Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2024-01-31
Abstract： Many individuals now participate in online fund investment, but novice investors often struggle with the complex information they encounter due to the lack of professional guidance in traditional offline financing. Previous research on decision-making has primarily focused on outcomes and utilized statistical methods to construct decision models, which fail to provide direct evidence of information processing. To assist novices in developing the necessary skills for making investment decisions, this study employs process tracking technology in the field of fund investment for the first time. The aim is to explore the differences in information processing between experienced investors and novices, thereby identifying the advantages experienced investors possess in information processing. Additionally, this research investigates the relationship between the decision-making process and outcomes, proposing interventions based on information processing to aid novices in making accurate investment decisions.
To achieve the research objectives, two studies were conducted. Study 1 involved a comprehensive exploration that traced the fund investment decision-making process using Mouselab. It compared various information processing indicators between experienced investors and novices, including decision-making time, depth of search, variability of search, compensatory index, and SM (strategy measure) value of the search pattern. The study also examined the impact of the search pattern on decision quality for experienced investors and novices through grouping logistic regression. Study 2 involved an intervention experiment utilizing a single-factor (structured intervention group vs. control group) between-subject design. Participants in the structured intervention group were provided a piece of form paper to guide them to structure information of funds, while participants in the control group were provided blank paper. Then all participants completed a simulated fund investment task and their decision quality was recorded.
Study 1 revealed that: (1) Experienced investors, compared to novices, preferred to utilize attribute-based search pattern during fund investment decision-making, and displayed a more non-compensatory approach to information processing. (2) Only the decision quality of novices in fund investment was affected by the information search pattern, indicating that their decision quality improved when they searched for information based on attributes. In contrast, the decision quality of experienced investors was unaffected by the information search pattern but positively influenced by working memory. Study 2 demonstrated that participants who used form paper for intervention had higher decision-making quality than those who used blank paper, indicating the effectiveness of the structured intervention.
This study makes theoretical and practical contributions to the literature. First, it explores the characteristics of the information processing process during fund investment decision-making and its relationship with decision outcomes, filling the research gap regarding the "process" of information processing and deepening the understanding of the essence of decision-making ability in fund investment. Second, it extends the "expert-novice" paradigm to the field of fund investment, summarizing the differences in the search pattern and compensatory behavior between experts and novices, further supporting the heuristic decision model. Third, it proposes effective interventions to assist novice investors in improving their online fund investment and inspires the interface design of fund applications.
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： In recent years, some psychologists began to pay attention to psychological issues in social governance. To correctly identify these research issues and problems, we should realize that the core of social governance is human being, on the basis of the psychological essence of social governance. Concretely, the subject of social governance is human beings such as civil servants, social workers and citizens; the object of the governance is social affairs related to human beings; the process of the governance is the activity of group decision making carried out by multiple subjects; and one pathway to good governance is mind construction. Therefore, psychological research should focus on the innate issues inside social governance, including the governance competences of various subjects, realistic social psychological problems as the object of governance, the psychological process of group decision making, and the strategies and solutions of mind construction. Research on these issues would produce an original framework of “social governance psychology”, and achieve the goal of “good governance based on mind”.
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Individuals with lower socioeconomic status (SES) are exposed to more stressful events but have less coping resources compared to those on higher ranks. They are hence more prone to a variety of diseases from the fetus to the elderly. Allostatic load (AL) provides an effective index to such cumulative effect of chronic stress on interconnected biological systems. Research revealed that AL is sensitive to changes in SES. The moderating and mediating factors between SES and AL include environmental risks, social support, psychological characteristics and life style. We propose that investigations on AL may shed light into understanding and intervention of disadvantaged populations in China.
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： To investigate the changes of mental health status of medical college students in China, data from 181 papers were analyzed using the cross-temporal meta-analysis. The reporting data were collected from 1993 to 2016 (N = 129613), applying the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90). Results showed that: 1) With only one exception (the phobic anxiety dimension), scores of all other 8 symptom dimensions of SCL-90 were negatively correlated with year, which indicated that the mental health level of medical college students in China has been improved over the past 24 years; 2) Scores of these 8 symptom dimensions were negatively correlated with the level of two social indicators (total expenditure for health and number of registered physicians), which suggested that these two social indicators may be key predicting factors for the increase of mental health status of Chinese medical college students; 3) The increasing trend was slightly more salient with male students than with their female counterparts, however, the gender difference was not significant; 4) The increasing trend of mental health status was more salient and comprehensive with freshmen than with non-freshmen of medical college students in China.
