Table of Content

15 July 2013, Volume 29 Issue 4

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The Effect of DRM Word Lists with Emotional Valence on False Memory

ZHANG Wei-wei, GAO Fei, ZHANG Qing-lin

Psychological Development and Education. 2013, 29(4):  337-343. 

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In previous studies, laboratory induced emotions were usually combined with classic DRM word lists to investigate the effect of emotion on false memory. The results of this paradigm support "emotional-information theory" which considers that negative emotion decreases the probability of false memory, while positive emotion increases the probability of false memory. In present study, we focus on the effect of different DRM word lists with emotional valence on false memory, and we hypothesize that the results of the latter paradigm might be different from that of the former paradigm.The present study was divided into two steps. In the first step, forty nine participants were randomly selected to evaluate each word in the DRM word lists on following dimensions: word familiarity, arousal degree, pleasant degree and BAS. The results showed that there was a significant difference on pleasant degree, while there were no differences on the other three dimensions. In the second step, we investigated the effect of the DRM word lists with emotional valence on false memory. Sixty participants (twenty nine males) are selected. The results showed that (1) error recognition rates of negative and neutral critical lures in the negative and neutral DRM word lists were significantly higher than that of positive critical lures in the positive DRM word lists; (2) participants were inclined to make "know" judgment to negative and neutral critical lures and to make "remember" judgment to positive critical lures. The hypothesis was supported by the results, which was the DRM word lists with emotional valence themselves and the induced emotions have different effects on the false memory.

The Impact of Dynamic Information Presentation to Problem Finding

CHEN Li-jun, ZHENG Xue

Psychological Development and Education. 2013, 29(4):  344-352. 

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In the way of many-round dynamic information presentation and one-round static information presentation, the characteristics of problem finding of 20 university students was compared between the conflict situation and the potential situation by means of thinking aloud. The influence of dynamic information presentation to the quantity, quality and area in problem finding, the correction condition of students after new information presented, and the evaluation of effects the new information were studied importantly. The research found out, the students were promoted to process information more meticulously and thoroughly in the dynamic information presentation than in the static information presentation, and they could find more quantitative and flexible problems. However, the links between information could be blocked in the dynamic information presentation, and it was not conducive to the interregional problems. In the way of two kinds of presentation, problems had different features in the area distribution. In the dynamic presentation, the problems distributed uniformly in each area, the problems appeared according to the round sequential, and matched with the new round information. But the characteristics of problems in the static presentation were contrary. After the presentation of new round information, the problems could be divided into five categories, which including new problems, change-direction problems, change-degree problems, consistent problems and connective problems. There were more relevant between new information and previous information in the potential situation. For the influence of new information, what the students mentioned most were the original evaluation and understanding more deeply. No effect was mentioned least. The influence was different according to the category of situation and the property of the new information.

Relations between Peer Rejection and Early Adolescents’ Academic Achievement：the Moderating Effects of Peer Acceptance and Friendship Support

ZHANG Jing, TIAN Lu-mei, ZHANG Wen-xin

Psychological Development and Education. 2013, 29(4):  353-360. 

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Experiences with peers constitute an important developmental context for early adolescence. Adolescents' peer relation can be understood by referring to two levels—in groups (peer rejection and peer acceptance) and in dyadic (friendship). Prior emphases on the main effects of different peer relation indicators on adolescent adjustments have been replaced by emphases on models that emphasize how sets of variables function together via moderation to affect outcome. But no clear and consistent conclusion about these interaction patterns between different peer relation indicators (peer rejection, peer acceptance and friendship) on academic achievement.So this study adopted peer nomination measure, the Chinese modified versions of the Network of Relationships Inventory and midsemester test score on 215 early adolescents from grade 5 and 7, analyzed the relation between peer rejection and academic achievement among early adolescents, and whether the relation can be moderated by peer acceptance and friendship support. The main findings were as follows: (1) Girls received higher academic achievement, and there is no other significant difference was observed between genders; (2) Peer rejection predicted academic achievement significantly for adolescents from grade 5 and 7, and the influence was no significant difference between genders; (3) In grade 7, peer acceptance moderated the relation between peer rejection and academic achievement: higher level of peer acceptance didn't compensate the negative effect of higher level of peer rejection on academic achievement , but the prerequisite for high academic achievement; friendship support can't moderated the relation between peer rejection and academic achievement for early adolescence.

