Archive

25 March 2017, Volume 49 Issue 3 Previous Issue    Next Issue

---

For Selected:

Download Citations EndNote Ris BibTeX

Toggle Thumbnails

Select

A cognitive inquiry into the short-circuit hypothesis in L2 reading: A paradigm of online L2 discourse processing WU Shiyu; ZHANG Yuying; HU Qingqing 2017, 49 (3):  285-295.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00285 Abstract ( 2555 )   PDF (418KB) ( 3840 )   Peer Review Comments The Short-Circuit Hypothesis is one of the best-known theories in L2 (second language) reading. It proposes that the L2 reader has to reach a threshold level of L2 language proficiency in order to transfer his/her reading skills to L2 reading; otherwise insufficient knowledge of the L2 will “short-circuit” the readers’ reading system. In the 1980s, against the background of this hypothesis, the issue of the relation between L1 (first language) reading and L2 reading has been a matter of theoretical debate in many publications as “a reading problem or language problems”. Accumulative evidence was in support of the hypothesis. However, discussions came to a stop in the 1990s, and research on L2 reading procrastinated. Many key issues proposed by this hypothesis, however, remain to be resolved. A major problem with the previous research is that many studies were methodologically test-based and product-oriented. Little research was devoted to the investigation of the psycho-cognitive nature of the threshold effect and the short-circuiting of readers’ reading systems. The present article attempted to approach the short-circuit hypothesis and examine the threshold effect by viewing L2 reading as a complex psycho-cognitive process. More specifically, using the Structure Building Framework by Gernsbacher (1990), it examined how L2 readers built mental representations of the L2 texts they were reading and what cognitive processes were involved in the threshold effect for L2 reading. Two groups of participants with different levels of English proficiency took part in an online task of L2 narrative processing. During the test, they read 30 stories in both English and Chinese which were experimentally manipulated to have different kinds of story character: rementioning the original character, introducing a new character, and presenting neutral information. After reading each paragraph, they responded to a test probe, which was designed to test whether they could keep track of story characters and thus follow the causal chain in the stories. Results indicated that the L2 group with a high level of English proficiency successfully transferred their comprehension skills from L1 to L2. The data of the L2 narrative comprehension further indicated that they efficiently suppressed the noisy information (irrelevant story characters) during comprehension and built “networked, cohesive” mental structures with few substructures. For the L2 group with a low level of English proficiency, a different pattern of results was found. They failed to transfer their L1 comprehension skills to L2 reading. It was also shown that, although they could suppress the noisy information during L1 comprehension, they failed to suppress the irrelevant information during L2 narrative comprehension, which resulted in “bulkier, less cohesive” mental structures of the L2 texts. Based on these results, this article proposes that the transfer of L2 reading comprehension skills is associated with the readers’ mechanism of suppression. It was the inefficiency of their mechanism of suppression that hampered low-level readers’ transfer of L1 comprehension skills to the L2. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Morpho-semantic processing in Chinese word recognition: An ERP study ZHAO Simin; WU Yan; LI Tianhong; GUO Qingtong 2017, 49 (3):  296-306.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00296 Abstract ( 2325 )   PDF (674KB) ( 2991 )   Peer Review Comments The results of research over 30 years have found a reliable morpheme effect on word recognition, suggesting that morphemes are involved in lexical access. Although evidence supports a unique and independent role of morphemes in word recognition, it remains controversial whether early morphological processing relies purely on surface orthographic or morphemic meaning. Previous researchers commonly address the issue by investigating the semantic transparency which compare the strength of morphological priming produced by transparent words (e.g., snowman-snow, morpheme and whole words share both form and meaning) and opaque words (e.g., department-depart, morpheme and whole words share form only). However, regretfully, current results are confusing, with some studies reporting that the prior exposure to both transparent and opaque words could facilitate subsequent target words and the strength of facilitation in two conditions are equivalent, suggesting morphemic form was only sufficient for morphological priming regardless of the morpheme meaning. However, others assume the strength of facilitation produced by transparent words is stronger than opaque ones, which indicates morpho-semantic processing may start at the early stage of morphological processing. The majority of Chinese characters are compounds, which adopt a morph-syllabic system that each Chinese character corresponds to a morpheme, in addition, morphemic decomposition may be relatively easy and possibly automatic because morpheme boundaries are marked by space which make it more adaptive to extract morpheme meaning during Chinese word recognition. It is more apparent when Chinese compounds containing ambiguous morphemes (e.g., 月, meaning moon or month) may have different meanings which only share the same form can be a better choice to examine morpho-semantic processing, it is worth noticing that the