Archive

20 July 2021, Volume 44 Issue 4 Previous Issue    Next Issue

---

For Selected:

Download Citations EndNote Ris BibTeX

Toggle Thumbnails

Select

Lexicalization of Chinese New Words: Evidence from Eye Movements Jia-Wei ZHAO 2021, 44(4): 779-785.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Language is constantly changing and developing dynamically. As new words are emerging, old ones disappear. The development of new word lexicalization is from discrete units of non-words to fixed phrases, and its end point is words. When a new word is completely lexicalized, its new word status will be terminated. The lexicalized output is a word, and the so-called lexical level is the study of the degree of vocabulary coagulation. The issue regarding how a new word is internalized into a real word in our minds is unclear in psycholinguistics. In contemporary Chinese, some new words have become words or are developing into words. The present study investigates to what extent these new words become lexicalized，and whether there are any differences in terms of the lexicalization between frequently used new words and vocabulary words from the Modern Chinese Dictionary. In the present study, eye-movement technology was used to explore the difference of lexicalization degree between new words and vocabulary words. Forty-three students from Tianjin Normal University participated in the experiment. They were all native speakers of Chinese with normal or corrected-to-normal vision. Eye movements were recorded using a SR Research 1000, and forty-two sentences (including 14 fillers sentences) were presented in simple Song font in black on a white background. We adopted a 2 (Word Type: new words vs. vocabulary words) × 2 (Familiarity: high vs. low) within-subject design. To analyze the data, linear mixed-effects models were constructed using the lme4 package in R. Contrasts were reported both for the main effect of word type and familiarity. A ‘full’ random structure was implemented specifying subjects and items as random factors including all varying intercepts and slopes of the main effects and their interaction. Results showed that the main effect of familiarity was significant in gaze duration, regression time and total fixation duration, such that the processing time of high-familiar new words was shorter than that of low-familiar new words. The main effect of word type was not significant in the early stage or the late stage of eye-movement processing. There was no significant difference between new words and vocabulary words in first fixation duration, gaze duration, regression time, total fixation duration and skipping rate. It indicates that some new words have reached the same level of lexicalization as vocabulary words, and the word-superiority effect exists in some new words. In addition, the interaction between new words and vocabulary words was not significant in all eye movement indicators. The present study suggests that some new words have reached the same level as the lexicalization of vocabulary words in the Modern Chinese Dictionary. There is no strict boundary between new words and words, and some new words have been completely lexicalized or have a strong tendency to develop into words. The familiarity effects occur for new words, indicating that the familiarity plays a major role in the lexicalization of new words. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The Digital Possession in the Information Era—— Digital Hoarding and the Relevant Studies 2021, 44(4): 800-806.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Digital hoarding has been defined as “the accumulation of digital files to the point of loss of perspective, which eventually results in stress and disorganization”. While people hoard a large amount of items, the individual living space is obviously clutter. Compared with the hoarding disorder, the harm of the digital hoarding is more concealed and the result is more unpredictable. In addition, unlike hoarding cases to obtain worthless items, individuals may exacerbate digital hoarding behavior in order to maintain their own competitiveness and protect themselves from future threats. Neave et.al. designed a questionnaire (Digital Behaviors Questionnaire: DBQ), which is available to measure digital hoarding behaviors, comprising 2 sections: the Digital Hoarding Questionnaire (DHQ) assessing two key components of physical hoarding (accumulation and difficulty discarding); and the second measuring the extent of digital hoarding in the workplace (Digital Behaviors in the Workplace Questionnaire: DBWQ). At the same time, Thorpe et al. adapted the existing Saving Cognitions Inventory to form the Digital Saving Cognitions Inventory, and Luxon et al. measured the emotional performance of digital hoarders by modifying Object Attachment Questionnaires. However, there is a lack of measurement methods for digital hoarding behavior in the background of China. Cross-cultural research shows that the core performance of digital hoarding behavior in different cultural backgrounds is different, hoarding beliefs in China may be centered on themes of “usefulness” and “wastefulness”, compared to a wide variety of beliefs in the West, it is necessary to revise the existing scale. The cognitive performance, emotional characteristics and behavioral motivation of digital hoarders can be explained from the perspectives of ego depletion, endowment effect and evolution. Digital hoarding is widely existed in the crow, it impairs the cognitive functions such as individual's categorization, decision-making, attention and memory. It could be the result of ego depletion. Individuals with high ego depletion tend to engage in shallow cognitive processing, causing digital hoarders to “accumulate” large numbers of digital files without considering the value. Digital hoarders are often unable to manage documents effectively, hesitating to classify and rank the importance of electronic documents which involving personal emotional value or deep processing, and cognitive classification shows the characteristics of "inclusiveness". Digital technology can recreate situations, allow people to relive events and gain emotional support, causing digital hoarders difficult to delete digital photos and music. It is worth noting that the research about endowment effect indicates that loss aversion is the reason why individuals are unable to give up using digital possession, while highly involved individuals are difficult to give up enjoying digital possession. It necessary to examine the motivation of individuals for hoarding different types of digital files in the future. However, most of the previous researches were qualitative interviews, lacking of empirical data to prove the reliability of the results. In the future, researchers should be committed to exploring the causes of the individual's digital hoarding behavior, determining the extent to which it affects cognitive function, deeply analyzing the relationship between hoarding disorder and digital hoarding, in order to help individual produce good adaptive behavior and enable people to have a happy and healthy life. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Emotional Attention Control in the Emotion Induced Blindness: Evidence from the An EEG study using Time-frequency Analysis 2021, 44(4): 770-778.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Previous research on emotion induced blindness (EIB) have revealed two crucial competition processing stages respectively as early attention selection and late working memory consolidation between targets and emotional distractors. For the first competition stage at early attention selection, previous studies has found a posterior N2 effect which indicated an attention capture or recognition mechanism of bilateral temporal-occipital regions in the EIB processes. In recent studies, however, this N2 effect has been regarded as N2pc rather than EPN. So this posterior N2 could not reflect the emotional attention process in the EIB. Besides that, now we still know less about how individuals control attention processes to emotional distractors before identifying the targets. Considering that, the intention of the present study was to investigate the potential emotional attention control mechanism in the EIB processes. To achieve this intention, the present study employed a typical EIB task. In this task, participants had to identify indoor or outdoor pictures in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) streams. Negative and neutral pictures were used as irrelevant emotional distractors. In addition, a control condition (no distractor) was employed as baseline. When participants give correct responses in this EIB task, their EEG data was recorded and analysis. To find new evidence that support the emotional attention control mechanism in EIB, we utilized the time-frequency (TF) analysis method in the current study. In behavioral results, analysis on participants’ response accuracies shown a main effect of distractors, which revealed a typical EIB effect. On the other hand, TF analysis on EEG data show a frontal theta synchronizations (i.e., FMθ; 4-7 Hz) at 200-500 ms after irrelevant emotional distractor onset. This frontal theta synchronization appeared on either negative distractor condition or neutral distractor condition, but disappeared in the control condition. A further analysis distinguishing negative distractor or neutral distractor conditions found two regions of interests (ROIs) of the theta synchronization. The first one appeared at 150-370 ms at the occipital-temporal region, whereas the second one appear 170-350 ms at the left frontal region. The former was consistent with the posterior N2 effect in previous EIB studies, while the latter was consistent with the general emotional attention control role of the left frontal regions. To sum up, our study demonstrated that the emotional attention control mechanism in the EIB was indeed a top-down control mechanism, which were not only relied on attention selection function of occipital-temporal regions, but also relied on emotion control function of frontal regions. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The Explanation of Spatial-Numerical Associations: Mental Number Line or Working Memory Account Long-Nong Dai 2021, 44(4): 793-799.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Spatial-numerical associations is a phenomenon in which numbers are closely related to space. A large number of studies have confirmed that this associations is a widespread phenomenon, but there is still controversy over the intrinsic mechanism of this connection. It has two dominant explanations for the spatial-numerical associations: 1. Mental Number Line: people use the Mental Number Line stored in long-term memory to process the numbers, which is according to reading habits from left to right, arrange the numbers in ascending order on a similar physical line, the small number is on the left and the big number is on the right, and this line is placed on a specific spatial frame; 2. Working Memory Account: when people are dealing with verbal information such as numbers and letters, an empirically based mental "workspace" is created to process and manipulate these verbal information. The "workspace" consists of the association between relevant verbal information and specific spatial templates selected from long-term memory based on experience, and is populated based on the most common experience of these content, for example, numbers are in ascending order from left to right. When the brain matches the presented number with a specific spatial template in the "workspace," the spatial coding begins to form, creating a spatial-numerical connection. Based on the previous researches, the researchers found that the Mental Number Line does not explain the flexibility of the spatial-numerical associations, for example, 1. the SNARC effect depends on the range of numbers in which the numbers are located in the experimental task; 2. the SNARC effect is affected by the visual object; 3. changing the instruction will affect the SNARC effect. Therefore, this paper discusses the applicability of working memory accounts by analyzing the digital-spatial associations phenomenon that can not be explained by the Mental Number Line, and explains this phenomenon through the five core viewpoints of working memory: 1. whenever a particular set of items (such as number sets 1 through 9) is used as the experimental material, all items within the item set are active during task execution; 2. based on people's experience in digital item, the digital “spatialization” of working memory is presented in a horizontal direction from left to right; 3. the direction of verbal item representation is not only related to the direction of storing a specific spatial template in working memory, but also affected by long-term memory; 4. when the presented verbal item matches the set of items stored in the "workspace" that is active, spatial encoding of the verbal item is formed; 5. working memory can activate multiple item sets simultaneously. In this way, we can better understand the intrinsic mechanism and cause of the digital-spatial associations. However, there are still some problems that need to be solved: 1. is the spatial-numerical associations innate or acquired? 