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： The construction of social psychological service system means applying psychological theories, methods and techniques to social governance. Social governance usually is a process of multi-subject co-governance, in which all stakeholders make a group decision based on negotiation. However, it is difficult to systematically evaluate the quality of group decision-making. Therefore, a "process-result model" of group decision-making was proposed, in which the quality of group decision-making is evaluated on the levels of “process” and “result”. Concretely, there are two types of processes of “information processing” and “interpersonal interaction”, and two types of results including “objective decision results” and “subjective feeling”. Based on the model, a video evaluation method and a self-assessment questionnaire to measure the quality of group decision-making were developed and applied among college students and urban community residents. It was found that the self-assessment questionnaire of group decision-making was a valid instrument. Moreover, the results from the video evaluation method and the self-assessment questionnaire could confirm each other, which suggests that these two methods can be generalized into more settings of social governance.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Previous empirical and theoretical studies hold different views on the stability and variability of well-being (or subjective well-being). Set-point theory holds that people can psychologically adapt to the ups and downs of objective environment, and the influence of objective environment on well-being can be neglected. The individual well-being usually maintains at a certain set-point level determined by genes or personality. Dynamic equilibrium theory (and its variant— subjective well-being homeostasis theory) further emphasizes that well-being usually keeps in equilibrium level based on stable personality traits or genes, and external stimulus such as life events will cause well-being to deviate from the equilibrium level for a short time. After a period of time, well-being will return to the set-point (range) and be in dynamic equilibrium. On the basis of dynamic equilibrium theory, hedonic adaptation theory considers from the perspective of emotional adaptation that the individual well-being usually keeps at a certain equilibrium level, and external stimulus or events may cause strong positive or negative emotions, but individuals will gradually adapt to this stimulus and their emotional response will gradually weaken, so that well-being will return to the initial equilibrium level. All three theories emphasize that well-being should be maintained at a certain equilibrium level. In contrast, sustainable well-being theory holds that the factors affecting well-being include genetic factors, environmental factors and intentional activities. It emphasizes that intentional activities can cause continuous changes in well-being, which can significantly improve well-being and maintain long-term effects. The essence of the difference between these theoretical perspectives lies in how the stability and variability of well-being are viewed. On the basis of the concepts of homeostasis and allostasis in biology and the concept of transition in physics, we firstly analyze the influencing factors, processes and mechanisms of the stability and variability of well-being from the perspective of homeostasis and transition. All four theories hold that genetic factors or emotional adaptation which are inherent in individuals, can explain the stability of well-being, environmental factors can cause short-term changes in well-being, and intentional activities can cause long-term changes in well-being. Set-point theory, dynamic equilibrium theory and hedonic adaptation theory hold that well-being usually maintains at a certain equilibrium level, the process of its stability and variability is similar to homeostasis, and the adjustment mechanism is negative feedback. Sustainable well-being theory emphasizes that intentional activities can make well-being form a new equilibrium state, and its process of stability and variability is similar to allostasis. Homeostasis occurs transition, causing well-being homeostasis to adjust. Its adjustment mechanism is positive feedback. Therefore, from the perspective of homeostasis, allostasis and transition, we believe that well-being is usually within a certain set-point range, and the external stimulus may make well-being temporary deviation from the equilibrium state, after a period of time, well-being will return to the original dynamic equilibrium state, but if it is affected by strong or continuous stimulation, well-being may deviate from the set-point range for a long time and form a new homeostasis. This integrated perspective provides a new explanation framework for well-being research and has enlightening implications for the continuous improvement of well-being.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： Nowadays, emergent online events have occurred frequently, because of the social transition and the development of social media. In the past, most of the research on emergent online events were theoretical analysis, and less attention was paid to the psychological mechanisms. The current research proposes that negativity bias, a common psychological phenomenon in human decision-making, is an important mechanism behind the network emergency and its propagation. In order to explore the occurrence and performance of negativity bias in emergent online events, three theoretical hypotheses were tested by three studies under the guidance of a theoretical model. Study 1 aimed to explore the information content bias in the source texts of emergent online events. 40 source texts of emergent online events in the period from 2016 to 2019 were collected through Baidu, Sina, Tencent and other major media platforms. The Chinese psychoanalysis System TextMind 3.0 was used to analyze the texts. In Study 2, a recognition memory experiment was conducted to explore the information processing bias of the source texts of emergent online events. 48 participants completed the single-factor (word nature: positive, neutral and negative) within-subjects experiment. The reading materials used in the experiment are from the corpus set up in Study 1. Positive, neutral and negative words were selected from the text by online word segmentation tool in advance, and the subjects were asked to recall whether the words appeared in the article in the subsequent memory experiment. Study 3 aimed to explore the transmission bias in the dynamic propagation of emergent online events. One hundred and twenty participants (Thirty transmission chains) took part in the transmission experiment. Word nature was a within-subjects variable, which can be divided into three levels: positive, neutral and negative. Intergenerational transmission was a between-subjects variable including four generations. Study 1 indicated that although all negative words did not dominate in the source texts of emergent online events, there are more negative words in the source texts of emergent online events than that of hot network events. Study 2 showed that the recognition accuracy of negative words was higher than that of positive words and neutral words. The analysis based on signal detection theory showed that the participants had higher discrimination and stricter decision-making criteria for negative words than positive and neutral words. Therefore, the negativity bias of the participants was mainly reflected in the fact that they were more likely to recognize negative words that are not in the text. Study 3 indicated that the survival rate of negative events was higher than that of positive events and neutral events, and that of positive events was higher than that of neutral events. The probability of negative interpretation of neutral events was higher than that of positive interpretation. These results supported the negative advantages in the process of emergency transmission. The current study investigated the occurrence and manifestation of negativity bias, an important psychological function formed in the process of human evolution, during the brewing, breaking out, and spreading process of network emergency. That is, the negativity bias did not only originate from the source texts of emergent online events but also from the process of individual information processing and interpersonal information transmission. This is manifested in the higher recognition accuracy, higher discrimination, sightly tight decision-making criteria for negative words, the higher survival rate of negative events, as well as negative resolution of ambiguous events. This research is conducive to understanding the law of information dissemination of emergent online events, scientific response to the crisis of public opinion, and innovative network governance.
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