Table of Content

15 July 2014, Volume 30 Issue 4

Previous Issue    Next Issue

The Development of 3-to 5-Year-olds' Trust Judgment Based on Face

MA Feng-ling, TANG Yu-long, ZHENG Ting-ting, XU Fen

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(4):  337-344. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (905KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

The present study investigated the developmental changes in the ability to make trust judgements based on strangers' face. A total of 262 children aged 3- to 5-year-olds were asked to make trust judgments in two studies. The results showed: (1) When children were showed by only one face of stranger, 4-to 5-year-olds could use facial characters to make trust judgment, but 3-year-olds' performances were in the random level; (2) When children were showed with the trustworthy and untrustworthy faces simultaneously during the trust-related interaction situations, 3-to 5-year-olds could make trust judgment based on face, and the accuracy of judgments increased with age. In conclusion, these findings suggested that children from 3-year-olds could make trust judgments based on face druing the initial interactions, and the ability of trust judgment was improved with age.

The Effect of Mozart Music on Child Spatio-Temporal Reasoning Ability

WU Hai-zhen, ZHAO Lei, LU Ying-jun

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(4):  345-354. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (958KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Music has an important promoting effect on children's physical and mental development. This research used experimental method to study influence of Mozart music on preschoolers' spatio-temporal reasoning ability and tried to explore the mechanism of "Mozart effect". 342 5-6-year-old children participated in this study. This study used four types of music conditions: Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major (K.448), Bach's Toccata in G major, Aaron Copland's The Cat and the Mouse and a silent control condition. The three types of music have the same kind of arousal and mood. Mozart music is highly structured and has long-lasting periodicity. Bach's music is highly structured and has short-lasting periodicity. The Cat and the Mouse is unstructured and has no periodicity. The results showed that Mozart music significantly improved girls' ability of spatio-temporal reasoning for a moment, while this effect was not found in boys. The Cat and the Mouse and the silence were similar, and both had no significant effect on the preschoolers’ability of spatio-temporal reasoning. In summary, the generation of "Mozart Effect" is based on the characteristics of Mozart music, which is highly structured and has long-lasting periodicity. The research provided experimental evidence for the "direct triggering theory".

The Characteristics of Adolescents' Creative Thinking and Their Effects on Creative Behavior: The Mediating Role of Personality

SUN Peng, ZOU Hong, DU Yao-lin

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(4):  355-362. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (976KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

The present study aimed at exploring the characteristics of adolescents' creative thinking and its effect on their creative behavior, as well as the mediating effect of personality. Verbal and Figural Creative Thinking Task, adolescence's Five-Factor Personality Questionnaires and Middle School Students' Everyday Creative Behavior Questionnaires were administered to the sample of 1048 middle school students. The results showed that: 1) Girls scored significantly higher on verbal creative thinking's fluency, flexibility dimensions and all the dimensions of figural creative thinking than boys; in terms of grades, the peak appeared in the first grade of senior high school, this grade outperformed all the other grades on fluency and flexibility. 2) Simple correlation results indicated several pairs of significant positive relation: between verbal creative thinking and Openness, Extraversion, Language/Literature, Music/Performing Arts, Interpersonal/Social Activity; between figural creative thinking and Openness, Language/Literature, Music/Performing Arts, Craft/Fine Arts. 3) Openness and Extraversion completely mediated between verbal creative thinking and creative behavior, but their mediation role showed no significance between figural creative thinking and creative behavior.

The Experimental Research on College Students' Implicit Cognition of Wisdom

CHEN Hao-bin, WANG Feng-yan

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(4):  363-370. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (849KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

In order to explore college students' implicit cognition of wisdom, 55 colleges students were selected as participants in the experiments of Implicit Association Test (IAT) and Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT). In experiment 1, participants reacted quickly when human wise people were associated with words indicating good morality and humane quality and natural wise people were associated with words indicating high intelligence; it proved that participants had the implicit cognitive construction of "human wise people have good moral-humane quality and natural wise people have high intelligence". In experiment 2, participants reacted more quickly when words indicating good morality and high intelligence were associated with wise people than when they were associated with foolish people; it proved that participants had the implicit cognitive construction of "the wise people possess good moral- humane quality as well as high intelligence". And the implicit cognitive effect of participants with different gender and major showed significantly difference in two experiments. In all, the two experiments revealed that wisdom is the integration of good moral - humane quality and high intelligence; meanwhile, college students' learning and experience affect their implicit cognition of wisdom.

