Table of Content

15 May 2012, Volume 28 Issue 3

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The Memory Effect of Adolescents’ Reflected Self-appraisals

YUE Cai-zhen, HUANG Xi-ting, YUE Tong

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(3):  225-230. 

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Using R/K response task,this study was to explore the memory effects of reflected self-appraisals from mother,good friends and unfamiliar schoolmates.The result from Experiment 1 revealed that among youngsters aged from 12 to 14,the memory performance of reflected self-appraisals from mother and good friends were better than that of unfamiliar schoolmates.In experiment 2,youngsters aged from 15 to 17 were used as subjects,it was found that the memory performance of reflected self-appraisals from good friends,mother,unfamiliar schoolmates showed a tendency of progressive decrease.The two experiments indicated that memory superiority effects of reflected self-appraisals exist with the level of intimate relationship.These memory superiority effects differ among different age stages.

Development of a Nonverbal Behavior Expression Coding System for Children’s Pride

YANG Li-zhu, JIANG Yue, ZHANG Li-hua

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(3):  231-238. 

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In order to develop a nonverbal behavior expression coding system for children's pride,352 kindergarten teachers were selected to recognize two set of pictures of behavioral movement about children's pride.The behavioral components and behavioral units were determined in the present research.The result indicates:(1) The nonverbal behavior expression of children's pride includes seven behavioral components which are the facial expression of smile and laugh,expanded posture,slightly tilted back head,and the arm actions such as arms akimbo,arms raised above the head and arms raised in front of the chest with hands in fists;(2) The nonverbal behavior expression of children's pride includes twelve behavioral units;(3) The reliability and validity on the nonverbal behavior expression coding system for children's pride are acceptable,and qualify this system as an assessment of the development of children's pride.

What’s in a name? Similar and indentical labels in Chinese children’s induction

LONG Chang-quan, LI Hong, DENG Xiao-feng, YUAN Ying, LI Jun, LEI Yi

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(3):  239-247. 

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It is debated that labels are perceptual or conceptual information in children's induction.Sloutsky and Fisher(2012) firstly reported that similar artifical labels could induce more label-based induction in children,suggested that labels were perceptual attributes.Following Sloutsky and Fisher(2012),in the present study,Chinese children's induction were tested with realistic labels and realistic line drawings,by using control condition,similar label condition and indentical label condition.Similar to triad properties induction task,each triad included target item,perceptual comparison item which was similar to target,and conceptual comparison item which was dissimilar to target.In the control condition,experimenters used "this one"to refer stimulus.In the similar label condition,target and conceptual comparisom item were similar labels which both involved a morpheme which hinted the categorical membership(e.g.,cuiniao-tuoniao).In the identical label condtion,target and the conceptual comparison item share indentical label(e.g.,niao-niao).In experiment 1,three items in each triad belong to one category;in experiment 2,three items in each triad belong to two kinds of categories.The results showed that children made more label-based induction in similar and indentical labels than in control condition,but there was no significant difference between similar and indentical label conditions.The data suggested that(1) similar reality labels could also enhance Chinese children's label-based induction;and(2) labels may have "dual properties"in early induction.

The Relationship between Theory of mind and Temporal order memory in Preschoolers——Evidence of separation from Temporal order memory

TONG Wei, YANG Ze, ZHANG Xia

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(3):  248-254. 

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The research examined the relationship between temporal order memory and theory of mind.In study 1,we examined the performance about temporal order memory and theory of mind of 39 children from 3.5-5.5 years old and the relationship between temporal order memory and theory of mind was measured by three different types of materials including causality correlation,and neither-nor texts;In study 2,90 children were involved in to examine the relationship between the two memory components which are comprehension memory and mechanical memory dissociated by depiction,flashback,and flashforward and theory of mind respectively.The result showed that in different materials,the relationship between temporal order memory and theory of mind wasn't significant;5.5-year-old children's comprehension memory was significantly higher than the 3.5-year-old children's;4.5-year-old and 5.5-year-old children's mechanical memory was significantly higher than those of 3.5-year-old children's;Only comprehension memory can predict the performance of theory of mind.