2. is the spatial-numerical associations mutual affected by Mental Number Line and Working Memory Account? 3. what is the spatial representation of negative numbers?. These need a lot of research to explore it. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The Enhanced Parafoveal Attention in Deaf Middle School Students : Evidence from Perceptual Span in Chinese Reading 2021, 44(4): 807-814.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Because of the early auditory impairment, deaf readers relied heavily on the visual channel to process information, resulting in the changes of the spatial distribution of visual attention resources around 11 years old. Lots of studies showed their selectively enhanced attention in extrafoveal visual field when they were asked to complete the low-level visual perceptual tasks, like orientation, discrimination, search task and some other tasks. Studies showed that the enhanced attention to the parafovea in deaf readers is not restricted to low-level visual perception but can also be recruited for a complex cognitive process, such as reading. The perceptual span is the area of effective vision from which useful information can be obtained during one fixation in reading, which is a basic issue in reading research (Rayner,1975). In the alphabetic writing system, skilled deaf readers were found with a larger perceptual span than their reading ability and age matched hearing readers to the right of fixation, and this phenomenon is the result of deaf readers’ enhanced visual attention in extrafoveal visual field. In logographic writing system, researchers found that deaf college students had a larger perceptual span than the hearing college students to the left of fixation without matching the two groups strictly, so we can’t know the exact causes. In addition, until now, there are few studies focusing on deaf middle school students’ enhanced parafoveal processing in Chinese reading, and this phenomenon needs further confirmation. So It’s of great importance to compare deaf readers’ reading perceptual span to verify this phenomenon. The current study attempts to investigate deaf middle school students’ enhanced parafoveal attention feature in reading by comparing their Chinese reading perceptual span with the two hearing control groups. The moving window paradigm was adopted to explore this issue by using the Eyelink 2000 eye tracker. The design was a 3(groups: deaf middle school students、reading ability matched hearing group、aged matched hearing group ) ×6（window sizes：WS1、WS2、WS3、WS4、WS5、FL）mixed design. WS means window symmetry. WS1 represents one character to the left of fixation and one character to the right of fixation. WS2、WS3、WS4、WS5 represent 2、3、4、5characters to the left of fixation and 2、3、4、5 characters to the right of fixation respectively. FL means full line condition, it was treated as the control condition. The results demonstrated a larger perceptual span of deaf middle school students with 3 characters to the right of fixation compared with their reading ability matched hearing students’ (2 characters to the right of fixation), and equal to the aged matched hearing students’ (3 characters to the right of fixation), supporting their enhanced parafoveal attention feature in reading. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The Impact of Adolescent’s Internet Fiction Reading on Self-Concept Clarity: The Role of Character Identity and Flow Experience Yang WU Zong-Kui ZHOU min cao 2021, 44(4): 829-835.  Abstract ( )   PDF   With the development of Internet technology, Internet has been widely and frequently used in people’s daily life. The rich, interactive and entertained Internet information, in particular, expose individuals to an atmosphere of online pan-entertainment. Internet fiction is the typical example of the pan-entertainment industry. It creates information and stories for the pan-entertainment industry with its rich resources all the time, and links films, televisions, games, cartoons etc., to each other through IPs. With its multiple manifestations, Internet fiction can meet different needs that different users have, and promote the development of Internet literature in adolescents. As an important part of the Internet popular culture and a phenomenal cultural industry, the impact that the fast development of Internet fiction may exert on the self-development of adolescents has been a focus of our country, society, and families. The concern whether adolescents are lost in Internet literature （i.e., whether the Internet fiction reading influences adolescents’ self-concept clarity） is the primary question to be addressed in the present study. Under the theoretical framework of Internet self-concept fragmentation hypothesis, examined the impact of Internet fiction reading behaviors on self-concept clarity and its underlying mechanism. This study tested whether Internet fiction reading behavior would exert an effect on adolescent self-concept clarity, and whether this effect would be consistent with the self-concept fragmentation hypothesis. If there would be a link between Internet fiction reading and self-concept clarity, this study would further explore how Internet fiction reading influences self-concept clarity, as tested the potential mediating roles of character identity and flow experience. To investigate the relationship between the Internet fiction reading, character identity, flow experience and self-concept clarity, a survey research method was used in the form of the scales for the Internet literature reading, character identity, flow experience and self-concept clarity which were administered to 480 adolescents. Data were collected and analyzed with SPSS 23.0. The results were as followings: (1) The association between Internet fiction reading behavior and adolescent self-concept clarity coincided with the self-concept fragmentation hypothesis. That was to say, reading Internet fiction would lead to low levels of self-concept clarity in adolescents. (2) The analyses of the underlying mechanisms showed that character identity and flow experience played multiple mediating roles in the association between Internet fiction reading behavior and adolescent self-concept clarity. Specifically, Internet fiction reading behavior can influence self-concept clarity through the simple mediating effects of character identity, flow experience, and through the chain-mediating role of character identity and flow experience. In conclusion, the present study theoretically provides a new perspective for studying the association between Internet fiction reading and adolescent self-concept clarity based on self-concept fragmentation hypothesis, identity theory and flow theory. It deepens previous studies on the impacts of Internet on individual self-concept. In addition, the present study practically clarifies the psychological features of adolescents’ Internet fiction reading, and the questions such as how Internet fiction reading influences adolescent self-concept clarity. These findings help provide society, families and school a better understanding of Internet fiction reading among adolescents, and guide adolescents properly read Internet literature. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Differences in Facial Processing Patterns on Speechreading of Hearing-impaired Students: Evidence from Eye Movements 2021, 44(4): 844-849.  Abstract ( )   PDF   The acquisition and comprehension of speechreading depends on the storage and processing of facial information. However, at present, whether the facial processing of speechreading depends on local processing or holistic processing is still unknown. So far, there are mainly three theoretical hypothesises, including Compensatory Strategy supporting local processing, Gaze Direction Assumption supporting parallel processing and Social-Tuning Pattern supporting holistic processing. Based on the contradiction on the current speechreading facial processing patterns, this study aimed to explore what kinds of facial processing patterns were used by hearing-impaired students in Chinese speechreading and what kinds of processing patterns that those hearing-impaired students with different spreechreading skills adopt. This study was the first time to focus on the facial processing patterns of Chinese speechreading for hearing-impaired participants. To be specific, this study further analyzed the local processing patterns of the eye and mouth regions which in the prespeech, speech and postspeech stages for hearing-impaired students with different speechreading abilities. This experiment adopted a three-factor mixed experimental design, which was 2 (face areas: eye, mouth) × 3 (discourse stages: prespeech stage, speech stage, postspeech stage) × 2(sentences speechreading abilities: low-speechreading group, high-speechreading group). The experiment selected students with hearing impairment aged between 15 to 20 years old from two deaf schools, used the Experiment Builder software to design the experimental programs, and adopted the Eyelink 1000Plus eye tracker to record participants’ eye movement and behavior data. Results were listed as followed: (1) During prespeech and postspeech stage, all eye movement indexes in eye regions were significantly higher than that in mouth regions, while this study got a contrary results during speech stage, which showed that the movements indexes in mouth regions were significantly higher than that in eye regions. (2) On the eye regions of speech stage and the mouth regions of post speech stage, significant differences were found in IA Dwell Time %, IA Fixation %, and Average Fix Pupil Size for hearing-impaired students with different speechreading abilities. (3) The Social-Tuning Score of the high-speechreading group (M = 0.56) was significantly higher than that of the low-speechreading group (M = 0.42). These results indicated that hearing-impaired students adopted the social-Tuning patterns which manifested as a “eye-mouth-eye” type of facial processing pattern. The high-speechreading group had a rather higher efficiency on holistic processing, and they had higher abilities to process the information from eyes and mouth parallelly. In other words, when the mouth information stopped, they could detach their attention from mouth, and their attention can be transferred to eye regions quickly, so this facial processing pattern of speechreading preferred to support the Gaze Direction Assumption and Social-Tuning Pattern. While although the low-speechreading group also showed Social-Tuning Pattern, its holistic processing efficiency was quite low. The low-speechreading group paid too much attention to the mouth regions, and failed to extract useful information from the eye regions. Chinese speechreading did not only need the extraction of speech information, but also need to grasp the extra language information such as tone, rhythm, facial expression, etc., and other social information such as emotion and intention, etc. Therefore, with the cost of losing eye information, the local processing pattern failed to help hearing impaired students with low speechreading abilities to obtain better speech compensation. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Effects of Learning Condition and Exemplar Similarity on Metacognitive Monitoring of Category Learning 2021, 44(4): 850-857.