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Influencing Factors in the Allocation of Cognitive Control: Rewards and Costs Si Shuangqing, Zhou Sihong, Yuan Jiajin, Yang Qian Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (2): 258-266.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240201 Abstract （1844）      PDF（pc） （1015KB）（1652）       Knowledge map    Save Cognitive control refers to people’s ability to adaptively employ cognitive resources and adjust cognitive processes in pursuit of goal-directed behavior. Since naturally occurring behavioral situations are constantly changing, people would mobilize their control adaptively. According to the Expected Value of Control (EVC) model, the dynamic adjustment of control can be thought of as value-based decision making, centered on the integration of rewards and costs that can be expected from a control-demanding task. Hence, reward and cost are two key factors jointly modulating people’s motivation and determining the allocation of control. Following this framework but going beyond the EVC model, the current review elucidated the role of various motivation-related factors that can act as rewards or costs in the implementation of cognitive control, and discussed how they collectively adjust cognitive control. More specifically, money, juice, or emotional/social stimuli are extrinsic rewards that can drive cognitive control and improve task performance, albeit with a few exceptions. Considering this complexity, other factors can further modulate the beneficial effects (e.g., reward-poor vs. reward-rich task conditions, the congruity of reward and task performance, and individual reward sensitivity). Besides, in contrast to extrinsic rewards that are manipulated externally, intrinsic rewards are highly integrated into control-related tasks. It can be reflected in people’s autonomic engagement with certain tasks and the positive emotions they generated. In this sense, the investigation of the influence of intrinsic rewards on cognitive control is relatively indirect, which can be achieved by adjusting effort levels and positive emotions. Relatedly, individual differences in intrinsic motivation, as reflected by the need for cognition (NFC), are also closely tied to intrinsic rewards in driving control. That is, individuals high in need for cognition are more inclined to be involved in control demanding tasks and to persist in difficult or unprofitable cognitive tasks. Meanwhile, due to the presence of cognitive costs associated with exerting cognitive control, individuals typically show a bias toward opting for “low-effort” tasks, while decreasing the subjective value of the expected value. When discussing the impact of costs on cognitive control, it is necessary to consider the trade-off between rewards and costs. Previous studies have demonstrated that this trade-off process may vary among individuals based on their willingness to invest effort and their capacity to exert effort, depending on whether they place a higher value on rewards or costs. Consequently, we have further delineated the control signal intensity to effort levels and introduced the concept of “Subjective Expected Value of Control”, which is determined by the difference between the Subjective Value of Reward and the Subjective Value of Cost. Furthermore, the reward-cost trade-off is inherently dynamic, with individuals adapting their cognitive control with the automaticity of task performance in a given task, or in response to feature transfer across different task situations. Nonetheless, some unanswered questions need to be further investigated. Firstly, the mechanism underlying the reward-cost trade-off requires refinement. As individuals persistently allocate control, their instantaneous subjective evaluation of the rewards and costs expected from the current task may change dynamically. Although several theories have introduced dynamic elements to the EVC model in various ways, a fully dynamic representation of the reward-costs trade-off remains a topic of ongoing exploration. Secondly, the subjective trade-off between rewards and costs can be further modulated by additional individual factors closely related to external and internal motivations. Consequently, it is intriguing to explore how individual differences in reward sensitivity, cognitive need, intrinsic motivation, and opportunity costs may dynamically impact subjective evaluation of the rewards and costs of investing cognitive effort. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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The Influence of Mobile Phone Dependence on the Development of Social Anxiety in Junior High School Students: Longitudinal Mediating Effect of Body Shame Zeng Yixin, Zhang Bin, Xiong Sicheng, Long Zhuan, Zhang Anqi, Zeng Chengwei, Liu Jiaxi, Yang Ying Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (2): 316-324.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240208 Abstract （1501）      PDF（pc） （1023KB）（1738）       Knowledge map    Save Social anxiety is a common emotional feature in the growth of children and adolescents. It mainly refers to the emotional experience of tension and anxiety when individuals interact with others in real life, which has a certain degree of negative impact on interpersonal skills, personal growth, development potential, and life attitude. In view of the multiplicity of social anxiety and its extensive influence, researchers have paid close attention to it in recent years, and it is particularly important to explore its influencing factors and developmental mechanisms. In particular, indulging in mobile phones may lead to the degradation of individual social skills, which in turn may induce social anxiety and other adaptation problems. At the same time, the propaganda of the ideal body image in media may cause the conflict between the ideal and reality among junior high school students, and deepen the shame of their own bodies. Previous studies have also shown that physical shame may play a mediating role in the relationship between mobile phone dependence and social anxiety. However, most literature still uses the traditional analysis method of comparing the change of mean value, which is unable to provide information of the complete development rate of variables, and it is difficult to accurately grasp the dynamic development process among variables. Therefore, this study intends to take junior high school students as the research subjects, using the two indicators of initial level and development rate in the latent growth model, to examine the developmental trend of mobile phone dependence in junior high school students, body shame, and social anxiety from a dynamic perspective, and further explore the internal mechanisms of the three. Using the Mobile Phone Dependence Scale, the Body Shame Scale, and the Social Communication Anxiety Scale, 339 junior high school students from two middle schools in Hunan Province were followed for three times in a year. All data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and Mplus 7.0. The first step is to use SPSS 26.0 for descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. Secondly, using Mplus 7.0 to build an unconditional latent growth model to examine the development trend of each variable, in which the intercept represents the initial state and the slope represents the development rate. The third step is to establish a conditional latent growth model to test whether the development track of social anxiety is directly affected by mobile phone dependence. The fourth step is to construct a structural equation model to explore the relationship between intercept and slope of mobile phone dependence, body shame, and social anxiety. The results showed that: (1) Mobile phone dependence, body shame and social anxiety in junior high school students all showed a steady upward trend, and the initial level and development rate of social anxiety were significantly negatively correlated. (2) The initial level and development rate of mobile phone dependence can directly predict the initial level and development rate of social anxiety respectively. (3) The initial level and development rate of body shame played a complete longitudinal mediating role in the mechanism of the influence of mobile phone dependence on the development of social anxiety. Based on the longitudinal time course and the latent growth model, this study systematically explored the changing track, characteristics, and dynamic relationship among junior high school students' mobile phone dependence, body shame, and social anxiety, and accurately described the development and possible mechanisms of adolescent social anxiety and its risk factors. The results supported the Social Replacement Hypothesis, the Tripartite Influence Model, and the Cognitive Model of Social Anxiety, which has practical guiding significance for deepening the understanding of junior high school students' social anxiety, establishing effective detection and intervention measures, and promoting the mental health development of junior high school students. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Childhood Emotional Maltreatment and Early Adolescents’ Smartphone Addiction Severity: The Mediating Roles of General and Social Anxiety and the Moderating Role of Family Socioeconomic Status Zhou Nan, Zang Ning, Wang Shaofan, Li Zixuan, Chen Ling, Li Beilei, Cao Hongjian Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (2): 325-333.