On the Concordance of Romantic and Sexual Feelings and Identity Among University Students in Taiwan.

The degree to which romantic and sexual feelings correspond to one's sexual identity may signify how a person comes to embrace a specific sexual identity. People who endorse an essentialist perspective may expect to see a high degree of concordance between feelings and identity, and a lack of concordance may be associated with negative consequences. People who endorse a social constructionist perspective may view sexual identity as constructed in situ; a lack of concordance is inevitable and may not be associated with negative consequences. This research tests the levels of concordance of feelings and identity by comparing those with and without romantic and sexual feelings using risk ratios and odds ratios. A representative sample of college students in Taiwan was recruited (N = 3882, with 2440 females and 2988 who identified as heterosexual). The findings suggest that (1) people's romantic and sexual feelings largely correspond to their sexual identity, with all risk ratios and odds ratios higher than 1; (2) the concordance was at its lowest level among those with different-sex feelings; (3) gender differences in concordance were trivial; (4) individuals who were questioning their identity were the least clear about what they expect and want in intimate relationships; and (5) no general negative consequences in intimate relationships were observed among discordant/branched individuals. Implications regarding romantic and sexual feelings, sexual identity, and intimate relationships are further discussed.

Continuities and discontinuities in the cultural evolution of global consciousness.

Global consciousness (GC), encompassing cosmopolitan orientation, global orientations (i.e. openness to multicultural experiences) and identification with all humanity, is a relatively stable individual difference that is strongly associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours, less ingroup favouritism and prejudice, and greater pandemic prevention safety behaviours. Little is known about how it is socialized in everyday life. Using stratified samples from six societies, socializing institution factors correlating positively with GC were education, white collar work (and its higher income) and religiosity. However, GC also decreased with increasing age, contradicting a 'wisdom of elders' transmission of social learning, and not replicating typical findings that general prosociality increases with age. Longitudinal findings were that empathy-building, network-enhancing elements like getting married or welcoming a new infant, increased GC the most across a three-month interval. Instrumental gains like receiving a promotion (or getting a better job) also showed positive effects. Less intuitively, death of a close-other enhanced rather than reduced GC. Perhaps this was achieved through the ritualized management of meaning where a sense of the smallness of self is associated with growth of empathy for the human condition, as a more discontinuous or opportunistic form of culture-based learning. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolution and sustainability: gathering the strands for an Anthropocene synthesis'.

Behavioral evidence for global consciousness transcending national parochialism.

While national parochialism is commonplace, individual differences explain more variance in it than cross-national differences. Global consciousness (GC), a multi-dimensional concept that includes identification with all humanity, cosmopolitan orientation, and global orientation, transcends national parochialism. Across six societies (N = 11,163), most notably the USA and China, individuals high in GC were more generous allocating funds to the other in a dictator game, cooperated more in a one-shot prisoner's dilemma, and differentiated less between the ingroup and outgroup on these actions. They gave more to the world and kept less for the self in a multi-level public goods dilemma. GC profiles showed 80% test-retest stability over 8 months. Implications of GC for cultural evolution in the face of trans-border problems are discussed.

Helping Others in Virtual Reality Increases Prosocial Self-understanding Among Adolescents.

Reflection on prosocial experiences may be helpful for adolescents highly attentive to their internal states (i.e., high private self-consciousness) to gain prosocial self-knowledge, yet adolescents with low private self-consciousness may not benefit from it. The current study proposed and examined that engaging in helping behavior would be beneficial for those with low private self-consciousness in self-understanding. Two experimental studies using immersive virtual environment technology were conducted to simulate helping situations. A total of 140 middle school students (n = 59, 47.5% female, Mage = 13.98, SD = 0.89, in Study 1; n = 81, 44.4% female, Mage = 15.31, SD = 1.18, in Study 2) completed the experiments. In both studies, adolescents engaging in helping behaviors identified themselves as more prosocial than those who did not engage in helping behaviors. In Study 2, adolescents' positive prosocial self-concept would increase more through engaging in prosocial behavior than by reflecting on past prosocial experiences. Furthermore, adolescents with high private self-consciousness can gain self-understanding both from self-reflection and engaging in prosocial behavior, whereas adolescents with low private self-consciousness benefit only from engaging in prosocial behavior. The findings suggest the need to consider individual differences and adopt appropriate ways of self-understanding when assisting adolescents' prosocial self-formation.

