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ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R

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    Special Column for Decision-making Psychology
    An Analysis of Wage Gap and Turnover Decisions Based on Tri-Reference Point Theory
    XIONG Guanxing; LI Aimei; WANG X. T.
    2014, 22 (9):  1363-1371.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01363
    Abstract ( 700 )  

    Turnover is an important issue in the organizational management research, but few studies study it in the framework of risky choice. In this paper, we view turnover as a risky choice and explore the relationship between subjective wage gap and turnover intention on the basis of Tri-reference Point (TRP) theory. Our theoretical analysis and pilot study found that: (1) the perceived salary gap between the salary status quo (SQ) and the minimum salary requirement (MR) of an employee predicts turnover intention negatively, and the salary gap between the desired salary goal (G) and the status quo salary predicts turnover intention positively. (2) Based on the MR > G > SQ psychological impact priority order of the TRP theory, we derived a nonlinear function relationship with double inflection points between the salary gaps (e.g., distance between SQ salary and G salary, or between MR and SQ salaries) and turnover intention. (3) As a horizontal comparison reference, the peer income distributions of similar companies play an anchoring role in the relationship between salary gaps and turnover intention.(4) As a vertical comparison reference, the salary distribution within organization has a moderating effect on the settings of salary reference points of MR, and G and thus turnover intention. Regarding turnover decision as a risky choice, not only has significance for the development of turnover theory and decision theory, but also provides guidance and insights for the human resource management practice.

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    Conceptual Framework
    Automatic and Controlled Processing of Facial Expressions in the Aging Brain
    CHEN Wenfeng; TANG Wei; JI Luyan; TONG Ke; XUAN Yuming; FU Xiaolan
    2014, 22 (9):  1372-1382.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01372
    Abstract ( 541 )  

    Research on emotional aging has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. However, the field lacks a unified account of the phenomenon. From the perspective of interaction between emotion and cognition, this study intends to investigate effects of automatic and controlled processing of emotional aging. Combining behavioral, ERP and fMRI methods, this study will examine behavioral and neural correlates of these factors, as well as individual differences under these conditions. The research aims to provide empirical data for modeling, and to shed light on the cognitive and neural mechanisms of emotional aging.

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    Regular Articles
    The Category-based Grouping Effect in Multiple Identity Tracking
    WEI Liuqing; ZHANG Xuemin
    2014, 22 (9):  1383-1392.  doi: DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01383
    Abstract ( 325 )  

    The Multiple Identity Tracking (MIT) requires participants to track and report both the targets and their identities. The MIT was developed from the Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) task, except that the target and non-target may be tracked and organized into one group when they have similar identities in the MIT. According to the Grouping Theory (Yantis, 1992), the tracking targets’ initial formation and their location-based perceptual grouping influences the tracking performance of MOT. However, the tracking objects were usually processed and categorized based on the targets and nontargets’ identity similarity. The present article reviewed the relevant theories and hypothesis of location-based perceptual grouping in MOT and feature-based grouping in MIT. Then, we proposed the category-based grouping hypothesis which assumes that category-related information also helps the grouping in the MIT task. Several experiments have been proposed to examine the category-based grouping in the MIT task.

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    The Neural Mechanism of Negative Bias
    ZHU Yongze; MAO Weibin; WANG Rui
    2014, 22 (9):  1393-1403.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01393
    Abstract ( 521 )  

    Negative information compared to other types of information can receive priority attention and processing, which is called negative bias. The present paper had mainly introduced the neural mechanism of negative attention and memory bias. Negative attention bias is not only an automatic process, but also a controlled process. Amygdale moderated automatic processing of early negative bias and orbit-frontal cortex controlled the top-down processing. Negative memory bias not only displayed in deeper encoding of negative information, but also reflected in negative information recognition standard reduction. In the future, we should study cortical-cortical connections, gene, expand and intervention of negative bias.

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    Infants and Toddlers’ Understanding of Sharing Characteristics in Cooperative Activities
    XU Xiaohui; LI Jing; ZHU Liqi
    2014, 22 (9):  1404-1412.  doi: DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01404
    Abstract ( 490 )  

    The sharing characteristics of cooperative activities include cooperative partners responding to each other’s actions and intentions, modifying one’s behavior according to the partner’s actions, acknowledging one’s own and others’ goals as well as the joint goals, recognizing the obligations of the partner and providing support if needed, and simultaneously conceptualizing both their own roles and perspectives along with those of others. Furthermore, individuals are inclined to share the cooperation outcomes equally, which is also a key characteristic of cooperative activities. Infants and toddlers are able to understand the sharing characteristics of cooperative activities. For example, they could form shared intentions and joint goals with partners; when the partners have difficulties in accomplishing their roles, they could offer help actively; they could understand their own and the partner’s roles and integrate them into a shared representation; they also tend to distribute the resources equally after cooperation. The current paper proposes future directions in researches on the characteristics of cooperative activities, the characteristics of cooperative partners, the role of emotion and language in infants and toddlers’ cooperation, and also research methods and instruments.