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240209 Abstract （1296）      PDF（pc） （1218KB）（1370）       Knowledge map    Save In recent years, researchers have paid increased attention to the developmental sequela of early maltreatment experiences, including addictive behaviors. Emotional abuse and neglect are particularly influential in shaping children’s later socioemotional functioning because, compared to the other types of early maltreatment, they are more pervasive and their consequences are often not immediately observable. Notably, research on the link between emotional maltreatment and early adolescents’ addictive behaviors is limited in its primary focus on the direct associations, leaving the underlying mechanisms underexamined, and in its lack of differentiation between emotional abuse and emotional neglect. Based on the addiction compensation theory, this study sought to examine the links between early emotional abuse and emotional neglect and early adolescents’ smartphone addiction severity using data from a sample of 844, 7th graders from H province, China. This study also tested the mediating roles of general and social anxiety given that they may exhibit differential roles in explaining how early emotional maltreatment may elevate the risk of early adolescents’ smartphone addiction. Specifically, early emotional abuse and emotional neglect may contribute to the formation of individuals’ shame-based cognitive-emotional scheme, which results in individuals’ habitual hiding from others and ultimately leads to social anxiety. Further, family socioeconomic status (SES) may also factor into the associations among early emotional abuse and emotional neglect, general and social anxiety, and early adolescents’ smartphone addiction. On the one hand, early adolescents from low SES families have limited resources that are unfavorable for development and thus the negative impact of early emotional abuse and neglect, such as anxious symptoms, would be stronger than those from high SES families. On the other hand, the lack of social support in family settings with low SES also may diminish adolescents’ resilience to cope with the consequences of early emotional maltreatment. Thus, the moderating role of family SES was examined in this study. The present path models revealed that early adolescents’ social anxiety only mediated the positive associations between early emotional abuse and their smartphone addiction severity. Moreover, the mediating effect of social anxiety was only present in early adolescents from families with high SES. These results delineated how early emotional abuse and emotional neglect may uniquely relate to early adolescents’ smartphone addiction via their associations with general and social anxiety. The incorporation of social anxiety beyond the general anxiety highlighted the importance of differentiating the two types of anxiety as well as documenting their respective roles. Further, the results also point to the necessity of moving beyond the average population to further explore the potential heterogeneity in the currently examined associations across different subgroups. The findings provide insights for future trauma-informed interventions that aim to reduce the incidence of early adolescents’ smartphone addiction. Specifically, for early adolescents with early emotional abuse and neglect experiences, practitioners should attend to their potential anxious symptoms. Moreover, for early adolescents from high SES families carrying the burdens of early emotional maltreatment, special attention is needed because of their potential social anxiety issues. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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The Impairment of Prospective Memory by Alcohol Use: Antecedents and Mechanisms Xin Cong, Wang Haoyuan, Zhang Xinyu, Lu Dongfeng Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (2): 267-273.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240202 Abstract （1091）      PDF（pc） （337KB）（1246）       Knowledge map    Save Prospective memory refers to the ability to remember to perform a delayed intention at an appropriate time or situation in the future, such as remembering to return a book to the library tomorrow morning or to take a daily medication. Memory failures that occur in the future generate more problems in daily life than memory failures that occur in the past. It has been found that 50~70 percent of real-life memory failures can be attributed to failures in prospective memory. The completion of most activities in daily life is closely related to prospective memory. Previous studies have typically investigated prospective memory using a dual-task paradigm, which included both prospective memory and ongoing tasks. Alcohol is one of the most widely used drugs and has been shown to play a complicated role in mental health and society. The association between alcohol use and cognitive function has drawn attention, and the adverse effects of alcohol use on cognitive function are well-documented. Alcohol use can damage the brain structure and cognitive function, and reduce the individual’s prospective memory performance. More generally, the study of prospective memory failures under alcohol is important to health behavior since many interventions targeted at non-dependent drinkers rely, to some extent, on prospective memory. The relation between alcohol use and prospective memory is influenced by many factors, including alcohol use patterns and doses, other substance abuse, differences in research measures, and types of prospective memory. Successful completion of prospective memory relies on the coordinated functioning of the subcomponents of executive function (working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility). Individuals firstly encode and store prospective memory intentions. When prospective memory cues appear, individuals need to retrieve prospective memory intentions, inhibit the ongoing task, remember the task rules and the responses, and flexibly switch from the ongoing task to the prospective memory task. The cognitive mechanisms through which alcohol use affects prospective memory are mainly related to executive function and attentional systems. In terms of neurological mechanisms, where alcohol use affects prospective memory involves the prefrontal and parieto-occipital cortex, the limbic system (hippocampus, anterior cingulate gyrus, and superior colliculus), cerebral cortical, and medullary substance. A systematic analysis of the factors influencing the relation between alcohol use and prospective memory and a summary of the mechanisms through which alcohol use affects prospective memory is of great value. It may inform interventions efforts that aim to improve the performance of prospective memory in clinical samples of alcohol use in the future. Future research can investigate the effects of alcohol use on prospective memory components by experimental isolation and the separation of prospective memory processing phases in combination with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) brain imaging techniques to understand the specific mechanisms of alcohol use on different prospective memory processing phases. In addition, future research should focus on the differences and improvements in research methods and on factors that improve prospective memory in clinical samples of alcohol use. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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EEG Neurofeedback for Working Memory Enhancement: A Literature Review Zhou Wenbin, Nan Wenya, Fu Yunfa Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (3): 514-521.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240301 Abstract （1065）      PDF（pc） （627KB）（1112）       Knowledge map    Save Working memory refers to the ability to maintain and manipulate information over a period of seconds. In daily life, many complex cognitive activities such as learning and decision-making need the participation of working memory. Whether working memory performance can be improved by certain ways of training has been a hot research topic. Neurofeedback (NF) is a type of biofeedback that uses the principle of operational conditioning to enable individuals to learn regulating their own brain activity. During electroencephalogram (EEG) NF training, the EEG signals are recorded from single or multiple electrodes attached on the scalp and relevant features are extracted and presented to the training individuals in real time by visual, auditory, or combined visual-auditory forms. Thus, participants can be aware of their brain state in real time. When their brain activity meets some predefined rewarded criteria, they will be rewarded by the feedback interface that presents real time feedback feature, such as increasing the sphere size in visual feedback, music quality in auditory feedback, etc. With NF training practice, they will learn how to adjust their brain activities that underlie a specific behavior or pathology. A large amount of studies have shown that NF training can improve cognitive ability and behavioral performance in both clinical patients and healthy population. Regarding the NF training effectiveness for working memory enhancement, the existing research conclusions are not consistent due to the variations of the experimental design, training protocol, participants’ population, and sample size in the literature. Therefore, this study systematically reviewed previous studies on EEG NF training for working memory performance improvement. It started with the principle and mechanism of NF training and the introduction of the current research progress. Then the article reviewed the experimental results using different NF training protocols including theta enhancement NF, alpha enhancement NF, SMR enhancement NF, beta enhancement NF, gamma enhancement NF and two frequency bands NF protocols. We found that alpha, SMR and theta enhancement NF have shown the benefits on working memory enhancement in most studies. However, a few studies have reported inconsistent results, including the failure to adjust the training EEG feature (i.e. the non-learner problem) and no significant enhancement in working memory compared to the control group. Future research can be conducted from following three aspects. First, the neural mechanism of EEG NF training effects on working memory has not been clear yet. Previous work only examined the EEG activity during NF training and resting periods. Whether and how NF training influences the brain activity in working memory task and results in working memory performance change remains unknown yet. Future work can utilize a variety of imaging methods such as EEG, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and positron emission tomography (PET) to examine the brain activities during NF training, during resting state and during working memory task. Second, the non-learner problem has been reported in a number of studies. Although a few studies have identified some physiological and psychological predictors for non-learners in some NF protocols, the findings cannot be generalized due to the complexity of EEG activity, the variety of participants’ population and inconsistent experimental design. Future work is suggested to utilize machine learning methods to identify the predictors of non-learners in different NF training protocols in order to understand the reason of non-learner problem, and save time and effort on non-learners. Finally, the optimization of training parameters including training schedule and feedback interface, the adoption of randomized double-blind sham-controlled experimental design, clear reporting the experimental methods and results are desired in future NF studies. This review is expected to provide reference and pave the way for future research. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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The Chinese Thinking Style and Mental Health: The Role of Mental Resilience and Self-Esteem Huang Lianqiong, Luo Xi, Hou Yubo Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (2): 458-466.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240224 Abstract （989）      PDF（pc） （1319KB）（1178）       Knowledge map    Save Extensive empirical studies have revealed the significant impact of mental health on individual psychosocial adaptation. However, with the acceleration of the pace of life and the intensification of competition, Chinese people are confronted with a sharp increase in the pressure from different aspects, followed by mental health problems that are increasingly prominent. According to the Blue Book of Mental Health: Report on National Mental Health Development in China (2019~2020), Chinese people scored significantly lower in emotional experience, self-knowledge, interpersonal communication, and adaptability in 2020 than in 2008. Therefore, it has become an urgent obligation for psychological researchers to deeply explore the factors affecting mental health and to put forward suggestions to meet people's needs for mental health services. Previous studies have pointed out that culture is an organic factor that constitutes mental health problems, and it is necessary to make efforts from the perspective of Chinese culture in order to solve Chinese mental health problems effectively. In view of this, the present study surmises that the Chinese thinking style, which reflects the characteristics of national culture, may be an important factor affecting mental health. The purpose of this study was to examine how the Chinese thinking style, which is influenced by eastern culture, affects individuals’ mental health, as well as the role of mental resilience and self-esteem. In the present study, participants were recruited to participate in the online questionnaire survey through the online platform Questionnaire Star. The data were collected in two waves. Participants completed the Chinese Holistic Thinking Style Scale, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, and the demographic questions at time 1. After an interval of one week (time 2), they completed the Mental Resilience Scale and the General Health Questionnaire. Totally 630 valid questionnaires were collected. The results indicated that (1) the connectedness dimension of Chinese thinking style significantly positively predicted mental health, while the contradiction dimension significantly negatively predicted mental health. (2) Mental resilience partially mediated the relationship between the Chinese thinking style and mental health. (3) Self-esteem not only played a significant moderating role in the relationship between the Chinese thinking style and mental health, but also moderated the relationship between thinking style and mental resilience, as well as between mental resilience and mental health. That is, self-esteem played a core role in the present model. These findings not only revealed the significance of Chinese thinking style in affecting the level of mental health but also showed the underlying mechanism of Chinese thinking style on mental health, especially the core role of self-esteem in the model. The results of this study enlighten us that enhancing mental resilience by training and strengthening people's holistic thinking style will contribute to improving their mental health status. Future researchers should further explore the positive influence of thinking style training on mental health. In addition, self-esteem exerts great influence upon Chinese psychosocial adaptation and behaviors, thus it is necessary to pay sufficient attention to the cultivation of Chinese people’s self-esteem in the future. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Emotional Arousal and Associative Memory: The Role of Combinatorial Mapping Zhang Yurong, Niu Yuanyuan, Sun Caihong, Mao Weibin Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (2): 281-289.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240204 Abstract （938）      PDF（pc） （744KB）（1196）       Knowledge map    Save Previous studies have found that emotional arousal has different effects on associative memory. The object-based framework explains this from the perspective of association type, which believes that emotional arousal will enhance the intra-item associative memory, and will not affect or damage the inter-item associative memory. However, studies which revealed that emotional arousal had different effects on associative memory are not only different in the types of associative memory, but are also different in the combinatorial mapping by reviewing previous studies. In the study of intra-item associative memory, multiple items usually correspond to one source, which is a "many-to-one" mapping, while in the study of inter-item associative memory, one to one item pairs are usually used, which reflects a "one-to-one" mapping. In this study, we intend to investigate whether combinatorial mapping is one of the reasons that emotional arousal has different effects on associative memory. We hypothesize that the influence of emotion on associative memory is not only related to the type of association, but is also related to the combinatorial mapping. To test the above hypothesis, seventy-four participants from Shandong Normal University were recruited. The number of participants was determined by G*power 3.1 software with reference to the effect size standard in previous studies. The experiments were performed in E-prime 2.10. Experiment 1 explored the effect of emotional arousal on intra-item and inter-item associative memory under the condition of "many-to-one" mapping. Experiment 2 investigated the effect of emotional arousal on different types of associative memory when the combinatorial mapping between the items was "one-to-one". Both Experiments 1 and 2 used a 2 (emotion type, negative, neutral) × (association type, intra-item, inter-item) mixed experimental design. Participants were randomly assigned to intra-item association group or inter-item association group. In each experiment, three phases were included. During the study phase, participants were instructed to remember the association between the item and its character (for example, color, font, and so on) or the association between the item and background picture. Then, there was a distractor task which required participants to do the simple calculation task for two minutes. During the test phase, participants were instructed to decide whether the item had presented during the study phase first. If participants correctly judged the old items as old, they continued to do the associative recognition in which participants were asked to choose which form of item was presented or picture was presented simultaneously with the item in the study phase. Experiment 1 showed that when the combinatorial mapping was "many-to-one", emotional arousal enhanced the intra-item associative memory and damaged the inter-item associative memory, which was consistent with the prediction of the object-based framework. Experiment 2 found that when the combinatorial mapping was "one-to-one", emotional arousal impaired intra-item associative memory and did not affect inter-item associative memory, which is not consistent with the prediction of the object-based framework. According to the result of two experiments, it can be found that when the combinatorial mapping changed, the influence of emotional arousal on the association memory would change, too. Moreover, the influence of emotional arousal on associative memory was connected with both the type of association and related to the combinatorial mapping. The result showed that although the object-based framework can better explain the different effects of emotion on associative memory, the explanatory power of the theory still had boundary conditions. That is, the effect of emotion on associative memory was influenced by the type of association and the combinatorial mapping. The findings of this study can be used to further improve the theory that explain the different effects of emotion arousal on associative memory. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Aggression and Malevolent Creativity: A Moderated Mediation Model Wu Jiaqi, Ren Xiao, Gong Zhe Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (2): 367-374.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240214 Abstract （922）      PDF（pc） （876KB）（904）       Knowledge map    Save Creativity, involving individual ability improvement, social development, and national core competitiveness, has drawn a lot of attention in the social sciences. Creativity could have a dark side in its nature, which is termed as malevolent creativity. Malevolent creativity is the application of creativity to intentionally generate products that do harm to others and society. Prior studies have investigated a significant positive correlation between aggression and malevolent creativity. The present study has taken two theoretical perspectives by adopting the General Aggression Model (GAM) and four stages of creative thought. According to the GAM, aggression may increase the risk of malevolent by increasing anger rumination. Anger rumination may play a role of reappraisal in GAM. That is, aggression can lead to anger rumination, which in turn will predict malevolent creativity. From the perspective of four stages of creative thought, anger rumination is similar to the preparation period, analyzing and reflecting on the object of attack or the angry event, in an attempt to solve the problem by means of malevolent creativity. Furthermore, individual differences in effortful control (EC) may moderate this mediation process, in which high EC individuals may be more vulnerable to anger rumination than low EC individuals. In sum, we proposed a moderated mediation model to account for malevolent creativity. Specifically, we test the relationship between aggression and malevolent creativity, the mediating effect of anger rumination, and the moderating effect of EC, in a sample of college students. Participants of this study were 428 college students (Mage = 19.44 years, SD = 1.39 year; 100 males, 328 females). They completed a battery of questionnaires, including the Buss & Perry aggression questionnaire, the Anger Rumination Scale, the Effortful Control Scale, and the Malevolent Creativity Behavior Scale. The proposed moderated mediation model was tested using regression analysis and the PROCESS macro. Previous studies have suggested that malevolent creativity may differ by gender. Hence, the effect of gender was