Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2024-04-05
Abstract： Awe, a pervasive and essential positive emotion, has primarily been explored through the lens of Western cultural archetypes, focusing significantly on the profound effects of natural awe inspired by landscapes. However, as scholarly attention begins to shift towards awe’s social underpinnings, the discourse has been largely limited to the remarkable exploits of eminent personalities. This research takes a novel turn, delving into the ordinary social experiences of the wider population. It taps into the rich tapestry of awe as portrayed in Chinese traditional culture, introducing the concept of Yugong spirit awe. This form of awe diverges from the conventional, embracing a distinctly social dimension over the natural, championing a human-centric approach over a divine focus, prioritizing spiritual significance above sheer power, and advocating inclusivity rather than elitist exclusivity. Yugong spirit awe is thus conceptualized as a distinctive awe experience elicited by observing individuals’ steadfast resolve and persistent efforts to alter challenging natural landscapes. This unique perspective redefines the essence of awe within the context of persevering human spirit and collective resilience, drawing from the deep wells of cultural heritage and communal ethos.The present research encompassed four studies, consisting of six sub-studies: a pilot study, four experimental studies, and one field study. These studies first investigated whether yugong spirit awe is a sibling (related but distinct) construct with natural awe. Additionally, these studies examined the effects of yugong spirit awe in increasing willingness of high-income individuals to donate. In the pilot study, participants were provided with materials describing four contemporary events that exemplify the yugong spirit in Chinese society. These events included the construction of Minning Town, the Hongqi Canal, the Huoshenshan and Leishenshan Hospitals, and the Guoliang Hanging Wall Highroad. The results revealed that all four events were perceived as awe-inspiring. Subsequently, in studies 1a and 1b, conducted respectively using within-subject and between-subject experimental designs, the results affirmed that the sense of awe evoked by yugong spirit events (such as the construction of the Guoliang Hanging Wall Highroad) stemmed from the unwavering determination and relentless spirit exhibited by humans, as opposed to the influence of natural landscapes. Moving forward to Study 2, which employed a between-subject experiment, the results suggested that yugong spirit awe was more effective in reducing negative stereotypes about impoverished groups compared to natural awe. Study 3a, conducted as a laboratory experiment, demonstrated that yugong spirit awe could enhance the donation willingness of individuals who subjectively considered themselves to be high-income earners. Finally, in Study 3b, a field experiment supported the impact of yugong spirit awe on the donation willingness and actual donation of real high-income individuals. In sum, the present research reveals that yugong spirit awe is prevalent in contemporary Chinese society (pilot study) and represents a unique form of awe compared to natural awe (studies 1a, 1b, and 2). Yugong spirit awe shows unique effect in countering negative stereotypes about disadvantaged groups (studies 2, 3a, and 3b) and in enhancing the donation willingness of high-income individuals (studies 3a and 3b). This study not only enriches our understanding of awe rooted in Chinese cultural perspective but also provides fresh insights into fostering societal well-being and advancement.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
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 >> Social Psychology submitted time 2024-01-31
Abstract： Debt is a legally or morally binding obligation on the part of an individual to repay another person or institution, either immediately or at some point in the future. As the prevalence of indebtedness among Chinese residents continues to escalate, there is growing concern over the psychological and behavioral repercussions associated with debt. Debt-induced stress can result in adverse effects on mental health, shortsighted decision-making, consumption patterns, and even unethical bebavior. Furthermore, these impacts may extend beyond the indebted individual, affecting their romantic partner and offspring. The negative effects of indebtedness can be elucidated through the threat-compensation mechanism and the cognitive resource depletion mechanism. Future research is suggested to identify additional psychological and behavioral consequences stemming from indebtedness, delineate the boundaries of these effects, explore the various dimensions of debt, develop new methodologies and paradigms for studying debt, and ultimately construct an integrated theoretical framework that describes the nature of indebtedness and provides insights into its consequences.
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： Construal Level Theory considered that self-control was broadly conceptualized as making decisions and acting in accordance with global, high-level construal of the situation rather than local, low-level construal. Researches concerning temporal discount, persistence, healthy behaviors and prospective self-control showed that high construal level promotes self-control. Moreover, the effect of high-level construal on self-control was mediated by attitudes toward temptations and asymmetric temptation-goal. The effect is modulated by the characteristics of task and goal (e.g. goal value and difficulty, valence, response style, manifestation of goals) and presence of high level construal cue (explicit or implicit). In summary, the present approach, which considers self-control as a construal-dependent decision, extended self-control Dual-Model and Ego-Depletion Model and provided some more possible psychological mechanisms. Therefore, further research should focus on mechanisms of the positive construal level and self-control association, investigate effects of psychological distance on such association and look into this association from longitudinal perspective.
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： Individual risk preferences are one of the main concerns in the psychology of decision-making, and its difference is influenced both by individual factors and culture. Existing research mainly focuses on the cultural classification of collectivism-individualism to study the differences in individual risk preferences, ignoring the influence of material culture. Ecological decision-making and social ecology researchers believe that the ecological environment affects individuals’ economic preferences by shaping material culture (such as subsistence patterns). The analysis of previous literature finds that the two major cultures dominated by different subsistence patterns—sedentary farming and nomadic herding have different effects on individual risk preferences. Individuals from farming cultures may be more risk-averse while individuals belonging to nomadic cultures may be more risk-seeking. Due to the limitations and shortcomings of existing research, this inference is worthy of further causal studies.