Us versus Them: The Debates on the Legislation of Same-Sex Marriage (1994 - 2015) in Taiwan.

Taiwan, the first country in Asia to provide same-sex couples a legal right to marriage, has witnessed furious debate on both sides. To understand this debate, we combined content analysis and the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) method to capture themes and states of mind reflected in the news articles. Arguments based in human rights and reflecting heterosexual preferences which were observed elsewhere also dominated the discourses in Taiwan. First-person pronouns, positive and negative emotions, and differentiation were found to be associated with rights discourses and, in turn, support for same-sex marriage. The themes, the state of mind of the involved parties, and same-sex marriage legalization are further discussed.

Comparison of the Mini-Mental State Examination and Computerized Brief Cognitive Screening Test as Cognitive Screening Tools in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to establish the validity and reliability of the Computerized Brief Cognitive Screening Test (CBCog) for early detection of cognitive impairment. METHODS: One hundred and sixty participants, including community-dwelling and out-patient volunteers (both men and women) aged ≥ 65 years, were enrolled in the cross section study. All participants were screened using the CBCog and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The internal consistency of the CBCog was analyzed using Cronbach's α test. Areas under the curves (AUCs) of receiver operating characteristic analyses were used to test the predictive accuracy of the CBCog in detecting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in order to set an appropriate cutoff point. RESULTS: The CBCog scores were positively correlated with the MMSE scores of patients with MCI-related dementia (r = 0.678, P < .001). The internal consistency of the CBCog (Cronbach's α) was 0.706. It was found that the CBCog with a cutoff point of 19/20 had a sensitivity of 97.5% and a specificity of 53.7% for the diagnosis of MCI with education level ≥ 6 years. The AUC of the CBCog for discriminating the normal control elderly from patients with MCI (AUC = 0.827, P < 0.001) was larger than that of the MMSE for discriminating the normal control elderly from patients with MCI (AUC= 0.819, P < .001). CONCLUSION: The CBCog demonstrated to have sufficient validity and reliability to evaluate mild cognitive impairment, especially in highly educated elderly people.

History of Falls, Dementia, Lower Education Levels, Mobility Limitations, and Aging Are Risk Factors for Falls among the Community-Dwelling Elderly: A Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Falling is a serious issue among elderly community dwellers, often resulting in disability. We aimed to investigate the risk factors for falls among elderly community dwellers. METHODS: We recruited 232 participants from multiple community learning and care centers, who provided their information through questionnaires. They were divided into two groups, according to their falling events after a 1-year follow-up. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: A total of 64 participants reported a fall at the 1-year follow-up. The falling group comprised older and single people with lower education levels, higher rates of dementia, a history of falls, lower scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination, and more disability functions when compared to the non-falling group (all p < 0.05). The regression model showed that a history of falls (OR: 62.011; p < 0.0001), lower education levels (OR: 4.088; p = 0.039), mild dementia (OR: 20.729; p = 0.028), older age (OR: 1.176; p < 0.0001), walking for 300 m (OR: 4.153; p = 0.030), and running for 30 m (OR: 3.402; p = 0.015) were 1-year risk factors for falls. CONCLUSION: A history of falling, low education levels, aging, mild dementia, and certain mobility limitations were strong risk factors for future falling accidents in elderly Taiwanese community dwellers.

Reducing Negative Attitudes Toward Immigrants in Russia and Taiwan: Possible Beneficial Effects of Naïve Dialecticism and an Incremental Worldview.