Relations between Perceptions of School Climate and School Adjustment of Adolescents: A Longitudinal Study

ZHANG Guang-zhen, LIANG Zong-bao, DENG Hui-hua, LU Zu-hong

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(4):  371-379. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (810KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

The present longitudinal study examined long-time effect of school climate on adolescents' school adjustment and the moderate effect of gender on the relations between school climate and school adjustment. Seven hundred and nine early adolescents (355 females) and their head teachers, recruited from Nanjing city in mainland China, participated in the three-wave survey. Adolescents reported school climate which they perceived on the perceived school climate scale, and head teachers rated adolescents' school adjustment on the teacher-child rating scale. Adolescents' academic performance was collected from school records every year.Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that (a) the longitudinal associations between school climate and aspects of adolescents' school adjustment changed with age. Specifically, school climate at the first year significantly predicted adjustment problem and adjustment competence at the second and the third year, however, school climate at the second year predicted adjustment competence and academic performance at third year. (b) In Chinese school, opportunities for student autonomy were negatively associated with school adjustment. (c) Support from teachers and students were positively associated with school adjustment in the first year, however, support from students in the second year negatively predicted adolescents' school adjustment in the third year. (d) During early adolescence period, girls were rated to display better adjustment competence and fewer adjustment problems than boys. Gender moderated the relation between school climate and school adjustment to some extent.

Impacts of Examination Institutional Trust on College Students' Academic Engagement Intention

LIU You-hui, XIN Zi-qiang, MING Lang

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(4):  380-386. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (833KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Perceptions of the fairness of the social institution may affect individual's trust in institutions. To our knowledge, however, there were no experimental studies examining how institutional trust affected individuals' academic engagement intention. By priming the trust or distrust of two samples consisted of 119 and 112 junior students, Study 1 explored how the people's institutional trust in the graduate school entrance exam affected academic engagement intention. The result showed that academic engagement intention was significantly higher under the condition of institutional trust than under the condition of institutional distrust. Study 2 examined the effects of the people's institutional trust in the graduate school entrance exam, civil service examination and recruitments on academic engagement intention. The result indicated that trust in the general examination institutions can also have effect on participants' academic engagement intention. In a word, examination institutional trust can increase the college students' academic engagement intention.

The Relationship between Paternal Attitudes towards the Role of Father and Father Involvement: The Moderating Effect of Types of Maternal Attitudes

XING Xue-wei, WU Xin-chun, HOU Jian-fang, LIU Chang, CHEN Ling-ling

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(4):  387-395. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (878KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

To examine the realtionship between the attitudes towards father's role and father involvement and explore the moderating effects of maternal attitudes, Inventory of Parental Attitudes towards the role of father and Inventory of Father Involvement were used to investigate 427 families with preschool children aged 3-7. The results found that the attitudes towards father's importance, motivation and skills for child-rearing could positively predict the father involement. Moreover, the relationship between paternal attitudes of his motivation and father involvement was moderated by types of maternal attitudes, but the relationship between the other dimensions of paternl attitudes and father involvement were not moderated by types of maternal attitudes. When maternal attitude was Refused or Contradicted, father's parenting motivation could positively predict father involvement, and when maternal attitude was Accepted, there was no prediction.

Marital Attachment Stability and Its Relationship with Spousal Support among Older Adults

WANG Yan, WANG Da-hua, FU Lin, JIANG Wei, ZHAI Xiao-yan

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(4):  396-402. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (813KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

This longitudinal study mainly explored the stability of marital attachment and its relationship with spousal support experience among older adults. There were 75 community-dwelling old adults,with age ranging from 60 to 84 years old at the first time of investigation,who were assessed twice across 3 years. Older Adults' Marital Attachment Scale was used to measure attachment security, attachment anxiety, and attachment avoidance. And the perceived spouse support including support received and satisfaction during life events were reported by the participants. The results showed that attachment security, attachment anxiety, and attachment avoidance were weakly stable over the 3 years. In addition, the spousal support experience was an important predictor of the change of marital attachment. The individuals who reported more support from spouse or more satisfaction with spousal support would turn into more secure, less avoidant, and less anxious about being abandoned.

