Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Personality Psychology submitted time 2023-12-11
Abstract： Growth mindset, the belief that one’s abilities can be improved through effort and learning, has attracted much attention from researchers in personality, social and developmental psychology. Thanks to large-scale surveys and randomized controlled field experiments around the world, growth mindset research has entered a new era of interdisciplinary, international and generalizable intervention research. However, as more evidence emerges, researchers have also noticed that the effects of growth mindsets vary across different situations. To address the issues of replicability and generalizability, mindsets × context theory proposes that growth mindsets are more beneficial when individuals face challenges or threats (vulnerability) and when the environment supports their learning and growth (psychological affordance). These insights offer new directions for designing and implementing growth mindset interventions. Future research should further investigate the mechanisms of psychological affordance and vulnerability, and develop tailored intervention programs for different groups, so that growth mindset interventions can effectively promote individual development and solve educational problems.
Subjects: Other Disciplines >> Synthetic discipline submitted time 2023-10-09 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Awe is an emotional response to vast stimuli that challenge the current frames of reference and require a new schema to accommodate. A large body of empirical studies have highlighted that awe engenders various forms of prosocial behavior. Regarding the psychological mechanisms implicated, the small-self hypothesis posits that the vastness of stimuli that evokes awe elicits feelings of self-smallness, which diverts the individual's attention away from the self and towards others, thus promoting prosocial behavior; the authentic-self hypothesis suggests that awe helps to facilitate a shift in the individual's attention from regular mundane concerns to a larger spiritual presence, which stimulates the individual's pursuit of his or her authentic self, thus promoting prosocial behavior. Though these two hypotheses present distinct viewpoints regarding the psychological mechanisms through which awe fosters prosocial behavior from the perspectives of attention and transformation, relatively. Nevertheless, the relationship between the two suppositions in the promotion of prosocial behavior via awe remains unclear. An organized theoretical framework is wanting to clarify and integrate this inquiry, which can potentially be resolved by considering the “Big Two” perspective. Based on the Big Two framework, the agentic and communal dimensions are considered as the fundamental aspects of the self. The small self, which is affiliated and submissive, is part of the communal dimension of the self-concept. On the other hand, the authentic self is seen as unique and self-determined, and is part of the agentic dimension of self. Positive awe can enhance prosocial behavior through two parallel pathways, the agentic dimension (authentic self) and the communal dimension (small self) of self. The Big Two framework is also beneficial in comprehending the recent discoveries in the field of threat-based awe. Although threat-based awe can promote prosocial behavior on the communal dimension of the self (small self), it also impedes prosocial behavior on the agentic dimension of the self (powerlessness). As opposed to the consistent findings obtained in the field of positive awe, threat-based awe produces contrasting effects on prosocial behavior.Research in this domain will facilitate the examination of the pivotal position of emotions in relation to human sociability. Future research endeavors could develop into the following domains: primordially, scrutinizing the universality of the effects of awe on prosocial behavior, with particular emphasis on threat-based awe tinged with fear, which has elicited inconsistent and heterogeneous findings in extant research and warrant further exploration with greater depth in the future. Secondly, the prevailing hypotheses suffer from certain inadequacies. The notion of “small-self” lays emphasis on the act of shifting attention, which results in a stark dichotomy between self-directed and other-directed attention. Similarly, the “authentic-self” hypothesis warrants refinement regarding the mechanisms involved in the generation of prosocial motivation. In due course, there is a pressing need for both theoretical and empirical advancement aimed at redressing the deficiencies that currently exist. Lastly, although interventions aimed at facilitating awe have been proposed, very few initiatives target the core mechanism through which awe engenders transformation of small and authentic selves. Hence, future studies ought to construct intervention programs focused on self-transformation for this mechanism, imparting a scientific psychological insight to progress a philanthropic-based third distribution strategy.