The temporal course and habituation tendency of the attention bias to the threaten stimulus in the adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD)

WANG Hai-tao, HUANG Shan-shan, HUANG Yue-sheng, SUN Xiao-you, ZHENG Xi-fu

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(3):  255-262. 

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Since Wenchuan earthquake,researchers paid much attention to individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder(PTSD) in China.And attentional bias has been widely demonstrated in PTSD individuals.However,few studies discussed the change of the bias in PTSD adolescents.In two experiments of present study,we intended to examine the time-course and the habituation in attentional bias to the threatening pictures in 40 children who had experienced the Wenchuan earthquake and counterpart without PTSD as control group by the exogenous cueing paradigm.Threat value,presentation duration and frequency of the cues were systematically varied.Results suggest that:(1) when the presentation duration was 100 ms,the trauma control group showed facilitated attentional engagement to the earthquake related pictures.When the presentation duration was 500 ms,all participants showed avoidance of attention to the earthquake related and negative pictures.When the presentation duration was 1250 ms,PTSD group still showed avoidance of attention to negative pictures,but avoidance to earthquake related pictures disappeared;avoidance of attention in trauma control group disappeared.(2) when the cue presentation frequency was six times(presentation duration was 500 ms),the attentional bias to negative and earthquake related pictures disappeared in PTSD group,while that still existed in control group.The present results support that the cycle of "alert-avoid-difficulties in disengaging " existing in the attentional bias of PTSD adolescents to the threatening information,while their attentional bias will be eliminated with the increase of the presentation frequency.Besides,the control group's attentional bias to threatening stimulus is easier to eliminate with longer present time.

The Effect of Math Anxiety on College Students’/Children’s Strategy Use in Computational Estimation:A Comparative Study

SUN Yan, SI Ji-wei, XU Yan-li

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(3):  263-270. 

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66 undergraduates and 40 children from Grade 4 were selected.The choice/no-choice method research paradigm was used.Using the self-compiled multiplication estimation problems,the different effect of math anxiety on strategy use was investigated in adults and in fourth-graders.Results showed that(1) Math anxiety only affected adults' accuracy of strategy selection in the free choice condition.(2) Children's strategy distribution and accuracy of both strategy execution and strategy selection in the best choice condition were affected by math anxiety.(3) The adaptability of strategy selection,which based on the accuracy of strategy use under choice conditions,was affected by math anxiety for both adults and children.Low-anxious participants chose estimation strategies more adaptively than participants with high math anxiety.Different potential mechanisms of math anxiety on adults' and children's arithmetic strategy use were discussed.

The Own-Age Effect in Face Recognition and Judgments of Learning

LIU Xi-ping, TANG Le, TANG Wei-hai

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(3):  271-275. 

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The own-age effect refers to a phenomenon that individuals show superior performance in identifying faces of their own age when compared with other-age faces.Based on 3(age of participants)×3(age of faces) mixed factors design,the experiment aims to explore the ability of individuals at different ages recognizing their own-age and other-age faces and influence of the own-age effect on judgments of learning.The results showed both young and older adults recognized own-age faces more accurately than other-age faces,however,this performance did not appear in children group;there was no significant difference among groups in the discrepancy of accuracy of judgments of learning for the own-age and other-age faces.These results indicated young and older adults but children showed the own-age effect when they recognize the faces of different ages.No own-age effect in the judgments of learning was found in the present experimental situation.

The Influence of Math Ability and Question Position on Primary Students’ Representations of Ill-structured Word Problems

HE Mei-jun, LIU Ru-de, XU Le, JIA Ling

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(3):  276-282. 

