Table of Content

15 May 2014, Volume 30 Issue 3

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A Short-term Intervention Study on the Children’s Aggressive Behavior：From the Perspective of Social Information Processing

ZHONG You-jie, LI Yan-hua, ZHANG Jin-fu

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(3):  225-233. 

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The social cognitive intervention program was designed based on social information processing model (SIP) and further one short-term intervention study on the basis of the aggressive behaviors of 132 Children were carried out, respectively, by means of dividing those children into the experimental group, the placebo group and the control group. On this basis, the effect of this intervention program on both how to reduce the children's aggressive behaviors and improve their abilities in social information processing has been verified. The results show that: (1) the remarkable immediate effect and sustained effect of this intervention program on how to improve the capability of those aggressive children in the social information processing have been obtained, which mainly behaves as effectively reducing the aggressive children's hostile attribution bias and aggressive behaviors and further helping them to build an affiliation goal and to correctly understand the consequences of their aggressive behaviors via carrying outing the intervention program; (2) the aggressive behaviors in the three groups assessed by the teachers were greatly reduced after the intervention program, therefore, the assessment results were possibly affected by the experimenter' expectation.

The Age-Related Differences of Arithmetic Strategy Use in Calculation：The Role of Metacognitive Monitoring and Arithmetic Knowledge

LIU Wei-fang, HUA Xiao-teng, FENG Hong-min, HU Dong-mei, SI Ji-wei

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(3):  234-243. 

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Choice/No-choice method was used to explore the contributions of arithmetic knowledge and metacognitive monitoring in arithmetic strategy use in computational estimation and mental arithmetic during individual development. Total 129 participants took part in the study. The results revealed that: 1) arithmetic knowledge had an influence on complex strategy selection in computational estimation for adults and children. It also had an important role in mental arithmetic strategy execution; 2) metacognitive monitoring had a great role in computational estimation strategy selection for children. Selection of best strategy was always higher; 3) a fully mediational effect of arithmetic knowledge on age differences in strategy execution in both computational estimation and mental arithmetic had been found; a partial mediational effect of metacognitive monitoring on age differences in strategy selection in computational estimation was showed; 4) a fully mediational effect of arithmetic knowledge on metacognitive monitoring in strategy execution in both computational estimation and mental arithmetic was showed. But there was no effect on metacognitive monitoring in strategy selection which showed that metacognitive monitoring played unique role in strategy selection in computational estimation.

How Much Blame Your “Evil” Intention Deserves? The Strength of Intention Information Modulated Moral Judgment of Undergraduate Students

LI Xiao-jing, LI Hong

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(3):  244-251. 

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It's unstable for adults to make moral judgment of others' behaviors by using intention and outcomes information. According to the expectation of the two-process theory, Cushman proposed that people should combine the intention and outcome information to make moral judgment when serious negative outcome occurs, however, they will mainly focus on intention information in neutral outcome condition. By changing the pattern of sentences, the present study manipulated the salience of the intention in order to investigate whether or not the strength of intention information will modulate moral judgment of undergraduate students. The results showed that (1) participants made more moral condemnation about the neutral behavior when the negative intention information was emphasized; (2) The moral judgments was not affected by the salience of intention when participants made judgments on negative behaviors. Based on these findings, we argued that the intention information plays key role for moral judgment on neutral behaviors. More importantly, the moral condemnation to negative intention of undergraduate students depends on the salience of intention information.

6-to 10-Year-Old Children’s Moral Emotion Judgment and Attribution to the Actors in Victimizing Context

LI Zhan-xing, CAO Xian-cai, PANG Wei-guo, NIU Yu-bai

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(3):  252-258. 

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Using the approach of clinical conversation as to the story's context, this study explored the development of 6-to 10-year-old children's moral emotion judgment and attribution to the victimizer and bystander in the victimizing context, the results revealed (1) 6-year-old children could understand that victimizing behavior was wrong, while children could not understand that bystander behavior was wrong until 8 years old. (2)With the age increasing, happiness degree children judged to the victimizer displayed a declining tendency, and their moral emotion attribution changed from outcome-oriented to morality-oriented. By contrast, although the happiness degree children judged to the bystander displayed an decreasing tendency, their moral emotion attribution changed from invalidity-oriented to morality-oriented. (3)Children's moral emotion judgments to different actors were affected by the interaction of age and gender. Among the children aged 6, happiness degree which judged by boys towards the victimizer was higher than girls, while the happiness degree which judged by boys towards the bystander was lower than girls. But these effects were not found among the children aged 8 and 10.

Peer Group Influence on Adolescents’ Problem Behavior：A Social Network Analysis

Hou Ke, Zou Hong, Liu Yan, Jin Can-can, Jiang Suo

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(3):  259-267. 