controlled in all analyses. Results showed that: (1) Aggression positively predicted malevolent creativity in college students. (2) Anger rumination partially mediated this association. (3) This mediating effect was moderated by EC, such that it was stronger for students with high EC than those with low EC. The present study is the first to demonstrate the detrimental impact of aggression and the moderated mediation effect of anger rumination and EC on malevolent creativity based on the GAM and four stages of creative thought. Our study provides evidence for the emergence of malevolent creativity through anger rumination. They also indirectly support the dual pathway to creativity model (DPCM), in which anger rumination promotes malevolent creativity through the persistence pathway. Furthermore, different from previous studies, effortful control plays a positive moderating role between angry rumination and malevolent creativity. We infer that effortful control may help the angry rumination individuals to continue processing the task at the unconscious level. These findings have significant theoretical and practical values and can contribute to reducing individual's malevolent creativity. Firstly, the mediating effect of anger rumination suggests that we can intervene in anger rumination from the perspective of negative emotions or cognition by some methods (such as mindfulness meditation), to further prevent malevolent creativity. Secondly, the moderating effect of effortful control indicates that effortful control, as a means of self-regulation, cannot effectively inhibit malevolent creativity, but will make it worse instead. With that in mind, we may consider adopting ways such as catharsis, theorized to be a safety valve, to defuse malevolent creativity. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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The Impact and Intervention of the Approach-Avoidance Tendencies on the Ensemble Coding of Emotional Facial Expressions in a Crowd Lai Tingting, Zhu Wujing, Lin Zengzhen, Wang Xiaoqin, Jia Lei Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (5): 1026-1035.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240501 Abstract （920）      PDF（pc） （1216KB）（924）       Knowledge map    Save Previous studies have investigated the approach-avoidance response to emotional faces and the processing characteristics of facial emotional ensemble coding as separate entities. However, there is a lack of research that has integrated these two aspects to explore the potential influence of approach-avoidance tendencies, induced by the same set of emotional facial expressions on facial expression ensemble encoding. To address this research gap, we conducted two logically progressive experiments by combining the classic approach-avoidance task with the emotional facial expression ensemble task. The goal was to investigate the potential impact of emotional approach-avoidance tendencies on the ensemble coding of facial emotions. Furthermore, we aimed to explore whether the motivational dimensions of emotional stimuli modulate the ensemble coding of facial emotions from the perspective of motivational orientation theory. The experiment was programmed using Presentation software (Neurobehavioral Systems Inc.) and presented on a 21-inch Dell monitor. Experiment 1 employed a 2 (emotional valence: positive vs negative) × 2 (motivational orientation: approach vs. avoidance) within-subjects design. The dependent variable was the mean error value of face emotion ensemble coding ($\mathrm{ME}=\frac{\sum \text { |test-mean }}{n}$). The positive or negative faces were presented in two ways: approaching and withdrawing. Participants were instructed to perceive the mean emotion of the group faces. They were then asked to use the mouse wheel to adjust the emotion of the test face to match the mean emotion of the group faces. Experiment 2 was simplified based on the results of Experiment 1. The positive faces from the ensemble coding task in Experiment 1 were discarded. A 2 (group: experimental group vs. control group) × 2 (motivational orientation: approach vs. avoidance) two-factor mixed design was used in Experiment 2. This experiment consisted of four phases: an emotional state pre-test, a sentence arrangement task, an emotional state post-test, and a group face ensemble coding task. The “experimental group-control group” design was adopted, and different sentence arrangement tasks were set up before the face emotion ensemble coding task. This was done to test whether implicit emotion regulation strategies could reduce the influence of negative avoidance tendencies on face emotion ensemble coding. The results of Experiment 1 revealed a significant interaction between emotional valence and motivational orientation in the face emotional ensemble coding task (p < .05). Further analysis showed that the error in coding negative faces in the approach condition was significantly higher than in the avoidance condition. Additionally, the average error in ensemble coding for negative faces in the avoidance condition was significantly lower than for positive faces. In Experiment 2, the results showed a significant interaction between group and motivational orientation (p < .01). The simple effect analysis indicated that there was no significant difference in the mean error between the approach and avoidance conditions in the experimental group. However, in the control group, the mean error in the approach condition was significantly higher than in the avoidance condition, which was consistent with the findings in Experiment 1. Moreover, the mean error in approach conditions in the control group was significantly higher than that in the experimental group. In conclusion, this study provides evidence that emotional avoidance tendency has an impact on face emotion ensemble coding, while a cognitive reappraisal strategy can eliminate this effect. It supports the motivational orientation theory and challenges the event coding theory. Furthermore, it highlights the significant influence of the motivational dimension of emotional stimuli on emotion perception. The key conclusions are as follows: (1) Negative avoidance tendencies can affect the ensemble coding of emotional faces and induce perceptual biases. (2) Implicit cognitive reappraisal can reduce negative avoidance tendency and regulate its influence on the ensemble coding of emotional faces. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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The Effects of Surface Similarity and Presentation Mode on Relational Analogical Reasoning: The Match Effect Xie Weiye, Liu Yucheng, Cai Lixue, Han Linzhu, Liu Zhiya Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (4): 770-779.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240401 Abstract （855）      PDF（pc） （1267KB）（901）       Knowledge map    Save Relational analogical reasoning is the process of deriving a relation from one situation (the source) and applying it to another (the target). Based on the theories of the proactive brain (Bar, 2007, 2009), this study tested the influences of surface similarity and presentation mode (simultaneous versus sequential) on analogical relationship mapping. The study further compared the rate of relationship mapping when an identical match for the key object in the source was also present in the target (Experiment 1) and when an identical match was not present (Experiment 2). The experiments adopted a 2 (presentation mode: simultaneous presentation, sequential presentation) × 2 (surface similarity: high similarity, low similarity) between-subject design. The picture mapping paradigm was a paper-and-pencil test, in which subjects viewed pairs of black-and-white sketches illustrating 30 themes (e.g., hanging an item). One item illustrating a relationship was circled in the source picture (e.g., a hat rack) and participants needed to circle the corresponding item in the target picture (e.g., a doorknob). The perceptual similarity between items in the source and target pictures was manipulated in different experimental conditions. High and low similarity items in the target pictures had the same relationship structure to the circled item in the source picture, but with different degrees of surface similarity. For example, a hat rack in the source image might map onto a bag hook (high similarity) or a doorknob (low similarity) in the target image. As for presentation mode, simultaneous presentation meant that the source picture and the target picture were presented at the top and bottom of a single page, so that participants could easily look back and forth between pictures. Sequential presentation meant that the source picture and the target picture were presented on the front and back sides of a single sheet, so that they could not be viewed at the same time. In Experiment 1, the target pictures always included identical matches for the critical items from the source images (e.g., a hat rack in the source image also appeared in the target image, even though the analogical relationship was to a different object). In Experiment 2, the identical matches were not present: the critical items from the source images were deleted in the target images. The sample sizes for Experiments 1 and 2 were 187 and 183, respectively. The primary dependent measure was the proportion of trials on which items were chosen based on relationship mapping. Experiment 1 with identical matches found that the participants were more likely to choose items with the same relationship structure in the target pictures in the low-surface-similarity condition. Therefore, low surface similarity was more conducive to relational reasoning than high surface similarity. In contrast, Experiment 2 without identical matches found that the participants were more likely to choose items with the same relationship structure in the target pictures in the high-surface-similarity condition. Therefore, in this experiment, high surface similarity was more conducive to relational reasoning than low surface similarity, contrary to the results of Experiment 1. In both experiments, simultaneous presentation was more conducive to relational reasoning than sequential presentation. The comparative analysis of the two experiments reveals an effect, which is called the "match effect" in this study. When an identical match for the critical object in the source image was present, low surface similarity promoted relational reasoning. However, when an identical match was absent, high surface similarity promoted relational reasoning. This effect indicates that the presence or absence of an identical match for critical objects across situations is one of the important conditions for stimulating the proactive brain to explore novel relationships. In addition, both experiments found that relational reasoning performance in simultaneous presentation was better than that in sequential presentation, which indicates that relational reasoning process relies on working memory since sequential presentation requires the participants to hold one image in working memory to compare it with the other. The match effect of relational reasoning can inform education. When people are presented with repetitive and similar ideas, their proactive brains are more likely to function and come up with more novel solutions through in-depth thinking. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Stereotype Threat Triggers Avoidance of Social Comparison: The Role of Self-Esteem and Social Value Orientation Chen Qing, Zhao Yufang, Bao Yan, Zhang Chao, Xiong Weiyang, Wang Weichao, Huang Jinhua Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (2): 342-349.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240211 Abstract （854）      PDF（pc） （506KB）（811）       Knowledge map    Save Stereotype threat stigmatizes the target group and its members and may induce social defense. As a protective mechanism against threats, self-esteem may influence the relation between stereotype threat and social defense, but the direction of this effect may be related to social value orientation. This study examines the effect of stereotype threat, relative to no threat, on the strategies stigmatized individuals use to protect themselves (i.e., the adoption of avoiding social comparison) and the moderating effect of intrinsic self-protection structures (i.e., self-esteem and social value orientation). Two parallel experiments using the gender-mathematics stereotype investigated the impact of self-concept threat (Experiment 1) and group-concept threat (Experiment 2) on social comparison avoidance and its boundary mechanisms, under the theoretical underpinnings of the Multi-Threat Framework. A total of 534 female college students took part in Experiments 1 and 2. Students of non-mathematics and non-psychology majors were selected as participants. Social value orientation and self-esteem were measured 1~2 weeks prior to the experiment. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all official experiments were made available via web links (programmed in JavaScript) and administered individually by a female experimenter. Participants were assigned randomly to either a threat group (Experiment 1: self-concept threat; Experiment 2: group-concept threat) or a no threat group. Participants first completed threat (or non-threat) manipulation and its checks, and then took a standardized math test and social comparison avoidance measure in order. The threat manipulations used a news digest about “men’s outstanding achievements in mathematics” and test instructions of “anonymous diagnosis of math ability”. In the self-concept threat manipulation, the test instruction was “diagnosis of individual math ability”; and in the group-concept threat manipulation, the test instruction was “diagnosis of group math ability”. The standardized math test with a time limit of 10 minutes was administered, with one question per minute and 4 seconds pause between each question. The avoidance of social comparison was measured by the test-selection paradigm in Experiment 1, which required participants to choose 5 out of 20 Derivative math problems for themselves and 5 for others. Experiment 2 required participants to choose 5 out of 20 derivative math problems for females and 5 for males. The results showed that: (1) both self-concept threat and group-concept threat triggered avoidance of social comparison (p < .05), but the social defense effect of self-concept threat was relatively weak. Self-concept threat only reduced the degree of comparison, but did not affect individuals’ choice of engaging in social comparison. (2) Self-esteem and social value orientation played a co-moderating role (p < .05). As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the self-esteem of individuals with a prosocial-value orientation increased social defenses against threats to self-concept and group-concept, whereas the self-esteem of individuals with a proself-value orientation did not affect social defenses against threats to the self-concept and decreased social defenses against threats to group-concept. This research shows that stereotype threat triggers the avoidance of social comparison, and that the threat defense effect is limited by self-esteem and social value orientation. Stereotype threat is based on stigmatized identities and rooted in the social structure. Its threat effects span time and place, which is very noteworthy. Compared to previous studies, this study extends the effect of stereotype threat from internal negative experiences (such as poor performance, emotion exhaustion, cognitive impairment, etc.) to the level of social connection, and details the differences between the social defense effect of self-as-target and group-as-target stereotype threat, to provide scientific basis for future psychological interventions. Research focuses on the female identity, which is border impermeable, and contributes to the social defense effect of gender identity and even border impermeable identity threats. In addition, this study examines the boundary mechanism of the social defense effect of stereotype threat from the inner self-protection structure. It turns out that the relations between self-esteem and defense is not unitary and that social value orientation plays an essential role in predicting the internal and external value basis of self-esteem, which highlights the importance of considering the value basis of self-esteem in future research. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Bidirectional Associations Between Friendship Quality, Subjective Well-Being and Loneliness Among Children: A Longitudinal Study Liu Xu, Liu Yuxiao, Chen Qian, Cao Min, Peng Ji, Zhou Zongkui Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (4): 819-828.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240407 Abstract （786）      PDF（pc） （991KB）（864）       Knowledge map    Save The establishment of close friendships begins in childhood and is an important milestone in development. High-quality friendship is an essential force in promoting children's mental health development, which can improve children's subjective well-being and reduce loneliness. According to development contextualism, friendship is an important developmental context for children, which may have a bidirectional association with subjective well-being and loneliness. This bidirectional association has a long-term impact on children's development. To explore children's developmental trajectory, this study employed a longitudinal design spanning three years to examine the bidirectional relationship between children's friendship quality, subjective well-being, and loneliness. A three-wave longitudinal study with one-year interval was conducted. A total of 212 third and fourth graders (Mage = 8.77 years, SD = .73; 59.4% male) in the central city completed questionnaires concerning friendship quality, subjective well-being, and loneliness. All the measures had good reliability and validity, and there was no serious common method bias. SPSS 25.0 was used to conduct descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. After completing item parceling, we constructed the random intercepts cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) in Mplus 8.3 and employed the full information maximum likelihood estimation (FIML) to deal with missing data. The RI-CLPM allows to separate between-person effects from within-person effects. It was used to investigate whether children with higher friendship quality might subsequently have higher subjective well-being and lower loneliness, and vice versa. The results of the correlation analysis showed that children's friendship quality was positively associated with subjective well-being, and negatively associated with loneliness, both concurrently and longitudinally (ps < .001). The results of RI-CLPM indicated that, at the between-person level, the random-intercept factor for friendship quality was positively related to that for subjective well-being (r = .55, p < .05), but negatively related to that for loneliness (r = -.74, p < .01). After controlling for between-person stability, the within-person paths showed that the relationship between friendship quality and loneliness was reciprocal. More specifically, initial friendship quality significantly negatively predicted loneliness at Time 2 (β = -.24, 95%CI [-.422, -.053]), which in turn negatively predicted friendship quality at Time 3 (β = -.22, 95%CI [-.426, -.004]). Additionally, loneliness at Time 1 also negatively predicted friendship quality at Time 2 (β = -.26, 95%CI [-.498, -.015]). However, between friendship quality and subjective well-being, subjective well-being at Time 1 can significantly predict friendship quality at Time 2 (β = .34, 95%CI [.059, .620]), whereas cross-lagged paths of the reversed direction were not significant (ps > .05). This study reveals the bidirectional associations between friendship quality and loneliness at the within-person level by adopting a longitudinal design and constructing the RI-CLPM. This contributes to methodological innovation for the circular effects research orientation emphasized by development contextualism. Furthermore, it suggests that we can simultaneously intervene in both friendship quality and loneliness to construct a positive cycle. Meanwhile, the different relationships between friendship quality, subjective well-being, and loneliness indicate the importance of time in understanding individual development. In general, this study broadens the understanding of the specific connections and dynamic changes between friendship and the development of children's mental health. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Adolescent Smartphone Addiction and Unintentional Procrastination: The Mediating Role of Attentional Control and the Moderating Role of Self-Expansion via Smartphone Liu Qinxue, Tian Zhonghe, Qi Di, Wu Jayin, Zhou Zongkui Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (3): 726-733.