The Effect of Competence-Building Narrative on Chinese Adolescents' Persistence.

Persistence is one of the most critical aspects of learning motivation, but little attention has been paid to persistence intervention in the literature. The current study took a perspective from narrative psychology to examine the effect of narrative form on junior middle school students' ability to persist. Thirty-two students were randomly assigned to the experimental group of competence-building narrative and the control group. While all the students constructed past experiences of success and failure, those in the experimental group were prompted to think from a competence-building perspective. Then both groups solved a figure-based problem, within which the researcher recorded their number of attempts and time spent. Results showed that those who construct past success and failure from a competence-building perspective attempted more times and spent more time on the unsolvable problem.

Gratitude Intervention Evokes Indebtedness: Moderated by Perceived Social Distance.

Previous study suggests that gratitude intervention evokes indebtedness among people from an interdependent society. This study furtherly hypothesized that perceived social distance moderates the effect of gratitude intervention on felt indebtedness. A total of 275 adolescents were randomly assigned to three gratitude intervention conditions, namely, writing gratitude to significant others, the health of one's own, or nothing. After completing the writing task, they rated their experienced emotions on ten dimensions, including gratitude and indebtedness. They also reported perceived social distance from surrounding people and other demographical information. Results indicated that participants in the condition of writing about gratitude to significant others felt indebted regardless of perceived social distance, while those in the condition of writing about gratitude to his/her own health and those in the control condition experienced lesser indebtedness as the perceived social distance with others becomes closer. Gratitude increases as perceived social connectedness increases across all conditions. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Effect of Pr/Zn on the anti-humidity and acetone-sensing properties of Co3O4 prepared by electrospray.

Co3O4 is a P-type metal-oxide semiconductor which can realize acetone detection at a lower temperature, but the lower working temperature brings the enhanced humidity effect. In order to solve the problem of a Co3O4 gas sensor being easily affected by humidity, an acetone-sensing material of Co3O4 mixed with Pr/Zn was prepared by electrospray in this work. The optimal working temperature of Pr/Zn-Co3O4 is 160 °C, and the detection limit can reach 1 ppm. The fluctuation of the acetone response is about 7.7% in the relative humidity range of 30-90%. Compared with pure Co3O4, the anti-humidity property of this material is obviously enhanced, but the gas-sensing response deteriorates. Compared with Pr-Co3O4, the anti-humidity and acetone sensing properties of Pr/Zn-Co3O4 were both improved. The morphology, composition, crystal state and energy state of the material were analyzed by SEM, EDS, XRD and XPS. The material of Pr/Zn-Co3O4 is a multi-component mixed material composed of PrCoO3, ZnO, Pr6O11 and Co3O4. The improved anti-humidity and acetone sensing properties exhibited by this material are the result of the synergistic effect of ZnO and Pr3+.

High acetone sensing properties of In2O3-NiO one-dimensional heterogeneous nanofibers based on electrospinning.

Pure NiO nanofibers and the In2O3-NiO one-dimensional heterogeneous nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning, and the gas sensing properties to acetone were also investigated. Material characterization proved that the heterogeneous nanofibers were composed of In2O3 and NiO, and the nanofibers exhibited an enhanced sensitivity to acetone. At the optimal working temperature, the response of In2O3-NiO nanofibers to 50 ppm acetone was more than 10 times higher than that of pure NiO nanofibers. The minimum detection limit of the heterogeneous nanofibers reached 10 ppb, while the pure NiO nanofibers only reached 100 ppb. Among acetone and the comparison gases (methanol, ethanol, triethylamine, ethyl acetate, and benzene), the heterogeneous nanofibers achieved the highest response to acetone. In addition, the heterogeneous nanofibers exhibited an improved response-recovery rate and good long-term stability. These results indicated that the In2O3-NiO one-dimensional heterogeneous nanofibers have great potential in low-concentration acetone detection. Combined with the material properties, the mechanism of the enhanced sensing properties was discussed in detail for the In2O3-NiO heterogeneous nanofibers.

Relationship between relative deprivation and health of Hainan Island residents: mediating effect of negative health behaviors.

Despite extensive evidence of the direct impact of relative deprivation on health, the mediating role of tobacco, alcohol and betel nuts in this impact has been largely ignored. This study aimed to verify whether these negative health behaviors are mediating factors for relative deprivation and health according to the mediating effect concept. Data from the Hainan Island Residents Health Interview Survey in 2017 were used. Variables including age, marital status, educational level, chronic diseases and area of residence were controlled for in multivariate analysis with separate sex analyses. Mediating effects of smoking, alcohol drinking and betel nut chewing, and whether the effects were complete or partial, were analyzed by logistic regression analysis. Smoking, alcohol drinking and betel nut chewing had a significant mediating effect in men, but not in women; however, alcohol drinking and betel nut chewing had similar, significant complete mediation in both sexes. Dissatisfaction following relative deprivation due to uneven income distribution may be relieved through these negative health behaviors. Therefore, better medical resources should be provided to improve residents' health and the impact of income inequality on health, particularly the growing gap between the rich and poor, should be addressed.

