modeling, structural equational model (SEM), and time-varying effects modeling (TVEM). GIMME is a dynamic network method initially proposed for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data analysis and has recently been applied to intensive longitudinal data analysis. It combines individual- and group-level information to estimate network models at both levels, bridging nomothetic (population) and idiographic (individual) approaches to intensive longitudinal data analysis. By introducing these two advanced modeling methods, the current review can help deepen the understanding of the top-down approach and bottom-up approach and clarify their strengths and weaknesses in the intensive longitudinal data analysis.
    To help empirical researchers better understand the modeling of DSEM and GIMME and show the advantages of the two models compared with MLM, we provided a tutorial on how to analyze the intensive longitudinal data with the three models (i.e., MLM, DSEM, and GIMME), respectively. We presented the analyzing processes step by step and explained how to interpret the results of these models accordingly. By comparing the output results of the three models, the current review summarized the characteristics of each model. The corresponding Mplus and R codes were provided in the appendixes.
    Along with the three modeling methods mainly introduced in the current review, we also provided a general introduction of other common modeling methods in the intensive longitudinal data analysis. The current review summarized the popular models in the intensive longitudinal data analysis on their strengths and weaknesses and guided researchers to select suitable modeling methods in different situations. The current review contributes to the development and application of the advanced methods of intensive longitudinal data analysis and helps researchers better understand the dynamic process behind the intensive longitudinal data.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Less is more: A theoretical interpretation of minimalism in consumption
    CHEN Siyun, WEI Haiying, XIONG Jiwei, RAN Yaxuan
    Advances in Psychological Science    2021, 29 (11): 2043-2061.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2021.02043
    Abstract170)           
    Minimalism refers to a lifestyle that ?seeks satisfaction in a non-material world by reducing consumption. Given the increasing popularity of minimalistic consumption (i.e., voluntary simplicity), it is necessary to understand minimalism more comprehensively. First, we provide a ?categorization scheme related voluntary simplicity, including its conception, dimensions, and measurements. Characterized by a minimal, simple, and responsible lifestyle, minimalism can be defined as the degree to which consumers select a lifestyle to minimalize their consumption and to take control of their life. The practice of simplified living typically entails ?minimizing possessions, consuming less, and valuing personal growth.
    Then, factors that influence minimalistic consumption are presented. The reasons for individuals to adopt simplifying behaviors are manifold. That is, motivations for engaging minimalistic consumption are multifaceted and complicated, including both internal (i.e., personal, financial, lifestyle) and external (i.e., economic, social, environmental) motivations. In addition to consumers who curtail their consumption due to financial restraints, there are consumers who consciously consume, although they are financially well off. The rejection of the concept that one's success is determined by his/her material goods (i.e., materialism) has prompted ?interest in minimalistic consumption. In addition, some simplifiers (i.e., minimalistic consumers) are driven by motives of environmental sustainability. That is, when consumers give greater consideration to the natural environment and ecological system, they may engage in voluntary simplicity to live both well and sustainably. Furthermore, people can lead an independent and self-determined life through minimalistic consumption; therefore, a desire to achieve an autonomous life is an important antecedent of minimalistic consumption. Moreover, philosophical motivation (i.e., religious belief) is another factor driving minimalism in consumption.
    Moving forward, the potential impacts of minimalistic behavior are shown. Minimalism has a positive influence on individual, societal and environmental wellbeing. Adopting low consumption helps expand mental space, resulting in a feeling of lightness, relaxation, and clarity. A minimalistic lifestyle facilitates individuals' positive emotions while reducing their negative emotions such as depression. Consumers can also reduce their dependence on the market offerings by curtailing the overall consumption, in search of a simpler but happier life. Additionally, minimalistic practices offer ?several wellbeing benefits such as meaning and happiness. In addition, a minimalistic lifestyle can improve harmony in communities, as it can help build more connections with others in society. By sharing skills, donating to charities or giving back to the community, simplifiers can experience a sense of community and closeness to others, thus enhancing communal well-being. More importantly, most literature notes that this lifestyle is positively associated with environmental and ecological wellbeing. With a strong ecological awareness, consumers tend to protect the environment through a variety of practices, such as decreasing carbon emissions, ?avoiding excess packaging, and preserving resources and habitats. Collectively, we categorize antecedents of minimalistic consumption into four types (i.e., demographic, psychological, situational, religious factors). We also summarize the effects of minimalistic consumption in the previous research, such as enhancing happiness and sense of meaning.
