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ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R
主办:中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

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    Conceptual Framework
    The effects of gender nonconformity on adolescent peer evaluation and related dynamics
    WEN Fangfang, KE Wenlin, FANG Zeming, WANG Yang, LEI Yatian, ZUO Bin
    2023, 31 (8):  1331-1341.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2023.01331
    Abstract ( 3167 )   HTML ( 154 )  
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    Inherent gender is an important dimension of self-identity and social categorization, and has a huge impact on individual psychology, interpersonal relationships, intergroup behaviors and social development. Gender stereotypes, gender socialization and gender attitudes have been stable themes in disciplines, such as social psychology, developmental and educational psychology and sociology. Gender is the core component of the self-concept and an important dimension of social categorization. Gender Nonconformity is a psychological phenomenon in which individuals display gender norms that do not correspond or are inconsistent with their birth sex. In recent years, the phenomenon of Gender Nonconformity has become increasingly prominent among adolescents, and previous studies have shown that Gender Nonconformity adolescents face challenges in social adjustment such as peer relationships. Although some research paradigms and theoretical findings have been accumulated in the area of Gender Nonconformity and related areas, there are still limitations. Although some research paradigms and theoretical findings have been accumulated in the area of Gender Nonconformity and related areas, there are still limitations. Firstly, previous studies have mainly adopted the traditional binary approach of gender conformity and non-conformity; secondly, there is a lack of cognitive-motivational pathways to examine the prototypical matching and avoidance intentions of Gender Nonconformity in influencing adolescents' peer evaluations; thirdly, previous studies have mainly adopted a static perspective on gender-biased peer evaluations, ignoring the dynamic processes of gender-biased generation and evolution. To address these limitations, this study will break through the gender binary category and explain the psychological mechanisms of static effects and dynamic changes of Gender Nonconformity on peer evaluation from the perspective of the relationship between basic attributes and gender attributes, and provide possible interventions to change the negative peer evaluation of Gender Nonconformity individuals. The specific aims of the study include: firstly, to develop and provide neurophysiological evidence for the basic attributes of Gender Nonconformity; secondly, to reveal the cognitive-motivational dual-path mechanism of prototype matching and avoidance intention in the process of Gender Nonconformity influencing peer evaluation; and thirdly, to explore the dynamic evolutionary mechanism of Gender Nonconformity influencing peer evaluation.

    Focusing on the above three research aims, this study systematically examines the influence of Gender Nonconformity on peer evaluation and its evolutionary psychological mechanisms according to a progressive research hierarchy of "realization layer - algorithmic layer - computational layer". The study includes three aspects. (1) A polymorphic refinement examines the effects of Gender Nonconformity on peer evaluation, constructs a view of the underlying attributes of Gender Nonconformity and provides behavioral and neurophysiological evidence of the layers of realization. (2) A dual cognitive-motivational pathway mechanism for Gender Nonconformity to influence peer evaluation is revealed at the algorithmic level. The social cognitive paradigm is used to explore the cognitive activation of "prototype matching" and the motivational activation of "intention to avoid" in the process of Gender Nonconformity influencing peer evaluation through questionnaires, behavioral experiments and situational experiments. (3) Exploring the dynamic evolutionary mechanisms of Gender Nonconformity in peer evaluation from the abstract computational level. Using reinforcement learning paradigms, computational modelling, implicit measurement, contextual experiments and live experiments, the prototype formation process of Gender Nonconformity peer evaluations is simulated using reinforcement learning models based on a dual pathway of cognition and motivation to explore the dynamic evolutionary mechanisms of gender-biased peer evaluations and possible intervention pathways for negative peer evaluations of gender-biased individuals. The findings of this study can provide some managerial and educational insights into the effective promotion of youth gender development, peer relationships and mental health based on a gender perspective.

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    Revisiting family motivation from the actor versus observer perspectives
    MENG Liang, LI Dandan
    2023, 31 (8):  1342-1358.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2023.01342
    Abstract ( 1119 )   HTML ( 37 )  
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    Family motivation describes the desire to expend effort to support one’s family. After its proposal, the construct of family motivation has promoted the progress of work motivation research and provided a new perspective for insights into employees' work behaviors. Existing research mainly emphasizes the prosocial nature of family motivation, while largely ignored its work motivation nature. Although some scholars have indicated that family motivation is a special type of extrinsic work motivation, their research has limitations in scope because of their narrow focus on employees with more controlled forms of family motivation under high family financial pressure. In fact, individuals could experience more autonomous forms of family motivation when they identify with the responsibility of raising the family or even integrate it into their own value system. In other words, individuals with the same level of family motivation might internalize their family motivation in different degrees due to their varied reasons for working to benefit their family. Therefore, based on the self-determination theory, this study defines family motivation as a special extrinsic work motivation and proposes that it has two key dimensions independent of each other. One is the extent to which an individual desires to benefit the family (i.e., level of family motivation), and the other is the extent to which the individual internalizes the goal of working for the family (i.e., internalization of family motivation). Based on this definition, this study adopts both the actor and observer perspectives to explore whether and how family motivation affects employees' organizational citizenship behaviors and the subsequent interpersonal impacts on employees. From the actor perspective, this study consults the conservation of resources theory to propose that employees with high levels of family motivation may have a stronger desire to protect and obtain more resources in the organization. As a result, they would be motivated to proactively engage in more organizational citizenship behaviors to gain additional resources. This effect would further depend on one’s internalization of family motivation. Specifically, employee who internalize their family motivation to a lesser degree (i.e., with more controlled forms of family motivation) tend to place a higher value on the resources at work and thus have a stronger motivation to engage in organizational citizenship behaviors to obtain more resources. Based on the perspective of observers, the first aim of this study is to explore observers’ (i.e., interviewers’) overall perceptions of applicants who disclose their family motivation in job interviews. Then, this research investigates how observers (i.e., leaders) attribute and react to organizational citizenship behaviors performed by employees with varied family motivation. Importantly, leaders’ perceived level of the actor’s family motivation and perceived internalization of the actor’s family motivation are both expected to play moderating roles in the attribution process. Taken together, taking both the actor and observer perspectives, this study not only clarifies the work motivation nature of family motivation but also contributes to understanding of the potential long-term impacts of family motivation on employees from an interpersonal interaction perspective, which expands the boundaries of research on family motivation to a great extent. This research also bears fundamental practical implications. Managers are encouraged to better understand how the level and internalization of family motivation would affect employees’ work behaviors, and then determine proper recruitment standards. In addition, this research enlightens employees who desire to work hard to benefit their family to realize how pivotal observers at work, such as interviewers and leaders, attribute and react to their extra-role behaviors, which helps determine whether they should disclose family motivation in the workplace.