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In order to investigate the representations of students of different math abilities on ill-structured word problems with question ahead of condition,eighty students in the fourth grade at a primary school in Hebei were divided into two groups by their math test scores in recent three times,and were asked to solve ill-structured mathematical word problems including irrelevant condition sentences with numbers inside respectively in two kinds of question positions to condition sentences:"before" and "after".The results showed that the high-ability subjects got significantly higher scores,took significantly less time on reading condition sentences,larger ratio of time on reading relevant conditions to time on reading all conditions,and less time on resolution in the "before"question position than in the "after"question position,while the low-ability subjects did not get significantly higher scores,and took significantly smaller ratio of relevant reading time to total reading time in "before"question position than in "after " question position although both the total reading time and resolution time were significantly less in "before"than in "after".The results meant that high-ability subjects constructed problem model and situation model on ill-structured word problem with "before"question position,while low-ability subjects merely constructed problem model.

The Relationship Between Stress Coping, Depression And Social Anxiety Among Migrant Children: A Longitudinal Study

YUAN Xiao-jiao, FANG Xiao-yi, LIU Yang, LIN Xiu-yun

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(3):  283-291. 

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The purpose of present study was to explore the development of migrant children's stress coping,depression and social anxiety,as well as the dynamic relationship between them.Based on cluster sampling,1,164 migrant children from 5 public schools and 1 migrant school were selected to participate in the study at Time 1 and 680 of them were tracked at Time2 over a one year interval.The analysis was based on the data from these 680 participants who have participated in both surveys.The results showed that:(1) During one-year's adaptation,migrant children's entire level of positive coping was enhanced,and negative coping and depression were decreased,while the level of social anxiety has no significant change.(2) In individual level,a polarization phenomenon emerged in migrant children's stress coping,depression and social anxiety;younger,female,migrant children in primary grades and those who have just migrate into the city followed the better developmental pattern.(3) There was a mutual effect in the dynamic relationship between stress coping,depression and social anxiety among migrant children:pretest stress coping,depression and social anxiety could positively predict their corresponding posttest level;both pretest and posttest stress coping could predict the immediate depression and social anxiety of migrant children,while pretest depression and social anxiety took different delayed effect on posttest stress coping.

Temperament and Adolescent Tobacco and Alcohol Use: A Test of Interaction Effects

WANG Yan-hui, ZHANG Wei, LI Dong-ping, LI Dan-li, ZHANG Xiao-li

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(3):  292-300. 

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This study examined the main effects of temperamental factors(effortful control,anger/frustration,and sensation seeking),the interaction effects between temperament and parenting styles(authoritativeness,authoritarianism,and permissiveness),as well as the interaction effects among temperamental factors on adolescent tobacco and alcohol use.Six hundred and sixty adolescents completed questionnaire measures of temperament,parenting styles,and tobacco and alcohol use.Results revealed that:(1) after controlling for gender,age,and socio-economic status,temperamental factors could predict tobacco and alcohol use in adolescents,specifically,low effortful control,high anger/frustration,and high sensation seeking were associated with more tobacco and alcohol use in adolescents.(2) Parenting styles had moderating effects on some temperamental factors.The risk effect of sensation seeking on tobacco and alcohol use was buffered by authoritative parenting and authoritarian parenting,which was consistent with the risk-buffering model,but enhanced by permissive parenting and anger/frustration,which was consistent with the risk-enhancing model.(3) Interaction effect was also found among temperamental factors.The risk effect of sensation seeking on tobacco and alcohol use was enhanced by anger/frustration.These findings underscore the importance of interaction effects in understanding the etiology of adolescent tobacco and alcohol use.

The stability of the aggression and the peer relationship

SUN Xiao-jun, FAN Cui-ying, Renaguli·Aisaiti, ZHANG Xiao-rong, CHEN Jie

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(3):  301-307. 

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The present research has probed into the relation between the developmental tendency of aggression and the peer relationship,using peer nomination,"class play" and friendship quality questionnaire.430 elementary school children from Grade 3 to Grade 5 participated in the study,and they completed the questionnaires twice during one year.According to aggressive scores,participants were divided into four groups:the continuing high group,the continuing low group,the increasing group and the decreasing group.The results indicated that:The different developmental tendency of aggression affected the social preference significantly,but there is no significant difference on the friendship quality.Specially speaking:(1) For the overt aggression,the decreasing group increased significantly on the social preference compared with the other three groups.Besides,the decreasing tendency of the continuing low group is lower significantly than that of the continuing high group,which is lower significantly than that of the increasing group.(2) For the relational aggression,the increasing group showed an increasing tendency significantly compared with the decreasing group and the continuing low group.