ambiguous morpheme we use here does not distinguish dominant meaning from subordinate meaning that the relative frequency of the alternative interpretations of ambiguous morphemes could be similar. Therefore, the present study was conducted to explore morpho-semantic activation during the early stage of Chinese word recognition. In the research, masked priming paradigm is used and lexical decision task adopted, combined with ERPs technique. Two factors were manipulated: the type of target words containing ambiguous morpheme one of the two alternative meanings and the type of prime words either containing ambiguous morpheme with two meanings or unrelated to the target words. Behavioral results reveal that only target words sharing the same morpheme both form and meaning with prime words could facilitate the recognition of target. ERP results further confirmed behavioral results which showed the interaction between prime words type and target words type as reflected by the N250 and N400 effects, only when target words share the same morpheme both form and meaning with prime words would the change be elicited of N250 or N400, the effect of N250 mainly observed within frontier region, while the effect of N400 was more widely observed in all regions compared to N250 which indicated that the role of ambiguous morphemic meaning in word recognition was done in two stages reflected on N250 and N400. In result, morpho-semantic processing was involved in the early stage of morphemic processing. Moreover, it adds the new evidence to psychological meaning of N250, which was related to morpho-semantic processing. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The effects of motor skill level and somatosensory input on motor imagery: An fMRI study on basketball free shot ZHANG Lanlan; SHEN Cheng; ZHU Hua; LI Xuepei; DAI Wen;WU Yin; ZHANG Jian 2017, 49 (3):  307-316.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00307 Abstract ( 2333 )   PDF (1457KB) ( 4075 )   Peer Review Comments The behavioral performance and neural responses of imagining a motor task may be different in individuals with different motor skill levels. Utilization of special instrument induces plastic changes in the brain in the way that tool users combine the tool in their body schema. However, the neural correlates underlying these effects are still not clear. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated the effects of motor skill level and somatosensory input on motor imagery. We tested 12 basketball players and 12 novices when they performed kinesthetic motor imagery of basketball free shot under with-ball and without-ball conditions. Motor imagery duration was calculated. Motor imagery strategy and quality were measured with self-evaluation questionnaires. Field training was implemented and the physical performance of the task was recorded before the main experiment. The time difference between the duration for motor imagery and physical performance was smaller in basketball players than that in novices. The motor imagery strategy scores with self-evaluation questionnaire were same in two groups, indicating that all participants performed kinesthetic imagery successfully. The general kinesthetic and visual imagery abilities between groups showed no significant differences whereas basketball players showed better kinesthetic imagery quality for free shot movements. The scores for the quality of both kinesthetic and visual imagery were higher under with-ball than that under without-ball condition in both groups, suggesting that participants in both groups performed better motor imagery under with-ball condition. fMRI analysis revealed (1) basketball players showed greater mirror neuron system activation relative to novices; (2) the activation of mirror neuron system in basketball players were lower in with-ball compared to without-ball condition. Moreover, the activity of right inferior frontal gyrus was negatively correlated with the self-evaluated kinesthetic imagery scores only for the basketball players. We conclude that better motor imagery is related to higher level motor skill. The application of task- specific instrument may be required for this facilitation effect. Utilization of special instrument induces plastic changes in mirror neuron system. The findings may provide evidence for the implication of motor imagery with utilization of specific instrument in the promotion of motor skill. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The inhibitive effect of positive emotions on fear generalization FENG Biao; XU Liang; ZHANG Weixing; CHEN Ting; WANG Wenqing; ZHENG Xifu 2017, 49 (3):  317-328.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00317 Abstract ( 5751 )   PDF (741KB) ( 8635 )   Peer Review Comments Overgeneralization is one of core symptoms in anxiety disorders. Previous studies of fear generalization just focused on the factors that facilitate generalization. For example, plenty of studies from this field showed that negative emotions can promote the generalization of fear. However, few studies explored how to prevent generalization, and the role of positive emotions in preventing generalization of fear is unknown. In current study, we fill this gap by behaviorally assessing the role of positive emotions in fear-generalization. Fifty healthy participants underwent fear conditioning and generalization procedure. Skin-conductance response (SCR) and on-line expectancy were served as the measurement of fear responses. After fear acquisition stage, all participants were randomly divided into experimental group or control group that accepted "Best Possible Self" emotional manipulation or nothing. The level of positive emotions were measured by PANAS before and after the manipulation stage. Furthermore, participants were instructed