Does Perceiving the Poor as Warm and the Rich as Cold Enhance Perceived Social Justice? The Effects of Activating Compensatory Stereotypes on Justice Perception.

Compensatory stereotypes are the fundamental components of social perception, and competence and warmth are the two fundamental dimensions of social cognition. Previous studies have concluded that, to maintain belief in justice, the system justification motive leads people to believe that upper- and lower-class groups each have their own unique and mutually offsetting advantages and disadvantages (e.g., the rich have low warmth and the poor have high warmth). The present study introduced the variable of social justice perception (personal and systemic justice perception) and hypothesized that endowing upper-class groups with negative characteristics and lower-class groups with positive characteristics could enhance people's social justice perception. Participants were presented with vignettes that activated compensatory/non-compensatory stereotypes in four ways (compensatory competence, non-compensatory competence, compensatory warmth, non-compensatory warmth) regarding individuals described as rich and poor. Justice perception toward these individuals was then rated by the participants. The results showed that compensatory stereotypes triggered by system justification motives can affect the social justice perceptions of individuals to a certain extent. That is, perceiving the poor as warm and the rich as cold enhances perceived social justice, whereas perceiving the poor as competent and the rich as incompetent reduces perceived personal justice but does not affect perceived systemic justice. Especially in the context of the Chinese Confucian culture, which emphasizes warmth but ignores competence, the effect of compensatory stereotypes on perceptions of social justice underscores a cultural difference with the West that warmth is superior to competence. Further, compensatory stereotypes may be either beneficial for or detrimental to individuals of low socioeconomic status, and the results also question whether justice perception reflects the true fairness of society.

Cholinergic tone in ventral tegmental area: Functional organization and behavioral implications.

The ventral tegmental area (VTA), a pivotal brain region of the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system, is substantially innervated and modulated by cholinergic projections from the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus and laterodorsal tegmental nucleus. In this review, we focus mainly on the current findings on VTA cholinergic compositions and functions, including VTA cholinergic innervations and synaptic connectivity, acetylcholine receptor expression and functional characteristics, cholinergic modulation of neuronal activity and dopamine efflux, cholinergic modulation of VTA-mediated behaviors such as reward and addiction, stress and depression, locomotion, etc. Taken together, these findings indicate that cholinergic transmission to the VTA plays an important role in modulation of the VTA circuit, which is implicated in regulation of multiple behaviors.

A passenger reduces sleepy driver's activation in the right prefrontal cortex: A laboratory study using near-infrared spectroscopy.

The present study aimed to examine how a passenger affects the sleepiness effect (awake vs. sleepy) on an individual's prefrontal activation during a simulated driving-game task using a wireless portable near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) device. Participants drove from start to goal along default routes either solely (no-passenger group) or with a friend sitting beside him/her as a passenger (with-passenger group). Sleepiness level was assessed by a five-item scale questionnaire. In the no-passenger group, there were no performance and activation differences between the sleepy and awake participants. In the with-passenger group, by contrast, the sleepy participants showed more errors and lower activations in their right prefrontal cortex than the awake participants. These results suggest that a passenger has little effect on awake participants, but may weaken the sleepy participants' vigilance and/or their cognitive abilities of action control. Practically, the present study demonstrates that NIRS may provide us a new possibility to monitor and examine the driver's mental states in the brain.

The mnemonic mover: nostalgia regulates avoidance and approach motivation.

In light of its role in maintaining psychological equanimity, we proposed that nostalgia--a self-relevant, social, and predominantly positive emotion--regulates avoidance and approach motivation. We advanced a model in which (a) avoidance motivation triggers nostalgia and (b) nostalgia, in turn, increases approach motivation. As a result, nostalgia counteracts the negative impact of avoidance motivation on approach motivation. Five methodologically diverse studies supported this regulatory model. Study 1 used a cross-sectional design and showed that avoidance motivation was positively associated with nostalgia. Nostalgia, in turn, was positively associated with approach motivation. In Study 2, an experimental induction of avoidance motivation increased nostalgia. Nostalgia then predicted increased approach motivation. Studies 3-5 tested the causal effect of nostalgia on approach motivation and behavior. These studies demonstrated that experimental nostalgia inductions strengthened approach motivation (Study 3) and approach behavior as manifested in reduced seating distance (Study 4) and increased helping (Study 5). The findings shed light on nostalgia's role in regulating the human motivation system.