The Effects of Seductive Illustrations on Multimedia Learning: An Eye Movement Study

GONG Shao-ying, DUAN Ting, WANG Fu-xing, ZHOU Zong-kui, LU Chun-xiao

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(4):  403-410. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (883KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

This study aimed to explore the effects of seductive illustrations on performance and cognitive processes by using eye movement to track thirty low prior knowledge learners' process of visual attention during multimedia learning with or without seductive illustrations. Findings revealed that relative to learners in the non-seductive illustration condition, learners in the seductive illustration condition (1) recalled significantly fewer main ideas and generated fewer problem-solving solutions, (2) got fewer number of fixations in cognitive interest illustrations and also fewer attention switches between text and cognitive interest illustrations. Moreover, in the seductive illustration condition, 80% learners reported attracted to seductive illustrations, and recalled prior knowledge related to seductive illustrations. The results indicate that seductive illustrations may interfere students' memory and understanding of the main content by disrupting the coherent understanding of the materials and by priming inappropriate prior knowledge around seductive illustrations.

Analysis of Age Characteristics on Visual Coding in Chinese Reading: Evidence from Eye Movements

LIU Zhi-fang, WENG Shi-hua, ZHANG Feng

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(4):  411-419. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (884KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

A disappearing text experiment was conducted to examine how disappearing text influence on readers' visual coding on fixated word in Chinese reading. We manipulate the delay time in the disappearing text conditions. Third Grade children, fifth Grade children, young adults, and aged persons participated the experiment. The results were as following: (1) for sentence total reading time, the disappearing text manipulations had no effect on fifth Grade children and young adults, but interrupted third Grade children and old persons' reading seriously; (2) disappearing text manipulations did not prolong gaze duration in first pass reading on word for fifth Grade children, young adults, and aged persons, but influenced third Grade children's gaze duration on word interesting area; (3) third, fifth Grade children and aged persons made more regressions in disappearing text manipulations than in the control. The results indicated that ability of visual coding in reading was mature in fifth Grade, and this ability was also aging, and that the production of visual coding was still important to the latter word procession for children.

The Effects of Working Memory Load and Automatic Retrieval on Elementary School Students Mental Addition Strategy Execution

DAI Man, LIU Ru-de, DI Miao-ci, MA Xue-ying, XU Le

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(4):  420-426. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (815KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Previous research has shown that the strategy execution of mental arithmetic was affected by two main factors: working memory and automatic retrieval, but so far few researchers have studied the interactive effects of them. Based on a sample of 43 elementary school students (18 boys and 25 girls), the present study used preset addition tasks to require participants to perform different arithmetic strategies, and then to explore the effects of working memory load and automatic retrieval on the strategy execution of complex addition. Both of the two independent variables had two levels, for which working memory load was divided into partial decomposition and full decomposition, and automatic retrieval was divided into one-carry and two-carry, so resulted in a 2(working memory load)×2(automatic retrieval) within subjects experiment. Results were as follows: (1) working memory load had a significant influence on strategy execution, the less the load of working memory, the better the results of strategy execution; (2) the effect of automatic retrieval on strategy execution was also significant, the higher the degree of automatic retrieval, the better the outcome of strategy execution; (3) the interaction between working memory load and automatic retrieval reached significant, as in the case of high degree of automatic retrieval, the discretion of the working memory load on the results of strategy execution was not different; while in the case of low degree of automatic retrieval, students' performance with little working memory load was better than with large working memory load.