to rate the level of subjective fear and emotion valence of conditioned stimuli (CS) at the end of each stage. The results showed that experimental group displayed less fear generalization than control group, as reflected by SCR, on-line expectancy and self-report. Noteworthily, we observed the separation of implicit measure (skin conductance response) and explicit measure (on-line expectancy and self-report) in this study. This separation supports the dual process theory, suggesting that positive emotion manipulation inhibit fear generalization through different pathways (excitatory pathway and inhibitory pathway) and different mechanisms. Our findings demonstrate that positive emotion manipulation can prevent fear generalization effectively. Given the basis of fear conditioning and generalization, our results may have clinical implications for future treatments and interventions in anxiety disorder. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The effect of compound stimulus to conditioned fear extinction in retrieval-extinction paradigm ZHUANG Chuqun; WANG Wenqing; HU Jingchu; ZHANG Weixin; WANG Penggui; ZHENG Xifu 2017, 49 (3):  329-335.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00329 Abstract ( 1892 )   PDF (493KB) ( 2989 )   Peer Review Comments Fear memory could be a tremendous burden for anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder and phobia. The formation of fear memory refers to the phenomenon wherein a neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus, CS; e.g., a tone) that does not initially induce fear in an individual, begins to do so after it is repeatedly paired with an intrinsically aversive consequence (unconditioned stimulus, US; e.g., a shock). Recent evidences suggest that fear memories can be updated by presenting a single cue prior to extinction during the reconsolidation time window (ret+ext). However, real-life traumatic events are usually associated with multiple different cues, and sometimes more than one sensory modality (e.g. both auditory and visual cues). Here we hypothesize that complex fear memory can be disrupted by retrieval-extinction interference in reconsolidation time window. We addressed this hypothesis by using a modified ret-ext paradigm based on a three consecutive days' experiment. Skin-conductance response (SCR) served as the measurement of fear responses. Three groups of participants underwent fear conditioning by a discrimination paradigm with partial reinforcement (30%) in day1. For the fear conditioning, two colored squares and two tones were used, one square and one tone combination served as a compound conditioned stimulus (CS+) that paired with a mild shock to the wrist (unconditioned stimulus) on 38% of the trials, whereas the combination of the other square and the other tone was never paired with shock (CS−). A day later, Group T received a reminder trial of a tone (auditory part of the compound CS+), Group P received a reminder trial of a square (visual part of the compound CS+), and Group T+P received a reminder trial of the combination of tone and square (absolute same compound CS+ as day1). 10 minutes later, all three groups underwent extinction training in which the two conditioned stimuli were repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus. Twenty-four hours later, all three groups underwent extinction again (re-extinction) to assess spontaneous fear recovery. Then, all three groups received 4 unsigned shocks (US), followed by a extinction session to assess reinstatement. Current results showed that the SCR were not significantly different among the three groups in fear conditioning of the first day (F(2,34) = 0.024, p = 0.98) and extinction of the second day (F(2,34) = 0.10, p = 0.91). In the third day, Group T showed increased SCR in spontaneous fear recovery (p < 0.001) and reinstatement test (p < 0.01), whereas Group P only showed increased SCR in reinstatement test (p < 0.01), but no spontaneous recovery (p > 0.05). And Group T+P did not showed increased SCR in spontaneous fear recovery (p > 0.05) or reinstatement test (p > 0.05). Our study provided evidence that the behavioral interference during reconsolidation time window (retrieval-extinction) can block the spontaneous recovery and reinstatement of fear memory. According to the results, we also demonstrated that the compound memory can be disrupted by interrupting the reconsolidation (using the stronger individual component). These findings provided insight into how compound fear memories encoded, and have clinical implications for future PTSD treatment. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Characteristics of peer victimization and the bidirectional relationship between peer victimization and internalizing problems among rural-to-urban migrant children in China: A longitudinal study GUO Haiying; CHEN Lihua; YE Zhi; PAN Jin; LIN Danhua 2017, 49 (3):  336-348.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00336 Abstract ( 2946 )   PDF (607KB) ( 6465 )   Peer Review Comments China’s rapid urbanization has led to unprecedented growth of rural-to-urban migrant children. Although previous studies have shown that migrant children report more peer victimization and internalizing problems, limited studies have yet examined associations between peer victimization and internalizing problems, as well as the direction of these relationships. Therefore, the current longitudinal study aimed to explore characteristics of peer victimization and associations between peer victimization and internalizing problems over a two-year period. A sample of 426 rural-to-urban migrant children was recruited from one migrant children’s primary school (n = 185) and two public primary schools (n = 241) in Beijing, China. Of the 426 participants, 157 (36.9%) were