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    Job replacement or job transformation? Definition, consequences, and sources of technology-driven job insecurity
    TU Yan, HAO Po, LONG Lirong
    2023, 31 (8):  1359-1373.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2023.01359
    Abstract ( 2065 )   HTML ( 106 )  
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    During the digital transformation of Chinese enterprises, effectively alleviating and coping with employee job insecurity is crucial for building harmonious and stable labor relations. Although traditional job insecurity research has extensively examined the sources and consequences of job insecurity, it has paid little attention to the rapid development and application of artificial intelligence technology, which is an essential context for the current organizational management practice and research. This study innovatively puts forward a new concept of technology-driven job insecurity in the context of artificial intelligence, reflecting individual perceived job insecurity due to the development and application of artificial intelligence technology. Based on this, this study has three objectives. First, we theorize the definition and dimensionality of technology-driven job insecurity. Considering that artificial intelligence technology leads to two types of job changes (i.e., AI automation and AI augmentation), we distinguish job replacement insecurity from job transformation insecurity, thus expanding the research on the conceptualization and dimensionality of job insecurity. Second, we examine the impact of technology-driven job insecurity on employee work outcomes and career outcomes. Drawing upon signaling theory, we suggest that technology-driven job insecurity conveys information about employees’ career prospects and influences employee work and career outcomes via their perceptions of the occupational future (i.e., occupational future time perspective). Two dimensions of occupational future time perspective, namely focus on limitations and focus on opportunities, are examined. We expect that job replacement insecurity has negative indirect effects on work engagement, job performance, proactive career behavior, and career satisfaction via activated focus on limitations and deactivated focus on opportunities. In contrast, job transformation insecurity has negative indirect effects on work engagement, job performance, proactive career behavior, and career satisfaction via activated focus on limitations and in the meanwhile, has positive indirect effects on these outcomes via activated focus on opportunities. In addition, these effects are contingent on developmental human resource practices such that developmental human resource practices strengthen the positive indirect effects of technology-driven job insecurity and buffer its adverse indirect effects on employee outcomes. In doing so, this study can not only enrich the theoretical perspectives of job insecurity research but also reveal the unique consequences of technology-driven job insecurity. Finally, we investigate how job characteristics of the current job and technology-related personal characteristics impact employee technology-driven job insecurity. In light of cognitive appraisal theory, we suggest that high information-processing demands, low job complexity, and low problem-solving demands are associated with increased job automation expectations and subsequently heighten job replacement insecurity. Conversely, low information-processing demands, high job complexity, and high problem-solving demands are related to increased job augmentation expectations and subsequently heighten job transformation insecurity. Regarding employee personal characteristics, we expect that smart technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and algorithms (STARA) awareness is associated with increased technology-driven job insecurity, while technology readiness is associated with decreased technology-driven job insecurity. Besides, job and personal characteristics have interactive effects on technology-driven job insecurity. Specifically, STARA strengthens the impacts of job characteristics on technology-driven job insecurity, while technology readiness mitigates these impacts. By revealing the opposite effects of the same job characteristic on job replacement and job transformation insecurity and identifying the boundary conditions for these effects, this study deepens the understanding of how job characteristics are associated with technology-driven job insecurity. Together, this study not only enriches the research on job insecurity in the context of artificial intelligence but also has implications for building harmonious and stable labor relations and improving employee well-being at work during the digital transformation of Chinese enterprises.

