Table of Content

15 July 2011, Volume 27 Issue 4

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The Role of Associative Learning and Working Memory in the Development of Fluid Intelligence

WANG Teng-fei, LI Chun-hua, XU Fen, GUO Xiao-lin, LUO Xian-ming

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(4):  337-343. 

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The present study recruited 115 children aged 7,10,and 13 to clarify the role of associative learning and working memory in the development of fluid intelligence by using Associate Learning Test from Wechsler Memory Scale,Paired-Associate Learning Test,and Picture Concepts,Matrix Reasoning,Digit Span Backward and Letter-Number Sequencing Tests from Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children.The results demonstrated that both associative learning and working memory could significantly account the age difference of fluid intelligence.However,associative learning plays a larger role than working memory in fluid intelligence at 7-year-old group,whereas working memory plays larger roles in 10-and 13-year-old groups.To sum up,as children grow older the role of associative learning in fluid intelligence is decreasing,while the role of working memory is increasing.

The role of landmark in Children’s Reorientation Behavior

LI Fu-hong, CAO Bi-hua, XIE Chao-xiang, SUN Hong-jin, LI Hong

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(4):  344-350. 

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Previous studies have showed that young children's reorientation behaviors are mainly guided by the geometric information of the environment.Children often reorient themselves according to the shape of the testing room and not in accord with the room's non-geometric properties such as landmarks.Although some landmarks were used in some tasks,it is only the direct connection between landmark and target objects.The purpose of the present study is to further examine the role of landmark in children's reorientation.In Experiment 1,a rectangular testing room (1.9×1.2×1.2 m) and four color landmarks (0.56×0.22 m) were used.All the walls of the rectangular room were made of wood and were pasted in white cloth.Two land marks were painted in red and the other two were painted in yellow.All the materials were placed in a circle place,in which the other clues such as light and sound were controlled effectively.In Experiment 2,the rectangular tes ting room was moved out.In Experiment 3 the rectangular testing room was moved in,but the color of all four land marks were identical.3-4 year-olds were firstly allowed to explore the environment.Then they watched the experimenter to hide an object such as an orange behind one of the landmark.Following one of the two experimental manipulations,the participants were required to retrieve the object.On oriented search trials,the participants retrieved the object after turning 360 degree in place for four times with their eyes open.This served as a control condition that probed whether the participants remembered where the experimenter had hidden the object.On disoriented search trials,the participants retrieved the object after turning four to six times in place with their eyes closed,a condition that has been found to induce a state of disorientation in children of this age.Results in Experiment 1indicated that children went frequently and reliably to the correct corner,where is geo metrical and color appropriate.This suggests that children can integrate the geometrical and landmark information in reorientation.When the geometrical clue was limited by moving out the rectangular testing room in Experiment 2,children could still use the landmarks to reorient themselves,and showed a higher accuracy of searching in the correct corner.The results of the Experiment 3 indicated that children searched geometrically appropriate locations more often than geometrically inappropriate locations,but did not search proximate locations more often than distant locations.The present study provides converging evidence suggesting that children did not rely solely on the geometric information.In fact,they can integrate the geometric information with the landmark clues in their reorientation behaviors.Especially,they can use only the landmark in reorientation.

The Relations between Paternal Emotional Expressivity and Children’s Social Adjustment: Moderate Effect of Child Temperament

LIANG Zong-bao, SUN Ling, ZHANG Guang-zhen, CHEN Hui-chang, ZHANG Ping

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(4):  351-358. 