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    Personal Growth Initiative: Concept, Measurement, and the Influence
    SUN Dengyong; WANG Qian; WANG Mei; MAN Congying
    2014, 22 (9):  1413-1422.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01413
    Abstract ( 878 )  

    Personal Growth Initiative (PGI) refers to the cognitive and behavioral tendencies of engaging in active and intentional personal growth. PGI has been conceptualized into four relatively independent dimensions: readiness for change, planfulness, using resources, and intentional behaviors. Studies have revealed that PGI is determined by personality and family functions, and in turn have great implications for mental health and vocational identity. More efforts should be devoted to address the conceptualization, methodological issues, and predictors of PGI in Chinese cultural context.

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    Gender Differences of Empathy
    CHEN Wuying; LU Jiamei; LIU Lianqi; LIN Wenyi
    2014, 22 (9):  1423-1434.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01423
    Abstract ( 4563 )  

    This review provides a brief introduction to the research of empathy, focusing on the differences of genders and the reason why there are such differences. Empathy is defined as the propensity of “share and understand other’s feelings during interpersonal interaction”, which includes cognitive empathy and emotional empathy. Empathy has no gender differences in the preschool stage. During the stage of primary and secondary school, gender differences can be found. The gender differences of empathy are related to two main factors. One factor is the degree of physiological maturity. As we grow older, hormone are different between female and male. Female have more oxytocin, which is positive to emotional empathy. While male have more testosterone, which is negative related to cognitive empathy. Consequently, gender differences of empathy begin to appear. The other factor is the gender role. The orientation of woman’s gender role is focusing on others, which is directly related to empathy. However, the orientation of man’s gender role is focusing on justice and equity, which has no relation to empathy. After acquiring the gender role, man and woman have differences in empathy and especially in emotional empathy. Although much progress has been made in the field of differences of empathy development, much work should be done in the future. On the theory construction, we can try to distinguish empathy by the dimension of capacity and disposition. On the visual angle, we can study gender differences of empathy through the interaction of age, culture and gender. Lastly, we should empathize the influencing factors of empathy in our research.

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    Mind Wandering: Theoretical Hypotheses, Influential Factors and Neural Mechanisms
    CHENG Kai; CAO Guikang
    2014, 22 (9):  1435-1445.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01435
    Abstract ( 826 )  

    Focusing on the question of why our minds wander, this paper first introduces two theoretical hypotheses of mind wandering: the decoupling hypothesis and the executive-control failure hypothesis. Afterwards we discuss the factors that may influence mind wandering and the neural mechanisms of mind wandering. Lastly, we propose something we should do in future studies: focus on the potential functions of mind wandering to develop theoretical hypotheses; integrate factors that may influence mind wandering into a model that can help us to better understand the comprehensive impacts of these factors; use a simultaneous EEG-fMRI technique to more accurately explore the neural mechanisms of mind wandering. In addition, research into specific groups’ mind wandering and cross-cultural research of mind wandering are also needed.

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    Circadian Typology and Mental Health
    SONG Jingjing; ZHENG Yong
    2014, 22 (9):  1446-1455.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01446
    Abstract ( 567 )  

    Circadian rhythmic expression differs among individuals and can be classified by circadian typology, which can be classified as morningness (go to bed early and wake up early), eveningness (like to stay up late at night and wake up late), and neither type. Studies have shown that eveningness may be associated with mood disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and eating disorders. Genetics, social jetlag (i.e., the misalignment between social and biological time) and personality traits can, to some extent, explain the relationship between circadian typology and mental health. Future research should emphasize improving study design and measurement methods to explore the mechanisms behind this relationship in greater depth, and strengthening localization research on the relationship between circadian typology and mental health.

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    Callous Unemotional Trait: A Personality Disposition Vulnerable to Violent Crimes
    XIAO Yuqin; ZHANG Zhuo; SONG Ping; YANG Bo
    2014, 22 (9):  1456-1466.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01456
    Abstract ( 1014 )  

    Callous-unemotional (CU) trait is a personality disposition which exhibits callous use of others, lack of guilt, absence of empathy. CU is a predictive factor of aggressive antisocial behavior and even violent criminal behavior in youth and adult people. CU trait is associated with emotional impairment such as negative emotional processing deficits and absence of empathy, and cognitive problems such as reward-oriented behavior and punishment insensitivity. Biologically, individuals with CU trait show low arousing level, low cortisol, abnormal reaction of amygdala and ventral medial prefrontal cortex. Further researches is needed to revise and develop local CU traits scales, investigate the gender difference of CU trait, explore the association of CU traits with other mental disorders such as oppositional defiant disorder, and provide evidence for violent criminal corrections.

