Influence of social mindfulness and Zhongyong thinking style on cooperative financial decision making in a Western sample.

Social mindfulness and Zhongyong thinking style are of high importance when evaluating relevant co-actors in the social world. The current study investigates the influence of social mindfulness and Zhongyong thinking style on cooperative financial decision making in a public goods game among a Canadian sample. We hypothesize that higher perceived social mindfulness and higher perceived Zhongyong thinking style will increase the amount of money contributed to a joint project in a public goods game. The sample was a prolific-based online recruited sample of n = 125 Canadians. We observed a significant main effect of Zhongyong thinking style on the amount of contributed money in the public goods game. Social mindfulness did not reach significance. The influence of Zhongyong thinking style was qualified by a significant Zhongyong by gender interaction, indicating that females but not males reduced their contributions if the Zhongyong thinking style of the co-actor was manipulated as being low. It is shown that Zhongyong thinking style is also relevant in a Western cultural setting. Future research is needed, however, to investigate further the reasons for the differences between females and males.

The integrated effects of leader-member exchange social comparison on job performance and OCB in the Chinese context.

Although it has been long recognized that leader-member exchange social comparison (LMXSC) has critical implications for employee productivity, little attention has been given to systematically exploring the effects of LMXSC on employee performance in a specific cultural context. Integrating social exchange theory with social comparison theory, we examine a dual process model to explain how and when LMXSC affects employee performance outcomes in the Chinese context. Results based on multiphase, multisource data from China revealed that the mediating roles of employees' perceived obligation toward the leader and self-esteem are examined simultaneously in the relationship between LMXSC and job performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Additionally, guanxi strengthens the connection between LMXSC and perceived obligation, while Zhongyong thinking erodes the connection between LMXSC and self-esteem. Taken together, these findings enhance our understanding of LMXSC in China.

Understanding Zhongyong Using a Zhongyong Approach: Re-examining the Non-linear Relationship Between Creativity and the Confucian Doctrine of the Mean.

Zhongyong, a central theme of Confucian thought, refers to the "doctrine of the mean," or the idea that moderation in all things is the optimal path. Despite considerable interest in the relationship between zhongyong and creativity, especially in China, studies of this relationship have not yielded consistent results. Based on a review of the literature, we hypothesized that this inconsistency arises from the dual nature of zhongyong itself, which has both a positive side, promoting creativity, and a negative side, inhibiting creativity. We also hypothesized that the negative side of zhongyong takes the form of excessive zhongyong. Indeed, the observations that every coin has two sides and that too much of a good thing is as bad as too little are core principles of zhongyong in traditional Chinese culture. To test these hypotheses, we conducted two empirical studies (measuring explicit and implicit zhongyong personality, respectively) to examine the relationships between positive and negative zhongyong and creativity (measured in terms of creative personality, divergent thinking, and convergent thinking). The results of both studies revealed an interaction between positive zhongyong and negative zhongyong, indicating that only a moderate level of zhongyong is conducive to creativity; both deficiency and excess are harmful. We discuss the implications of these results, suggesting that a zhongyong approach can help to clarify non-linear relationships between things, and recommending to re-assess the creativity of Chinese culture from a neutral and objective outlook. This paper deepens understanding of zhongyong and offers clear insights into creativity from an in-depth cultural perspective.

Zhongyong Thinking Style and Resilience Capacity in Chinese Undergraduates: The Chain Mediating Role of Cognitive Reappraisal and Positive Affect.

Previous studies have suggested that the Zhongyong thinking style (influenced by Chinese culture) is associated with psychological features. However, little is known about the direct association between Zhongyong thinking and resilience and the underlying mechanisms of this relationship in Chinese culture. The present study aimed to investigate the association between Zhongyong thinking and undergraduates' resilience and to assess whether cognitive reappraisal and positive effects mediated this association. A sample of undergraduates (n = 1,356, 70.4% female, mean age = 19 years) was recruited for this study and the participants completed the Zhongyong Thinking Style Scale (ZYTS), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), and the Resilience-11. Results indicated that the Zhongyong thinking style was positively and significantly associated with resilience. Undergraduates' resilience was affected by Zhongyong thinking partly through 3 different pathways: the mediating role of cognitive reappraisal, the mediating role of positive effect, and the mediating chain role of both cognitive reappraisal and positive effect. These findings might provide a deeper understanding of the protective factors for resilience among Chinese undergraduates.