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    Structural measures, multidimensional effects and formation mechanisms of workplace fear of missing out
    SHI Guanfeng, WU Yuying, PANG Huiwei, LIU Zhaohui, XIE Zhihui
    2023, 31 (8):  1374-1388.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2023.01374
    Abstract ( 1234 )   HTML ( 77 )  
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    Fear of missing out (FoMO) is a widespread and negative psychological phenomenon in the workplace with obvious cultural characteristics. The existing studies on workplace FoMO are mainly based on the Western context, which are not fully applicable to Chinese workplace employees who are deeply influenced by their traditional culture and concepts of “relationship,” “favor,” and “face.” Therefore, in this study, we explored the conceptual content, measurement dimensions, multidimensional effects, and formation mechanisms of workplace FoMO in the Chinese context through three consecutive sub-studies. In Study 1, we used a constructivist grounded theory as the research methodology to reconstruct the concept and connotation of workplace FoMO based on Chinese cultural contexts, such as “the pattern of difference sequence,” “favor and face,” and “hidden rules.” A standardized psychometric procedure was used to measure workplace FoMO among Chinese employees. In Study 2, we conducted a diary study to longitudinally track the dynamic effects of workplace FoMO on individuals’ work, family, and health domains. Based on the job demands-resources model, the effects of workplace FoMO on an individual’s work domain (work engagement), family domain (work-family conflict), and health outcomes (physical discomfort), as well as the boundary roles played by leader-member and colleague exchanges, were verified under the resource depletion and acquisition paths. The study findings suggest that workplace FoMO, as a negative psychological aspect of an individual’s workplace, not only impairs the resources that the individual should devote to work and family, but it also has an impact on one’s physical and mental health. When individuals experience workplace FoMO, they may be more reluctant to miss out on news at work and opportunities to build social relationships. Thus, they may become more socially demanding in the workplace. As a mechanism of “avoiding harm,” leader-member and colleague exchanges can promote the generation of positive psychological resources and alleviate the multidimensional resource depletion caused by workplace FoMO. In Study 3, we employed a two-stage data collection method to test the formation mechanism model of workplace FoMO and effectiveness of inhibitory strategies at both the mindset and institutional levels. Based on the social comparison theory, individuals in Chinese society are influenced by the education of role models and the “learn from others” mentality; they tend to determine whether they are missing out on potential resources by comparing themselves with others. Particularly, they tend to choose individuals perceived as superior to themselves as reference objects for upward comparisons. Based on the social comparison theory, study findings suggest that upward social comparison is a key factor in the formation of workplace FoMO. In addition, according to the uncertainty management theory, differences in comparative attribution mindsets (growth and fixed mindsets) and the degree of fairness (procedural and distributive fairness) in an organization are important situational factors that influence the formation mechanism of FoMO. The contributions of this study are the following three innovations. First, we explored the connotation and structure of workplace FoMO in the Chinese context, and developed a scientific and effective measurement tool for subsequent workplace FoMO studies. Second, we studied the multidimensional effects of Chinese employees’ FoMO in the work, family, and health domains and proposed mitigation strategies from the perspective of resource acquisition. Third, this study is based on the social comparison and uncertainty management theories, and we were the first to explore the formation mechanism of workplace FoMO in the Chinese context and propose intervention measures at both the individual and organizational levels.

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    How does team growth mindsets effect team innovation? A perspective from attention composition and attention configuration
    ZHANG Xufan, ZHANG Wenjian
    2023, 31 (8):  1389-1410.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2023.01389
    Abstract ( 812 )   HTML ( 42 )  
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    Team counts as the most important innovative unit in an organization. Most previous studies, while investigating such macroscopic elements as strategies that influence innovation, are relatively found inadequate for stressing micro-factors related to “humans”. Taking the lens of the “implicit theory of cognition and applying methods of follow-up questionnaires and QCA, this project launches a series of inquiries into the relation between team growth mindsets and team innovation. Its main innovations are as follows: First, the selection of topics. In recent years, amid the extreme challenges of global business competition, organizations or teams with top-level resources are not always successful in innovation. Those talented teams will eventually become “mediocre”, whereas a number of seemingly ordinary teams win out with extraordinary innovation. Starting from the phenomenon, this project closely follows the current practical needs of enterprise reform and innovation, breaks the existing conventions and limitations of attention research, introduces the composition and configuration of attention breadth and attention depth, and pinpoints the focus to the team growth mindsets in a breakthrough way, with a series of original researches around it. The selection of this topic has found a new breakthrough for the research based on the attention perspective and team innovation, and opened up a broad explorative space. At the same time, it provides a new starting point for enterprises to stimulate the enthusiasm of team reform and innovation. Second, the theoretical conception. Up to now, investigations on team innovation have mainly focused on the situational factors and the explicit theory of cognition, overlooking the function of analyzing the internal operating mechanism of the team innovation process from the implicit theory of cognition. Based on two research perspectives of attention composition and attention configuration, this project carries out a series of in-depth and systematic empirical explorations on the topic of the internal relationship between team growth mindsets and attention, in order to improve the understanding of the role of growth mindsets in innovation teams, including how team growth mindsets triggers attention, protects attention overload and avoids insufficient intensity. Based on the basic idea of attention, this project not only investigates the mechanism of team growth mindsets leading to innovation by triggering the breadth and depth of attention respectively; It also stresses the constructive connotation of attention, tries to open up this concept, and tests the “bright side” and “dark side” and their boundary conditions formed between attention configuration and team innovation. It enriches and expands the relevant theoretical knowledge of team growth mindsets and innovation, and embodies the outstanding characteristics of preciseness, depth and systematicness in theoretical conception. Third, the research methods. Combined with the latest research trends in the field of organization management, and meeting the specific needs of research topics, a variety of research methods are comprehensively adopted, including in-depth interviews, multi-point questionnaires, case studies, QCA methods, etc. It is helpful to explore the objective laws of team growth mindsets and innovation, and strengthen the internal and external validity of research results. The theoretical significance of this project is to turn attention research to the discussion of its antecedents and mechanisms. In addition, the projects attaches importance to the studies of the “paradoxical” relationship between attention structure and innovation, and the way team growth mindsets negotiate between attention structure and innovation, in that these studies provide scientific basis for the management practice of enterprises to stimulate team growth mentality and shape the cultural atmosphere of team reform and innovation.

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    Mentoring in intelligent manufacturing and its impacts on team dual innovation
    GAO Zhonghua, XU Yan
    2023, 31 (8):  1411-1428.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2023.01411
    Abstract ( 461 )   HTML ( 18 )  
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    Intelligent manufacturing provides a direction for manufacturing enterprises to gain competitive advantage in the era of digital economy. Meanwhile, innovation becomes an important way for manufacturing enterprises to promote digital and intelligent transformation in order to achieve high-quality development. However, in the extant literature on intelligent manufacturing and digital transformation, much attention has been largely paid to topics at macro-level topics, such as technology composition and business pattern. Scholars seldom paid attention to the stimulation of innovation from micro-level perspectives, such as team processes, social relationship network, and mentor-protege interactions. Accordingly, this study aims to develop a new mentoring theory based on the context of intelligent manufacturing, which provides a new direction for enterprises to stimulate team dual innovation from micro perspectives.