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Recently, category learning has become one of the targets on metacognitive monitoring. Most previous studies focus on the potential clues of metacognitive monitoring only under no-rule learning condition, primarily using bird family pictures as materials. However, due to the large number of categories, it is difficult to manipulate similarity. Therefore, the influence of exemplar similarity on metacognitive monitoring cannot be explored. Further, less is known about the role of learning conditions in the metacognitive monitoring of category learning, especially rule learning condition. Accordingly, in order to reveal the effect of learning condition and exemplar similarity on metacognitive monitoring, the study aims to investigate potential clues of metacognitive monitoring and the interrelationships between clues by differences between classification accuracy and metacognitive judgement under diverse learning conditions and exemplar similarities. Materials are 32 animals, including 8 original and 24 deformed items which vary in five two-valued features. Before the experiment, a similarity assessment task was performed to determine three exemplar similarity level of low, middle and high in deformed animals. The experiment is a mixed group design with learning condition (rule vs. no-rule) and exemplar similarity (low vs. middle vs. high) as between-subject variables and with match type (good vs. bad) as a within-subject variable. A total of 278 participants (male=73; average age=20.23, SD=1.79) were randomly assigned in 6 groups. Each participant learned to classify original animals into one of two categories on learning phase and then take a test, containing the items of original animals (old items) and deformed animals with a certain exemplar similarity (new items). In particular, the participants from rule learning condition were informed about the classification rule at the beginning. However, the participants from no-rule learning condition learned classification through feedback. When classification accuracy in two consecutive blocks was reached 100% or the requirement was failed to achieve within 20 blocks, the learning phase would be followed by the prediction phase, where the participants need to make category learning judgements (CLJs) on two category labels. The transfer phase immediately followed the end of the prediction phase, presenting totally 16 trails including old items and news items in random order without feedback. And after each classification, the participants needed to make confident judgement on their answers. The mixed design ANOVA was performed on classification accuracy of new items, revealing a significant three-way interaction, which indicated the participants were more accurate in classifying good transfer items than bad transfer items in the high exemplar similarity group of rule condition whereas the participants relied on similarity of old items to make classificatory decision in no-rule condition. Moreover, compared with no-rule condition, classification accuracy of transfer items and CLJs were observably higher in rule condition, suggesting category learning judgement is more sensitive to the rule condition. As for confident judgement of new items, the result demonstrated the confident judgement increased with the improvement of exemplar similarity degree in no-rule condition. In summary, rule and exemplar similarity are the clues of metacognitive monitoring in category learning, and following the correct rules to classify is the optimal way of metacognitive judgment. More importantly, rule-based and similarity-based classification processes can appear in the same classification task for which high exemplar similarity would block the application of rule. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Moderating Effects of Self-construals on the Associations between Shyness and Internalizing Problems among Chinese Early Adolescents 2021, 44(4): 822-828.  Abstract ( )   PDF   This study aims to investigate the association between Chinese adolescents’ shyness and peer victimization as well as to explore the moderating role of self-construals and gender in this relation. Shyness, as a subtype of social withdrawal, refers to anxious reactivity in response to real or imagined social situations. According to the contextual-developmental perspective, cultural beliefs and values not only affect shy adolescents’ attitudes and behaviors, but also affect the reactions of adults and peers to their behaviors. On the other hand, in cultures where shyness is viewed as positive and harmonious, adolescents who are shy and sensitive may receive social support and build self-confidence to deal with social situations, which in turn helps them avoid peer exclusion or victimization. In contrast, in cultures where shyness is viewed as negative and maladaptive, shy adolescents may receive negative social evaluations and responses, which in turn enhances the level of peer relationship problems. Therefore, it is reasonable to deduce that shyness is positively associated with adolescents’ peer relationship problems in the current Chinese society. However, empirical findings have indicated that shy adolescents’ peer relationship problems vary across cultures, regions or time periods. For instance, shyness is more strongly related to peer relationship problems in today’s Chinese society than in the 1990s. In addition, shy adolescents perceive more peer relationship problems in the urban context than rural context. The inconsistency among these results may be explained by the awakening of adolescents’ autonomy, which is considered as a main mark of adolescence. The ecological systems theory proposes that adolescents’ development can be influenced by culture-related personality traits (e.g., self-construals). In support of the viewpoint, A recent study has found that adolescents’ collectivism weakens the relation between shyness and depressive symptoms whereas individualism strengthens the link between shyness and depressive symptoms, which assumes that the relationship between shyness and peer relationship problems is moderated by self-construals. According to the gender role stereotype theory, boys are expected by adults and peers to display more assertive and autonomous behaviors in social interactions. Thus, shy boys may experience greater pressure than girls, which assumes that the relationship between shyness and peer relationship problems is moderated by gender. A total of 1036 Chinese adolescents (52% male; Mage = 12.97, SD = .76) filled out questionnaires regarding social withdrawal (including shyness, social avoidance and unsociability), peer victimization, self-construals, and family socioeconomic status. The results indicated that: (1) adolescents’ shyness was positively related to peer victimization; (2) the effect of shyness on peer victimization was moderated by self-construals. To be specific, the effect of shyness on peer victimization was positive and significant for adolescents who are high on independent self-construal or low on interdependent self-construal. However, this effect was non-significant for adolescents who are low on independent self-construal or high on interdependent self-construal; (3) The moderating effect of gender was non-significant. This was presumably because other influencing factors (e.g. aggression) obscured the moderating effect of gender. These results suggested that cultural orientations in person level may influence shy adolescents’ perceived peer victimization, and indicated that the culture-related personality traits need to be considered comprehensively for understanding and improving shy adolescents’ psychological adjustment in China. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Developmental Trajectories of Unsociability and Academic Achievement in Children: Based on Parallel Latent Growth Modeling 2021, 44(4): 858-865.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Social withdrawal is referred to the process in which individuals remove themselves from opportunities for social interactions, inhibit their participation in peer interactions, and frequently display solitary behaviors in social contexts (Rubin, Coplan, & Bowker, 2009), which is a common phenomenon in childhood and adolescence and becomes one of the research points in the field of children's social development. As one main dimension of social withdrawal, unsociability is characterized as the combination of low social approach motivation and low social avoidance motivation (Coplan et al., 2015). Although unsociable children may not be strongly averse to peer interaction, they are likely to engage in solitary activities (Coplan &Armer, 2007). Some studies showed the cultural difference of unsociability. Specifically, in western societies, unsociability is viewed as an expression of a personal choice or a self-oriented action (Coplan & Armer 2007). But Chinese society emphasizes collectivism and group affiliation (Greenfield, Suzuki, & Rothstein-Fisch, 2006), unsociability can be regarded as maladaptive in China (Chen, 2010), which may lead to different internalizing problems or peer difficulties (Chen, Wang, & Cao, 2011; Ding, Weeks, Liu, Sang, & Zhou, 2015; Ding et al., 2020; Sang et al., 2018). Also, in China, academic achievement is an important factor particularly valued in traditional Chinese culture and represented self-esteem (Liu, Bullock, & Coplan, 2014). Given the importance of academic performance in Chinese schools, children’s academic achievement may be the protective factor of children’s unsociability. Based on the existing studies examining the relation between unsociability and academic achievement with two-time points, there is a lack of discussion on the developmental trajectories of unsociability and academic achievement in children, which is important to explore through the parallel latent growth modeling with three-time points. The main purpose is to investigate the unsociability and academic achievement of children in the context of Chinese culture and the development of their interaction patterns. Research on this issue will provide us with a better understanding of the relation between unsociability and academic achievement. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The Impact of Activation of Money Concept and Preference for Monetary Function on Altruism Following Ego Depletion 2021, 44(4): 954-959.  Abstract ( )   PDF   People show ego depletion when they sequentially complete tasks that require self-control resources. Studies have shown that people become self-interested in subsequent collaborative tasks that require the use of self-control resources after ego depletion. More and more studies are attempting to seek for solutions to mitigate the negative effects of ego depletion. For instance, it is found that presenting the incentive of money to a person who has been depleted decreases the negative effects of ego depletion. However, the incentive of money has multiple facets. In the current study, two kinds of functions that money holds are distinguished: instrumental and symbolic functions. The instrumental function of money implies that money as a tool can be used to exchange goods in everyday life; whereas the symbolic function of money implies that money can stand in for the fulfillment of a social desire that people might have. People prefer these functions differently. The aim of this study is to examine the interactive effect of money priming and its function on altruism of depleted individuals. It is expected that, similar to money stimulus, symbolic function is more likely to compensate for the negative effect of self depletion than does instrumental function. It is therefore hypothesized that when people prefer the instrumental function for money, ego depletion does not affect altruistic behavior of depleted individuals; however, when people prefer the stronger symbolic function over the weaker symbolic function, manipulation on money stimulus will increase the level of altruism of depleted individuals. A between-subjects design was used. In the experiment, participants were first asked to complete a crossing-e task to be in the state of being depleted. Participants were then asked to complete a finger flexibility test in which they counted the number of 10 banknotes of 100 Yuan (money priming condition) or 10 blank papers (neutral condition). Thereafter, participants made decisions twice in a dictator game. Finally, participants completed a single-category implicit association test which was used to measure their implicit preference for monetary functions. Results show that compared to manipulation on the neutral stimulus, manipulation on the money stimulus increases the level of altruism of the depleted individuals. Moreover, this effect is obvious when participants do not prefer the symbolic function of money. Results also show that instrumental functional preference of money has no effect on altruism following ego depletion. However, preference for symbolic function of money interacts with manipulation on the money stimulus to influence altruism following ego depletion. More specifically, when manipulating the money stimulus, preference for symbolic function of money negatively predicts the level of altruism of depleted individuals, whereas when the neutral stimulus is manipulated, preference for symbolic function of money positively predicts the level of their altruism. In summary, ego depletion reduces an individual’s level of altruism in the dictator game, however thinking of money can recoup the lost energy temporarily and thus compensate the negative effect of money on altruism when people are depleted. When a neutral concept is activated, preference for the symbolic function of money prevents the decrease of altruism of depleted individuals. Taken together, the present study implies that the compensatory effect of activating the concept of money and that of preference for its symbolic function may be independent with each other. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Participative Leadership and Employee Job Well-being：Perceived Co-worker Support as a Boundary Condition 2021, 44(4): 873-880.