Subjects: Psychology >> Personality Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-06-15
Abstract： Awe is an emotional response to vast stimuli that challenge the current frames of reference and require a new schema to accommodate. A large body of empirical studies have highlighted that awe engenders various forms of prosocial behavior. Regarding the psychological mechanisms implicated, the small-self hypothesis posits that the vastness of stimuli that evokes awe elicits feelings of self-smallness, which diverts the individual's attention away from the self and towards others, thus promoting prosocial behavior; the authentic-self hypothesis suggests that awe helps to facilitate a shift in the individual's attention from regular mundane concerns to a larger spiritual presence, which stimulates the individual's pursuit of his or her authentic self, thus promoting prosocial behavior. These research hypotheses can be integrated within the 'Big Two' framework, which suggests that awe promotes prosocial behavior through two parallel paths in the dimension of agency (authentic self) and communion (small self). Future research needs to further explore the psychological mechanisms underlying the prosocial effects of awe and, on this basis, develop efficacious interventions to promote prosocial behavior, such as donations, in order to provide psychological strategies for the effective implementation of the third distribution strategy.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Social essentialism is an intuitive theory about social categories. It is a biological attribution of differences in social categories. It implies that members of one social category share unobservable intrinsic characteristics that determine their membership and generate observable similarities between them. Studies show that social essentialism increases racial, gender, and class prejudice, but also reduces prejudice against obese people, homosexuals, and criminals. Why are there domain differences in the impact of social essentialism on prejudice? The causal discounting theory holds that people weigh the possibility of multiple candidate causal explanations perceived in the process of explaining group differences. When a given causal explanation is considered more likely, other causal explanations are automatically regarded as unlikely, that is, the possibility of alternative causal explanations is discounted. The causal discounting theory, however, fails to distinguish between social categories that promote prejudices and those that reduce prejudices, nor does it explain the internal logic of causal discounting in a process of social essentialism that leads to different prejudice outcomes. Attribution theory can provide further insight into these questions.牋Specifically, a major difference between social categories is whether group members are able to join or leave them. Based on this criterion, social categories can be classified into two categories: forced social categories and chosen social categories. Forced social categories result in significant social status differences between groups, and people often need to explain why one group has a lower status than another. However, in the chosen social categories, the stigma of groups is more prominent, so it is often necessary to explain why a group holds a stigmatized identity. More importantly,in forced social categories where stability cues are strong (e.g. race, gender, and class), social essentialism leads people to believe that differences between groups are difficult to change, thus increasing prejudice by discounting environmental explanations. In chosen social categories where controllability cues are strong (e.g. obesity, homosexuality, criminals), social essentialism leads people to believe that the stigmatized identities of some group members are uncontrollable, thus reducing prejudice by discounting chosen explanations. 牋 Future research on social essentialism could focus on the following aspects in order to yield more practical value. Firstly, it is necessary to clarify social essentialist beliefs, describe how each component relates to prejudice, and analyze these relationships across different social domains in order to gain a deeper understanding. In addition, future research should examine the mechanisms behind social essentialism's influence on prejudice in greater depth. It is mainly because social essentialism's influence on prejudice can be complex, and it will not increase or decrease prejudice on its own; also, the current research on this mechanism is primarily based on causal discount theory, so future research should examine the internal mechanisms of this effect in greater detail. Finally, future research should focus on developing practical and effective interventions that can maximize the positive effects of social essentialism while eliminating its negative effects. The main reason for this is that these interventions are helpful in reducing intergroup conflict, eliminating prejudice, and fostering harmony in society. In order to reduce prejudice in the future, there needs to be vigorous development of relevant and effective intervention programs that target social essentialism.