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Social adjustment is an important developmental task of preschoolers.Both children's temperament and proximal parental emotion-related behaviors are important influential factors of social adjustment.Although lots of research has implicated that maternal emotion-related behaviors and children's temperament are associated with children's adjustment,few research has examined the relation between paternal emotional expressivity and children's social adjustment.Moreover,little attention is paid to paternal emotional expressivity and children's emotionality and effortful control simultaneously in Chinese culture background.Chinese emphasize the ability of emotion control more in order to maintain harmonious relationship with others.The current study explored relations a mong paternal emotional expressivity,children's emotionality and effort fulcontrol and social adjustment.Three hundred and forty-one children aged 3-6 and their parents and teachers participated in the study.Chil dren's emotionality and effortful control were assessed on Children's Behavior Questionnaire by mothers,and ef fortful control was also measured through stroop task by research assistants.Children's behavior problem and social competence were rated by mothers and teachers on Early School Behavior Rating Scale respectively; children's fa thers reported their own emotional expressivity on Self-Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire.Multiple Regression linear analyses indicated:(1) Paternal positive expressivity positively predicted children's social competence; paternal negative emotional expressivity positively predicted children's externalizing and inter nalizing problems and negatively predicted children's social competence; (2) Children's positive emotionality positively predicted social competence,negatively predicted externalizing problems,while negative emotionality positively predicted externalizing and internalizing problems,negatively predicted social competence; effortful con trol negatively predicted externalizing and internalizing problems,positively predicted social competence; (3) Pa ternal emotional expressivity interacted with children's temperament to influence children's social adjustment,which implied that children's temperament moderated the relation between paternal expressivity and children's so cial adjustment.Further analysis indicated that for children high in effortful control,paternal negative emotional ex pressivity were negatively associated with children's externalizing problem behavior,while for children low in ef fortful control,paternal negative emotional expressivity were positively associated with their externalizing problems.Among children high in negative emotionality,paternal negative emotional expressivity was positively associated with internalizing problems,and paternal positive emotional expressivity was positively associated with children's social competence,while for children low in negative emotionality,paternal negative emotionality expressivity was not significantly associated with internalizing problems,and paternal positive emotional expressivity was also not sig nificantly associated with children's social competence.These results indicate that parental emotional expressivity influence children with different dispositional characteristics differently.Temperament conveys its influence in inter action with the demands of the environment,including parental emotional expressivity.

The Effect of Feedback on Error Monitoring in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

JIN Ying, LIU Xiang-ping, LAN Yan-ting, ZHANG Gong, LI Kai-qiang

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(4):  359-364. 

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A total of 79 primary school students (39 ADHD and 40 mental normal children) were selected.The two-choice task was administered,comparing error monitoring ability between ADHD and mentally normal children in no feedback and feedback condition.The results showed that (1) the ability of error detection was normal in ADHD children despite the presence of feedback,but ADHD deficit in correcting errors,which maybe resulted of them deficit in motor control.(2) The feedback improved the speed of cognition processing in both ADHD and nor mal children,but it could reduced alerting level simultaneously,and lead to decreased the ability of error monitoring.

The Characteristics of Perfectionism and its Relationship with Prosocial Tendencies

ZHANG Lan-ge, ZHANG Li, KOU Yu, TIAN Qi-rui

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(4):  365-373. 

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Simply correlation,Canonical correlation analysis and Regression analysis were used together to explore the correlations between perfectionism and prosocial tendencies on middle school students by means of the revised Hewitt's Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (HMPS) and prosocial tendencies measure.The results were as fol lows:(1) middle school students reported self-oriented perfectionism the most,followed by socially-prescribed perfectionism,and other-oriented perfectionism the least; (2) they took altruistic prosocial tendency most,followed by emotional,dire,compliant,anonymous,and public prosocial tendency,respectively.(3) Self-oriented perfec tionism was positively correlated to all six kinds of prosocial tendency,other-oriented and socially-prescribed per fectionism only positively correlated to public prosocial tendency.Canonical correlation analysis indicated that,ca nonical variables mainly stood for the altruistic,compliant and public prosocial tendencies; these prosocial tenden cies were mainly explained by self-oriented and other-oriented perfectionism.(4) Regression analysis indicated that,only self-oriented perfectionism entered regression equation.Except the effect of grade,gender and the school type,self-oriented perfectionism can account for 2.6%,2.8%,7.2%,7.4%,7.0%,5.0% of the variance for public,anonymous,altruistic,compliant,emotional,dire prosocial tendency,respectively.

The Characteristics and Relationships among Cultural Orientation, self-esteem and subjective well-being of National Defense Students

DING Feng-qin. WANG Yong-hui, WANG Zhen-hong

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(4):  374-381. 

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Using Individualism and Collectivism Scale,The Self-esteem Scale,Collective Self-esteem Scale and Campbell Index of Well-being,this study examined the characteristics and relationships among cultural orientation,self-esteem and subjective well-being of national defense students in a selected sample that consisted of 202 national defense male students and 163 ordinary male students.The results showed that:(1) Compared to ordinary students,national defense students had higher collectivism cultural orientation,stronger individual self-esteem,col lective self-esteem and subjective well-being; (2) The junior and senior students of national defense had higher vertical collectivism orientation and subjective well-being than those of ordinary students; (3) The self-esteem served as a partial or full mediator between cultural orientation and subjective well-being in national and ordinary students respectively; (4) Predicting subjective well-being,vertical collectivism has more contributions than col lective self-esteem in national defense students,while collective self-esteem has more contributions than vertical collectivism in ordinary students.

The Relation Between Personality, Social Support and Needs Satisfaction of the Older Adults

WU Jie, ZHANG Kuo

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(4):  382-387. 