    First, this study theoretically explored the conceptual connotation of mentoring in intelligent manufacturing. We discussed how it was distinct from traditional mentoring from three aspects, including participants, interaction patterns, and relational characteristics. Then, we theoretically discussed how to develop and validate a measure for this construct based on the three-dimension structure of mentoring in the traditional work context, including career guidance, social support and role model. In essence, mentoring in intelligent manufacturing, which usually develops based on an intelligent platform, belongs to a type of social networks that include dyadic, trilateral, one-to-many and many-to-many interpersonal interactions. In this sense, social network analysis is an appropriate approach to measure mentoring in intelligent manufacturing. This study cannot only help to enrich our understanding of mentoring in the context of intelligent manufacturing, but also provide a theoretical framework and relevant tools for future research on the development and effectiveness of mentoring in the context of intelligent manufacturing.

    Second, in order to help enterprises successfully cross the ‘last mile’ of digital and intelligent transformation, this study reveals the role of mentoring in stimulating team dual innovation in the context of intelligent manufacturing through integrating the extant literature on team-level outcomes of mentoring and prior research on intelligent manufacturing. We deem that mentoring in intelligent manufacturing can help to enhance team incremental and radical innovation through generating two processes, team transition and team action respectively. Specifically, team technical reflection and team procedural improvement are sequential phases in the team transition process, whereas team transactive memory systems and team knowledge integration are sequential phases in the team action processes. Meanwhile, interpersonal process, which runs through all episodes in the whole team process, provides an important guarantee for team transition process and team action processes. Specifically, team cognitive trust, a variable in interpersonal process, acts as a boundary condition of the team transition process. Moreover, on the basis of three processes in the TAR model, we add human-AI process as a new type of team process that is specific to the context to intelligent manufacturing. We believe that team technical trust, a variable in human-AI process serves as a boundary condition about how mentoring in intelligent manufacturing affects team dual innovation through activating transition and action processes in the team.

    Finally, this study also builds a systematic framework for the establishment and optimization of the mentoring theory in intelligent manufacturing, which further provides new directions for facilitating the evolution of work force from ‘line workers’ to ‘innovative talents’ in the digital intelligent transformation process of enterprises. In sum, this study contributes to both the theory and the practice not only by updating the concept of mentoring in intelligent manufacturing, which enriches the understanding of the micro mechanism of enterprise innovation in intelligent manufacturing, but also by building a systematic model as a guidance to the practices of talent nurturing and developing in this context.

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    The maximizing bias and behavioral effects of joint consumption: A perspective of group mental accounting
    RAN Yaxuan, CAI Hui, ZHANG Yunhan, HAN Xinying
    2023, 31 (8):  1429-1442.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2023.01429
    Abstract ( 928 )   HTML ( 68 )  
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    In light of social development and technology advance, joint consumption—a kind of consumption in which multiple consumers jointly share the cost and the final product—becomes more ubiquitous in our lives and engenders new phenomena in group decision-making situations alongside gift-giving, food/drink consumption, and entertainment/activity. The frequency of making joint consumption choices is also reflected in the literature. However, extant social psychology research mainly focuses on examining the effects of typical factors in joint consumption (e.g., genders, roles), while neglecting the basic underlying characteristics of joint consumption (e.g., the key difference between joint consumption and individual consumption), or the systematic review of irrational behavior in joint consumption (e.g., risk preference, variety seeking, decision difficulty).

    To address this gap in the literature, the present project based on mental account theory proposes a new construct—group mental account—to explain particular irrational behaviors in joint consumption. In other words, we illustrate the decision-making process of joint consumption as mental coding and evaluation of combinations of gains and losses by a collection of multiple people’s group mental accounts. According to mental accounting theory, joint consumption would lead to a maximizing bias. Three key mental arithmetic features of mental accounting system—(1) valuation beyond compound outcomes; (2) non-fungibility of different mental accounts; (3) malleability in the mental accounting process—could help explain the underlying mechanism. Specifically, in joint consumption conditions, each individual would construct a group mental account. Then due to the heterogeneity and aggregation problems of group members’ preferences, they encounter high ambiguity that attenuates the role of the budgetary role of mental accounts. In order to overcome uncertainty brought by group decision-making, consumers activate maximizing mindset, resulting in their salient goal to get the best, decision difficulty, and tendency to compare among alternatives.

    Based on the rationale of maximizing bias, the present project examines consumers’ irrational behaviors and corresponding psychological mechanisms and boundaries under two major joint consumption contexts, including choices for others (i.e., group gift giving) and sharing consumption with others (i.e., joint purchase).

    In the group gift-giving context, with the purpose of giving the best-liked gifts to satisfying recipients, gift-givers expect to match recipient preferences against their group membership status. When people select gifts for a recipient, they are more likely to activate maximizing mindset because of the budgeting effect and choose a meaningful “big” gift in group versus individual gift-giving situation. As a result, the multiple-giver case (vs. single-giver case) may prompt givers to select more expensive and impactful gifts that acknowledge their group membership identity. In addition, the purpose of gift-giving (communal vs. exchange) and the entitativity (high vs. low) of giving group will moderate the effect of group (vs. individual) consumption condition on the gift choice.

    When it comes to the joint purchase context, multiple consumers jointly share the cost and the final product. The belief that “I experience” is transformed into the belief that “We experience”. Consumers will pay more attention to balancing self-other consumption preferences, thus activating maximizing mindset. They choose from a larger set of alternatives to yield a desirable consumption experience. For example, consumers would unconsciously prefer options with greater uncertainty and sensory stimulation. The present project explores the boundary conditions as well. Relationship type (family vs. friend) and relationship culture (individualism vs. collectivism) will moderate the effect of different consumption conditions (group vs. individual) on consumption preference. In conclusion, the present research contributes to a growing literature on joint consumption and mental account theory, as well as providing marketing strategies to promote healthy and sustainable consumption.