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Peer interactions and group experiences exert a profound influence on the adolescents' behaviors.Literature also suggests that adolescents' positions in social network are responsible for their problem behaviors. In this article, social network analysis was used to identify peer groups of 506 adolescents from 20 middle school classrooms, and to measure the adolescents' centrality (degree, reach, bonacich and betweenness centrality) in their classroom networks and status in their peer groups. Multilevel model analysis indicated that peer groups did socialize adolescents' problem behaviors, controlling for classroom-level problem behaviors and other factors. The results showed peer group core membership was negatively associated with individual-level problem behaviors, and betweenness centrality was negatively associated with adolescents' problem behaviorsand degree centrality was positively associated with adolescents' problem behaviors. Degree centrality and betweenness centrality significantly moderated the impact of peer group problem behaviors on adolescents' externalizing behaviors. Further analysis indicated that the peer group socialization effect was most potent for individuals in low betweenness centrality, however, the degree centrality predicted adolescents' problem behaviors only in high problem behavior level groups.

The Relationship between Marital Satisfaction and Father Involvement：The Mediation Effect of Coparenting

CHEN Ling-ling, WU Xin-chun, LIU Chang

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(3):  268-276. 

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This study investigated 364 pairs of preschool-child's parents who were from different areas of China by Inventory of Father Involvement, Marital Satisfaction Scale and Co-parenting Scale. Structural equation modeling was used to test the spillover effect, compensatory effect and crossover effect among spouses' marital satisfaction, coparenting and father involvement and the role of coparenting behavior as a mediator of the relationship between spousal marital satisfaction and father involvement. The results were as follows: (1) Spillover effect, compensatory effect and crossover effect existed in the relationship among spouses' marital satisfaction, coparenting and father involvement. (2) When family integrity or reprimand were taken as mediator, father's coparenting behavior partly or fully mediated the association between father's marital satisfaction and father involvement, while mother's marital satisfaction and mother's coparenting behavior made no difference on father involvement. When conflict or disparagement were taken as mediator, spousal marital satisfaction predicted father involvement directly, and neither father's nor mother's coparenting behavior played the role of mediator.

The Effects of Habitual Response and Agenda-Driven on Study Time Allocation：Evidence from Eye Movement

LI Wei-Jian, XIE Rui-Bo, CHEN Hai-De, HUANG Jie

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(3):  277-283. 

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Ariel, Dunlosky and Bailey (2009) proposed Agenda-Based Regulation (ABR) framework. This explains the internal mechanisms of study time allocation from the perspective of information processing, that learners develop an agenda on how to allocate time to various study items and use this agenda when selecting items for study. When the limits of the central executive have been exceeded, habitual responses may gain control of study-time allocation.
This study aims to revealed the habitual response of the study time allocation. It further explored the relationship between the habitual response of the study time allocation and agenda-driven. Using Metcalfe's paradigm, two experiments independently were conducted in present research to examined twenty undergraduates's habitual response on study time allocation on condition of different time limit. Multi-factor experimental design was employed in this study. The independent variables were item difficulty, and words position, and the dependent variables were fixation duration and fixation points. On condition of no time limitation, the result revealed that habitual responses on item selection was found, but no effects on the self-paced study time. On condition of a time limit, there was no habitual response on study time allocation. Learners gave preference to easy items in all three words position. However, for easy items, there were also habitual responses. Which demonstrates learners' agendas can dominate item selection and self-paced study time, but can not completely eliminate the habitual responses to the item selection.

The Relationship between Children’s Social Perspective-taking and Story Reading Comprehension：Moderating Effect of Vocabulary

LI Fang, LUO Liang, WANG Wen-jing

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(3):  284-292. 

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The present research explored the connection between social perspective-taking and story reading comprehension outcomes. One hundred and sixty-one ten-years old (four-grade) children completed a social perspective-taking measure, a story reading comprehension test and a vocabulary scale. Hierarchical regression was used for data analysis, results suggested that: social perspective-taking could predict the overall score of story reading comprehension, and the score of the three of four reading processes at significant level, which include ‘focusing on and retrieving explicitly stated information’, ‘making straightforward inferences’, and ‘examining and evaluating content, language, and textual elements’. But social perspective-taking could not predict the process of ‘interpreting and integrating ideas and information’. Moreover, our results revealed that vocabulary level was a moderator in the relationship between social perspective-taking and story reading comprehension. That is, children who had low level vocabulary, the role social perspective-taking played was more important compared with their peers who have high level vocabulary on the story reading comprehension.

Parental Psychological Control and Depression Among Adolescents：A Moderated Mediation Model

LAI Xue-fen, ZHANG Wei, BAO Zhen-zhou, WANG Yan-hui, XIONG Qing-long

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(3):  293-302. 