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Much evidence shows that people living in low socioeconomic conditions often engage in "short-sighted behavior". They seem to focus on meeting short-term needs and aspirations rather than long-term benefits and returns, such as investing less in education, saving too little, and borrowing too much. These choices may further deepen their disadvantage and cause them to fall into the trap of "low socioeconomic status-behavioral decision-making-low socioeconomic status". Why are people living in low socioeconomic conditions more likely to be short-sighted? Previous studies believe that low socioeconomic status shapes individual preferences and values and impairs self-control. These defects make them more likely to make irrational behavioral decisions. However, in recent years, researchers have pointed out that the seemingly irrational behavior of people living in low socioeconomic conditions is an adaptive response to a threatening environment. People who live in low socioeconomic conditions always face various risks and threats, such as resource scarcity, environmental instability and unpredictability, and a bad childhood environment. If the current demand is high and the future is uncertain, it is more beneficial to obtain the smaller benefits available at present than to wait for the larger returns in the future. Scarcity theory, construction level theory, and life history theory are three representative theoretical viewpoints that answer the mechanism behind the “short-sighted behavior” of the people who live in low socioeconomic conditions from the perspective of the interaction between individual and the environment. The psychological shift model integrates them from the perspective of threat, regards the "short-sighted" behavior of the people living in low socioeconomic conditions as the product of the operation of the general social and psychological mechanism, and points out that the psychological shift triggered by threat perception is the internal mechanism of low socioeconomic status affecting intertemporal choice. Specifically, the experience of living in low socioeconomic conditions induces a “psychological shift” in response to socioecological cues. At the cognitive level, they focus on things related to scarcity when facing the threat of scarcity. At the level of thinking, they represent events concretely and contextually when facing uncertain threats. At the behavioral strategy level, once the threat cues appear, people who experience low socioeconomic conditions in childhood may notice the threat faster and switch to the fast life history strategy. These psychological shifts lead to the occurrence of "short-sighted behavior". To attribute a more practical policy value to the psychological shift model, future research can be carried out from the following aspects: First, the research perspective that "short-sightedness" is the survival strategy of people living in low socioeconomic conditions in a threatening environment needs to be further popularized. This adaptive perspective more comprehensively and accurately describes the intertemporal choice process of people living in low socioeconomic conditions, reduces the stigmatization of people living in low socioeconomic conditions to a great extent. Second, the mechanism of poverty affecting intertemporal choice needs to be further studied. The novel and enlightening psychological shift model from the perspective of threat needs much empirical research to confirm. The multilevel relationship between low socioeconomic status and intertemporal choice in different development stages still needs to be discussed. Finally, “short-sighted behavior” intervention for people living in low socioeconomic conditions needs to be carried out widely and deeply. Based on the core mechanism of eliminating threats to reduce short-sighted behavior, future studies should combine the valuable experience accumulated in the process of poverty alleviation and the internationally agreed strategies that can significantly reduce the “short-sightedness” of the people living in low socioeconomic conditions. These actions may help develop an effective intervention program in line with China's national conditions, so as to provide scientific psychological paths for realizing common prosperity.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： In the historical stage of solidly promoting common prosperity, low-income groups are the key support groups to promote common prosperity. How to improve the self-development ability of low-income groups is an important way to achieve common prosperity. One of the core abilities of self-development ability is self-regulation ability. Self-regulation is the ability to monitor and regulate cognition, emotion and behavior in order to achieve goals and adapt to the changing environment, it includes three independent and interactive components: cognition, emotion and behavior. Self-regulation has a strong and extensive impact on individual development and plays a role in various fields such as achievement, interpersonal communication and health. It not only promotes positive behavior, but also prevents bad behavior. Self-regulation is regarded as the key to human success and happiness. Improving the self-regulation ability of low-income groups is conducive to increasing human capital, increasing income, reducing medical and health care costs, and then conducive to the realization of common prosperity. However, many studies have found that people who live in low socioeconomic conditions have poor self-regulation ability. In order to improve their self-regulation ability, we must deeply investigate the mechanism of low socioeconomic status affecting self-regulation. Because the brain is the main channel for the environment to affect individual psychology and behavior, neuroscience methods can observe specific behavioral, cognitive and