Teasing and Internet Harassment among Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Envy and the Moderating Role of the Zhong-Yong Thinking Style.

Extant research studies have documented that teen victims of traditional bullying are more likely to be perpetrators of Internet harassment. Teasing is a typical form of verbal bullying, but, unfortunately, its link with Internet harassment perpetration has rarely been investigated to date. Therefore, this study constructed two moderated mediation models to explore the relation between weight-related/competency-related teasing (the two main types of teasing) and Internet harassment, and whether these associations are mediated by envy and moderated by the Zhong-Yong thinking style. A total of 1811 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 13.22 years, SD = 0.97) were investigated to examine the two models. The results clarified that: (1) weight-related/competency-related teasing was positively predictive of adolescent Internet harassment; (2) envy acted a partially mediating role in the associations between weight-related/competency-related teasing and Internet harassment; (3) the Zhong-Yong thinking style not only moderated the link between weight-related/competency-related teasing and envy, with the effect being more profound for a high-level Zhong-Yong thinking style possessed by adolescents, but also moderated the direct link between competency-related teasing and Internet harassment, with the relation being more potent when the level of Zhong-Yong thinking style was low. Nevertheless, the direct link between weight-related teasing and Internet harassment was not moderated by the Zhong-Yong thinking style. These findings are important to comprehend the psychological mechanisms linking weight-related/competency-related teasing to Internet harassment, and provide some enlightenment for preventing and intervening in adolescent Internet harassment perpetration.

Factors associated with work volition among Chinese undergraduates.

Based on the psychology of working theory, this study tested the relationships among work volition and the predictors of economic constraints, minzu (ethnic identity), Hukou and Zhongyong thinking, and determined how Hukou and Zhongyong thinking moderate the relationship between economic constraints and work volition with a sample of 2,995 undergraduates in China. The results showed that work volition was negatively associated with economic constraints but positively related to Zhongyong thinking. The results further revealed that Hukou and Zhongyong thinking were significant moderators in the link between economic constraints and work volition, while weaker negative associations were found between economic constraints and work volition for undergraduates who came from rural areas and had lower levels of Zhongyong thinking. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Zhongyong thinking (doctrine of the mean) and internet addiction: The mediation of maladaptive cognition and the moderation of subject.

Based on the cognitive-behavioral model of pathological internet use, this study explored the relationship between zhongyong thinking (doctrine of the mean) and internet addiction, and examined the mediation of maladaptive cognition and the moderation of subject. Convenience sampling was used to select 1,518 college students for the questionnaire. The participants were 15-26 years old (M = 19.77; SD = 1.45), including 776 male and 742 female students. The results showed that zhongyong thinking was significantly negatively correlated with maladaptive cognition (r = -0.19, p < 0.001) and internet addiction (r = -0.14, p < 0.001). Maladaptive cognition was significantly positively correlated with internet addiction (r = 0.46, p < 0.001). After controlling for age, gender, zhongyong thinking negatively predicted internet addiction (B = -0.06, p < 0.05), maladaptive cognition positively predicted Internet addiction (B = 0.45, p < 0.001). Zhongyong thinking negatively predicted maladaptive cognition (B = -0.19, p < 0.001). Moreover, the bias-corrected bootstrapping mediation test indicated that the process by which zhongyong thinking predicted Internet addiction through maladaptive cognition was significant, indirect effect = -0.08, SE = 0.01, 95% CI = [-0.11, -0.06]. Subject has no moderating effect on the relationship between zhongyong thinking and maladaptive cognition. The interaction between zhongyong thinking and subject was not a significant predictor of maladaptive cognition (B = 0.05, p > 0. 05). The present results suggest that zhongyong thinking as a traditional Chinese wisdom can still play an important role in regulating young people's behavior in the digital age.