    In order to understand voluntary simplicity, four theories (i.e., theory of basic values, self-determination theory; hierarchical theory of needs; ?self-regulation theory) were introduced. By combining these theories, we shed a novel light on understanding the forming process of minimalistic consumption. Specifically, in self-observation stages, individuals generate self-directed values. Based on these values, consumers make judgments whether their needs are satisfied. Lastly, in the self-reaction phase, consumers adopt the results of these judgments, and they evaluate achieve autonomy, competence and relevance from the self-determination theory. Given the important role of minimalistic consumption in the contemporary marketplace, it is essential for both marketers and scholars to know more details in simplifying practices. Several directions (e.g., developing valid measurements, taking cultural differences into account, identifying boundary conditions) for future research are discussed.
    Related Articles | Metrics
    The teaching and learning brains: Interpersonal neuroscience in educational research
    CHENG Xiaojun, LIU Meihuan, PAN Yafeng, LI Hong
    Advances in Psychological Science    2021, 29 (11): 1993-2001.   DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2021.01993
    Abstract162)           
    One significant challenge that currently limits the development of educational neuroscience is the way to neurophysiologically characterize interpersonal interactions and dynamics of pedagogical activities. Addressing this challenge in the literature, we aim to provide a perspective on the research emerging in the nexus between the fields of interpersonal neuroscience (i.e., the measurement of two or more individuals' brain activity and the analysis of their inter-dependency), teaching and learning. Our review will highlight important recent developments and target outstanding questions that have so far not been addressed, and offer a novel synthesized framework for a better understanding of both the transmission of information between individual brains, and how such interactions shape memories and behavior. The interpersonal neuroscience focuses on the associations among two or more people when they perform the same cognitive activity. There are two different types of scanning in interpersonal neuroscience research: sequential scanning and hyperscanning. In a sequential scanning protocol, a stimulus is first shown to a subject A (e.g., a teacher), whose responses are recorded and later presented to another subject B (e.g., a student). The responses from subject B are also recorded and compared with those of subject A. Research using sequential scanning examines the group's processing mode of information and the transmission of such information between people. The concurrent scanning (also known as “hyperscanning”) captures the brain activity of interacting individuals simultaneously. In hyperscanning studies, a student acquires information by interacting with another individual (another student or a teacher). Related studies focus on the interaction patterns of multiple individuals in naturalistic situations. Compared with sequential scanning, hyperscanning is thought to have higher ecological validity and can be applied in real-time one-to-one and one-to-many teaching scenarios.++=Recent years have witnessed fruitful applications of interpersonal neuroscience in the field of education. It has been demonstrated that teaching activities can induce the synchronization of brain activity (i.e., interpersonal brain synchronization, IBS) between interacting individuals (such as teacher-student dyads and student-student dyads) with different task scenarios and materials. IBS may reflect the quantity and quality of teacher-student/student-student interaction. The characteristics of IBS in the teaching process are closely associated with the dynamic nature of the teaching process and the teacher-student relationship. Also, the inter-student correlation of brain activity can reflect their cognitive states (such as engagement and attention, etc.) during the learning process. Therefore, the interpersonal neuroscience perspective can help researchers better understand the teaching process. Interpersonal neuroscience can provide valuable insights for monitoring the teaching process, predicting the teaching effect, and capturing the factors that may affect the teaching activities.
    The research findings of interpersonal neuroscience in the field of education have important implications for teaching activities and research. The related neural indices can help teachers select teaching materials, establish and maintain a good teacher-student relationship, and attach importance to the role of interaction in teaching activities. According to the current findings of the application of interpersonal neuroscience in education, the correlation or synchronization between brain activity can be used as a predictor of attention engagement and learning outcomes. Future research is needed to improve the quality of online courses by applying the methods of interpersonal neuroscience to monitor the interactive learning characteristics of students with different learning ability levels, improve the quality of teaching activities of skills, track the dynamic changes of students' engagement in online course learning and evaluate the quality of online courses. We believe that our perspective will have a broad impact in fields, such as psychology, pedagogics, and neuroscience, in particular those targeting social behavior and teaching/learning settings. Our perspective will also be of interest to researchers working across species and in the clinic.
    Related Articles | Metrics