girls and 269 (63.1%) were boys. The sample showed moderate attrition over a two-year period, with 281 (66.0%) participants completing all surveys during the four waves of assessment. Quantitative surveys were administered to participants in October of 2011(Wave 1), June of 2012 (Wave 2), October of 2012 (Wave 3), and June of 2013 (Wave 4). At each wave, participants completed a self-administered questionnaire that requested information on demographic variables, experiences of various types of peer victimization (i.e., physical, verbal, relational, property), and internalizing problems (i.e., social anxiety, depression, loneliness). Results indicated high prevalence of perceived peer victimization, with participants reporting the prevalence of the four types of peer victimization (i.e., physical, verbal, relational, property) to be 76.5%, 77.8%, 71.4%, and 63.2%, respectively. Boys reported experiencing more physical victimization than girls, and migrant children who moved more often reported experiencing more peer victimization and greater internalizing problems. Migrant children enrolled in public schools reported less peer victimization and fewer internalizing problems than their counterparts enrolled in the separate migrant school. Cross-lagged analysis showed a significant bidirectional relationship between peer victimization and internalizing problems when controlling for key demographic variables (i.e., gender, grade, socio-economic status, and frequency of moves). Specifically, peer victimization in Wave 1 significantly predicted depression and loneliness in Wave 2, and loneliness in Wave 1 also significantly predicted peer victimization in Wave 2. In addition, internalizing problems in Wave 2 significantly predicted peer victimization in Wave 3, which, in turn, increased reported internalizing problems in Wave 4. Multi-group cross-lagged analysis showed that the bidirectional relationship between peer victimization and depression, as well as between peer victimization and loneliness, did not differ by school group (i.e., migrant or public). However, the association between peer victimization and social anxiety was stronger for children enrolled in the migrant school than for children enrolled in public schools. These findings contribute to our understanding of the complex relationships between peer victimization and internalizing problems among rural-to-urban migrant children in China. Moreover, the findings have important implications for the development of prevention and intervention programs for this at-risk group. Programs that aim to improve the mental health of migrant children and to reduce incidents of peer victimization among this vulnerable group may be helpful in breaking the detrimental cycle between peer victimization and internalizing problems. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Impacts of emotional labor strategies on employee sabotage behavior MO Shenjiang, SHI Junqi 2017, 49 (3):  349-358.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00349 Abstract ( 2444 )   PDF (470KB) ( 4044 )   Peer Review Comments Companies in the service industry have greater pressure now to improve the quality of their customer service. Employees in service organizations usually should display an appropriate emotion toward their customers. Previous studies on emotional labor strategies (surface acting and deep acting) examined mainly their impacts on employees’ attitudes and cognition. Till now, the impacts of emotional labor strategies on employee sabotage behavior have not been studied thoroughly yet. Moreover, insufficient attention has been paid on understanding the boundary conditions that may enhance or mitigate the effects of emotional labor strategies on employees’ sabotage behavior. Therefore, based on the conservation of resources theory and the emotion theory, this study attempted to examine the impacts of emotional labor strategies on employees’ sabotage behavior, as well as on the moderating roles of policy strength perception and the social sharing of emotions. Data was collected from employees working in call centers of two companies in Beijing, China. Two waves of the survey were conducted. In the first wave, participants were required to complete a questionnaire including demographic information (e.g., gender, age, and education), control variables (neuroticism and negative affectivity), emotional labor strategies (surface acting and deep acting), policy strength perception, and social sharing of emotions. In the second wave, participants reported the levels of service sabotage behavior. We invited 1014 employees to participate in the first wave of the survey, and 899 employees in the second wave. The final sample consisted of 788 employees who completed both two waves. We examined our hypotheses with the SPSS 18.0 software. Results showed that: 1) surface acting was positively related to employee sabotage behavior, but deep acting was not significantly associated with employee sabotage behavior. 