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240327 Abstract （760）      PDF（pc） （640KB）（798）       Knowledge map    Save Smartphone has been exceedingly popular among adolescents and becomes an essential tool for communicating, looking for information, and having fun. However, the extensive use of smartphones leads to smartphone addiction, which brings many negative consequences, such as procrastination. Procrastination was usually regarded as a failure of self-regulation. However, recently, the Metacognitive Model of Procrastination has proposed that procrastination can be further divided into intentional procrastination and unintentional procrastination (UP). Studies have shown that UP, which is passive, involuntary, and with negative metacognitive beliefs and feelings, can better predict negative consequences such as depression, anxiety, and failure in academic achievements than intentional and general procrastination. Thus, this study took the concept of UP to better illuminate the mechanism of how smartphone addiction was related to UP. According to prior studies, smartphone addiction may be an important factor that influences the UP in adolescents. Therefore, this study attempted to examine the relation between the two variables and the underlying mechanism. Attentional control is the ability to consciously activate, focus and shift attention during interference. Empirical studies have found that smartphone addiction could damage one’s attentional control. Meanwhile, according to the Self-Regulatory Executive Functioning Theory and the Metacognitive Model of Procrastination, the derogation of attentional control may be related with UP. Therefore, attentional control may mediate the relation between smartphone addiction and UP among adolescents. From the perspective of the self-expansion model and the role of smartphone in our life, prior researchers proposed the concept of self-expansion via smartphone. We inferred that adolescents’ level of self-expansion via smartphone would moderate the relation between smartphone addiction and attentional control. The present study constructed a moderated mediation model to explore the effect of smartphone addiction on adolescents’ UP, and further explore the mediating role of attentional control and the moderating role of self-expansion via smartphone. A sample of 866 students (44.9% males; Mage = 16.00 years, SD = .84 years) from two regular high schools completed the Smartphone Addiction Scale for College Students, the Attentional Control Scale, the Unintentional Procrastination Scale, and the Mobile Phone Self-Expansion Scale. SPSS 24.0 and SPSS macro PROCESS were used to manage and analyze data. The results indicated that: (1) Adolescent smartphone addiction positively predict UP. (2) Attentional control (including distraction and shifting) played a partial mediating role between adolescent smartphone addiction and UP. (3) Self-expansion via smartphone moderates the relation between smartphone addiction and distraction but not shifting. Specifically, when the level of self-expansion via smartphone is higher, smartphone addiction predicted distraction more significantly. The study revealed the mechanisms in the relation between adolescent smartphone addiction and UP. Smartphone addiction could influence adolescents’ UP through attentional control, and the mediation effect of attentional control was influenced by self-expansion via smartphone. Moreover, the present study extended previous research and provided empirical implications for the prevention of procrastination and how to reduce the negative consequences of smartphone addiction. We could reduce adolescents’ tendency to complete self-expansion via smartphone and train their attentional control ability to reduce the negative effects of smartphone addiction. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Parental Psychological Control and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems among Adolescents: The Role of Rumination on Sadness and Anger Jia Qiannan, Huang Yuancheng, Ma Jing, Li Caina Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (1): 70-79.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240109 Abstract （757）      PDF（pc） （767KB）（993）       Knowledge map    Save Previous research has revealed that both internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence were prominent risk factors for developmental disorders in adulthood. Thus, identifying risk or protective factors of adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems would be helpful to provide theoretical bases for prevention programs. Parenting style has been documented to play a crucial role in adolescents’ development. Parental psychological control, as a typical negative parenting style, refers to parents' attempt to control children’s emotions and behavior through psychological means. According to the Social-ecological Diathesis-stress model, parental psychological control as a stressful life event may activate adolescents’ cognitive vulnerability (e.g., rumination), thus leading to negative developmental outcomes, such as depression and relational aggression. Moreover, rumination has been differentiated into sadness rumination and anger rumination. Sadness rumination has been conceptualized as repetitive thinking that focuses on one’s sadness, which will continually exacerbate adolescents’ negative emotions and make them unable to take positive and effective coping actions and gain support from others, thus increasing adolescents’ depression. In contrast, anger rumination refers to thinking repeatedly about anger and contributes to the maintenance and intensification of angry feelings. Adolescents with high anger rumination are more likely to be over-sensitive to negative social situations and to have rapid activation of aggressive schemas, which ultimately trigger their relational aggression. Therefore, this three-wave longitudinal study aimed at exploring the unique roles of both sadness rumination and anger rumination in the relationships between parental psychological control and depression/relational aggression. A sample of 861 adolescents (57% male, Mage =12.73 years old, SDage= .43 years old) was recruited from junior middle school located in western China, Xi’an, and followed for three time points, one year apart. After gaining informed consent from students, their parents, and schools, all participants completed a set of questionnaires which included the Parental Psychological Control Scale, the Sadness and Anger Rumination Questionnaire, The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and the Social Experience Questionnaire in their classroom during a class session. SPSS22.0 was used to calculate descriptive statistics and the correlations between study variables. Mplus 7.0 was performed to examine the hypothetical mediation model. The result indicated that: (1) Parental psychological control increased adolescents’ depression and relational aggression behavior two years later. (2) The mediating effect of sadness rumination and anger rumination on parental psychological control and depression/ relational aggression was only significant for boys. That is, for boys, sadness rumination exclusively accounted for the relation between parental psychological control and depression, while anger rumination exclusively explained the relationships between parental psychological control and relational aggression behavior. Our findings have revealed several new insights into the roles of both sadness rumination and anger rumination in the effect of parental psychological control on depression and relational aggression behaviors in adolescents. We found that adolescents would increase their depression mainly because of sadness rumination, whereas they would increase their relational aggression because of anger rumination. The results not only verified the effects of sadness rumination and anger rumination as two unique structures on adolescent mental health development theoretically, but also provide suggestions for follow-up intervention. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Developmental Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms among Middle Adulthood: Based on Growth Mixture Modeling Liao Youguo, Zhang Benyu Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (2): 300-307.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240206 Abstract （746）      PDF（pc） （811KB）（795）       Knowledge map    Save Middle-aged people's depressive symptoms have negative impact on children and adolescents' mental health, family harmony, and the whole social mentality. Identifying the developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms can help to design effective prevention programs. Previous studies have reported 3 to 5 developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms among adolescents, early adults, and the elderly. However, whether this pattern can be generalized to Chinese middle adulthood needs to be studied further, based on the findings that the prevalence and influence factors associated with depressive symptoms are culture-dependent. To date, studies on the developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms among middle adulthood are far from consistent. In addition, many cross-sectional studies have proved that depressive symptoms were also affected by gender, residence, the level of education, and other factors. Nonetheless, there are few longitudinal studies conducted to explore the risk factors for developmental trajectories. Therefore, the aim of the present longitudinal study is to examine developmental patterns of depressive symptoms in Chinese middle adulthood. In addition, we also examined whether the developmental patterns would differ by gender, residence, and the level of education. Participants were 10654 middle adulthood (53.4% females; Mage = 43.2 years, SD = 4.4 years) from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) project conducted by China Social Science Survey Center of Peking University, recruited from 25 provinces in Mainland China. This study adopted longitudinal design at 3 times over the course of 6 years. The data were collected in 2012 for the first time, four years later for the second time, and two years later for the third time. Longitudinal data on depressive symptoms were measured by the short version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and the internal consistency reliability of the three measures was between .75 and .79. The growth mixture modeling was used to explore the developmental trajectories, while logistic regression was used to examine the effects of gender, residence, and the level of education. The data were analyzed using SPSS18.0 and Mplus17.4, including descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, logistic regression, latent growth curve model, and growth mixture modeling. The results showed that: (1) The developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms among Chinese middle adulthood were identified with three different patterns: consistently low group (87%), low-sharp increasing group (5%), and moderate-slow decreasing group (8%). (2) Predictors of developmental trajectories with greater symptom burden included female gender, rural resident, and lower education, a larger percentage of the low-sharp increasing group, and moderate-slow decreasing group were females, rural residents and those with lower level of education. The study made contributions to the knowledge on the development of middle adulthood's depressive symptoms in China. It was the first study to examine the developmental trajectories and risk factors of depressive symptoms among Chinese middle adulthood. Our findings have certain guiding significance for the improvement of middle adulthood's depressive symptoms. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Social Anxiety Moderates the Process of Social Evaluation Expectations: A Drift-Diffusion Model Perspective Zhang Yifei, Zhao Haichao, Huang Aiyue, Li Xiaoyi, Shu Xin, He Yilin, He Qinghua Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (5): 1044-1054.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240503 Abstract （736）      PDF（pc） （1207KB）（1030）       Knowledge map    Save Social anxiety is a state of excessive worry, nervousness, and anxiety that individuals experience in social situations. Examining the cognitive processes of individuals with varying degrees of social anxiety symptoms can help to further understand the cognitive mechanisms. Individuals with social anxiety tend to have irrational social evaluation expectations. The Violation of Expectation model describes the formation of expectations through two processes: general expectation and situational expectation. Additionally, an individual's mental illness symptoms (e.g. social anxiety) can influence the expectation process. Previous research has focused on the effect of social anxiety on expected evaluation outcomes, which may ignore the dynamic process of situational expectations. To address this issue, this study used the drift-diffusion model (DDM) to analyze the formation process of situational expectations. We not only verified the difference in valence (positive vs. negative), but also further explored the moderating effect of social anxiety. The aforementioned DDM allowed us to examine of the parameters associated with the process of situational expectations, including the starting biases, drift rates, non-decision time, and threshold. A total of 85 participants were included in the analysis and data collection was conducted online through Credamo. Social anxiety levels were measured using the short version of the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and Social Phobia Scale, and general social expectation were measured using the adapted General Social Expectations Scale. To explore the formation of situational social evaluation expectations, we first elicited subjects' expectations through a structured interview in which we pretended that eight audiences of similar age were watching. A social evaluation expectation task was then designed in which subjects were asked to anticipate whether the audiences would describe them using some trait adjectives displayed. Pressing F represented yes and J for no. The experiment included two blocks, each containing 40 trials, with breaks set between blocks. In each block, there were 20 trials with positive social-related adjectives and 20 trials with negative social-related adjectives, and the adjectives were not repeated between the two blocks. The DDM model was optimized using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov method. According to a previous study, our research specified a DDM with starting biases and drift rates depending on the experimental conditions (i.e., adjectival valence). Then, we checked the model fit individually using a simulated study. SPSS 22.0 and R-based Jamovi software were used for statistical analysis. First, paired-sample t-tests were used to examine the differences of DDM parameters, accuracy rates, and response time across conditions. Second, correlation analyses were used to reveal the relationships between social anxiety, general social expectation, and DDM parameters. Third, general linear models were used to test the moderating effect of social anxiety on the relationship between general and situational expectations. The results indicated that positive evaluation expectations had higher drift rates and starting point biases than negative evaluation expectations. This suggests that participants were more likely to accumulate evidence confirming positive expectations and had a stronger prior bias toward positive expectations. However, there was no significant difference in the absolute value of the drift rate between positive and negative expectations, indicating that the direction of drift rate matters for the valence difference rather than the rate. Social anxiety and general social expectations significantly influenced the drift rate of positive and negative evaluation expectations. Social anxiety weakened the relationship between general social expectations and drift rate but strengthened the relationship between general social expectations and starting point bias, only in terms of the positive evaluation expectations. This indicates that high social anxiety may impair the formation of positive self-bias in social evaluation expectations, leading to a more negative overall evaluation. This study used the DDM to reveal the process of situational evaluation expectations. The results validated the positive self-bias of social expectation, and examine Violation of Expectation model in the field of social evaluation expectations. The moderating role of social anxiety in the formation of social evaluation expectations was demonstrated from a new perspective. This study provides new perspectives for understanding the process by which social anxiety influences the formation of social expectations. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Neural Mechanism of Emotion Regulation of Social Pain Mo Licheng, Li Sijin, Zhang Dandan Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (3): 530-537.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240303 Abstract （722）      PDF（pc） （326KB）（617）       Knowledge map    Save Human beings are “social animals”. Social relationships play a vital role in one’s survival and development. Individuals with destroyed social relationships often describe themselves feel like “heartbroken” or “heartache”. This negative "pain" experience caused by the breakdown of social relationships is called social pain. Social pain affects individuals’ basic survival needs, including senses of belonging, control, and meaningful existence. Studies have found that over-sensitive to social pain is related to various mental disorders. Due to the severe impacts caused by social pain, it is urgent to uncover the neural mechanism of social pain and how to deal with it. Neuroimaging studies usually used the cyberball paradigm to evoke social pain in the lab, which have found that anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), especially its dorsal part (dorsal ACC, dACC) and anterior insula (AI) are key brain regions for pain perception and emotion experience. Emotion regulation is an important way to effectively alleviate the painful feelings and negative experience evoked by social pain. However, compared with the neural mechanism of social pain experience, we have limited knowledge about the neural mechanism of emotion regulation of social pain. Uncovering the latter will help to deepen our understanding of emotion regulation and potentially contribute to the development of interventions for social pain relief in clinics. Literatures focusing on emotion regulation in general have demonstrated that people use various strategies to regulate negative emotions; among which distraction and cognitive reappraisal are the most frequently used methods. Neuroimaging studies have found that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the key brain region for emotion regulation. Compared with healthy individuals, patients with emotional disorders show abnormal response in brain areas associated with emotion regulation. Furthermore, recent findings indicate that PFC regions, especially its lateral part (including ventrolateral and dorsolateral PFC, vlPFC, and dlPFC) are crucial for emotion regulation of social pain and non-social pain/negative emotions. In addition to PFC regions, emotion regulation of social pain also recruits the social cognitive brain network, including posterior superior temporal sulcus, temporal-parietal junction activity, inferior parietal lobe, and posterior cingulate cortex. Using non-invasive brain stimulation (e.g., transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)) to enhance the neural activation of the vlPFC and dlPFC could effectively alleviate social pain. Interestingly, the vlPFC and dlPFC have been found show functional specificity for reappraisal and distraction. Future studies are suggested to further investigate the following questions. First, it is urgent to clarify the key brain regions involved in emotion regulation of social pain. Secondly, it is necessary to combine brain imaging with brain modulation techniques, together with patient data to uncover dynamic causal model of brain networks underlying emotion regulation of social pain. Third, neuromodulation or neurofeedback techniques can be used in clinics to help relieve social pain and restore social functions of patients. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Balanced Time Perspective and Mental Health: The Mediating Effects of Emotion Regulation Strategies Li Xiaobao, Lyu Houchao Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (3): 562-569.