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Faced with the rapidly changing social environment, organizations inevitably need to make decisions quickly and accurately. Traditionally, organizational decision is made by the leaders. However, more and more researchers find that it is not enough to rely solely on the ability and intelligence of leaders to make good decisions. To address this issue, organizations should encourage employees to participate in decision-making. Accordingly, the concept of participative leadership emerged and attracted a certain number of scholars’ attention. Participative leadership refers to a set of leadership behaviors that leaders inquire suggestions from their subordinates before the decision making and attempt to solve problems together with their subordinates. Leaders who have such kind of participative leadership could overcome their own shortcomings in decision-making process, and ultimately contribute to the long–term development of organizations. Traditional viewpoints posit that participative leadership recognize employees’ value and thus improve employees’ well-being in the workplace. However, some recent published research, to some extent, indicates that there may exist a potential dark side of participative leadership. For example, when the leaders provide more job autonomy for their subordinates, subordinates may suffer psychological strain. In this study, we aimed to reconcile the contradictory viewpoints mentioned above. Specifically, we draw on conservation of resource theory to propose a dual process model wherein participative leadership might have a paradoxical effect on employees’ well-being. On one hand, participative leadership evokes a sense of organization–based self–esteem, which ultimately promote subordinates’ well-being (a resource generation process). On the other hand, participative leadership increases subordinates’ workload, which in turn reduced subordinates’ well-being (a resource depletion process). Moreover, perceived co-worker support, as a kind of situational resource, could enhance the resource generation process and buffer the resource depletion process of participative leadership. To test our hypotheses, the current study conducted a 3-wave survey study. Based on 191 employees’ effective responses, the results of path analysis overall supported our arguments. Participative leadership could enhance employees’ organization-based self-esteem and subsequent well-being, while at the meantime increased employees’ workload, which in turn diminished employees’ well-being. The final effect of participative leadership on subordinates’ well-being depends on the (in)balance between the self-esteem mechanism and workload mechanism. Moreover, perceived co-worker support moderated the resource generation and depletion process of participative leadership. In particular, perceived high levels of co-worker support strengthened the beneficial indirect effect of participative leadership on subordinates’ well-being via organization-based self-esteem and decreased the detrimental indirect effect of participative leadership on subordinates’ job well-being via workload. Our findings not only advance our understanding of the relationship between participative leadership and well-being, but also provide further inspiration for managerial practice. From a theoretical implication perspective, this study is among the first to reveal the paradoxical effect of participative leadership on subordinates’ well-being, and give support for the power of conversation of resource theory in explaining the complex relationship between leadership behavior and subordinates’ well-being. Thus, our study contributes to the literature of participative leadership, subordinate well-being, and conversation of resource theory. For practitioners, our results suggest that participative leaders should assign appropriate number of jobs to their subordinates and encourage co-wokers to support each other. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Love the love of other men: male’s mate-choice copying under the activation of mating motives 2021, 44(4): 940-946.  Abstract ( )   PDF   A lot of studies find that females, especially non-human females, do not select male partners independently. This phenomenon is termed as mate-choice copying. Mate-choice copying refers to the phenomenon that the probability of a target partner being chose or rejected is influenced by the attitudes of other persons of the same sex. Therefore, mate-choice copying is considered to be a non-independent form of mate selection strategy, which is affected by the additional information provided by individuals of the same sex in the process of sexual selection. This mate selection method is useful to reduce the loss caused by poor mate selection when information is limited, and it can also save a lot of time and energy during mate selection. However, previous studies disagree about whether males’ mate-choice copying would occur. Mating motive is a psychological ideology, in which an individual wants to establish an intimate relationship with the partner of the opposite sex. The activation of mating motive can change people's behavioral decisions. For example, when males’ mating motives are activated, they will show more competitive behaviors, lower risk aversion behaviors, and more risk-taking behaviors. At the same time, the activation of mating motives also strengthens males’ attentional biases to highly attractive females’ faces. Therefore, the present study mainly focused on the influence of mating motive and the levels of facial attraction of a potential partner on the occurrence of mate-choice copying of males. Experiment 1 aimed to investigate whether the mating motives are activated or not would have different influences on the mate-choice copying between different sexes. Experiment 2 was designed to explore the effects of the different levels of female facial attraction and activation of mating motive on males’ mate-choice copying. The results show as follows: (1) Females’ mate choices are usually influenced by the attitudes of others from the same sex group, regardless of their mating motives are activated or not. However, males’ mate choices are often independent of other males’ choices when their mating motives are not activated. (2) When mating motives are activated, males’ mate choice is more susceptible to the influence of other male’s attitudes. They will choose the female selected by other males, and rejected the female rejected by other males. However, this influence of other males’ attitudes in such case on males’ mate choices is limited to the situation when facial attraction of female is in low and middle level. When the potential spouse or girl friend’s facial attraction is in high level, even though males’ mating motives are activated, they are still attracted by the highly attractive female regardless of other males’ attitudes. Our results provide a new explanation for the disputes about the differences of mate-choice copying between different genders. In detail, there is mate-choice copying with females’ mate choices for the needs of rapid decision and risk reduction of sexual selection. However, males’ mate-choice copying is usually dependent on complicated factors. The effects of mating motive activation on male’s and female’s mate-choice copying, and the modulating effect of females’ facial attraction on males’ mate-choice copying were discussed. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The Effect of Front Facial Features on the Young Consumers’ Preferences in Cars 2021, 44(4): 926-932.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Consumers can obtain clues about product features from its “product face”, thereby shaping preferences for various products. This mechanism may be similar to the preferences for human faces. Facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) and facial expressions are examples of such clues, which can be used to describe the faces and characters of anthropomorphic products such as cars. People can perceive the front face of a car as a human’s face and relate the characteristics of the car with the features of its front face. One of these characteristics is the perceived dominance, which refers to the perception of one’s authority or control over others. Young people are inclined to buy something with high perceived dominance to increase their own feelings of dominance. The purpose of the present study was to demonstrate that the fWHR of a car’s face was related with the trait of perceived dominance, which further influenced young consumers’ preference, while the expression of the car face moderated this effect. Two studies were conducted using questionnaires and experiments. In Study 1, a single-factor within-subject design was used to explore the effect of fWHR on perceived dominance and preference of cars. 104 young consumers participated this study. In Study 2, 220 young consumers participated a between-subject design. The independent variables were fWHR (low/high) and facial expression (aggressive/friendly) of the car front face and the dependent variables were perceived dominance and preference. In the two studies, the participants were required to see the photos of the car front face at first and then report the rankings of their perceived dominance and preferences. Finally, all these data were analyzed by SPSS 20.0. The proposed effect and a moderated mediation model was tested using ANOVA and the PROCESS macro. The results showed that: (1) There were significant differences in the perceived dominance [F(2,202) = 13.44, p < .001, ηp2 = .32] and preferences [F(2,202) = 34.36, p < .001, ηp2 = .25] of the car front faces among different fWHR levels. Compared with the low and medium levels of fWHR on the front face, the cars with a high level of fWHR had higher perceived dominance and preference rankings. (2) The fWHR positively predicted the consumers’ preference, p < .05. (3) The perceived dominance completely mediated the association between the fWHR and the consumers’ preference, p < .001. (4) This mediation effect was moderated by the expression of the front face in that it was significant for aggressive expression conditions (p < .001) while not significant for friendly expression (p > .05). The current study is the first to demonstrate the effect of fWHR on Chinese young consumers’ choices, and the moderated mediation of the perceived dominance and the expression of the front face on their preference in cars. The effect of fWHR on the preference was mediated by the perceived dominance, and it differed across different expressions of the front face. It suggests that the car designers pay more attention to not only the expression design but also the fWHR when determining the front face. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Effect and Source from Proposer’s Poor-Rich Identity on Fairness Consideration 2021, 44(4): 912-917.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Fairness consideration is a vital drive in the social interaction, which has proven to be influenced by social identities. Poor-rich identity is quite special among different identities and people will tend to accept the injustice propose from the poor proposer. However, the mechanism in which poor-rich identity, an important one among social identities, can affect fairness consideration is still unknown. On the other hand, we also want to find out whether social entity justice could be the source causing the influences from proposer’s poor-rich identity. There are 2 experiments in the study. The Ultimatum Game was taken as the paradigm. The independent variables were 2 (proposer’s identity: the rich vs. the poor) * 3 (the level of justice: high vs. middle vs. middle). The dependent variable was acceptance rate. We found students in Shanghai Normal University randomly as our participants. The aim of study 1 was to discover the effect on fairness consideration from poor-rich identity. While in study 2 we added beneficial injustice and beneficial injustice transform to prove the existence of social entity justice and whether it could be considered as the source which caused the influences from proposer’s poor-rich identity to fairness consideration. In Study 1: We found that the main effect between the 2 identities was significant[F(1，22)=22.957，p<.001，ηp2=.511]and the result of the simple effect analysis indicated that the acceptance rate from the poor proposers was higher than from the rich ones(p middle=.005 ，p injustice<.001), so it meant that poor-rich identity could affect fairness consideration and participants tended to reject the unfair proposition from the rich. In Study 2: One result was that participants tended to refuse more the beneficial injustice proposes from the poor proposers(M=78.816，SD=6.626)than ones from the rich(M=92.105，SD=4.692)(p=.016).The other result was that the participants preferred to transform the beneficial injustice propose to the detrimental injustice propose(M=54.88，SD=46.479，t(41)=-2.906，p=.006，Cohen’s d=0.697). Those results suggested that social entity justice exist truly and it could affect fairness consideration as well, which meant that social entity justice could be the source of the effect from poor-rich identity on fairness consideration. To sum up, proposer’s poor-rich identity could influence fairness consideration and it played its role through the effect from social entity justice. The study 1 proved that poor-rich identity could affect fairness consideration, which suggested that it was more likely for people to reject the unfair proposition from the rich rather than the rich. The study 2 further the research by proving the existence of social entity justice and its effect on fairness consideration. People might defend the basic rights belonging to the poor. Furthermore, we could induce that social entity justice could be the source of effect from proposer’s poor-rich identity on fairness consideration. Concretely, if people hold social entity justice, they will reject the beneficial unfair proposition from the poor. In conclusion, the research proved that proposer’s poor-rich identity could affect fairness consideration and social entity justice was the source of the influence. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The Impact of Workplace Experienced Incivility on Employee’s OCB from the Framework of Cognitive and Emotional Mechanism 2021, 44(4): 918-925.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Workplace incivility refers to low-intensity deviant behaviors that violate the social norm of respect. Although workplace incivility is not associated with as much legal attention as other forms of antisocial work behavior, it is more prevalent in the workplace than other mistreatment constructs. Organizations sometimes dismiss these routine slights and indignities—which lack overt malice—as inconsequential. Whereas, research has shown that such behaviors can have serious effects on individuals. Incivility incidents differ with regard to their type (i.e., experienced, witnessed, or instigated). Though researchers realized the negative outcomes which were associated with the workplace experienced incivility, the processes through which workplace incivility affects its outcomes are generally understudied. And most of the present research focused on the theoretical description with few empirical research. In view of this, based on the theory of conservation of resource, we examined the internal mechanism between the workplace experienced incivility and organizational citizenship behavior, expanding the boundary condition as well. In this study, we explored the proposed theoretical framework by analyzing the data of 5 enterprises in Zhejiang province. To avoid the common method bias, we collected data from two sources. 315 employees and 63 leaders were valid finally. To examine the distinctiveness of the study variables, we first conducted a confirmatory factor analysis by using AMOS 21.0, then employed SPSS 24.0 to test our hypotheses. The results supported our hypotheses. It showed that: (1) workplace experienced incivility exerted a negative impact on employee's organizational citizenship behavior; (2) such relationship was mediated by emotional exhaustion and organization-based self-esteem; (3) employee’s psychological resilience moderated the mediation relationship, the indirect effect between workplace incivility and OCB was significant when psychological resilience was high and insignificant when psychological resilience was low. The results of this study provided several theoretical and practical implications. Firstly, our study demonstrated a new mechanism in explaining workplace incivility’s impact on organizational citizenship behavior. Secondly, the research integrated the cognitive and affective framework to explore the mechanism between the workplace incivility and the organizational citizenship behavior. Thirdly, through exploring the moderating role of psychological resilience, our research found when workplace incivility might restrain organizational citizenship behavior through the mediation. In terms of practical implications, first of all, managers should build relevant supervision and intervention mechanisms, creating a civilized and harmonious working atmosphere. In addition, it is necessary to timely detect and evaluate the working environment, especially regulating the emotion of the employees and fulfill their needs and work value. Further, the ability of psychological resilience should be regarded as an important selection criteria and promotion. Finally, the limitations of this study and the direction of future research were discussed. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Eye Movement Evidence for the Licensing Effect of Predictive Inference in Moral Text Reading 2021, 44(4): 947-953.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Moral licensing theory posits that people who initially behave in a moral way can later display behaviors that are immoral, unethical, or otherwise problematic. It has been suggested that moral licensing can be interpreted as part of a larger moral self-regulation framework. The idea is that internal balancing of moral self-worth and the costs associated with pro-social behavior determine whether one will display (im)moral behavior. Therefore, moral licensing like a cognitive bias, which enables individuals to behave immorally without threatening their self-image of being a moral person. Previous research has demonstrated that the activation of predictive inferences can be affected both by the immediately preceding context and by the information contained in an earlier portion of a passage. The goal of this study was to test whether the moral licensing effect occurs in the moral predictive inferences. The Chinese Personality Scale (QZPS) was used to assess the level of kindness. This study surveyed 460 college students. Then, 80 participants (40 people with high scores and 40 people with low scores) were selected from this sample based on their kindness scores.The experiment was a 2 (Personality Type: high-kindness, low-kindness) × 2 (Positive Moral-self: priming, no priming) × 4 (Story Type: rewards for one’s virtuous deeds, hypocrisy, morality, retribution for one’s virtuous deeds) mixed design. The Personality Type was between-subjects variable, the Positive Moral-self and Story Type were within-subjects variables. Three eye-movement indicatiors (first pass readingtime, total fixation duration, total regression counts) were recorded when participants read the “last sentence” in each type story. The experimental process was as follows: (1) participants were first asked to read 6 stories (4 moral types, 2 neutral types) and eye-movements were recorded; (2) then they were asked to wrote a paragragh about positive moral events; (3) last, they were asked to read 6 stories that matched task 1 and eye-movements were recorded. The results generally showed that the main effect of Positive Moral-Self was significant, namely, when participants were under the Priming condition, their expectations to positive moral results were significantly weakened, their expectations to negative moral results were significantly enhanced, and the kindness trait could not inhibit these tendencies. Specifically, (1) with regard to first pass reading time, all participants showed longer time to “hypocrisy” story and shorter time to “retribution for one’s virtuous deeds” story under Priming condition than that of under No Priming condition; (2) with regard to total fixation duration, all participants showed longer duration to “rewards for one’s virtuous deeds” story and shorter duration to “retribution for one’s virtuous deeds” under Priming condition (vs. No Priming condition); (3) with regard to total regression counts, all participants showed more regression counts to “rewards for one’s virtuous deeds” story and “moral” story and less regression counts to “hypocrisy” story and “retribution for one’s virtuous deeds” story under Priming condition (vs. No Priming condition). This study demonstrates that positive moral self-priming generates a moral licensing effect on moral expectancy, and positive personality traits cannot effectively inhibit the moral licensing effect in information processing. Our findings suggest that individuals relax their strivings and decrease their moral behavior after fortifying their moral selves. Thus, stable and consistent moral behavior may not bean accurate picture of people’s behavior patterns. Therefore, as the Chinese tradition emphasizes, moral cultivation is a careful and prudent activity, which needs moral efforts from time to time. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The Effect of Distance and External Cues on Advice Taking Xiao-Yun REN 2021, 44(4): 968-974.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Individuals often solicit advice from others to help them build a wide informational basis and make an optimal decision, the difference between advice and judges’ initial opinion is referred as advice distance. According to the discounting effect, people are prone to selectively weight the advice that are close to them and neglect the advice that are far from them. Previous studies found a monotone decrease in advice taking as advice distance increase based on judges’ egocentric judgement. However, these studies may draw an incomplete picture due to the restricted category of advice distance. The assimilation effect of social judgement theory suggests that if the advice is very similar to judges’ initial decision, it has a great chance to be considered as practically equivalent to the judges’ own and also be ignored, so the present research extends the range of advice distance to explore the shape of the relation between advice distance and advice taking. Besides, it is worth noting that individuals often have different backgrounds about the decision events, hence they may sensitive to their own knowledge when they receive the advice. Therefore, we further investigate the moderation effect of external cues as well. The experiment adopted judge-advisor system as paradigm, taking advice distance as a within-subjects variable with 15 levels of advice deviation. Depended on the number of external cues, 80 participants were divided into 3 groups which were given 1 or 3 or 5 cues, respectively. The task included 30 trials, in the first phase, it required participants to estimate the distance between two countries and to rate their confidence about the answers (initial decision); In the second phase, participants were told that they would receive an advice from a reliable advisor, but in fact the advice was based on their initial estimation; In the final phase, participants were asked to estimate the distance of the aforementioned countries and to rate their confidence about the final answer once again (final decision). Advice weighting, absolute opinion shift and confidence change were applied as dependent variables. The results showed that there was an inversely U-shaped relation between advice distance and advice weighing, specifically, advice was weighted less when advice distance was low and high, while when it was at the middle level, advice was weighted more. And such relationship was moderated by the number of external cues, the inversely U-shaped relation only appeared in the three and five conditions. Whereas absolute opinion shift and confidence change toward the advice increased in a monotone fashion as advice distance increased, but neither of them was influenced by the external cues. In conclusion, distance effect’s model shape was different when advice taking measured in different ways, advice distance and advice weighing has a curvilinear pattern relationship which was moderated by external cues, even if far advice promoted individual to make larger absolute opinion judgement, it was still weighted less than near advice. And the more near advice to the initial decision, the more it served as a means for social validation. Our findings stress the importance of taking into account multi indexes of advice taking and contextual factors when investigating the advice utilization. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The Relationship between Perceived Smoking Social Norms and Social Smoking Behavior among Chinese Smokers: The Mediating Role of Identity and Moderating Role of Cultural Value of Guanxi 2021, 44(4): 933-939.