2) The relationship between surface acting and employee sabotage behavior was significantly moderated by policy strength perception. Specifically, surface acting significantly enhanced employee sabotage behavior when the level of policy strength perception was high. 3) Social sharing of emotions significantly moderated the relationship of deep acting and employee sabotage behavior. Specifically, when the level of social sharing of emotions was high, deep acting significantly reduced employee sabotage behavior. This study contributes to the conservation of resources theory and emotional labor literature in several aspects. First, we demonstrate the impacts of different emotional labor strategies on employee sabotage behavior. It significantly extends our understanding of the behavioral outcomes of emotional labor strategies. Second, we highlight the value of conservation of resources theory in the emotional labor work context by demonstrating two important boundary conditions that either enhance or mitigate the impacts of emotional behavior strategies on employee sabotage behavior. Accordingly, managerial implications regarding the alleviating role of policy strength perception and social sharing of emotions in emotional labor management are discussed. We advocate that service companies should provide special training programs for employees to learn ways to cope with emotional labor activities. They should establish clear behavioral norms and reward systems as guidance for employees. In addition, they could provide employees opportunities, such as employee assistance programs, to communicate and share with others. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Family supportive supervisor behavior and marital satisfaction among Chinese dual-earner couples: Testing a positive spillover-crossover model XIE Julan; MA Hongyu; TANG Hanying; JIANG Hai 2017, 49 (3):  359-369.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00359 Abstract ( 2018 )   PDF (520KB) ( 3475 )   Peer Review Comments Marital satisfaction has become an increasingly important research topic due to the increasing divorce rates in mainland China in the past decade. To understand potential causes of decreased marital satisfaction, previous studies have mainly focused on the negative effects of employees’ work demands. However, this approach has limited implications for practice for several reasons. First, emphasizing the negative influence of work demands on marital satisfaction may negatively impact employees’ work attitude, because to maintain a successful marriage is a central task of adult development. Second, even when organizations realize that work demands are harmful to employees’ marital satisfaction, they still may not be able to reduce the work demands due to intense market competition. Given these reasons, identifying poten tial factors to improve martial satisfaction may have more achievable practical implications, and researchers have begun to investigate the positive effect of work resources on employees’ family roles. In line with this trend, the primary goal of this study was to examine the relationship between family supportive supervisor behavior (FSSB) and dual-earner couples’ marital satisfaction. Drawing upon prior research on social support and the resource-gain-development perspective, the present study tested a positive spillover-crossover model in which FSSB is predicted to promote work-to-family enrichment that increases the reciprocal effect of social support between husbands and wives, and the reciprocal effect will further positively predict the couple’s marital satisfaction. We surveyed 370 Chinese dual-earner couples to measure their FSSB, work-to-family enrichment, spousal support and marital satisfaction. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and dyadic data analysis method were used to test the hypotheses. Additionally, whether having children under the age of 18 and whether having elderly domestic helpers were statistically controlled in all hypothesis testing. Analysis results largely provided support for the proposed positive spillover-crossover model. First, FSSB was positively related to the couple’s marital satisfaction, and FSSB positively predicted spousal support through increased work-to-family enrichment. Second, work-to-family enrichment positively predicted marital satisfaction through increased spousal support. Third, wives’ and husbands’ spousal support had a reciprocal positive impact on each other. Fourth, husbands’ marital satisfaction positively predicted wives’ marital satisfaction, but not the other way around. Lastly, husbands’ marital satisfaction mediated the positive effect of both husbands’ and wives’ FSSB on wives’ marital satisfaction. The present study examined the effect of FSSB on employee’s family life outcomes based on a system approach, and demonstrated the important effect of FSSB on dual-earner couples’ marital satisfaction. Our findings suggests that FSSB can be an important resources to promote dual-earner couples’ marital satisfaction. Since previous research have shown that supervisors’ FSSB could be improved by supervisor training and self-monitoring intervention, organizations can potentially promote dual-earner couples’ marital satisfaction by implementing these programs designed to increase supervisors’ FSSB. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Mixed effects of inconsistent reviews on consumers: The moderating roles of product attributes and regulatory focus HUANG Minxue; WANG Yiting; LIAO Junyun; LIU Maohong 2017, 49 (3):  370-382.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00370 Abstract ( 3009 )   PDF (607KB) ( 5357 )   Peer Review Comments Inconsistency (If product A scores 3, 4, and 4, and product B scores 4, 4, and 4, then product A has higher reviews inconsistency compared to product B) frequently appears in online reviews. But prior research have conflicted findings regarding the effect direction of inconsistency on sales/firms. The reason is that previous studies largely ignored the review content such as product attributes. In fact, product reviews inconsistency are caused by consumers’ different preferences and evaluation on the product attributes. In this paper, the product attributes are classified into vertical and horizontal attributes with the standard of uniform preference. According to the regulatory focus theory, reviews inconsistency of vertical attributes are more likely to trigger consumers’ prevention focus, thus stimulate the risk perception of the product, and reduce their purchase intention; but reviews