The Relationship between Resilience and Adaptation to Stress:An Experiment on the Mediation of Positive Affect

CUI Li-xia, YIN Yue, LEI Li

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(3):  308-313. 

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According to Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory positive affect is the most important mechanism for resilient people to bounce back from stress.By stress experiment we studied the mediating role of positive affect between resilience and adaptation.The study used 37 female students to test their affect and resilience,and exam at a stress condition using duration of cardiovascular reactivity as an index of adaptation.The result was:(1) under stress resilience was significantly correlated with duration of cardiovascular reactivity(r=-0.75,p<0.001);(2) When positive affect was added in the regression equation the effect of resilience on duration of cardiovascular reactivity was declining but still significant(r=-0.62,p<0.001).The conclusion was that positive affect played a partly meditational role between resilience and adaptation under stress.

A Study on College Students’ Self-Construals in the Collectivism Cultural Background

HU Jin-feng, SUN Pei-zhen, ZHENG Xue, HE Zi-qiao

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(3):  314-321. 

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To explore college students self-construals on the background of cultural integration and social change and the relationship between self-construals,self-esteem,relational harmony and subject well-being,446 college students were selected to fill questionnaires of self construals scale,self-esteem scale,relational harmony scale and subject well-being scale.The results indicated that:(1) under the background of cultural integration and social change,interdependent self-construal is the leading type of college students'self concept.College students can be divided into four types by their self-construals:binary type,independent type,interdependent type and margin type.They account for 32.5%,18.6%,18.0% and 30.9% respectively.(2) Self-construals correlates with subjective well-being;The(level of) subjecture well-being is different among different types of college students.Students with bicultural self scor the highest on subjective well-being while students with margin type score the lowest.(3) Self-esteem and relationship harmony are two mediators between self-construals and subjective well-being.Specifically,self-esteem mediates the relationship between independent self-construal and subjective well-being;Relational harmony mediates the relationship between interdependent self-construal and subjective well-being.Besides,relational harmony promotes Gstudents'self-esteem,which in turn promotes their subjective well-being.

New Advances in Preschool Children’s Naive Biology: Vitalistic Causality and its Application

MIAO Jing-lei, HU Qing-fen

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(3):  322-328. 

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When reasoning about bodily biological phenomenons,preschool children tend to choose vitalistic causality which assumes that series of bodily processes are meant to sustain life by taking in and exchanging vital force.Vitalism is considered to be a biological-specific form of causality which is different from intentional and mechanical causality.It develops fast between 4 and 6 years old and continues to exist in older children' and adults' reasoning.In the future some issues need to be discussed further such as how culture and experience affect the development of vitalism as well as the interactions between vitalism and other types of causality.

An M-Rasch Approach to Domain Score Reporting: Solution to Bandwidth-fidelity Dilemma

ZENG Ping-fei, YU Na, XIN Tao, WANG Ye-hui

Psychological Development and Education. 2012, 28(3):  329-336. 

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Due to broad content coverage and limited testing time,the large scale assessment is challenged by the bandwidth-fidelity dilemma.This study is to explore how the multi-dimensional Rasch model would improve reliability in the within-item multi-dimensionality data.The results demonstrate that both 4-dimensional and 15-dimensional Rasch models fit data,which supports the construct validity of the test.The uni-dimensional model underestimates the correlation between domains due to measurement error.The multi-dimensional Rasch analysis yields a higher level of measurement precision and a more appropriate estimate for the correlation between domains as compared to uni-dimensional approach.The comparison between 4-dimension and 15-dimension analysis shows that the increase on the number of dimensions can compensate the effect of scale length reduction to a certain extent,as long as the correlations between the specific domain and the others are relatively high enough.In conclusion,the multi-dimensional Rasch analysis yields more reliable domain score than uni-dimensional Rasch model in the within-item multidimenionality context.For the test with fixed length,reliable scores can be reported on the more specified content domains,as long as there are high correlations between domains.