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    Meta-Analysis
    The relationship between fine motor skills and mathematical ability in children: A meta-analysis
    KANG Dan, WEN Min, ZHANG Yingjie
    2023, 31 (8):  1443-1459.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2023.01443
    Abstract ( 1283 )   HTML ( 103 )  
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    The effect of fine motor skills, a foundational motor skill in early childhood, on mathematical ability has been inconsistent in previous studies. Some studies suggest that it has a positive effect on mathematical ability, while others suggest that it has a negative effect on mathematical ability. Some factors may potentially influence the role of fine motor skills in mathematical ability. Given the inconsistency of existing studies, this study used a meta-analysis approach to examine the effect of fine motor skills on mathematical ability and the role of moderating variables in this relationship by integrating relevant empirical studies of the past 30 years. This study used three Chinese databases, including China Knowledge Network, Wanfang, and Weipu, and three English databases, including Web of Science, SCI database, and Google Scholar, for literature search and screening. The search terms for fine motor skills were “fine motor skills” or “finger dexterity” or “motor skills”, and the search terms for mathematical ability were “mathematical skills” or “numeracy skills” or “counting skills”, etc. By September 2022, 34 papers (33 English and 1 Chinese) with 42 independent effect sizes and a total sample size of 78,527 people were included in the study. Meta-analysis was conducted using CMA 3.0 software.

    Random effects model was selected according to the characteristics of the study. Heterogeneity tests showed significant heterogeneity among 42 independent effect sizes, indicating that a random effects model would be a more appropriate model to perform the meta-analysis. In addition, no significant publication bias was found in the included studies based on the results of funnel plots, loss of safety coefficients, and Egger's regression coefficients. The main effects analysis showed a moderate positive correlation between fine motor skills and mathematical ability (r = 0.27, 95% CI [0.23,0.32]); subgroup analyses and meta-regressions indicated that the relationship was moderated by cultural background and fine motor skills measurement instruments, but not by children's age and gender. The results showed that: (1) there was a positive correlation between fine motor skills and mathematical ability, and individuals with higher level of fine motor skills developed better mathematical ability; (2) in terms of cultural background, the correlation between fine motor skills and mathematical ability was stronger in the Eastern culture than that in the Western culture; (3) there was no moderating effect observed between different gender groups, and the correlation between fine motor skills and mathematical ability might be stable across genders; (4) in terms of fine motor skills measurement, the highest correlation coefficient was obtained using the Beery VMI, while the lowest correlation coefficient was obtained using the MABC-2.

    This meta-analysis has both theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, this study has verified that fine motor skills are closely related to mathematical ability, supporting the idea of embodied cognition theory and cognitive load theory, and initially clarified the academic debate about the relationship between fine motor skills and mathematical ability. Practically, this study suggests that educators need pay attention to the development of basic motor skills in early childhood and adopt effective fine motor skill training approaches to improve children's fine motor levels so as to promote their mathematical abilities.

    Future researches will focus on the standardization of fine motor skill measurement instruments, increased studies with school-age children as subjects, studies in Eastern cultural background, longitudinal studies, and experimental studies to further explore and elucidate the relationship and causal relationship between fine motor skills and mathematical ability across subject groups and cultural background.

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    Regular Articles
    Animacy perception from motion cues: Cognitive and neural mechanisms
    HUANG Mei, YANG Ge-Qing, WANG Ying, JIANG Yi
    2023, 31 (8):  1460-1476.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2023.01460
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    The perception of animacy from motion cues, or perceiving a moving entity as being alive, is critical to human survival and serves as a precursor to social interaction. As a central element of life, motion provides rich information about the behavior of living organisms. In recent years, there has been a growing body of research on how people perceive animacy from diverse motion cues. Here, we review the empirical findings and discuss the possible cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying animacy perception elicited by motion cues.

    In general, motion cues that trigger animacy perception can be classified into two types: movements with biological motion patterns and those conveying intention, each having distinctive features essential for animacy perception. Specifically, for natural or simulated biological motion, local limb movements, rhythmic motion, and self-propelled motion (including motions that violate gravity) are key factors influencing the perception of animacy. For biological or non-biological movements that signify intention, flexibility and effectiveness of goal-directed motion patterns and some specific spatiotemporal relationships within interactive motions can lead to animacy perception.

    Several cognitive accounts have been proposed to explain the abovementioned phenomena from the perspectives of visual information processing or social cognition. Among the information processing accounts, the life detector hypothesis proposes that there is a visual filter tuned to the internal local motion characteristics of terrestrial vertebrate organisms in the human brain for detecting ‘life signals’, and the energy violation hypothesis emphasizes that the overall external movement of the abstract incarnation of a living being, such as self-propelled motion, gives the impression that a moving entity has internal energy source and thus being animate. In the social cognition views, the intention hypothesis suggests that animacy attributions require intentional attributions and that animacy is perceived whenever the observer infers that an object's motion exhibits an intentional mental state, and the rational action principle holds that reasonable and effective actions under the constraints of the current scenario are interpreted as initiated by a living entity. These theoretical accounts explain how a specific aspect of motion can elicit animacy perception. However, a systematic framework is needed to describe how the two types of motion cues, which often exist simultaneously in reality, work together to cause animacy perception, and to quantitatively evaluate the relative roles of these motion cues in the perception of animacy.

    Recent research on the brain mechanisms of animacy perception suggests that it may engage multiple cortical and sub-cortical brain regions with different functionalities. We tentatively hypothesize that the brain network in which dynamic signals induce animacy perception may include the following components: sub-cortical structures such as the superior colliculus (SC) and ventrolateral nucleus (VLN) extract key dynamic features expressing basic movement patterns of living organisms; cortical regions such as the fusiform gyrus (FG), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and temporoparietal junction (TPJ) process multiple levels of intentional information that provide the basis for a higher level of animacy assessments; and the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) and intraparietal sulcus (IPS) play an integrated role in processing both types of motion signals, with their activation intensity reflecting the degree of perceived animacy.