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    The Relationship between Warmth and Competence in Social Cognition
    ZUO Bin; DAI Taotao; WEN Fangfang; TENG Tingting
    2014, 22 (9):  1467-1474.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01467
    Abstract ( 735 )  

    The two fundamental dimensions of social cognition are warmth and competence. The special relationship between warmth and competence may be a positive relationship suggested by halo effect, or a negative relationship suggested by compensation effect and innuendo effect, or an orthogonal relationship affected by many factors. The perceiver factors, the characteristics of target, the relationship between perceiver and target as well as the external environment could influence the relationship between warmth and competence. The internal mechanism of different type of relationships is unclear in current study, which is the root cause of the dispute. In order to slove this dispute, we should further discussed the internal mechanism of warmth and competence in the future, take more cross-cultural comparison study, and further explore the influence factors of the relationship to build a relationship model of warmth and competence.

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    Social Dilemmas: Theoretical Framework and Experimental Research
    LIU Changjiang; HAO Fang
    2014, 22 (9):  1475-1484.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01475
    Abstract ( 615 )  

    Social dilemmas are situations in which individual rationality leads to collective irrationality. Advances in research for social dilemmas require a new kind of micro–meso–macro framework for understanding already existing theories. Based on these different theories, experimental research uses games as tasks to investigate basic psychological processes or to study the structural or environmental factors that influence individuals’ behavioral choice in social dilemmas, and thus develops corresponding solutions to social dilemmas. Development of theory, improvement of experimental tasks, and experimental external validity all indicate prospects for future social dilemmas research via experimental methods.

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    Opposite-Sex Friendship from Multiple Perspectives
    WU Baopei; WU Jing; HE Xiaona; LI Lu
    2014, 22 (9):  1485-1495.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01485
    Abstract ( 1204 )  

    Opposite-sex friendship plays a crucial role in social interactions because individuals inevitably interact with either the same-sex or the opposite-sex friends in their ordinary life. However, research on friendship usually neglects the distinctive features between the same-sex and the opposite-sex friendships, and pays few attention to opposite-sex friendship specifically. The current review attempts to summarize studies on opposite-sex friendship from multiple domains and propose potential routes for future explorations. Among the limited investigations, developmental and social psychologists have examined the characteristics, consequences, and maintenance of opposite-sex friendship. Opposite-sex friends can exert negative influences on social adaptation of adolescents and college students, although the phenomena can also be shaped by cultures. Evolutionary psychologists propose three potential functions of opposite-sex friendship: 1) helping individuals to seek a long-term mate; 2) or short-term mates; and 3) providing trustworthy information about mating. These assertions have been confirmed by a few empirical studies, though many more studies are needed. The future research on opposite-sex friendship can be benefited from the following endeavors: 1) paying attention to new theories of friendship; 2) addressing the opposite-sex friendship in different life stages; and 3) considering individual differences such as sociosexuality orientation, the Dark Triad personality, and mating intelligence.

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    Pointing Gestures: Evidence from Animal Communication System
    LI Heng
    2014, 22 (9):  1496-1503.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01496
    Abstract ( 468 )  

    Pointing gestures are usually defined as the manual movements pointing to an object or location. Whether Pointing gestures are unique to human communication system is a question of intense psychological research. A comprehensive review of the main theories and related debates suggests that animals may not only have the ability to use pointing gestures, but also can interpret the social cognitive intentionality behind pointing gestures. We conclude that future researches on pointing gestures should integrate psychology, linguistics, biology and other multidisciplinary integration. We also offer suggestions for overcoming the drawbacks of research samples, experiment task and research method.

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    The Effects, Moderators and Mechanism of Emotional Labor
    LIAO Huahua; YAN Aimin
    2014, 22 (9):  1504-1512.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01504
    Abstract ( 691 )  

    Emotional labor refers to the process that employees’ follow specific organizational rules and regulate their emotions when interacting with customers in the work place. It has been suggested that emotional labor has significant impact, both positive and negative, on a series of outcome variables in organizational settings, targeting employees, customers and organizations. Some variables concerning the characteristics of employees, customers and jobs moderate the relationship between emotional labor and the outcomes. Conversation of Resources theory provides a powerful theoretical explanation for the mechanism of emotional labor. The integration of immediate, short-term and long-term effects, emotional labor targeting internal customers and the impact of organizational climate are the three topics that deserve special attention in future research.

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    Consumption as Psychological Compensation: A Review of Compensatory Consumption
    ZHENG Xiaoying; PENG Siqing
    2014, 22 (9):  1513-1520.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.01513
    Abstract ( 3681 )  

    Compensatory consumption refers to the consumption behavior which aims at coping with psychological deficit or threat. A core theme of consumer behavior research is that people consume product or service not only for its functionality, but also for its signaling value. As an important self concept management strategy, consumption is often used to address self threat symbolically. Compensatory mechanism can help in understanding various irrational consumer behaviors. Self esteem threat, lack of control and lack of belong are the three major motivating forces which drive compensatory consumption. Future research can further address the following questions: 1) distinguish different types of compensatory consumption behavior, 2) evaluate the effectiveness of consumption as self repair tool, 3) explore alternative compensation means other than consumption, and investigate the relation between consumption compensation and other compensations, 4) look into the characteristics and mechanism of compensatory consumption within Chinese socio-cultural context.

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