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Using the Elderly Needs Questionnaire,EPQ-RSC and perceived Social Support Scale,the current study investigated the relation among the different dimensions of personality,social support and needs of the older adults.270 older subjects in Tianjin participated in this survey.The results show that the needs of elder,such as economic security,esteem,love,health et al.,generally have been satisfied well among the elderly in Tianjin.Both the so cial support and the personality traits of Extroversion and Neuroticism significantly correlated with the needs satis faction situation.The results of Regression and Path Analysis further indicated that the Extroversion personality and social support have direct positive influence on the needs satisfaction,and the Neuroticism personality has indirect negative influence on the needs satisfaction,suggesting that the social support plays a mediating role between per sonality and needs satisfaction situation.

The Roles of Phonological Awareness in English Word Reading and Spelling among Mandarin-speaking Children

LI Bei-lei, TAO Sha, DONG Qi

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(4):  388-393. 

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The study examined the roles of phonological awareness in Mandarin-speaking children's English words reading and spelling in primary school.The results from 189 first,second and fifth graders indicated that:1) there were significant differences among three grades on English onset and rime awareness.Significant differences were also found between the students at the fifth grade and those at the other two grades but not between the first and sec ond graders on phoneme awareness.2) Phonological awareness was correlated to reading and spelling significantly in all three grades.3) After controlling for English oral vocabulary,onset awareness predicted first graders'read ing and spelling and second graders'spelling significantly,whereas it was phoneme awareness that predicted fifth graders'reading and spelling significantly.English phonological awareness significantly accounted for more vari ances of reading than spelling in all three grades.The study revealed the importance of English phonological aware ness in children's reading and spelling,particularly in their spelling.Onset awareness plays a more important role in children's early English literacy development,whereas phoneme awareness may be more crucial in their later learning.

Picture Book Reading under Two Reading Styles for the 3～4 Year-Old Kindergarten Children

HAN Ying-hong, LIU Ni-na, YAN Guo-li, LIU Jian

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(4):  394-400. 

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SMI 250 eye tracker was used to study the thirty 3-4 year-old kindergarten children while they were read ing the picture book under two reading styles.The results showed that (1) Reading style could influence the eye movement characteristics of the Children.The children's mean fixation duration is shorter under the condition of reading with the narrator than under the condition of reading by themselves.Reading with the narrator could help the children process the information more quickly than reading by the children themselves.(2) Reading style could affect how early the children look at the key information.Reading with the narrator could help the children process the key information earlier than reading by the children themselves.(3) The children showed the preference to loo king at the following elements first:picture,the figure and the figure's face.

The Effect of Social Support and Perceived Discrimination on Loneliness Among Migrant Children:A Longitudinal Study

HOU Shu-Meng, YUAN Xiao-Jiao, LIU Yang, LIN Xiu-Yun, FANG Xiao-Yi

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(4):  401-411. 

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This study discusses the characteristics of loneliness,discrimination,and change in social support over time in relation to its effects on migrant children in China.With the goal of exploring the effect that social support mechanisms and perceived discrimination have on loneliness among migrant children,the present study uses a lon gitudinal method over the course of one-year.From public schools in Beijing and schools designed for migrant chil dren,we tracked 1,164 migrant children's degree of loneliness,perceived discrimination,and social support sys tems.At the end of the year,out of the original 1,164,we were able to successfully track and analyze data from 680 participants.The results show that:(1) The longer the amount of time spent living in urban city,less loneli ness and perceived discrimination was reported,and amount of social support increased significantly.(2) The effect of social support and perceived discrimination on loneliness among migrant children is an interactional devel opment process:at the pretest measurement,social support and perceived discrimination had a combined influence on migrant children's reported degree of loneliness; also,pretest loneliness was found to influence posttest per ceived discrimination and social support,and thus,affect migrant children's posttest loneliness.During this stage of development,social support can directly affect loneliness,it can also indirectly influence loneliness through per ceived discrimination; however,perceived discrimination can only influence loneliness in a direct way.(3) Pretest perceived discrimination and social support did not have a significant direct effect on posttest loneliness,but they did indirectly affect posttest loneliness by influencing posttest discrimination and social support.

Physical/Relational Peer Victimization and Children’s Self-Concept in Late Childhood

LIU Juan, CHEN Liang, JI Lin-qin, WANG Shu-qiong, ZHANG Wen-xin

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(4):  412-416. 

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This study explored the relationship between physical victimization,relational victimization and children' s self-concept (social self-concept,physical self-concept,global self-worth) in late childhood,as well as the mod erating role of gender.About 2,147 children in the 5 grade in Jinan completed self-report questionnaires on victimi zation and self-concept.Results indicated that physical victimization had a negative effect on social/physical self concept and global self-worth,while relational victimization negatively predicted social self-concept and global self worth.For both male and female,relational victimization had a larger effect on self-concept.Gender moderated the relation between physical victimization and physical self-concept.Among boys,the negative prediction of physical victimization on physical self-concept was stronger than those among girls.