    Future studies should examine the distinct roles of the two types of motion cues in animacy perception and their interactive mechanisms from cognitive, behavioral genetic, and neural aspects. Meanwhile, the organization and connection of the brain network for animacy perception from motion cues and the exact function of each node in this network remain to be illuminated. In addition, exploring the computational principle of animacy perception from motion cues and treating the deficits in such ability as a potential marker of social cognitive disorders would help promote its application in artificial intelligence and clinical situations.

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    Non-invasive brain stimulation-based emotion regulation interventions
    ZHOU Shiren, QIU Xiufu, HE Zhenhong, ZHANG Dandan
    2023, 31 (8):  1477-1495.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2023.01477
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    There is a large body of evidence from previous research that non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) can be used to improve negative emotions through emotional regulation. A summary of the effects and applicability of NIBS in emotional regulation is important for enriching emotional regulation theory and promoting translational research. Literature reviews have shown that NIBS can effectively influence the activity of relevant brain regions, such as the prefrontal cortex, and intervene in explicit and implicit emotional regulation processes. By improving emotional regulation, NIBS has the potential to improve symptoms of mental disorders. However, there are still several issues that need to be addressed in this field. Firstly, there is too much heterogeneity between studies, leading to inconsistent results. Secondly, the brain neural circuit mechanisms of emotional regulation intervention are still unclear, and the measurement indicators of emotional regulation are too singular. In addition, previous NIBS schemes have problems with low localization accuracy, weak effects in a single time period, inability to meet new needs, and some side effects. Therefore, we propose the following suggestions and outlooks: (1) adopting meta-analysis to comprehensively and quantitatively summarize the effectiveness and universality of NIBS in emotion regulation; (2) integrating brain monitoring techniques to investigate the neural circuit mechanisms underlying NIBS intervention in emotion regulation. For example, using multi-target NIBS for precise control of brain regions corresponding to emotion regulation, and combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalogram (EEG), and other brain monitoring techniques to observe changes in the neural mechanisms under the joint action of multi-target NIBS, in order to clarify the causal relationships among various brain regions in the process of emotion regulation (an example is using dual-coil TMS technology to explore the working sequence of different brain regions in explicit emotion regulation); (3) taking individual differences into account as much as possible to optimize NIBS intervention plans. For example, targeting the target area in the patient's PFC accurately through MRI can optimize the stimulation site and frequency for individuals who are unresponsive to TMS/tDCS treatment (no responders); (4) using a combination of multi-brain NIBS and hyperscanning techniques to explore the inter-brain synchronization in interpersonal emotion regulation is a potential research direction; (5) verifying the occurrence and intervention effects of emotion regulation by combining subjective experiences, physiological indicators, and neural characteristics; (6) Neurofeedback technology can compensate for the “side effects” of NIBS. Neurofeedback training, combined with techniques such as fMRI and functional near-infrared spectroscopy, can also be used to enhance the emotion regulation ability of mental disorders with emotion regulation disorders as the main symptoms. We believe that these measures can better address the above issues and improve the effectiveness and applicability of NIBS in emotion regulation intervention.

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    Evaluation of facial trustworthiness in older adults: A positivity effect and its mechanism
    LU Xiaowei, GUO Zhibin, CHENG Yu, SHEN Jie, GUI Wenjun, ZHANG Lin
    2023, 31 (8):  1496-1503.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2023.01496
    Abstract ( 1337 )   HTML ( 84 )  
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    The positivity effect in facial trustworthiness evaluation refers to the phenomenon that older adults (OA) tend to evaluate unfamiliar faces as more trustworthy than younger adults (YA). Numerous previous studies have reported the presence of the positivity effect in judgments of trustworthy, neutral, and untrustworthy unfamiliar faces. Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) and the dynamic integration theory (DIT) explain the underlying mechanisms of the positivity effect from the perspective of cognitive control and cognitive decline respectively, but a unified model has yet been established. According to the SST, OA with adequate cognitive resources can actively improve their evaluation of facial trustworthiness by selectively paying more attention to trustworthy faces or/and less attention to untrustworthy faces. In contrast, according to the DIT, cognitive decline in OA can lead to a passive increase in attention towards trustworthy faces or/and a decrease in attention towards untrustworthy faces, which can also improve the evaluation. There are discrepancies in the results of previous empirical studies as well. Some studies have supported the motivation explanation of the SST by demonstrating that OA may require sufficient cognitive resources to better process trustworthy faces than YA and thereby improve the evaluation of these faces. However, other studies have supported the cognitive explanation of DIT by showing that OA may “passively” improve their trust evaluations by reducing their processing of untrustworthy faces due to cognitive decline. Neuroimaging studies have found that the functions of the amygdala and anterior insula, which are sensitive to untrustworthy faces, decline with age. This could lead to a decrease in the ability of OA to recognize untrustworthy faces, resulting in reduced processing of such faces and a perception of higher trustworthiness evaluation. On the other hand, the function of the caudate nucleus, which is sensitive to trustworthy faces, enhances with age. This may enhance the rewarding significance of trustworthy faces for OA, resulting in increased processing of such faces and a perception of higher trustworthiness. Based on the theoretical mechanisms and empirical researches mentioned above, a dual-process model of the positivity effect in facial trustworthiness evaluation is proposed. Specifically, for trustworthy faces, OA may tend to “actively” increase their attention to it and show higher trust evaluations through cognitive control. For untrustworthy faces, OA may “passively” decrease their attention to it due to cognitive decline and show higher trust evaluations. Future research should take into account the physiological, psychological, and social changes that come with aging to construct a more comprehensive theoretical framework for explaining the OA positivity effect in facial trustworthiness evaluation. Secondly, by quantifying the age-related differences in facial trustworthiness at different stages using eye-tracking and event-related potentials (ERPs), we might be able to better understand the cognitive mechanisms underlying the positivity effect. In addition, using multiple analytical methods and combining them with behavioral data can further clarify the neural mechanisms. Finally, mindfulness practices as well as transcranial magnetic stimulation can be also introduced to help reduce older adults' vulnerability to fraud in the initial interpersonal interactions.