Effect Mechanism of Error Management Climate on Innovation Behavior: An Investigation From Chinese Entrepreneurs.

Errors are inevitable in an increasingly risky and dynamic entrepreneurial environment. The error management and the error climate perceived by the members are crucial to the subsequent innovation behaviors. Maintaining and improving the psychological capital of entrepreneurs under errors is not only the psychological activities of entrepreneurs themselves but also a critical management process in which an organization can influence the psychological factors and behaviors of entrepreneurs through error management climate. In the context of Chinese culture, this study explores the influence of error management climate on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and innovation behavior under the boundary condition of Zhongyong thinking. Two hundred ninety samples of Chinese entrepreneurs are empirically analyzed in this study, and results show that: (1) error management climate and entrepreneurial self-efficacy have significant positive effects on entrepreneurs' innovation behavior; (2) entrepreneurial self-efficacy mediates the relationship between error management climate and innovation behavior; and (3) Zhongyong thinking plays moderating roles in the process of error management climate influencing innovation behavior. This study complements the entrepreneurship literature with its focus on error management climate as an essential antecedent of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and promotes an understanding of how Chinese practitioners promote innovative behavior from a cultural perspective.

Mediating Model of College Students' Chinese Zhongyong Culture Thinking Mode and Depressive Symptoms.

BACKGROUND: College is a key period for students' learning and development, as they begin independently to face life's adversities. The essence of China's zhongyong culture is to provide a practical way of thinking, a basic principle of the Chinese people. However, empirical research on psychopathology is lacking. The present study investigated Chinese college students to explore and explain the psychological mechanism of depressive symptoms via the zhongyong practical thinking mode. METHODS: The study examined the relationship between zhongyong practical thinking and depressive symptoms, coping style, and ruminations of 501 Chinese college students. The statistical software SPSS was used to establish an intermediary model between moderate zhongyong practical thinking and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Rumination partially mediated the relationship between zhongyong practical thinking and depressive symptoms, but coping style had no mediating effect. Therefore, reducing the negative rumination behaviours of college students may be more conducive to alleviating their depressive symptoms. The chain mediating effect of coping style and rumination was significant. The college students with high levels of zhongyong thinking adopted positive coping styles to cope with various pressures and situations, reducing negative coping and rumination and thereby reducing their depressive symptoms. DISCUSSION: The results of the study could help universities to provide courses and activities that promote students' mental health from the perspective of zhongyong psychological interventions. The results provide a model for further studies of the influence of zhongyong practical thinking on depressive symptoms amongst college students.

Upward Ingratiation Outside the Workplace and Supervisor's Human Resource Decisions: Moderating Effect of Zhongyong Thinking.

Ingratiation is a common strategy for subordinates to deal with their supervisors in eastern and western societies. Based on the theory of impression management, this study focuses on the impact of upward ingratiation outside the workplace on supervisor's human resource (HR) decisions in the Chinese context and the mechanism behind this impact. The data were collected from 252 supervisor-subordinate dyads in four manufacturing firms. The results demonstrate the following: first, supervisors hold a more favorable view of upward ingratiation outside the workplace; second, upward ingratiation outside the workplace has a positive effect on the supervisor's chance of promotion and bonus allocation decisions, and leader-member exchange (LMX) plays a mediation role in this influence; third, Zhongyong thinking (ZYT) moderates the relationship between LMX and supervisor's chance of promotion and bonus allocation decisions; and finally, ZYT moderates the indirect effect of ingratiation behavior outside the workplace on supervisor's chance of promotion and bonus allocation decisions through LMX, and the mediated relationship is weakened when a supervisor has a higher level of ZYT. This is one of the first empirical studies, which examines the validity of subordinate's upward ingratiation outside the workplace from the perspective of supervisor's ZYT. This study plays an important role in highlighting the effect of ZYT on the ingratiation behavior.

Openness to experience and dispositional awe: The moderating role of subjective socioeconomic status and mediating role of Zhong-Yong thinking style in Chinese undergraduates.