inconsistency of horizontal attributes are more likely to trigger consumers’ promotion focus, thus stimulate the unique perception of the product, and increase their purchase intention. By introducing product attributes in the inconsistent reviews as a moderator, we tried to unify and explain the previous seemingly conflicting conclusions. To obtain some preliminary insights, we collected 138 restaurants’ group-buying posts and coded them as either vertical attributes or horizontal attributes. The analysis of this secondary data showed that the higher the inconsistency of vertical attribute reviews, the less the product sales; while the higher the inconsistency of horizontal attribute reviews, the more the product sales. Furthermore, we conducted two laboratory experiments to examine our hypothesis. In experiment 1, we used a 2 (reviews inconsistency: low vs. high) × 2 (product attributes: vertical vs. horizontal) between-subjects design. In experiment 2, we used a 2 (reviews inconsistency: low vs. high) × 2 (product attributes: vertical vs. horizontal) × 2 (regulatory focus: prevention vs. promotion) between-subjects design. We recruited 270 graduated students as the subjects (130 in experiment 1 and 140 in experiment 2). Results indicated that reviews inconsistency can stimulate consumers’ perception of risk to reduce their purchase intention, while reviews inconsistency can stimulate consumers’ perception of uniqueness to increase their purchase intention. In addition, the product attributes about reviews play a significant moderating role in the main effects. Namely, for the vertical attribute reviews, the reviews inconsistency are more likely to stimulate consumers’ perception of risk, thereby reducing the purchase intention, and for the horizontal attribute reviews, the reviews inconsistency are more likely to stimulate consumers’ perception of uniqueness, thereby increasing the purchase intention. Finally, the results indicated that the regulatory focus moderates the moderating effect of product attribute reviews. By focusing on different consumer preferences for product attributes, this paper breaks the contradictory conclusions about the impact of reviews inconsistency in previous studies. This study extended the research in the field of consumer word-of-mouth. Regulatory focus theory was introduced to this research, which also extended the externality of this theory. Also, some theoretical and practical contributions were made in the product marketing strategy area. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The perspective-distance effect hypothesis: Different perspectives and thinking modes lead to different decision-making performance in complex condition CHEN Qing; HE Quan; CHEN Guangyao; GUO Yuezhi; ZHANG Hejing; HE Xianyou 2017, 49 (3):  383-392.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00383 Abstract ( 3098 )   PDF (400KB) ( 4423 )   Peer Review Comments The decision-making performance of self-other has been a hotspot in resent studies. However, previous studies had shown no obvious distinction between predicting others’ decision and deciding for others, and their theories had not yet been able to perfectly explain the mechanism as well. Integrating the Construal Level Theory and the Psychological Theory, the current study proposes the Perspective-Distance Effect Hypothesis to explain the mechanism of decision-making under different perspectives (for oneself, for prediction, & for others), and provides the empirical evidence. In order to separate the influence of perspective-selecting and psychological distance in decision-making process, and prove that perspective-selecting process does exert influence on decision-making, Experiment 1 was designed to perform under unconscious thinking mode in complex condition. On the contrary, Experiment 2 was conducted under conscious thinking mode in complex condition to prove that perspective selecting (for oneself, for prediction, & for others) and psychological distance simultaneously influence decision-making. Meanwhile, intimacy degree was an important factor that effected the process of perspective selecting. The current study employed the same paradigm as Dijksterhuis (2004), and Bos et al. (2010) used in the research of unconscious thinking. In Experiment 1, three or two participants took part in the experiment as a group. In the three-people group, participants were randomly assigned to the role of H (make decision for others), M (make decision for oneself) or P (predicting other’s decision) respectively. In the two-people group, one of them played role M (make decision for oneself) and the other randomly played either H (make decision for others) or P (predicting other’s decision). Participants were required to finish the intimacy degree scale at the beginning of the experiment. After that, the instructions were presented on the screen and participants were required to read them carefully. 48 pieces of information about 4 different lessons (12 for each) were then randomly presented one by one on the screen. Then, participants were required to do a distraction task for 4 minutes. By doing so, participants’ cognitive resources were occupied so that they would not be able to consider consciously. Then, the participants needed to assess the 4 lessons respectively on a scale from 1 to 20. After the assessment, participants made their decision according to their role. Participants in Experiment 2 were divided into either stranger group or intimate group according to their relationship in real life without finishing the intimacy degree scale. Instead of doing the distraction task as in experiment 1, participants spent 4 minutes consciously thinking about the information presented before. Then they finished the assessment and made decisions according to their