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    Interpretation model of role reversal based on predictive processing theory
    YE Fang, QIU Huilin, JIANG Ke, LI Changjin
    2023, 31 (8):  1504-1516.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2023.01504
    Abstract ( 562 )   HTML ( 19 )  
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    Psychodrama is an experiential psychotherapy in which role reversal is one of the core techniques. Jacob Levy Moreno, the founder of psychodrama, believes that the self emerges from the role that we play. On the basis of Morenian role theory, rich clinical experience has been accumulated in contemporary psychodrama therapy, but it lacks an explanatory theory to comprehensively explain the beneficial effects of the working mechanism of psychodrama therapy. Predictive processing theory is a new paradigm for understanding the mind in recent years. It provides us with a possible framework for explaining self-knowledge. This study introduces predictive processing theory to explain interpersonal interaction relationship in the process of role reversal, based on the experience of role reversal. By answering how the predictive mind functions in the process of constructing the self, this study points out that role reversal is a kind of self-construction process.

    There are three psychodrama interpretation models from the perspectives of signal, model and interaction. This study discusses not only the effect of a single role reversal on the predictive mind but also the effect of multiple role exchanges on the model update. Three explanatory models answer the question on how the model changes during a psychodrama work, and also attempt to clarify the interactive construction process of the model throughout the whole psychodrama process. The process is as follows.

    First, the step of switching forces the protagonist to take the perspectives of the other person, and brings about the change of the signal type. The protagonist’s predicted signals change into the auxiliary’s sensory signals, so that individuals can recognize their own existence as an object. Then, the auxiliary’s predicted signals change into the protagonist’s sensory signals, which facilitates the model update of the protagonist. In the consultation, the change of signal type is divided into three steps. The process of signal transition presents implicit conflicting patterns that help individuals find strategies that minimize prediction errors.

    Second, the model that the protagonist owns has been updated when roles reverse with one another, at the same time, the protagonist has been required to activate two internal representations simultaneously, one of the “self”and one of the“other”. The accuracy trade-off towards two models determines how much individuals rely on evidence in the environment or on their own prior experience. Role reversal is the process of an interpersonal precision trade-off. Individuals can collect more information on the protagonist and the opposite, or other related roles in their own system, and make self-determined choices after understanding the accuracy of each representation.

    Third, the model is constructed and generated in the interaction between the individual self and the other. The self-model is hierarchical. Every level of hierarchical model can be described by a causal Bayesian network. On this basis, the Bayesian network of the protagonist and the auxiliary is constructed interactively. Relationships between three variables (hypothesis variables, prediction variables and intermediate variables) can be found. Within the framework of psychodrama, intermediate variables conclude social systems, cultural contexts, and interactions between different norms. Multiple role reversals have additive effects on model updates. Combined with the psychodrama spiral proposed by Goldman and Momson (1984), the model is also dynamically constructed. The psychological drama spiral based on predictive processing theory is dynamic.

    The conclusion turns out that explaining the structural features of role reversal according to predictive processing theory can promote this technology so as to play a better role in clinical treatment. In the future, we will conduct empirical research on the mechanism of role reversal to verify the above models.

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    Is exposure necessary? Flash Technique for post-traumatic stress response
    YAN Yaqin, LING Hui, WONG Sik-Lam
    2023, 31 (8):  1517-1527.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2023.01517
    Abstract ( 861 )   HTML ( 52 )  
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    Psychologically traumatic events are highly prevalent in people’s lives. After experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event, people may develop a series of post-traumatic stress reactions and are more prone to self-injury and suicidal behaviors, emotional-behavioral problems such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse, personality problems such as Cluster B personality disorder, and trauma and stress-related disorders. Commonly used Psychotherapies for coping with post-traumatic stress and related disorders often expose patients to their traumatic memories, which may lead to adverse reactions such as mood swings, excessive stress, and dissociation in some patients.

    This paper introduces flash technique, which focuses on processing traumatic memories in the brain's information processing system without exposure to trauma. Flash technique is a recently developed method of relieving distress from traumatic memories and treating psychological problems without organic damage. Flash technique is brief, low-intensity, less invasive, effective, rapid, well-tolerated.

    Flash technique builds on EMDR and initially emerged as an adjunct procedure to EMDR before becoming a stand-alone therapy due to its excellent stand-alone treatment effects. Flash technique was shown not to differ much in efficacy and basic procedures from EMDR, but flash technique makes the well-being of the patients more beneficial by not exposing them to trauma, having fewer adverse effects, and not directly implanting resources. A core technique of flash technique is to engage in positive imagery (e.g., enjoyable activities, wonderful memories, dear people, or someone’s favorite music) while discouraging patients from intentionally activating the targeted traumatic memory. They also have in common the ability to reduce the vividness and emotional activation of memory, to occupy only limited working memory resources, to use counter-conditioning to make fear disappear, and to replace or "counter" maladaptive responses. But the eye-movement patterns of the two methods are different, and therefore the physiological mechanisms involved, as well as the cognitive processing mechanisms involved in activating traumatic memories, are different, but remain to be further explored and studied.

    In clinical applications, flash technique can desensitize trauma memories, significantly decreasing the subjective disturbance of an aversive memory, and predicting higher psychological well-being. However, the current research on the therapeutic effects of flash technique has some shortcomings in sampling and methodology and needs further improvement. In addition, there are few studies focus on the working mechanisms of flash technique, which still need further exploration.