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Social smoking, which refer to smoking with others, may be a common pattern among Chinese smokers and frequently be motivated by social influences. The previous studies have showed that the smoking behavior would be positively predicted by perceived smoking social norms. However, little is known about the influence of perceived smoking social norms on social smoking behavior as well as its underlying psychosocial mechanisms. Guided by the theories of Social Identity Theory and Theory of Identity-based Motivation, the self-identification as a smoker which is influenced by others would result in social smoking behaviors among smokers. Additionally, the cultural values, especially for the dimension of guanxi, should be consider when explaining the reason of social smoking behavior for Chinese smokers. According to the Theory of Cultural Value Orientations, the human behavior would be influenced by the cultural values. Given these, the present study aims to examine (a) the association between perceived smoking social norms and social smoking behavior, (b) the mediating effect of self-identification as a smoker on the relationship between perceived smoking social norms and social smoking behavior, and (c) the moderating effects cultural value of guanxi on the relationship between perceived smoking social norms and social smoking behavior and on the relationship between perceived smoking social norms and identity among Chinese smokers. A sample of 1016 Chinese current daily smokers were recruited to complete several self-report questionnaires, including Perceived Smoking Social Norms Scale, Smokers Identity Scale, the sub-scales of guanxi from the Chinese Culture Value Scale, Social Smoking Questionnaire, and Demographic Characteristics Questionnaires. All analyses were conducted using SPSS 24.0. Partial correlation analyses (i.e., to control for the following covariates: gender, age, marital status, educational level, income level, employment rank, cigarette consumption per day, and health status) were conducted to examine the relationships between study variables. Then, the mediation model and moderated mediation models which controlled for aforementioned covariates were examined by using Model 4 and Model 10 in PROCESS macro for SPSS respectively. The results showed that: (1) The perceived social norms of smoking significantly and positively related to smokers’ identification as a smoker and social smoking behavior. (2) The relationship between the perceived social norms of smoking and social smoking behavior was partially mediated by the smokers’ identification as a smoker. (3) The moderated effect of culture value of guanxi on the relationship between the perceived social norms of smoking and social smoking behavior was significant. The effects of perceived social smoking norms on social smoking behavior was stronger in the smokers with higher level of culture value of guanxi than the smokers with lower level of culture value of guanxi. (4) The moderated effect of culture value of guanxi on the relationship between the perceived social norms of smoking and identity was not significant. It was concluded that the positive relationship between perceived social norms of smoking and social smoking behavior was mediated by smokers’ self-identi?cation as a smoker and moderated by culture value of guanxi among Chinese smokers. These findings suggest that self-identi?cation as a smoker, with increased perceived social norms of smoking and then increased social smoking behavior, performed the social cognitive function in the process of social smoking. Meanwhile, the dynamic process of social smoking behavior was moderated by cultural values of guanxi. The moderated mediating model broadens the application scope of the Theory of Identity-based Motivation and Theory of Cultural Value Orientations and provides a more comprehensive interpretation to understand how and when perceived social norms of smoking influence social smoking behavior for Chinese smokers. It also provided a theoretical and empirical bias for others to study the complicated relationship between social environmental factors and smoking behavior. Further studies should use multiple methods and construct diverse models to explore the underlying. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Are Maximizers More Prone to Suffer Choice Overload? The Mediating Role of Choice Closure 2021, 44(4): 904-911.  Abstract ( )   PDF   With the growing concern about the phenomenon of choice overload, a plenty of studies have explored its inner mechanism and boundary conditions. Among them, whether maximizers are more prone to experience choice overload has always been the focus of researchers, but so far researchers have not reached a consistent conclusion. In the present research we aim to investigate whether maximizers are more inclined to experience choice overload from the perspective of choice closure. We also aim to explore the remedies which can help maximizers to relief the adverse consequence of choice overload. We hypothesized: (1) maximizers are more prone to experience choice overload compared to satisfiers, with lower reported satisfaction in large choice set. (2) choice closure mediated this effect; maximizers experience less choice closure which leads to lower satisfaction. (3) physical act of closure can boost maximizers’ sense of closure which can attenuate the adverse effect of choice overload. In Study 1, 280 participants were recruit and 272 valid participants were remained to the final study (54.3% female, Mage=23.60+2.87). They were randomly assigned to large and small choice set to choose a washing machine; their maximization tendency and choice satisfaction were then measured. In Study 2, 311 participants were recruit and 300 valid participants were remained to the final study (71.0% female, Mage=22.83+5.65). They were randomly assigned to large and small choice set to choose a piece of chocolate; then their maximization tendency, choice closure and choice satisfaction were measured. In Study 3, 250 participants were recruit and 242 valid participants were remained to the final study (68.2% female, Mage=21.36+1.90). They were randomly assigned to closure manipulation and control conditions to choose a washing machine from the large assortment, then their choice closure, maximization tendency and satisfaction were measured. Study 1 showed that maximizers are less satisfied when choosing in large assortment (p < .001), while satisfiers didn’t show this pattern (p = .62), which preliminary verified that maximizers are more prone to experience choice overload (H1). The Study 2 results showed that maximizers reported less satisfaction (p < .001) and choice closure (p < .001) in large assortment than in small assortment. The level of choice overload mediated the relationship between maximization tendency and satisfaction (H2); however, satisfiers didn’t show difference in choice closure (p = .55) and satisfaction (p = .52) in different assortments. The results of Study 3 indicated that physical act of closure can induce the sense of choice closure. When primed with choice closure, the difference of satisfaction between maximizers and satisfiers in large assortment disappeared (p = .95); while in the control condition, the maximizers still reported less satisfaction than satisfiers (p = .011), with choice closure mediating this effect (H3). Conclusions are as follow: (1) Compared with satisfiers, maximizers are more prone to experience choice overload (2) The inner mechanism of this effect is choice closure; when choosing in large assortment, maximizers reported lower level of choice closure, which lead to lower level of satisfaction; choice closure mediated the relationship between maximization tendency and satisfaction. While small assortment didn’t show this pattern. (3) Physical act of closure can induce the sense of choice closure, which will attenuate the adverse consequence of choice overload for maximizers. This research contributes to the literature of choice overload and maximization which shed lights for future studies; and provide practical implications for retailers and consumers. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Effort Reward Imbalance and Young College Teacher’s Anxiety: Psychological Contract Break as a Mediator and Over-Commitment as a Moderator Chun-Yu Zhang 2021, 44(4): 889-895.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Based on the theoretical framework of the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model, the main purpose of this study was to investigate the generative mechanism of young college teachers' anxiety. Specifically, this study focused on how effort-reward imbalance affects the generation and levels of anxiety and under what conditions the effect will occur. Although previous studies have revealed that effort-reward imbalance would lead to a number of emotional health-related problems, it is still not clear the underlying mechanism of how effort-reward imbalance caused these emotional health problems. Furthermore, whether the relationship between effort-reward imbalance and emotional health-related problems will be influenced by other factors remains to be explored. Over-commitment is considered to be a moderator between effort-reward imbalance and health outcomes, which have been proved in many researches. Nevertheless, the research objectives of previous studies were mainly concentrated on health care workers, few studies on other occupational groups. Thus, the selection of the research objectives in previous researches limited the generalizability of the research results. This study proposed a moderated mediation model to reveal the underlying mechanism and boundary conditions of the relationship between effort-reward imbalance and anxiety. To be specific, this study hypothesized that effort-reward imbalance can promote anxiety by strengthening psychological contract breach and this indirect process will be moderated by over-commitment. To verify these hypotheses, there were 336 young college teachers participated in this study. In addition, three-wave data were collected, of which the time interval was two months apart. The data of demographic variables and effort-reward imbalance were collected in the first wave, the data of psychological contract breach and over-commitment were collected in the second wave, and the data of anxiety was collected in the third wave. The statistical software of SPSS 20.0, AMOS 20.0, and PROCESS were used for all variable data analysis. After controlling for the effects of demographic variables, the results showed that: (1) Effort-reward imbalance had a significant positive effect on anxiety (β=.19, p<.01) and psychological contract breach (β=.28, p<.01); psychological contract breach had a significant positive effect on anxiety (β=.25, p<.01). (2) Psychological contract breach partially mediated the relationship between effort-reward imbalance and anxiety, and the mediating effects account for 26.92% of the total effects. (3) Over-commitment can not only moderate the relationship between effort-reward imbalance and psychological contract breach, but also moderated the relationship between psychological contract breach and anxiety. That means the higher the level of over-commitment, the stronger the positive relationship between effort-reward imbalance and psychological contract breach, and the stronger positive relationship between psychological contract breach and anxiety. The findings of this study indicated that the effect of effort-reward imbalance on anxiety was not only a direct process, but also an indirect process through psychological contract breach as a mediator role. Meanwhile, the mediation process of effort-reward imbalance on anxiety also has boundary conditions that were affected by over-commitment. This study had both significant theoretical and empirical implications. From the perspective of theoretical implication, these findings expanded the theoretical framework of the effort-reward imbalance model, and especially provided a more specific analysis perspective for the follow-up study on the potential mechanism between effort-reward imbalance and its outcomes. Additionally, from the perspective of empirical implication, this study suggested that we should pay more attention to the feeling of efforts-rewards balance among young college teachers. On the other hand, it is necessary to guide young college teachers to maintain work-life balance through proper self-adjustment while working hard. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Social evaluation modulates post-error adjustment effect Li-Jun WANG Yong-Xin xLI Guo-Xiang ZHAO 2021, 44(4): 960-967.