Adolescents’ Moral Disengagement and Aggressive Behavior：Moderating Effect of Moral Judgment and Its Gender Difference

YANG Ji-ping, WANG Xing-chao

Psychological Development and Education. 2013, 29(4):  361-367. 

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The current study aimed to explore the impact of moral disengagement and moral judgment on adolescents' aggressive behavior, and whether or how these two factors interact in influencing adolescent's aggressive behavior. Moral Disengagement Scale, Moral Reasoning about Aggression Scale and Aggression Questionnaire were finished by 756 adolescents (332 boys and 424 girls) from junior and senior high school in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province. SPSS16.0 and lisrel8.70 were adopted to perform a series of statistical analyses, including reliability, correlation analysis as well as Structural Equation Model Analysis. Results showed: (1) Moral disengagement had a positive effect on the aggressive behavior (r=0.52, p<0.001). Moral judgment could not significantly predict adolescents' aggressive behavior (r=-0.03, p>0.05). However, moral judgment could significantly moderate the relationship between moral disengagement and aggressive behavior. Moreover, further analysis demonstrated that the moldering effect of moral judgment was only significant in the female sample, but not for males.

Perfectionism, Self-Esteem, and Academic Procrastination among Chinese University Students

CHEN Chen, YAN Ting, LIN Chong-de

Psychological Development and Education. 2013, 29(4):  368-377. 

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This study aimed to investigate the relationship of academic procrastination to perfectionism and self-esteem among 311 Chinese university students, ranging from 18 to 20 years old. In particular, this study examined the mediating function of self-esteem in the relationship between perfectionism and academic procrastination. Participants' academic procrastination, positive and negative perfectionism, and self-esteem were measured by Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students, Chinese Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Using hierarchical regression procedures, the researchers found that academic procrastination was positively related to negative perfectionism and negatively related to positive perfectionism and self-esteem. Self-esteem was negatively related to negative perfectionism, but positively related to positive perfectionism. Furthermore, negative perfectionism significantly and positively predicted academic procrastination, while positive perfectionism significantly and negatively predicted academic procrastination. In addition, self-esteem partially mediated the prediction of academic procrastination from both positive and negative perfectionism. Implications for college students' education have been discussed.

Consciousness of Causal Inference in Expository Reading

ZOU Yan-rong, CHEN Hui-en, ZHENG Hai-yan, ANG Chen, WANG Rui-ming

Psychological Development and Education. 2013, 29(4):  378-384. 

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Two experiments were designed to explore the influence of causal inference on the consciousness of text representation in expository with the two paradigms (IRK and PDP). In experiment 1, According to the relationship between the elaboration on a characteristic of the thing and the subsequent target sentence, the independent variable had two levels: successful inference version and fail inference version. The dependent variable was the hit rate of "remember" or "know" judgment. In experiment 2, the independent variable was as same as that in experiment 1. The dependent variable was the hit rate of "Old" judgment and the false alarm rate of "New" judgment. In these two experiments, the reading time of target sentence in fail inference condition was longer than that in successful inference condition. More importantly, there was remarkable difference between the successful inference version and fail inference version in the rate of consciousness and unconsciousness. The results showed that causal inference not only affects the conscious processing but also the unconscious processing in expository.

The Mediating Effects of EFL Writing Self-Efficacy on the Relationship between EFL Writing Anxiety and Writing Performance for College Students

LI Hang, LIU Ru-de, LIU Yuan

Psychological Development and Education. 2013, 29(4):  385-390. 

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In the classroom teaching context of English as a foreign language (EFL) writing, The EFL Writing Self-Efficacy Scale,The Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory and an English essay writing test had been employed to investigate the EFL writing self-efficacy, writing anxiety and writing performance of 356 college students with an intention to explore the mediating effects of writing self-efficacy on the relationship between writing anxiety and writing performance. The results indicated that the first-year college students' EFL writing anxiety significantly and negatively predicted writing self-efficacy, while their EFL writing self-efficacy had a strong direct effect on writing performance, and the relationship between writing anxiety and writing performance was completely mediated by writing self-efficacy.