emotional brain processes, and then provide unique information, which plays an irreplaceable role: low socioeconomic status changes the structure and function of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex(DLPFC), cingulate gyrus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex(vmPFC), amygdala, hippocampus and ventral striatum(VS), and then affects various components of self-regulation (cognitive regulation, emotional regulation and behavioral regulation). Specifically, low socioeconomic status affects the structure and function of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex(DLPFC) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), and then affects cognitive regulation. Amygdala, ventromedial prefrontal cortex(vmPFC) and hippocampus are three key brain regions in the process of emotion regulation affected by low socioeconomic status. Ventral striatum (VS) may be the physiological basis of low socioeconomic status affecting behavioral regulation. Since behavioral regulation is the result of cognitive regulation and emotional regulation playing a role in the interrelated balance, the neural mechanism of low socioeconomic status affecting behavioral regulation may also involve brain regions related to cognitive regulation and emotional regulation. In order to make the research findings in this field give full play to the value of practice and policy, future research should be strengthened in the following aspects: First, for each step of the potential "causal chain" of "low socioeconomic status - brain structure and function - self-regulation - adverse consequences", there is an urgent need for more research and more in-depth investigation. Low socioeconomic status does not necessarily lead to adverse consequences, the influence of low socioeconomic status on self-regulation and its neural mechanism also have complex paths. Second, connect neurobiology with developmental psychology, and reveal the unique impact mechanism of low socioeconomic status on self-regulation at different development stages. Living in low socioeconomic conditions in a specific development stage may have a unique impact on different aspects of self-regulation. Third, in the long run, promoting the self-regulation ability of people who live in low socioeconomic conditions is the key to improving human capital and the core of realizing common prosperity. Future research should explore the adaptive response and advantageous response of people who live in low socioeconomic conditions at the neural and behavioral levels from the perspective of adaptation, which is conducive to the development of systematic, sustainable and effective self-regulation intervention schemes on the basis of mechanism research, so as to make the intervention design better adapt to the needs and potential of people who live in low socioeconomic conditions.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Having lower socioeconomic status is one of the most well-established social predictors of poor health. However, little is known about why some lower-class individuals maintain good physical health despite experiencing adversity. From a large number of empirical studies, researchers have found that psychological factors such as the “shift-and-persist” strategy can effectively protect the health of lower-class individuals in adversity and prevent them from developing certain diseases. The present study shows that in the midst of adversity, some individuals find role models who teach them to trust others, better regulate their emotions, and focus on their future. A role model is any individual who serves as an attachment figure and provides inspiration to a child and can be a parent, extended family member, or teacher. Over a lifetime, lower-class individuals with such role models develop an approach to coping with stress that helps them accept pressures and reappraisals (shift) while enduring adversity by maintaining a sense of meaning and optimism (persist). In contrast, among higher-class individuals, proactive efforts to cope aimed at eliminating stressors and the pursuit of future goals may be more effective, given such individuals' greater access to resources for engaging in preventive behaviors, resolving situations, and influencing outcomes. The “shift-and-persist” model proposes that for lower-class individuals, developing a way of life that values changing oneself in coping with pressure while insisting on enduring adversity with strength and maintaining optimism and hope for the future can reduce the stress response, thereby protecting one's health. Why can the “shift-and-persist” strategy effectively protect the health of the lower class? Researchers have explained how a “shift-and-persist” strategy can affect the health of the lower class in reference to physiology and behavior. Specifically, the approach balances adaptation to stress and persistence at the same time, changes the physiological pathway of stress, and inhibits the physiological stress response of the lower-class in the face of adversity. In other words, the “shift-and-persist” strategy reduces responses to stress, thereby reducing the acute physiological activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis. Over time, this prevents the development of the pathogenic process and ultimately slows pathogenic disease processes over the long term among lower-class individuals. Specifically, first, a “shift-and-persist” strategy can effectively reduce the repeated activation of the HPA axis among lower-class individuals and then play a protective