Existing research has established that openness to experience can enhance dispositional awe. For the first time, the current study examines whether subjective socioeconomic status (SSES) moderates and a Zhong-Yong thinking style mediates this effect. A sample of 2,377 Chinese undergraduates (mean age 20.7, ranging from 18 to 26) was recruited. As shown in previous research, openness was found to be positively associated with dispositional awe. As predicted, the relationship was moderated by familial and school SSES. The positive correlation was significantly larger in cases of lower familial and school SSES. The mediating effect of Zhong-Yong thinking style was also supported in the relationship between openness and dispositional awe, as was the moderating effect of familial SSES; however, a suppressive effect was found for school SSES. The implications of this study are discussed herein.

Performance-Based Accountability and Teacher Emotions: Role of Zhongyong Thinking.

Teachers' emotions may be affected by structural reforms of education that emphasizes performance-based accountability (PBA) and by individual psychological processes like thinking style, but there is a lack of research concerning the relationship between the three factors. In this study, thus, we attempted to test the influence of PBA on teacher emotions and to examine whether the relationship was moderated by a zhongyong thinking (ZYT) style in a Chinese context. A sample of 402 primary and secondary schoolteachers from Hubei, Liaoning, and Beijing in China participated in this study. Structural equation modeling was applied to develop moderation models. The results demonstrated that PBA is a singificant factor with respect to teachers' joy, sadness/frustration, anger, and fear, as related to their job of teaching, but not love of their profession. Moreover, the ZYT style may moderate the relationship between PBA and joy.

Perceived Work Uncertainty and Creativity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Roles of Zhongyong and Creative Self-Efficacy.

Research on the relationship between work stress and employee creativity has been mixed. This study on 823 female attorneys in China identifies employee creative self-efficacy and employees' value of Zhongyong as moderators in this relationship. In this study, work stress is assessed by the perceived work uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study found that although Zhongyong, which involves an employee's ambidextrous thinking, can be helpful for employee creativity, low levels of Zhongyong are better for employee creativity in an uncertain context such as the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the fact that high levels of Zhongyong result in an overemphasis on compromise and giving in when times are uncertain. Instead, low levels of Zhongyong will decrease employees' concern about others' acceptance in an uncertain environment. In addition, creative self-efficacy motivates employees to engage in creative efforts during times of work uncertainty. In sum, this study found that employee perceived work uncertainty brought on by COVID-19 enhances employee creativity when an employee's value of Zhongyong is low and creative self-efficacy is high.

Parenting Style and Emotional Distress Among Chinese College Students: A Potential Mediating Role of the Zhongyong Thinking Style.

Previous studies suggested that parenting style was associated with college student's emotional distress. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of this relation in Chinese culture. The present study investigated the associations between parenting style and college student's emotional distress (depression and anxiety symptoms), examined the mediating effects of Confucian personality-Zhongyong thinking, and explored whether gender, age, and socioeconomic status (SES) moderated the direct and/or indirect effects of parenting style on emotional distress. Results from a large representative sample of Chinese college students (n = 3943) indicated that (a) parental rejection and overprotection was positively and mildly associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms and negatively and mildly related to Zhongyong thinking. Parental warmth significantly correlated with the three variables in the opposite direction; Zhongyong thinking correlated negatively and moderately with depression, and mildly with anxiety; (b) Zhongyong thinking partially mediated the associations of parental rejection and warmth with emotional distress. Specifically, to the extent that students perceived less rejection and more warmth, they were more likely to develop Zhongyong thinking associated with decreased emotional distress; (c) gender and SES moderated the association between parenting style and Zhongyong thinking. Specifically, for students with low SES, the negative relationship between parental overprotection and Zhongyong thinking was stronger; for males and high SES students, the positive link between parental warmth and Zhongyong thinking were stronger. Results highlight the importance of researching potential effects of college student's Zhongyong thinking within the family system in Chinese culture.

How Does Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy Influence Innovation Behavior? Exploring the Mechanism of Job Satisfaction and Zhongyong Thinking.