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240307 Abstract （703）      PDF（pc） （725KB）（850）       Knowledge map    Save Balanced time perspective refers to an individual's overall positive cognition of the past, present, and future, and the ability to show adaptive time perspective depending on a situation's demands. Numerous studies have generally found a positive and strong association between balanced time perspective and indicators of mental health. However, little is known about the mediating mechanism underlying this link. Previous studies have shown that emotion regulation strategies are closely related to subjective well-being and anxiety. Generally speaking, individuals who frequently use cognitive reappraisal strategy are likely to experience better subjective well-being and less anxiety, whereas people who often use expressive suppression strategy tend to experience a low level of subjective well-being and a high level of anxiety. In addition, given that balanced time perspective is closely related to individual emotions, motivations, and behaviors, it may be an important factor affecting emotion regulation strategies. Thus, we hypothesized that emotion regulation strategies would mediate the linkage between balanced time perspective and mental health. To test our hypotheses, a total of 1432 adults aged 17 to 76 years old (Mean age = 29.04 years old, SD = 14.38 years old) participated in the present study via an online survey. They anonymously completed questionnaires regarding balanced time perspective, emotion regulation strategies, life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, and anxiety. All the data were analyzed with the software SPSS 22.0 and Mplus7.0. We first used correlation analysis to preliminary test the relationship among study variables, and then structural equation modeling was used to test the mediating effects of emotion regulation strategies in the relationship between balanced time perspective and mental health. Mental health was treated as a latent variable including four indicators: life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect and anxiety. Results showed that (1) balanced time perspective positively correlated with life satisfaction and positive affect, and negatively related to negative affect and anxiety. (2) Balanced time perspective positively linked with cognitive reappraisal and negatively linked with expressive suppression. Cognitive reappraisal was positively related to life satisfaction and positive affect, and negatively related to negative affect and anxiety. Expressive suppression was positively related to negative affect and anxiety. (3) The relationship between balanced time perspective and mental health was significantly mediated by cognitive reappraisal (in a positive direction) and expressive suppression (in a negative direction). These findings highlighted the importantance of involving balanced time perspective and emotion regulation strategies when explaining individuals’ mental health. In summary, this study confirmed the positive effect of balanced time perspective on mental health and demonstrated the mediating role of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression in the relationship between balanced time perspective and mental health. The results of this study have implications for clinical practice and suggestions that promote well-being and reduce anxiety by building a balanced time perspective were provided. Limitations and future directions were also discussed. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Does Perceptual Span Vary as A Function of Reading Speed During Skilled Chinese reading? Zhang Manman, Li Xin, Bian Han, Wang Qiang, Zang Chuanli, Yan Guoli, Bai Xuejun Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (4): 788-794.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240403 Abstract （687）      PDF（pc） （518KB）（769）       Knowledge map    Save Previous studies have revealed that perceptual span, mainly the right range of the fixation in parafovea, increases with the development of reading skill (Häikiö et al., 2009; Rayner, 1986; Yan et al., 2018). As foveal lexical processing is highly automatic for high skilled readers, more attention is allocated to parafoveal region, leading to highly efficient parafoveal processing and a larger extent of parafoveal preview compared to less skilled readers (Rayner, 2010). However, whether or not the perceptual span varies as reading speed during skilled reading is controversial. It is argued that individual differences in linguistic processing cause different reading speeds among readers which might be stable or increasing across lifespan (i.e., the nonuniformity view; Sperlich et al., 2016; Reichle et al., 2013). Thus, fast readers would have wider perceptual span than slow readers. In contrast, according to the uniformity assumption (Andrews, 2015), all skilled readers use similar reading processes and only show differences in degrees rather than types (Ashby et al., 2005). Therefore, fast readers would extract useful information from parafovea extending to the same area with slow readers. Research in alphabetic language proved that, during skilled reading, high skilled or fast readers had wider perceptual span than less skilled or slow readers, providing evidence in support of the former claim (Rayner et al., 2010; Veldre & Andrews, 2014). Unlike alphabetic language, Chinese script is densely packed with no space between words, resulting in deeply parafoveal processing (Li & Pollatsek, 2020; Zang et al., 2019). Notably, there was no differences in relation to the amount of parafoveal preview between fast and slow readers during skilled Chinese reading (Zhang et al., 2020). However, it is unclear whether the two groups obtain parafoveal information from similar preview span or not. Therefore, the current study was to investigate this issue by using moving window paradigm (McConkie & Rayner, 1975). Ninety sentences were created, each of which was displayed in a window size of either full line (FL), the current fixated character (R0), or one character leftwards of the fixation to one (L1R1), two (L1R2), three (L1R3), or four characters (L1R4) the rightwards of the fixation. Twenty-four fast readers and 24 slow readers were selected from a group of 96 participants according to their reading rates during normal sentences reading. The results on average fixation duration and overall reading rate showed that fast readers obtained parafoveal information from 2~4 characters to the right of the fixation while slow readers only obtained information from 1 character to the right of the fixation. Therefore, in line with previous findings in English reading (Rayner et al., 2010; Veldre & Andrews, 2014), our findings indicate that fast readers obtain parafoveal information from a wider region than slow readers during skilled Chinese reading, supporting the nonuniformity view of perceptual span development as well as the linguistic-proficiency hypothesis in the E-Z Reader model (Reichle et al., 2013). Besides, we found that the reading rate of slow readers increased dramatically under a considerable window (larger than one character to the right of the fixation) compared to that in normal reading with no window, indicating that slow readers modulate their eye movement patterns to adapt to the current reading display and are more sensitive to the visual display of the text. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Self-Esteem and Problematic Mobile Phone Use Among Middle School Students: Mediation of Social Anxiety and Escapism Motivation Jiang Shuyang, Liu Rude, Feng Mao, Hong Wei, Jin Fangkai Journal of Psychological Science    2024, 47 (4): 940-946.   DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240422 Abstract （660）      PDF（pc） （631KB）（801）       Knowledge map    Save Problematic mobile phone use refers to a constellation of addiction-related symptoms, such as craving, dependence, tolerance and withdrawal. Previous studies have demonstrated that problematic mobile phone use may lead to a variety of harmful consequences, including academic failures, sleep disturbances, depression symptoms, and low life satisfaction. These studies emphasize the urgent need to prevent problematic mobile phone use, especially for school students. Studies have indicated that 10.5% of adolescents are problematic mobile phone users and 20.5% are potential problematic users. Thus, the current study aims to explore potential predictors and underlying mechanisms of problematic mobile phone use to promote students' physical and psychological well-being. Researchers have consistently provided evidence indicating that high self-esteem may be related to lower levels of problematic mobile phone use. However, little is known about the psychological mechanism underlying this relation. Drawn from the Sociometer Theory and the cognitive-behavioral model, dysfunctional self-schemata (e.g., low self-esteem) may contribute to negative emotions during social interactions (e.g., social anxiety), which lead to negative coping strategies (e.g., escapism motivation), and further increase the potential risk of using mobile phone problematically. Therefore, social anxiety and escapism motivation may be plausible explanations for the association between self-esteem and problematic mobile phone use. The present study investigated the relationship between self-esteem and problematic mobile phone use among Chinese adolescent students, and explored the mediating effects of social anxiety and escapism motivation. Using the relevant questionnaires, 438 middle school students (203 boys, 231 girls) were recruited for the study. All the participants have finished the questionnaires to report their status of self-esteem, social anxiety, escapism motivation and problematic mobile phone use. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations coefficients between the main variables were calculated using SPSS 23.0 software. To test the hypotheses, we used PROCESS macro to calculate the 95% confidence intervals with 5000 resamples. The main conclusions were drawn as follows: (1) Correlation analysis showed that students' self-esteem was negatively correlated with social anxiety, escapism motivation, and problematic mobile phone use. (2) Regression analysis revealed that self-esteem was negatively associated with problematic mobile phone use. (3) Mediation analysis revealed that self-esteem was negatively associated with students' problematic mobile phone use not only through the direct path, but also through the indirect path of social anxiety and escapism motivation, as well as the chain mediating path between social anxiety and escapism motivation. The findings of the present study contributed to the previous studies by highlighting the crucial role of self-esteem and demonstrating the process of positive reinforcement in the etiology of problematic use. These results can also provide practical guidelines for protecting adolescents from addicting to mobile phone. For instance, school prevention programs can include specific activities to enhance students' self-evaluation and improve their social skills to deal with complex social situations. For example, more communication skills and perspective-taking training may be helpful to reduce social anxiety and build up better interpersonal relationships. When students have practical strategies to cope with daily life challenges, they are less likely to resort to mobile phones for distraction, which can help them alleviate their distress. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）