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To examine the relationship between parental psychological control and depression, as well as the mediating role of loneliness and the moderating role of effortful control in the effect of depression, 688 secondary students (mean age=15.62 years; 341 boys) were tested with parental psychological control questionnaire, loneliness scale, effortful control and depression questionnaire. The results indicated that: (1) after controlling for gender and grade, parental psychological control significantly contributed to depression. (2) Loneliness played partial mediating role in the relationship between parental psychological control and depression. (3) Effortful control moderated the mediated path through loneliness. Thus, both mediating and moderating effects exist in the association between parental psychological control and adolescents' depression.

Parental Control and Adolescents’ Problematic Internet Use：The Mediating Effect of Deviant Peer Affiliation

SONG Jing-jing, LI Dong-ping, GU Chuan-hua, ZHAO Li-yan, BAO Zhen-zhou, WANG Yan-hui

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(3):  303-311. 

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An increasing body of research had investigated the relationship between parental control and adolescents' problematic Internet use (PIU). However, there were several limitations in prior studies: the operational definition of parental control was flawed;the unique effect of different forms of parental control [behavioral control (BC) vs. psychological control (PC)] had rarely been examined;the functional form (linear vs. curvilinear) of the relationship had not been formally tested;and the mediating mechanism was still poorly understood. Our purpose was to examine the direct associations between BC, PC, and adolescent PIU, and to investigate whether affiliation with deviant peers will mediate the relationship between parental control and adolescent PIU. Participants were 703 middle school students. In school, participants anonymously completed demographic information questionnaire, parental behavioral and psychological control scale, deviant peer affiliation questionnaire, and PIU scale. After adjusting for age, gender, and socioeconomic status, BC had negative and linear effect on adolescent PIU, whereas PC had positive and linear effect on adolescent PIU. The non-linear effects of BC and PC were not significant. Moreover, deviant peer affiliation mediated the relationship between the two forms of parental control and adolescent PIU. Specifically, BC was negatively and linearly associated with deviant peer affiliation, which in turn was associated with PIU. In addition, PC was positively and linearly associated with deviant peer affiliation, which in turn was positively associated with PIU.

Effect of Perceived Teacher’s Autonomy Support on Junior Middle School Students’ Academic Burnout：The Mediating Role of Basic Psychological Needs and Autonomous Motivation

LUO Yun, ZHAO Ming, WANG Zhen-hong

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(3):  312-321. 

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The present study investigated the relationships between students' perceived teacher's autonomy supporting, basic psychological needs, self-determined motivation and academic burnout. Modified Learning Climate Questionnaire, Basic Need Satisfaction Scale (BNSS), Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-A) and Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBI) were administered to 613 junior middle school students. Results showed that basic psychological needs and autonomous motivation were positively associated with perceived teacher's autonomy support, and were negatively associated with academic burnout. Structural equation analysis showed that basic psychological needs and autonomous motivation played the mediating role separately in the relation between perceived teacher's autonomy support and academic burnout. Furthermore, the basic psychological needs - autonomous motivation meditational chain also played a mediating effect in the relation between students perceived teacher's autonomy support and academic burnout. Finally, the implications for teaching are discussed.

Teachers’ Professional Identity and Affective Commitment：Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction

LUO Jie, ZHOU Yuan, CHEN Wei, PAN Yun, ZHAO Shou-ying

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(3):  322-328. 

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Based on the theory of social identity, this present study introduced one mediating variable (job satisfaction) to examine the relationship between teachers' professional identity and affective commitment. A sample of 234 secondary teachers were selected by convenience sampling, and they were surveyed with teachers' professional identity scale, job satisfaction scale and affective commitment inventory. The results showed that: (1) There were significant positive correlations among teachers' professional identity, job satisfaction and affective commitment; (2) Teachers' professional identity not only have a direct effect on affective commitment, but also have an indirect effect on affective commitment through job satisfaction.

Finger Gnosis, Movements and Numeral Representations Contribute to Numerical Cognition

HU Yan-rong, ZHANG Li, CHEN Min

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(3):  329-336. 

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Finger is the most frequently used tool for numeral representations before children grasp symbolic numbers. Considerable studies have revealed the important contribution of finger to numerical cognition. However, it is still unclear about the cognitive mechanism of how finger influences numerical cognition. The article reviews the role of fingers in numerical cognition based on three aspects: finger gnosis, finger movements and finger numeral representations. It is possible that finger gnosis facilitates the development of number representations which influences other mathematical abilities. Finger movement related to magnitude representation may help to process numerical magnitude. There are two controversial viewpoints about the roles of finger numeral representations in numerical cognition. One is that finger numeral representations promote the conversion from non-symbolic number representations to symbolic number representations. The other is that finger numeral representations may be one of semantic quantity representations. Future studies should be devoted to developmental studies, mechanism, and gender difference to investigate the functional role of finger in numerical cognition.