Classes of Mothers' Parenting Stress with Children Aged 3~5 and Their Predictors

XIANG Zi-ni, ZHANG Xing-hui, LI Ya-jun, WANG Yun, LI Yan-fang

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(4):  427-434. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (866KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Classes of parenting stress and their predictors were examined using latent profile analysis and multivariate logistic regression in a sample of 6021 mothers with children aged 3~5. Analysis revealed that 5 classes best characterized the parenting stress of this sample, including the low group(22.31%, the stress from children' s development and the demand of being a parent were both the lowest), the moderate group(38.17%, the stress from both domains were at the average level), the high-child-domain group(26.39%, the stress from children development was high), the high-parent-domain group(8.62%, the stress from the demand of being a parent was high) and the comprehensive high group(4.52%, the stress from both domains were the highest). Compared with the low group and the comprehensive high group, the likelihood of being in the high-child-domain group was significantly higher for mothers who had lower income and younger childbearing age, and the likelihood of being in the high parent-domain group was significantly higher for mothers with more expectations for their children. Besides, compared with the low group, the likelihood of being in the high-child-domain, the high parent-domain and the comprehensive high group was significantly higher for mothers who were less educated and had worse marital relationship. Findings have significant implications for parenting interventions and supports to specific family needs.

The Relationship between Self-esteem and Psychosocial Stress Response: The Mediating Role of The Need for Social Approval

CHEN Yu, REN Guo-fang, LI Hai-jiang, YANG Yu, GUAN Li-li, HU Xin-yu, YANG Juan

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(4):  435-441. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (844KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Self-esteem has been found to affect the neuroendocrine cortisol response to stress in different ways. Some researches have suggested that individuals with high self-esteem exhibited significantly stress response than those with low self-esteem. Both individuals' heart rate and their cortisol response were positively related to individuals' level of self-esteem. In addition, researchers also observed that subjects with low self-esteem and low levels of internal locus of control exhibited a significant cortisol response than those with high self-esteem. However, the mechanism between self-esteem and the psychosocial stress response, and the potential mediation effects of social approval and/or locus of control between self-esteem and psychosocial stress have never been explored. This study attempted to examine the relation among self-esteem, locus of control, social approval needs, and psychosocial stress response.Forty one healthy male and female volunteers were recruited in the present study. Participants' heart rate were recorded during they performed the standardized Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Rosenberg self-esteem scale, Internality Scale, and Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale were also measured. Path analyses via structural equation model using Amos 5.0 were conducted to test the potential mediation effect of social approval needs and/or locus of control in the relationship between self-esteem and psychosocial stress response. Results showed that both participants' subjective stress response and their heart rate elevated after experiencing TSST. Further, heart rate of participants was positively correlated with their self-esteem level when at the prepared stage of TSST. Results from structural equation analyses suggested that social approval needs mediated the relationship between self-esteem and psychosocial stress response. The mediation effect of locus of control was not supported. Interpersonal theories of self-esteem assume that it is not just one's own judgment of the importance of particular characteristics that contributes to self-esteem but also one's assumptions regarding the importance that others place on them. The present study explored the correlation between self-esteem and stress response in Chinese and further examined the mediating role for either internal locus of control and/or need for social approval simultaneously. The current research suggest that the mechanism between self-esteem and psychosocial stress response may be different in different cultures.

The Effect Mechanism of Kindergarten Teachers' Occupational Stress, Psychological Capital and Occupational Identity on Their Occupational Well-being

WANG Gang, ZHANG Da-jun, LIU Xian-qiang

Psychological Development and Education. 2014, 30(4):  442-448. 

Abstract ( )   PDF (956KB) ( )   Save

References | Related Articles | Metrics

In order to explore the effect mechanism of kindergarten teachers' occupational stress, psychological capital and occupational identity on their occupational well-being, 328 kindergarten teachers in Sichuan and Chongqing were investigated randomly by kindergarten teachers' occupational stress questionnaire (KTOSQ), kindergarten teachers' occupational identity questionnaire (KTPIQ), teachers' psychological capital questionnaire (TPCQ) and kindergarten teachers' occupational well-being scale (KTOWBS). The results showed that: (1) Kindergarten teachers' occupational stress as a risk factor reduced their occupational well-being. Kindergarten teachers' psychological capital as a protective factor increased their occupational well-being, and the protective effect of psychological capital is direct effect. (2) Kindergarten teachers' occupational identity fully mediated the effect of psychological capital and occupational stress on their occupational well-being. The afore-mentioned results deepened our protecting and improving kindergarten teachers' occupational well-being.