role. The results of Experiment 1 show that under unconscious thinking mode in complex condition, the performance score of decision-making for prediction was significantly lower than that for oneself and for others, but there was no significant difference between the latter two. The result of Experiment 2 shows that, 1) under conscious thinking mode in complex condition, the performance score of decision-making for others was significantly higher than that for oneself or for prediction while there were no significant difference between the latter two in the stranger group; 2) In intimate group, there are no significant difference between the performance of decision-making for prediction and for others, but both were better than the performance of decision making for oneself. These results provided supportive evidence for the Perspective-Distance Effect Hypothesis. The findings of the study could also be useful for decision-making in real life. Compared to the performance of decision-making for oneself and for prediction, the performance of decision-making for others is more stable, and generally better. When predicting other’s decision, one tends to underestimate other’s performance under unconscious thinking mode in complex condition, while under conscious thinking mode, one tends to precisely estimate other’s performance when predicting a stranger’s decision and to overestimate other’s performance when predicting a friend’s decision. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The effect of anger and sadness on prosocial decision making: The role of the interpersonal attribution of responsibility YANG Zhaoning; GU Zibei; WANG Dujuan; TAN Xuyun; WANG Xiaoming 2017, 49 (3):  393-403.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00393 Abstract ( 6819 )   PDF (417KB) ( 9919 )   Peer Review Comments Previous research suggested that emotions have an effect on prosocial decision making depending on the dimensions of emotional valence, little research has verified the role of specific emotions of the same valence. Drawing on the Appraisal-Tendency Framework (ATF), the present set of studies aimed to explore the carryover effect of two incidentally negative emotions, i.e. anger and sadness, on prosocial decision making and the role of the interpersonal attribution of responsibility in this effect. We conducted two studies, where emotions were induced via the Autobiographical Emotional Memory Task (AEMT). Study 1 investigated the effects of anger and sadness on prosocial decision making with a between-subjects design. Participants were randomly assigned to angry, sad, or neutral conditions and were asked to indicate how much time they were willing to spend helping others. Study 2 explored whether the effects of anger and sadness on prosocial decision making depend on interpersonal attribution of responsibility. This study employed a 2 (emotions: anger/ sadness) × 3 (interpersonal attribution of responsibility: ambiguity/ uncontrollable and external situation/ controllable situation and recipient own) mixed design with emotions as a between-subjects variable. Participants were randomly assigned to angry or sad conditions. Similar to study 1, emotions were induced through AEMT. Interpersonal attribution of responsibility was manipulated by varying the information about the person who needs help. In the ambiguity condition, the reason that the person needs help is not clear; in the uncontrollable and external situation condition, the reason that the person needs help is due to uncontrollable external situation; in the controllable situation and recipient own condition, the person who is in need of help is responsible for such circumstance. Prosocial decision making was measured by the amount of money participants were willing to donate. Across two studies we found that: (1) Participants in the sad condition were willing to spend more time and donate more money to others than their counterparts in the angry and neutral conditions. (2) Under the condition of ambiguous attribution of responsibility, participants who experienced sadness were more willing to help others compared to those in angry condition; in the uncontrollable and external situation conditions, and controllable situation and recipient own conditions, anger and sadness had similar effects on helping behavior. (3) In the sad condition, compared to ambiguous attribution of responsibility, participants were more willing to help when the responsibility was attributed to uncontrollable and external situation, whereas participants were less willing to help when the responsibility was attributed to the person who needs help. In the angry condition, participants were more willing to help when the responsibility was attributed to uncontrollable and external situation rather than when it was ambiguous or when the recipients were blamed. We conclude that (a) Incidental emotions of the same valence have different effects of carrying over on prosocial decision making- sadness facilitates helping behavior while anger impedes prosocial decision making, and (b) Interpersonal attribution of responsibility contributes to such effect. Anger and sadness have opposing effects on prosocial decision making only when the interpersonal attribution of responsibility remains ambiguous. These findings have important implications for understanding the mechanism underlying the impacts of different incidental emotions of the same valence on prosocial decision making. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The effects of power on human behavior: The perspective of regulatory focus 2017, 49 (3):  404-415.