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Error is inevitable, but don't repeat mistakes. Human beings have to adopt effective measures to adjust experienced errors, this phenomenon is called post-error adjustment effect. Post-error slowing is a typical behavioral performance trigged by errors, manifesting as slower responses after committing errors. Previous studies mainly focus on the influence of result evaluation or result feedback on post-error adjustment effect. However, participants may receive evaluation from others before performing the task, how the comments from others influences post-error adjustment effect remains unclear. Thus, the investigation on this issue may provide new insights into the understanding of the influence of social information on post-error adjustment effect. To achieve the above aim, participants were recruited to execute the social evaluation task based on the Stroop task (Experiment 1) and the Flanker task (Experiment 2). In the Experiment 1, positive and negative evaluations were between-subject factor. Moreover, to better verify the role of social evaluation, a control condition (non-evaluation condition) was conducted. In the Experiment 2, positive and negative evaluations were within-subject factor. Moreover, to eliminate the potential confounding factor--- self-efficacy, the subjects were assigned to high self-efficacy group and low self-efficacy group. Before the experiment, participants were instructed to pay close attention to the comments from others about you. In the positive condition, three short sentences were presented in the evaluation screen, such as “you are good”, “you are fantastic”, and “you can do it”. In the negative condition, another three short sentences were presented in the evaluation screen, such as “you are not good”, “you are very poor”, and “you cannot do it”. In the non-evaluation condition, a list of star strings was presented in the evaluation screen. As a result, in the Experiment 1 and 2, the post-error adjustment effect was no difference under positive and negative evaluation conditions, suggesting that the positive and negative evaluation had the same effect on the post-error adjustment and were not affected by the experimental task. Additionally, Experiment 1 found that the mean reaction time (RT) in trials following correct trials was significantly slower in the positive and negative conditions than that in the non-evaluation condition. However, the mean RT in trials following errors in the positive and negative conditions was comparable with that in the non-evaluation condition. These findings suggested that social evaluation accelerated the post-error behavior. Experiment 2 found that the post-error adjustment was no difference between high and low self-efficacy groups, suggesting current results were not influenced by subjects’ self-efficacy. In sum, Experiment 1 and 2 proved through different experimental tasks that social evaluation could affect post-error behavior adjustment, but the influence of social evaluation on post-error adjustment effect was not regulated by social evaluation valence. The positive and negative pre-task social evaluation had the same effect on post-error adjustment. Moreover, compared to the non-evaluation condition, slower RT was observed in the post-correct trials under positive and negative evaluation conditions, but this case was not observed in the post-error trials. This finding suggested that social evaluation promoted the post-error adjustment and realized the behavioral optimization following errors. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The processing of others’ facial expressions depends on their social status in interactive situations 2021, 44(4): 881-888.  Abstract ( )   PDF   With the help of event-related potentials (ERPs), the present study manipulated social status by a time-estimation task to explore the neural mechanism of evaluator status affecting individual's emotional processing. Participants completed a time estimation task, and were told that their performance were evaluated by high and low status evaluators according to their performance on the task. The electroencephalogram data (EEG) were recorded while they watched the evaluators' facial feedback.The present study demonstrated that the effects of evaluators’ status on individuals’ neural responses to evaluators’ facial expressions exist in the P1, N2 and P3 stages. Further, the present findings extended previous studies by showing that status enhances the processing of facial expressions in both the sensory and responses stages. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

New interpretation on Centenary History of Chinese Psychological Society 2021, 44(4): 982-988.  Abstract ( )   PDF   By literature searching, it is found that on August □ 1921 the Chinese Psychological Society (CPS) was founded. After its establishment, the CPS started the first professional journal in Asia, Psychology. A commemorative meeting was held in Beijing and a group photo was taken, and several academic lectures were held in succession. The CPS ceased running in 1927 while reopened on January 24th 1937 in Nanjing, though stopped again half a year later. Thanks to the preparation after 1949, the CPS formally established in August 1955. Acta Psychologica Sinica was founded in November 1956 and stopped in May 1966. In November 1977, the CPS resumed its activities again and embarked on the road of normal development. In May 1978, the Chinese Psychological Society held a professional meeting in Hangzhou to comment on Wundt’s psychology, developmental psychology and educational psychology. As an academic community, the CPS developed along with Chinese society. Since 1977, Chinese psychology has stepped into a period of healthy and rapid development, and it will become an indispensable force on the international psychology stage. Before 1949, most of the development of Chinese was without the existence of in the CPS but relying on the spontaneous cohesion of psychologists and the independent development of psychology departments in Chinese universities. Since early 1950, psychologists were eagerly planning to establish the CPS and saw its establishment in August. However, whether the conference can be regarded as a formal inaugural meeting or not has not been decided by the academic circles and even by the psychologists who had attended the conference themselves. Later, influenced by thoughts reform and the adjustment of colleges and departments, the CPS was not formally established until August 1955. Since then, the CPS has been affiliated with the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Under political impact, the Institute and the CPS once stopped running. The fate of Chinese psychological society is bound to Chinese psychology, which fluctuates with its rise and fall. In 1977, with the restoration of the Institute, the CPS also officially reopened. In the history of the development of Chinese psychology in the past century, it is not long for Chinese psychological society to exist, especially in the early stage.The development of Chinese psychology mainly depends on the development of its own discipline strength. This discipline autonomy promotes the psychological researchers to advance in the field of psychology, and promotes the construction of disciplines in the Department of psychology in various universities in the country. Since 1977, the Chinese Psychological Society has been playing a leading role in the field of psychology, and has played the functions of organization and coordination in all aspects. For more than 50 years, the CPS has made remarkable achievements and has become an important psychological force on the international stage. At the beginning of the new century, Chinese psychology, as a psychological force with Chinese cultural gene, will make its own contribution in all aspects of national construction. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Mediation Analysis of Longitudinal Data Jie Fang Zhong-Lin WEN 2021, 44(4): 989-996.  Abstract ( )   PDF   Over the past 30 years, most efforts to test for mediation have been based on cross-sectional data, which may not to get causal inference. A possible solution for this could be to collect longitudinal data and perform a longitudinal mediation analysis. There are three causal arrows in a simple mediation model for analyzing a system of causality. If there is at least one causal arrow where the effect arises sometime after the cause, a longitudinal mediation design will be necessary for effectively observing the causation. There are three types of longitudinal mediation analysis approaches: 1) Cross-lagged panel model (CLPM); 2) Multilevel mediation model (MLM); 3) Latent growth mediation model (LGM). There are four types of the development of longitudinal mediation analysis. First, time-varying effect of mediation effect was tested. Continuous time models (CTM) would illustrate how mediating effects vary as a function of lag. Multilevel time-varying coefficient model (MTVCM) can capture direct and indirect effects over time. Second, individuals-varying effect of mediation effect was investigated. Random-effects Cross-lagged panel model (RE-CLPM) and Multilevel autoregressive mediation model (MAMM) should be adopted to analyze longitudinal mediation. Third, integration between different longitudinal mediation models, the outstanding performance is that is the integration of CPLM and MLM into MAMM. Fourth, the method testing mediation analysis was compared. Bayesian method should be adopted in mediation analysis of MAMM and MTVCM. Bootstrap method should be adopted in mediation analysis of LGM. Monte Carlo method should be adopted in mediation analysis of RE-CLPM. At the present study, we propose a procedure to analyze longitudinal mediation analysis. The first step is to decide whether it is necessary to make a causal inference. If the aim of research is making a causal inference, go to the second step. Otherwise, go to the third step. In the second step, we decide whether it is necessary to test time-varying effect of mediation effect. If the aim of research is testing time-varying effect of mediation effect, CTM should be adopted to analyze longitudinal mediation. Otherwise, go to the fourth step. The third step is to decide whether it is need to test time-varying effect of mediation effect. If the aim of research is testing time-varying effect of mediation effect, MTVCM should be adopted to analyze longitudinal mediation. Otherwise, LGM or MLM should be adopted to analyze longitudinal mediation. The fourth step is to decide the model would fit by running a RE-CLPM model and CLPM. If AIC and BIC indictors of RE-CLPM are smaller than indictors of CLPM, RE-CLPM should be adopted to analyze longitudinal mediation. Otherwise, go to the fifth step. The fifth step is to decide whether it is necessary to investigate individuals-varying effect of mediation effect. If the aim of research is investigating individuals-varying effect of mediation effect, MAMM should be adopted to analyze longitudinal mediation. Otherwise, CLPM should be adopted to analyze longitudinal mediation. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Animacy perception based on motion cues in autism spectrum disorders 2021, 44(4): 1012-1017.  Abstract ( )   PDF   The automatic and effortless percept of shapes as interacting in social relationships is termed animacy perception and the interpretation of entities as intentional agents represents a constitutive component of the ability to spontaneously grasp social meanings.The perception of animacy is a basic and fundamental social ability underlying other social cognition and provides the starting point for more complex social abilities. However, children with autism have profound deficits in social cognitive function and may fail to see social motion in the same way that typically developing children do. In this review, we firstly present three experimental paradigms for the research of animacy perception based on motion cues of the individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Chase detection paradigm is a psychophysical method, which regards chasing as a representation of animacy, and then makes quantitative analysis on the relationship between motor stimulation and perception of animacy. Parameterized paradigm of motion characteristics explores the motion characteristics related to perception of animacy and adjusts animacy perception of individuals with ASD in a parameterized way by tightly controlling the motion parameters of animated displays and requiring participants to evaluate each displays’ animacy. The Causal perception paradigm mainly explores the animacy perception of individuals with ASD by using the stimulus that triggers perception of social causal . There are three abnormalities in the animacy perception based on motion cues of the individuals with ASD. First is the insufficiency of motor information integration, which makes it difficult for ASD to process multiple motion cues at the same time. This results in the individuals with ASD’s performing differently on chase detection tests. The second is the deficiency of social causality perception. When an individual attributes the movement of an object to internal factors such as its inner strength and intentionality, it will produce the perception that the object is alive. Therefore, the individuals of ASD's social causal perception is defective, the normal development of their animacy perception will be greatly affected. The third is the weak neural tracking of high motion complexity. Some studies have shown that objects with high motion complexity are more likely to be alive. Neuroimaging evidence suggests that in HFA relative to controls, there was a diminished neural tracking of increasing animacy ratings in the insula, STG, amygdala, dmPFC, and PCC, indicating less robust and homogenous subjective experiences upon different rating outcomes in HFA. Relevant theories have explained the causes of these abnormalities from the aspects of neuropathology, cognitive processing, and structure and dysfunction of brain. According to the social-orienting model, the lack of attention and understanding of social stimulation in the individuals of ASD will disrupt the development of synaptic connections established in early life, thereby affecting their development of social cognition and social behavior. According to the enactive mind hypothesis, the individuals of ASD can collect motion information that contains animacy, but cannot learn the social significance represented by such information and translate it into social adaptive behaviors. Amygdala theory of autism's main idea is that dysfunction in this particular brain region underlies the main social interaction disorder observed by the individuals of ASD, and has a significant impact on their perception of animacy. In the future, we should enhance the ecological validity of methods, promote developmental and systematic research, and promote the development of relevant intervention programs. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