Sensation Seeking and Tobacco and Alcohol Use Among Adolescents:A Mediated Moderation Model

YE Bao-juan, LI Dong-ping, CHEN Qi-shan, WANG Yan-hui

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(4):  417-424. 

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Based on ecological systems theory and social learning theory,this study constructed a mediated modera tion model in which stressful life events moderated the relationship between sensation seeking and tobacco and alco hol use,and this moderation effect was mediated by affiliation with deviant peers.Participants were 660 adoles cents,and they completed the sensation seeking scale,stressful life events scale,affiliation with deviant peers questionnaire,and tobacco and alcohol use questionnaire.The results indicated that:(1) adolescents'sensation seeking was a risk factor of tobacco and alcohol use; (2) stressful life events moderated the effect of sensation see king on tobacco and alcohol use; (3) affiliation with deviant peers mediated this moderation effect.

Relationship between Adolescents’ Gratitude and Problem Behavior: The Mediating Role of School Connectedness

YU Cheng-fu, ZHANG Wei, ZENG Yi-yin, YE Ting, LI Yue-ming, WANG Shu-jun

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(4):  425-433. 

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To examine the relationship between adolescents'gratitude and problem behavior,as well as a serial me diating roles of peer support,teacher support and school belonging as elements of school connectedness,1217 ado lescents were tested with Adolescents'Gratitude Scale,School Connectedness Scale,Externalizing Problem Behav ior Questionnaire,and Anxiety/Depression Scale.The results indicated that:(1) Adolescents'gratitude was sig nificantly negatively associated with their externalizing and internalizing problem behavior; (2) The three elements of school connectedness played a serial mediating role in the relationship between gratitude and adolescents'prob lem behavior.That is,gratitude not only had a direct influence on adolescents'school belonging,but also promo ted school belonging indirectly by increasing peer support and teacher support,suggesting the three elements of school connectedness work together with each other to reduce adolescents'problem behavior.

Relationship Between College students’ Contingencies of Self-Worth and Subjective Well-Being

WANG Lei, ZHENG Xue

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(4):  434-440. 

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To explore the relationship between contingencies of self-worth and subjective well-being,and to further understand the nature of contingencies of self-worth and subjective well-being,a questionnaire was developed to measure 186 college students'contingencies of self-worth,global self-worth,and subjective well-being.Good con struct validity and reliability of the measures,especially subjective well-being scales,which were translated from English version,were supported by data analysis.The multiple regression analysis indicated that interpersonal ac ceptance contingency of self-worth had negative direct effect on positive affect,and moral principle contingency of self-worth had positive direct effect on life satisfaction and positive affect,when controlling for global self-worth; the structure equation modeling showed a pattern that interpersonal acceptance contingency and moral principle contin gency both had indirect effect on affect element of subjective well-being through the mediating role of global self worth.In details,interpersonal acceptance contingency of self-worth had negative indirect effect on positive affect and had positive indirect effect on negative affect,and moral principle contingency of self-worth had positive indi rect effect on positive affect and had negative indirect effect on negative affect.Furthermore,structure equation a nalysis also indicated that global self-worth had negative relation with positive affect and had positive relation with negative affect,interpersonal acceptance contingency of self-worth had negative relation with self-worth,and moral principle contingency of self-worth had positive relation with self-worth.Above all,contingencies of self-worth had complicated relations with all elements of subjective well-being,and potentially were more important dimension of self-esteem when discussing subjective well-being affairs,comparing with level of self-esteem or self-worth.

Retrieval Practice Enhance Learning: Experimental Evidence and Underlying Mechanism

LIU Zhao-min, LUO Liang, ZHANG Wei

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(4):  441-447. 

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Most thought on human learning is that learning happens primarily when people encode knowledge,and retrieval does not itself produce learning.However,a number of studies have found that retrieval produces more learning than repeated study,which challenges the dominant assumption.In this article,we introduce the experi mental evidence that retrieval practice enhance learning.And there are several theories of revealing the beneficial effects of retrieval practice:(1) the new theory of disuse,which focuses on the theoretical explanations for retrieval practice effect; (2) elaborative retrieval hypothesis,which emphasizes fine underlying mechanism of retrieval prac tice effect; (3) a distribution-based bifurcation model,which explains the test-delay interaction of study on retriev al practice effect.Finally,we will discuss some deficiencies in previous studies on retrieval practice effect,and fu ture investigation should be strengthened by using different materials in multiple aspects.