    In conclusion, the clinical application of flash technique and related research has progressed, but it is still in the initial stage. Future studies should adopt a more rigorous randomized controlled trial (RCT) design that includes comparison groups that mimic demand effects, extended follow-up periods, and an assessment of other related symptoms beyond reactivity to the treated memory. Also, future randomized controlled studies should further assess the applicability and effectiveness of flash technique as a group therapy method. It should include a clinical, more heterogeneous, and larger sample to improve the generalizability of the findings. Although there is a growing body of research showing that the flash technique can help people who have experienced trauma, the existing research has largely focused on North and South America and European countries. Few studies have explored its effectiveness in other cultures. Thus, validating the clinical effectiveness of flash technique in different cultural contexts may provide additional benefits. Future studies may also benefit from adopting diverse measurement methods and research tools, such as fMRI, ERP, and eye-tracking technology to explore flash technique’s working mechanism. Finally, future research should gradually expand its application areas (e.g., victims of earthquakes, fires, floods, and other disasters; or firefighters, physicians, nurses and other special professionals), and result in a standardized and scalable intervention program.

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    More than inhibition: Self-control strategy and the mechanism of its application
    CHEN Xuefei, LI Zhenhua, NIE Yangang
    2023, 31 (8):  1528-1540.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2023.01528
    Abstract ( 1583 )   HTML ( 129 )  
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    Research has shown that self-control was not only an effort made to inhibit impulses, but people also actively promoted self-control through the application of various strategies. The five strategy types proposed by the process model of self-control include situation selection, situation modification, attention deployment, cognitive change, and reaction inhibition strategies. These strategies are considered to contain the majority of self-control strategies used in people's daily life and are also the most often used strategy types in current studies. Plan, personal rules, or habit strategies bypass the evaluation stage of self-control conflict, and it is a shortcut strategy. Other studies have divided self-control strategies into self-deployed interventions and other-deployed interventions, mental tools, and behavioral tools. People commonly use at least one strategy for resisting desires, and in 25% of cases more than one strategy is used. According to existing literature, people use cognitive strategies most, but not the most forward-looking situational strategies. This may be because the use of cognitive strategies is not affected by situational factors, and it is therefore more convenient. The reaction inhibition strategy is not the least used strategy. According to the current situation of self-control and the type of desire, people would give priority to using certain strategies to achieve the long-term goals. The preference for using such strategies may not be due to the perceived effectiveness of the strategies, but because of other reasons, such as ease of use or feasibility. In addition, the possibility of people using certain strategies will be reduced in some situations, possibly because these strategies are considered difficult or impossible. Substantial studies have confirmed that early strategies are more effective than late strategies. One possible reason is that early strategies mainly intervene with the process of temptation generation and reinforcement, which may reduce the intensity of temptation. Because the use of situational selection strategies needs to predict the temptation in advance, in some situations, attention deployment and cognitive change strategies could play a greater role than situational strategies. Although some studies have demonstrated that late strategy is not very effective, other studies have also shown that the late strategy can effectively inhibit impulse. On the one hand, the reasons for the inconsistent results might be due to participants' understanding of the use of strategies. They attribute the success of self-control to inhibition. On the other hand, self-control includes both active control and passive control. Efforts to suppress impulse also play an important role in the process of self-control. The effectiveness of self-control strategies will change with the types of desire conflicts and specific self-control situations that individual experience. The level of individual trait self-control, personality differences, and the number of self-control strategies used also affect the effectiveness of strategies. Understanding the applied mechanism of self-control strategies contributes to the success of self-control. Future research needs to more thoroughly explore the flexibility and variability of the application of self-control strategies, and the mechanism of applying multiple strategies with a focus on the relationship between self-control strategies and the improvement of self-control ability, and to improve intervention research on the application of self-control strategies.

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    Honor culture and face culture: A comparison through the lens of the dignity, honor, and face cultural framework and indigenous social theory
    WEI Xindong, ZHANG Kaili, FU Xurong, WANG Fengyan
    2023, 31 (8):  1541-1552.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2023.01541
    Abstract ( 2136 )   HTML ( 79 )  
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    Honor and face cultures attach great importance to regulating individual behavior by social expectations and cultural norms. However, the two cultural phenomena differ in several crucial aspects. The new cultural framework of dignity, honor, and face was proposed based on three different cultural logics and reveals that while both honor culture and face culture place importance on adhering to social norms, honor culture places greater emphasis on both self-awareness and external evaluations for self-worth, whereas face culture places more weight on external evaluations. Additionally, honor culture is characterized by an unstable social hierarchy prone to competition, violence, and virtue, while face culture prioritizes modesty, harmony, and cooperation within a more stable hierarchy. However, the framework does not fully explore the cultural practices and specific connotations that are locally relevant to each respective culture.

    From indigenous perspectives, the self-image and social image in honor culture are relatively consistent, and honor encompasses moral, gender, and family-related aspects that may be defended through violence. In contrast, self-image and social image in face culture tend to be incongruent, and face involves morality and social achievement, which is expressed through the dimensions of seeking face and avoiding losing face with an emphasis on status and authority.

    Combined with the above two perspectives, these core differences between honor and face cultures can be attributed to the moralization and instrumentalization of social cultural norms. Specifically, honor tends to moralize social and cultural norms by transforming descriptive norms into prescriptive norms, where majority and typical behaviors that exist in a culture are considered behaviors that group members should or must abide by. In contrast, face instrumentalizes social and cultural norms by using descriptive and prescriptive norms as means and tools to maintain relationships, demonstrate status, and uphold authority. This perspective provides new insights into cultural phenomena, such as the positive correlation between violence and virtue in honor cultures, where violence becomes a social norm that adapts to the honor culture environment and is moralized into a virtuous attribute. The social norm of harmony in face culture exists both as value-oriented harmony influenced by Confucian culture and instrumental harmony in daily life, leading to a dissonance between face and heart. This comparative analysis can help in developing new measurement models to test the core differences between the honor and face cultures and explore the impact of changing values and social ecological variables on the moralization and instrumentalization of social norms in the context of cultural change.

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