Teachers’ Perception of Students’ Classroom Behaviors：An Eye Movements Study

WANG Fu-xing, LU Yong-li, DUAN Zhao-hui, ZHOU Zong-kui

Psychological Development and Education. 2013, 29(4):  391-399. 

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Perception of classroom teaching scenes is crucial to the expertise on teaching. Previous studies have shown that expert teachers and novices differ in many areas including the perception, processing and understanding of classroom teaching activities. However, these studies were limited by the use of traditional inquiry methods such as surveys, questionnaires, and observations, and failed to provide direct evidence in authentic situations. Expert teachers, experienced teachers and novices were recruited to testify how teaching experiences affect moment to moment online processing of classroom teaching scenes and students' classroom behaviors. A 15-second classroom teaching video clip was constructed as a stimulus. In this video clip, two types of student behaviors were manipulated. One was the typical students' classroom behavior that a student was waiting for teacher's permission with her hand putting up, and the other was the problem behavior that a student was playing with her pencil and was not engaged in lecture listening. Tobii 1750 was used to record the eye movements. Results revealed that a typical behavior received more fixations than a problem behavior. For the novices, they fixated a typical behavior more than a problem behavior. Furthermore, expert teachers and experienced teachers could distribute their fixations to the typical behavior and the problem behavior equally. In conclusion, teaching experience can affect visual classroom information. However, for the novices, they are only attracted by the typical behavior. Teachers with teaching experience can allocate their attention to different student behaviors equally. The results have provided a striking picture that expert and experienced teachers could distribute their attentions effectively. These findings shed a new light on the understanding of the cognitive processes of expert teachers and novice teachers.

Daily Hassles and Rural Left-behind Children’s Delinquent Behavior：The Role of Parental Cohesion

ZHAO Jing-xin, LIU Xia, LI Yue

Psychological Development and Education. 2013, 29(4):  400-406,423. 

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A total of 207 rural Left-behind children were recruited from a rural area in Henan province of China, including 90 children from two-parent-migrant families and 117 children from father migrant families. These children completed a self-report assessment on testing the exacerbation effects of daily hassles on children's delinquent behavior, and the protective effects of migrant parental cohesion and Left-behind caregiver-child cohesion on reducing their delinquent behavior. Results indicated that daily hassles were positive associated with children's delinquent behavior, and high quality of migrant parental cohesion or Left-behind caregiver-child cohesion predicted low level of children's delinquent behavior. Meanwhile, migrant parental cohesion could buffer the deleterious effects of daily hassles to Left-home-children's delinquent behavior. Additionally, the protective effect of Left-behind caregiver-child cohesion on delinquent behavior changed as a function of children's group. The protective-enhancing effect of Left-behind caregiver-child cohesion was found for children from two-parent-migrant families, while the protective-stabilizing effect existed among the children from father migrant families. These findings highlight the importance of high quality of parent-child cohesion for Left-behind children's positive development.

Cross-Lagged Regression Analysis of Relationship between Self-esteem and Depression in Early Adolescents：Test of Vulnerability Model and Scar Model

DENG Hui-hua, CHEN Hui, ZHONG Ping, LIANG Zong-bao, ZHANG Guang-Zhen

Psychological Development and Education. 2013, 29(4):  407-414. 

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The present 3-year longitudinal study aimed to explore reciprocal relations between self-esteem and depression in early adolescents after controlled for prior levels of both variables and test vulnerability model and scar model where the vulnerability model hypothesizes that low self-esteem serves as a risk factor for depression and the scar model hypothesizes that low self-esteem is an outcome, not a cause, of depression. Self-esteem and depression were measured with Rosenberg self-esteem scale and children's depression inventory-short version in 598 adolescents from Nanjing junior middle school at Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3. Cross-lagged regression analyses for the total samples showed that depression at Grade 1 negatively predicted self-esteem at Grade 2; moreover, depression at Grade 2 also negatively predicted self-esteem at Grade 3 and simultaneously self-esteem at Grade 2 negatively predicted depression at Grade 3. These results indicated that the two variables were reciprocally related to each other and their reciprocal relation varied with time and that vulnerability model and scar model are not mutually exclusive and can operate simultaneously. Additionally, there was a significant gender difference in the causality between self-esteem and depression among early adolescents. The gender difference showed a time-dependence. For girls, the causality between self-esteem and depression was the same as the total samples. In contrast, only depression at Grade 2 negatively predicted self-esteem at Grade 3 for boys.