role in health. Cortisol, the end product of the HPA axis, is one of the most widely used physiological indicators of psychosocial stress, and researchers often use it as an indicator of HPA axis activity. Second, a “shift-and-persist” strategy can effectively regulate the inflammatory process of lower-class individuals to reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases. Low-grade inflammation has been implicated in the pathogenesis and expression of several chronic diseases associated with aging. Lower-class individuals are also more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking, sedentary lifestyles and following a high-fat diet. These unhealthy behaviors increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and cancer and of early death. Preliminary evidence shows that different dimensions of the “shift-and-persist” strategy can reduce the health-threatening behavior of lower-class individuals to reduce the risk of disease. In sum, the “shift-and-persist” strategy has drawn interest from researchers, its theoretical and practical value has been continuously examined, and it presents good development prospects. To address the problem of health poverty in a period of relative-poverty in China and better serve the health of lower-class individuals, future research can focus on the following aspects. First, research must be conducted in a longitudinal fashion to establish whether “shift-and-persist” strategies can predict health trajectories over time in children and adults. Second, from a multilevel and multipath perspective, studies must comprehensively investigate the mechanism by which a “shift-and-persist” strategy affects the health of lower-class individuals. Finally, future studies should vigorously develop intervention programs to promote a “shift-and-persist” strategy.
submitted time 2023-03-25 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Social essentialism is an intuitive theory about social categories. It is a biological attribution of differences in social categories. It implies that members of one social category share unobservable intrinsic characteristics that determine their membership and generate observable similarities between them. Studies show that social essentialism increases racial, gender, and class prejudice, but also reduces prejudice against obese people, homosexuals, and criminals. Why are there domain differences in the impact of social essentialism on prejudice? The causal discounting theory holds that people weigh the possibility of multiple candidate causal explanations perceived in the process of explaining group differences. When a given causal explanation is considered more likely, other causal explanations are automatically regarded as unlikely, that is, the possibility of alternative causal explanations is discounted. The causal discounting theory, however, fails to distinguish between social categories that promote prejudices and those that reduce prejudices, nor does it explain the internal logic of causal discounting in a process of social essentialism that leads to different prejudice outcomes. Attribution theory can provide further insight into these questions.牋Specifically, a major difference between social categories is whether group members are able to join or leave them. Based on this criterion, social categories can be classified into two categories: forced social categories and chosen social categories. Forced social categories result in significant social status differences between groups, and people often need to explain why one group has a lower status than another. However, in the chosen social categories, the stigma of groups is more prominent, so it is often necessary to explain why a group holds a stigmatized identity. More importantly,in forced social categories where stability cues are strong (e.g. race, gender, and class), social essentialism leads people to believe that differences between groups are difficult to change, thus increasing prejudice by discounting environmental explanations. In chosen social categories where controllability cues are strong (e.g. obesity, homosexuality, criminals), social essentialism leads people to believe that the stigmatized identities of some group members are uncontrollable, thus reducing prejudice by discounting chosen explanations. 牋 Future research on social essentialism could focus on the following aspects in order to yield more practical value. Firstly, it is necessary to clarify social essentialist beliefs, describe how each component relates to prejudice, and analyze these relationships across different social domains in order to gain a deeper understanding. In addition, future research should examine the mechanisms behind social essentialism's influence on prejudice in greater depth. It is mainly because social essentialism's influence on prejudice can be complex, and it will not increase or decrease prejudice on its own; also, the current research on this mechanism is primarily based on causal discount theory, so future research should examine the internal mechanisms of this effect in greater detail. Finally, future research should focus on developing practical and effective interventions that can maximize the positive effects of social essentialism while eliminating its negative effects. The main reason for this is that these interventions are helpful in reducing intergroup conflict, eliminating prejudice, and fostering harmony in society. In order to reduce prejudice in the future, there needs to be vigorous development of relevant and effective intervention programs that target social essentialism.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-01-04