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： During the process of marketization in China, we have to face a clear fact that interpersonal trust has been declining year after year. Although previous literature has repeatedly revealed the positive effect of trust on economic development, it seldom concerned the role of market economy development in trust changing. By integrating recent micro and macro evidence, it is found that marketization process has served as a role of inhibiting trust in China. Concretely, with the establishment of market economy in China, the impetus attribute of market has been fully developed by encouraging people to seek self-interest maximization and compete with each other, which activates their strong motivation to accumulate wealth on the one hand, whereas which also leads the popularity of homo economicus belief in people, and destructs those trustees’ optimistic expectation of human nature on the other hand. However, the corresponding market rules and social rules are too underdeveloped to protect trustees. As a result, the process of marketization has been eroding the basis of economic development: trust, and leads to the trust decline. Therefore, building rule-based and credit-based market economy is a necessary pathway to prevent trust from declining and rebuild a high-trust society.
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 >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： There is a phenomenon of intergenerational transmission of economic attitudes and behaviors. Ample studies on intergenerational transmission of economic attitudes primarily focus on money attitude, risk attitude, reciprocity attitude, and consumption attitude, while research on intergenerational transmission of economic behaviors pays much attention to consumption behavior, donation behavior, and saving behavior. In addition to genetic mechanism, the intergenerational transmission has two important pathways of socialization: observational learning and parent-child interaction, in which the latter channel is comprised of parent-child communication and financial parenting. Parent-child communication emphasizes the interaction at the level of language, whereas financial parenting is mainly embodied in the interaction at the level of behavior. However, previous research on financial parenting is still in its preliminary stage without in-depth analyses. Therefore, it is necessary for future studies to strengthen the research of intergenerational transmission in the context of Chinese culture and reality, and to explore its mechanisms in depth.
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： Moral disengagement refers to the cognitive tendency for an individual to break away from moral self-regulation. People who are morally disengaged often look for an excuse for their immoral behavior. Previous studies have mainly investigated the causes and consequences of moral disengagement at the individual level, whereas little attention has been paid to its diachronic change and the associated macro causes, particularly in China. To address these research gaps, by integrating the theoretical model of social change and psychological development with the analytical framework of socio-ecological psychology, we hypothesized that the level of moral disengagement among Chinese middle school and college students develop or change on the social time scale and that such trends are affected by the factors caused by macrosocial change during a specific period. To test these hypotheses, the present research, composed of two separate studies, examined the changing trends of moral disengagement among Chinese middle school and college students based on the findings of existing studies by conducting two cross-temporal meta-analyses, using the moral disengagement scale developed by Bandura and Caprara et al. The current research also examined the relationship between the level of moral disengagement and the macro indicators that reflect the levels of individualization and social justice of the society. In Study 1, a cross-temporal meta-analysis was performed on 79 valid articles using the moral disengagement scale developed by Bandura et al. Data of this study were collected from 2010 to 2021, with 60, 478 middle school students involved as participants. Focused on college students, Study 2 was conducted based on 54 valid papers, using both the moral disengagement scale compiled by Bandura et al. and the citizen moral disengagement scale developed by Caprara et al. Data of this study were gleaned from 2008 to 2020, involving 34, 224 college students. The results showed that: (1) from 2010 to 2021, moral disengagement level of middle school students in China showed a downward trend progressively (Study 1); (2) from 2008 to 2020, moral disengagement level among Chinese college students also declined gradually (Study 2). In the two studies, moreover, the decreasing trends of moral disengagement level among Chinese middle school and college students were negatively predicted by China’s rising individualization (including the marketization level, the urbanization level, and the divorce-to-marriage ratio) and social justice (the amount of current effective legislation). In conclusion, China has witnessed the reduction in moral disengagement among middle school and college students in the past decade. Furthermore, it was found that such declines were related to the increases in China’s individualization (emphasizing individual autonomous responsibility for their behavior) and social justice (representing more external constraints on behavior) during this period. Taken together, the current research contributes to our understanding of moral disengagement by expanding its theoretical framework from the individual level to the macro-social level based on the perspective of social change.
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.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2020-04-27
Abstract： "
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2019-08-16
Abstract： In recent years, “nudge” has been increasingly applied to coping with climate change and environmental problems, and has become an effective strategy to promote individual’s pro-environmental behavior. However, in China there is a lack of research and practice on pro-environmental behavior intervention based on the idea of nudge. The reason why pro-environmental behavior needs to be nudged is that individual’s decision-making regarding pro-environmental behavior involves cognitive limitations and insufficient motivations. Seven nudging strategies for promoting pro-environmental behavior were summarized from the perspectives of cognition and motivation. The cognition-oriented strategies included the default options, the framing effect, and the descriptive norms; and the motivation-oriented strategies included priming national interest motivation, legacy motivation, benefit motivation, and autonomous motivation. Disputes with regard to the nudging strategies and feasible suggestions for ecological and environmental management were discussed.
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