A model for the influencing factors and impacts of group members’ empathy: A grounded theory analysis Fan Fumin 2021, 44(4): 997-1003.  Abstract ( )   PDF   The empathy of group members plays an important role in group counseling, but with little empirical research. Its concept, influencing factors, impacts remain unclear. The purpose of this study is to explore the concept, influencing factors and impacts of group members’ empathy, so as to construct a model for the influencing factors and impacts of group members’ empathy. 11 group members (6 female and 5 male college students) from different types of continuous groups were recruited and signed informed content. They were interviewed about four different types of their empathic experience including experience of being understood or misunderstood, experience of understanding others or misunderstanding others. They needed to recall what happened and how it affected them when they had empathic experience. The interview lasted about 1 hour for each subject. 11 interview recordings were transcribed and analyzed by the grounded theory. The grounded theory is a qualitative research method developed by Glaser and Strauss, which uses a systematic procedure to develop and induce grounded theories about a phenomenon from data. It applies to research questions with little theoretical base. Through open coding, axial coding, focused coding and selective coding, 279 open codes and 11 axial codes were formed. Based on the relations among 11 axial codes, we built a model for the influencing factors and impacts of group members’ empathy. Results are as follows: (1) Group members’ empathy concludes empathic understanding, empathic expression and perceived empathy. Empathic understanding is defined as the degree of similar feelings group members shared with others. Perceived empathy was defined as the degree of being understood group members felt. Both include cognitive and affective aspects, with different depth. Empathic expression is defined as group members expressing their empathic understanding, composed of four attributes, form, continuity, attitude and content. (2) The process of group members’ empathy included four stages. Stage 1: group members disclose their thoughts and feelings or show non-verbal behavior; Stage 2: group members have empathic understanding; Stage 3: group members express their empathic understanding; Stage 4:group members perceive empathy. Group atmosphere and group leaders’ intervention are the background of empathic process; (3) Similarity and taking perspectives are two factors influencing empathic understanding. The higher similarity members felt with others, the easier to understand other members. And it is easier to empathize when taking others’ perspectives. (4) Similarity and empathic expression are two factors influencing perceived empathy. The higher similarity members felt with others, the higher levels of perceived empathy members felt. Empathic expression serves as a bridge connecting empathic understanding and perceived empathy. Continued verbal expression with an accepting attitude promotes perceived empathy. (5) The impacts of group members’ empathy are promoting group members’ relationships, providing affective supports and cognitive insights. Affective supports include feeling accepted, not alone, warm, safe, hopeful et.al.. Cognitive insights are mainly about how to understand others. Based on these results, a model for influencing factors and impacts of group members’ empathy is constructed, providing a theoretical base for further understanding group members’ empathy. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

Study on Ethical Situations and Decisions Molds about Multiple Relationship of Counseling in University 2021, 44(4): 1004-1011.  Abstract ( )   PDF   In China, a counselor in university may work both as a teacher and an administrator at the same time, which makes the multiple relationship ethics issues stands out, especially in university. In this study, qualitative research methods and in-depth interviews were used to explore ethical awareness and decision-making molds on multiple relationship issues of 17 counselors who have engaged in counseling in university for more than five years. Among the 17 counselors, 4 of them are males and 13 are females, aged around 43.5±9.3. Their average years working in university are 10.2±2.9 and 8.6±3.1. After the interview, we made the recording into transcripts and completed coding analysis .The results are as following： The multiple relationships of counseling in university mainly includes new relationship established through gift-giving; teacher-student relationship besides client-counselor relationship; counselors have relationships with third parties of the clients; clients encounter counselors outside the counseling room; clients have personal contacts of the counselors; clients have physical contact with counselors. The counselors in this interview did not mention their experience of sexual relationship. We found that the multiple relationships in university can be divided into explicit and implicit ones. The explicit multiple relationships are difficult to avoid, such as the relationship between teachers and students and the relationship between supervisor and supervisees. Other than this, implicit multiple relationships are not uncommon either. For instance, the same counselor provides counseling for lovers, classmates, roommates, etc. According to the stepse of the decision process and the content of the decision, we found that counselors usually have two molds of decision-making on multiple relationship ethical issues: the “experience-oriented” mold that first considers the empirical factors in the decision-making process and the “ethics-oriented” mold that first considers the ethical factors in the decision-making process. Furthermore, the “experience-oriented” mold is divided into “experience-intuition” mold and “experience-rational” mold. Counselors adopt “experience-intuition” mold make decisions based on the emotions, social experiences, personal habits and daily morality caused by situations, and make decisions on the level of intuition. Counselors adopt “experience-rational” mold make decisions based on genre theory or university regulations. The “ethics-oriented” mold is further divided into “ethics-intuition” mold and “ethics-empiricism” mold. Counselors adopt “ethics-intuition” mold make decisions based on ethical intuition, decision-making choices are often ethical, and counselors adopt “ethics-empiricism” mold make decisions based on genre theory or university regulations. We found that the first considered by most counselors are experience factors rather than ethical ones in the decision-making process. In this study, we found that counselors are less likely to refer to the code of ethics or seek for supervision when it comes to ethics issues . This shows that the ethical awareness of counselors is still insufficient and the ethics training system and related legal regulations in our country still needs improvement. Interestingly, counselors think that their ethical decisions are affected by training and supervision, even if they rarely ask for supervision when they are faced with the multiple relationship situations. It may indicate that the supervisors in our country may actively looking for ethical issues and guide the ethical decision-making of the counselors during the supervision process, so it may be a feasible way that add ethical supervisions to help counselors better at decisions-making dealing with ethics. We also found that most counselors do not inform the clients on multiple relationships, they are more passive when the multiple relationships are unavoidable, they do not actively manipulate the potential impact of multiple relationships on counseling. All of these reflect the inadequate current situation of counseling ethics in our country. The ethical awareness of the counselors is far from sufficient, it is necessary to strengthen ethics training. More compatible laws and regulations should be make as well. Related Articles | Metrics

Select

The cultural psychological characteristics of the Golden Mean and its theoretical path of practice Zhi-Qiang GAO 2021, 44(4): 1018-1023.  Abstract ( )   PDF   The Golden Mean is not only a moral cultivation method, but also a supreme moral itself. In the course of history, it has been cultivated as a core cultural psychological characteristic of the Chinese people, and presents itself as two main forms: one is the ideal Golden Mean that exists in Confucian classics, the other is the real Golden Mean that is reflected in Chinese people’s psychological life. In the process of changing from the ideal Golden Mean to the real Golden Mean, some distortions and dissimilations have come into being inevitably. therefore, the theoretical study of the ideal Golden Mean is highly necessary, which can lay a solid theoretical foundation for carrying out empirical researches on the real Golden Mean. The Golden Mean possesses an interrelated three-dimensional connotation：taking the two extremes of positive and negative into completely consideration, and adopting the Golden Mean in judgement and decision making; taking the Golden Mean as the common way of practice; practicing by the way of equibirium invariably, so it can be feassible in every situation. The Golden Mean has the nature of morality and manifests itself in the following three aspects of cultural psychological characteristics. Firstly, cognition of the Golden Mean. The Confucianism believes that all things in the world coexist in two opposite sides: positive and negative, good and bad, and so on.Thus it demands that people should take the two extremes of positive and negative into completely consideration and avoid focusing on anyone of two extremes so as to explore the impartial and appropriate cognition. Secondly, emotion of the Golden Mean. Confucianism affirms the natural rationality of emotion and desire, while claims that the rational guidance is needed to find the appropriate way to express emotion and satisfy desire, in order to realize the harmony between oneself and others in the world. Thirdly, personality of the Golden Mean. Confucianism believes that the problem of either excess or deficiency always lie in personality, and insists that single moral character usually have the problem of partialness. For example, bravery, without the guidance of wisdom, will easily turn into recklessness. Confucianism praises the personality of the Golden Mean, which tries to form a perfect balance between excess and deficiency, hardness and softness, and so on. The Golden Mean has a distinctive practical character. Confucianism construct the ceremonial system in the principle of the Golden Mean to guide people’s cognition, emotion, and behavior objectively. Therefore, ceremonial system is the objective basis of the practice of the Golden Mean. Even if the ceremonial system was constructed inclusively and detailedly, it is only a principled arrangement for the general situation, and can not be applied to all situations in life.Therefore, it is necessary for the subject to change flexibly according to the situation. Confucianism points out that the moral judgment made by introspecting one’s own conscience is the subjective basis of the practice of the Golden Mean. But the practice of the Golden Mean can not stagnate at the level of thinking and concept. Thus Confucianism constructs the practical path of the practice of the Golden Mean: choosing goodness and sticking to it constantly. References | Related Articles | Metrics