Abstract：
Social essentialism is an intuitive theory about social categories. It implies that members of one social category share unobservable intrinsic characteristics that determine their membership and generate observable similarities between them.There are numerous studies showing that social essentialism contributes to prejudice based on race, gender, and class. but also reduces prejudice against obesity, homosexuality and criminals. In forced social categories where stability cues are strong (e.g. race, gender, and class), social essentialism leads people to believe that differences between groups are hard to change, thus increasing prejudice by discounting environmental explanations. In chosen social categories where controllability cues are strong (e.g. obesity, homosexuality, criminals), social essentialism leads people to believe that the stigmatized identities of some group members are uncontrollable, thus reducing prejudice by discounting chosen explanations. For future research, it would be useful to examine how social essentialist beliefs emerge, develop and ultimately lead to different outcomes, and from there, to develop systematic, sustained, and effective interventions aimed at eliminating prejudice and promoting harmony within society using scientific psychological solutions.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2022-03-04
Abstract：
Self-regulation is the ability to monitor and adjust one's cognition, emotion, and behavior to adapt to the changing environment and achieve goals. It plays a role in achievement, interpersonal communication and health, which is regarded as the key to human success and happiness. However, many studies have found that low socioeconomic status has a significant negative impact on self-regulation. To promote the self-regulation ability of people living in low socioeconomic conditions, it is necessary to deeply understand the internal mechanism of low socioeconomic status affecting self-regulation. Neuroscience provides unique information: Low socioeconomic status changes the structure and function of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, cingulate gyrus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus and ventral striatum, and then affects various components of self-regulation (cognitive regulation, emotional regulation and behavioral regulation). In addition to more rigorous investigation of each causal chain in the neural mechanism, future research should also connect neurobiology with developmental psychology to reveal the unique impact mechanism of low socioeconomic status on self-regulation at different stages, and develop a systematic, sustainable and effective intervention program.
"
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Personality Psychology submitted time 2022-01-22
Abstract：
After eliminating absolute poverty, China still faces the arduous problem of relative poverty. Recently, studies on poverty psychology have found that unfavorable living conditions will trigger a series of special psychological processes, which in turn will make individuals engage in behaviors that are difficult to get rid of poverty and cause them to fall into the trap of "poverty-behavioral decision-making-poverty". People living in poverty have higher delay discount rate, tend to choose smaller-sooner gains, instead of larger-later returns, and often make “short-sighted” behavioral decisions, such as investing less in education, saving too little, and borrowing too much. These choices may further deepen their poverty. The psychological shift caused by threat perception, namely cognitive function failure, proximal thinking and fast life history strategy, is considered to be an important reason for the “short-sightedness”. In addition to more in-depth exploring the formation mechanism of the behavioral decision-making trap of poverty, the future research should develop effective intervention programs in line with China's national conditions, to attribute a more practical policy value to the theory of poverty psychology.
"
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2021-12-17
Abstract： " Having lower socioeconomic status is one of the most well-established social predictors of poor health. However, little is known about why some lower-class individuals maintain good physical health despite experiencing adversity. From a large number of empirical studies, researchers have found that psychological factors such as the "shift-and-persist" strategy can effectively protect the health of lower-class individuals in adversity and prevent them from developing certain diseases. Specifically,the “shift-and-persist” strategy reduces responses to stress, thereby reducing the acute physiological activation of the HPA axis. Over time, this prevents the development of the pathogenic process and ultimately slows pathogenic disease processes over the long term among lower-class individuals. Meanwhile, Preliminary evidence shows that different dimensions of the “shift-and-persist” strategy can reduce the health-threatening behavior of lower-class individuals to reduce the risk of disease.To address the problem of health poverty in a period of relative-poverty in China and better serve the health of lower-class individuals, future research should vigorously develop intervention programs on the basis of in-depth exploration of the core mechanism. "
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Hits
YES
Hits
Downloads
Comment