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00404 Abstract ( 3573 )   PDF (554KB) ( 5654 )   Peer Review Comments Research on power has been going on for decades and it has been found to have considerable effects on cognitive, emotional and behavior aspects. This article presents an integrative theory accounting of the effects of power on humans. In particular, high power means the ability to control others and to get rid of the control of others, powerful individuals have the ability to fill with one's will, as a consequence, triggers promotion-related goal and strategy. In contrast, low power is associated with no ability to control others and get rid of the control of others and thereby activates prevention-related goal and strategy. This framework allows us to integrate disparate literatures and to generate a significant number of novel hypotheses about the consequences of power. In order to empirically verify the hypotheses mentioned, 4 studies are presented to explore the influence of power (high or low) on regulatory focus (promotion or prevention). Study 1 investigated the relationship between trait power and chronic regulatory focus. Results showed that the powerful, compared to the powerless participants, were more likely to promotion focus. Study 2-4 investigated the effects of priming power on situated regulatory focus. In Study 2, after role playing of manipulating power, the accessibility to ideals and duties to goal were measured. Results showed that powerful participants showed greater accessibility to their ideals while powerless participants showed greater accessibility to their duties. In Study 3, after recalling manipulating sense of personal power, the accessibility to eager and vigilant of strategy were measured. Results showed that powerful participants showed greater eager strategy while powerless participants showed greater vigilant strategy. In Study 4, we priming power with gesture implicitly, then measured participants' strategy in the same way with Study 3. Results showed that powerful participants showed greater eager strategy while powerless participants showed greater vigilant strategy. We also showed that this effect occurred as a consequence of the level of power rather than as an incidental result of a change in mood. In short, the results indicated that individuals with high power are more likely to promotion focus and individuals with low power tend to prevention focus. The results of these four studies provided supports for our theorizing: (1) individuals with high power are more likely to promotion focus, whereas those in low power tend more to prevention focus. (2) The regulatory focus effect of power occurred as a consequence of the level of power rather than as an incidental result of a change in mood. The importance of these results is discussed in line with recent theorizing within social psychology of power. We propose a new means to broaden the understanding of effect of power, which enriches the relevant research on power. In addition, the result is a beneficial supplement to Approach-Inhibition Theory of power. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The orientation of Bruner’s psychological research at his later age and its academic relevance HUO Yongquan; SONG Peipei; CHEN Xiaopu; ZHU Yi; CHEN Yuanyuan 2017, 49 (3):  416-426.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00416 Abstract ( 1867 )   PDF (453KB) ( 2609 )   Peer Review Comments Bruner is one of the most creative and open-minded psychologists and educationists in the world. Moreover, he is also one of the leading figures in the first and the second cognitive revolution. Since 1990s, Bruner’s research showed a distinctive change in the academic orientation, which had made a significant contribution to cognitive psychology, cultural psychology, anthropology as well as theoretical psychology. His excellent achievements at his later years involved various fields including psychology, education, anthropology and law. Through plenty of researches and observations, Bruner finally realized that human behavior was always affected by the involved culture. His work helped to keep the field of psychology away from strict behaviorism, and made contribution to the development of cognitive and cultural psychology. Many scholars emphasized the orientation of Bruner’s thoughts at his later age. This article seeks to reflect the important value of Bruner’s academic achievements at his later age, and reveal his reflection on cognitive revolution and theoretical framework of cultural psychology. Bruner promoted the gain momentum of second cognitive revolution, which echoed the global development of psychology. He also reflected on the development of cognitive psychology, suggesting that cognition could be seen as individual’s activity in real life. Bruner established the foundation of cognitive psychology by applying a constructivist theory. Meanwhile, he developed a new framework for cultural psychology by emphasizing the importance of cultural transmission in the development of human mind and its general intelligence. In this framework, Bruner explained that human mind reflected the evolution of biological, cultural construction and exposure to the practice of interaction among biological, cultural and practical properties, which acted like an integrated complex process. Furthermore, Bruner made great effort in unravelling the plight of empirical approach and in exploring the way to psychology integration. His innovative understanding of problems in psychology and foresights for future studies also served as an important guide for the field of interest. Bruner attributed his success to the openness of the eyes. As a people who was born blind and restored sight later, these experiences made him sensitive to the new. The secret of people fascinating him throughout his life, his spirit always inspire future researchers continue to complete his unfinished work. Related Articles | Metrics