Innovation behavior for entrepreneurship is known as a driving force to obtain competitive advantages. As a key quality for entrepreneurial success, the mechanism of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) acting on innovation behavior needs further verification, which has led to the primary objective of this paper via applying the Goal Self-Concordance Theory, as well as to further building a theoretical model. Two hundred forty-nine samples of Chinese entrepreneurs have been empirically analyzed in this study, contributing to the following findings. Firstly, ESE has significantly positive effects on entrepreneurial innovation behavior. Secondly, job satisfaction plays a mediating role between ESE and innovation behavior. Thirdly, Zhongyong thinking moderates the relationship between ESE and job satisfaction. The research results might deliver great value in cultivating ESE, encouraging positive entrepreneurial attitude, enhancing job satisfaction, and ultimately inspiring innovation behaviors.

Effectiveness of Zhong-Yong thinking based dialectical behavior therapy group skills training versus supportive group therapy for lowering suicidal risks in Chinese young adults: A randomized controlled trial with a 6-month follow-up.

BACKGROUND: Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a first-line treatment for the prevention of suicide. Zhong-Yong thinking could be viewed as a Chinese way of dialectical thinking, has long been a culturally dictating thinking style in China. To enhance cultural adaptability, we integrated Zhong-Yong thinking into DBT group skills training and examined its efficacy in suicidal prevention compared with a supportive group therapy and a wait-list group in high-risk suicidal Chinese college students. METHODS: A total of 97 suicidal participants were randomized to either Zhong-Yong thinking based DBT group skills training (DBTZYT , n = 33), or supportive group therapy (SGT; n = 32), or wait-list group (WL; n = 32). DBTZYT was a 12-week program based on Zhong-Yong thinking instead of dialectical thinking, coaching participants mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. Supportive group therapy was a 12-week program aiming at improving interpersonal effectiveness and emotion regulation skills. Outcome measures were assessed at pre- and post-treatment and 6-month follow-up. RESULTS: At post-treatment measures, the levels of suicidal ideation, hopelessness, psychache symptoms, and general psychopathology had significantly decreased in both intervention groups; at the 6-month follow-up measures, the intervention effects were better maintained in the DBTZYT group rather than in the SGT group. Specifically, DBTZYT was more effective in relieving participants' long-term obsessive-compulsive, anxiety, hostility, phobic, psychotic, and additional symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Zhong-Yong thinking not only could integrate with DBT skills training in Chinese young adult population, but also has special strength in enhancing DBT's efficacy.

The Effect of Zhongyong Thinking on Remote Association Thinking: An EEG Study.

The Doctrine of the Mean (zhongyong) introduced by Confucianism is not only an aspect of faith, but also a way of thinking for Chinese individuals. Zhongyong includes two thinking forms: eclectic thinking (ET; i.e., "neither-A-nor-B") and integrated thinking (IT; i.e., "both-A-and-B"). Given the inclination of Asian individuals toward situational cognition, this study used questions about situations familiar to Chinese undergraduates to activate either ET or IT. This was done to investigate the effects of the two divergent thinking forms of zhongyong on performance levels on the Remote Associates Test (RAT). Both behavioral and EEG results found that participants in the IT condition demonstrated higher RAT scores than those in the ET condition. The conclusion was that the RAT and priming tasks shared the same neural mechanism. This meant that the priming tasks of IT allowed participants to enter a state of creative preparation in advance, further affecting resolution of the RAT.

Individual differences in Zhong-Yong tendency and processing capacity.

The present study investigated how an individual's Zhong-Yong tendency is related to his/her perceptual processing capacity. In two experiments, participants completed a Zhong-Yong Thinking Style Scale and performed a redundant-target detection task. Processing capacity was assessed with a non-parametric approach (systems factorial technology, SFT) and a parametric (linear ballistic accumulator model, LBA) approach. Results converged to suggest a positive correlation between Zhong-Yong tendency and processing capacity. High middle-way thinkers had larger processing capacity in multiple-signal processing compared with low middle-way thinkers, indicating that they processed information more efficiently and in an integrated fashion. Zhong-Yong tendency positively correlates with the processing capacity. These findings suggest that the individual differences in processing capacity can account for the reasons why high middle-way thinkers tend to adopt a global and flexible processing strategy to deal with the external world. Furthermore, the influence of culturally dictated thinking style on cognition can be revealed in a perception task.