The Effect of Stress, Gratitude and Satisfaction of Basic Psychological Needs on Drug Use Among Reform School Students

YE Bao-juan, YU Shu-ying, HU Zhu-jing

Psychological Development and Education. 2013, 29(4):  415-423. 

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This study was to examine characteristics of drug use of reform school students, and the relationship among stressful life events, gratitude, satisfaction of basic psychological needs and drug use. Participants were 585 reform school students, and they completed stressful life events scale, gratitude questionnaire, basic psychological needs scale and drug use questionnaire. The results indicated that: (1) About 41.7% reform school students used drugs; (2) Satisfaction of basic psychological needs mediated the effect of stressful life events on drug use; (3) Gratitude moderated the mediated path through satisfaction of basic psychological needs. (4) Reform school students' gratitude was significantly negatively associated with their drug use.

College Students’ Internet Addiction：the Interaction Effects among Background Craving, Perceived Peers’ Internet Overuse Behavior, and Peers’ Attitude Towards Internet Overuse

LIU Lu, FANG Xiao-yi, ZHANG Jin-tao, LIU Feng-e, CHEN Chao, ZHAO Hui-chun, SHEN Zi-jiao

Psychological Development and Education. 2013, 29(4):  424-433. 

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Based on the holistic-interactionistic model,a study examined the relationship between background craving (anticipation of positive outcomes, and relief from negative affects) and college students'Internet addiction, as well as the interaction effects among background craving, peers' Internet overuse behavior, and attitude towards Internet overuse on Internet addiction in college students.A sample of 2511 freshmen was recruited from a university in Beijing to fill out the questionnaire measures of background craving, perceived peers' Internet overuse behavior, attitude towards Internet overuse, and Internet addiction level. Results revealed that: (1)Compared to Internet non-addicts, Internet addicts among college students had much higher levels of background craving for Internet use, perceived more Internet overuse behaviors, and more positive attitudes about Internet overuse. (2) Background craving factors and peers' Internet overuse behavior could positively predict Internet addiction in college students. (3) An interaction effect on college students'Internet addiction was found between anticipation of positive outcomes and peers' attitude towards Internet overuse. In condition of low level of anticipation, peers' attitude towards Internet overuse could negatively predict college students' Internet addiction, whereas, the prediction effect didn't exist under condition of high level of anticipation. Conclusion: The effect of external causes was more significant when internal causes were relatively weak.

Geometric Cues and its Development and Application in Preschooler’s Ability to Solve Mapping Tasks

LU Jing, HU Qing-fen

Psychological Development and Education. 2013, 29(4):  434-440. 

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Geometric cues play an important role in children's understanding of spatial relation correspondence between map and the real world. Previous works have adopted mapping task, and use geometric maps to reveal the cognitive process of preschooler's ability to use different kind of geometric cues (topological cues, Euclidean properties, metric coordinates) in solving spatial relation correspondence. These studies have found that by the age of 3, children began to show the ability to extract Euclidean properties and metric coordinates from maps to guide their search for the target location. However, different Euclidean properties (distance, angle, direction) are grasped at different ages. Lacking research on topological relationships in this area, the developmental law of the capability to master this cue is still unknown. The necessity to enhance the ecological validity is proposed based on the review.

Advances in the Research of Developmental Dyscalculia

ZHAO Hui, LU Hao, ZHANG Shu-dong

Psychological Development and Education. 2013, 29(4):  441-448. 

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There have been growing numbers of researches conducted on developmental dyscalculia these years. However, there are still controversies on the mechanism of how dyscalculia developed, and the diagnosis criteria as well. Recent researches have suggested that the main cause of developmental dyscalculia could be a selective deficit in a domain-specific capacity instead of the claim of more domain-general cognitive deficit. The researches on the neural mechanisms of developmental dyscalculia have also shifted from focusing on single brain area to the new approach of investigating the brain functional connectivity between various locations. On the basis of research on the cognitive and neural mechanism of developmental dyscalculia, researchers have tried to apply the theoretic finding into educational practice. And in the future, the new finding towards the mechanism and the intervention effect of developmental dyscalculia is expected from integrated data from behavioral, neural and genetic perspectives.