Greater mobility in human societies has resulted in more interactions and contact with immigrants. In the current research, we investigated how viewing the world as flexible, changing, and paradoxical (i.e., naïve dialecticism and an incremental theory) may predict one's authoritarian beliefs and in turn predict one's attitudes toward immigrants. To test the generalizability of our findings, we recruit comparable samples (i.e., college students) from two societies that are largely different (Russia and Taiwan). Great cultural similarities were observed. Naïve dialecticism and an incremental theory appeared as two distinctive constructs. People who were higher on naïve dialecticism and an incremental over entity theory had lower support for authoritarian beliefs (i.e., right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation) and, in turn, had more favorable attitudes toward immigrants. Some cultural differences were also observed. Taiwanese participants' negative attitudes toward immigrants were entirely ideology-based, whereas Russian participants' negative attitudes toward immigrants were partly based on presumably personal experiences. Pan-cultural and culturally specific mechanisms in predicting attitudes toward immigrants were further discussed and explored.

Cultural Collectivism and Tightness Moderate Responses to Norm Violators: Effects on Power Perception, Moral Emotions, and Leader Support.

Responses to norm violators are poorly understood. On one hand, norm violators are perceived as powerful, which may help them to get ahead. On the other hand, norm violators evoke moral outrage, which may frustrate their upward social mobility. We addressed this paradox by considering the role of culture. Collectivistic cultures value group harmony and tight cultures value social order. We therefore hypothesized that collectivism and tightness moderate reactions to norm violators. We presented 2,369 participants in 19 countries with a norm violation or a norm adherence scenario. In individualistic cultures, norm violators were considered more powerful than norm abiders and evoked less moral outrage, whereas in collectivistic cultures, norm violators were considered less powerful and evoked more moral outrage. Moreover, respondents in tighter cultures expressed a stronger preference for norm followers as leaders. Cultural values thus influence responses to norm violators, which may have downstream consequences for violators' hierarchical positions.

Democratic Systems Increase Outgroup Tolerance Through Opinion Sharing and Voting: An International Perspective.

Democracy may contribute to friendly attitudes and positive attitudes toward outgroups (i.e., outgroup tolerance) because members of democratic societies learn to exercise their rights (i.e., cast a vote) and, in the process, listen to different opinions. Study 1 was a survey study with representative samples from 33 countries (N = 45,070, 53.6% female) and it showed a positive association between the levels of democracy and outgroup tolerance after controlling for gender, age and the rate of immigrants influx from 2010 to 2013. Study 1 demonstrated that members in countries with higher political participation and civil liberty showed greater tolerance toward immigrants. In Study 2, we conducted an experimental study in Taiwan (N = 93, 67.7% female) to further examine two potential mediators (opinion sharing and voting) of the effect of democratic system on tolerance toward outgroups (i.e., attitudes toward mental patients) after controlling for gender and age. We found that when individuals were allowed to share opinions and vote, they had the highest positive other-oriented emotions toward mental patients, which in turn led to greater tolerance toward outgroups compared to those who were not allowed to share opinions or vote. In general, these results demonstrated that the democratic system plays a critical role in increasing outgroup tolerance. Limitations of the two studies and implications regarding opinion sharing, voting, democratic systems, and effects on outgroup tolerance are discussed.

Loss of pyruvate kinase M2 limits growth and triggers innate immune signaling in endothelial cells.

Despite their inherent proximity to circulating oxygen and nutrients, endothelial cells (ECs) oxidize only a minor fraction of glucose in mitochondria, a metabolic specialization that is poorly understood. Here we show that the glycolytic enzyme pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) limits glucose oxidation, and maintains the growth and epigenetic state of ECs. We find that loss of PKM2 alters mitochondrial substrate utilization and impairs EC proliferation and migration in vivo. Mechanistically, we show that the NF-κB transcription factor RELB is responsive to PKM2 loss, limiting EC growth through the regulation of P53. Furthermore, S-adenosylmethionine synthesis is impaired in the absence of PKM2, resulting in DNA hypomethylation, de-repression of endogenous retroviral elements (ERVs) and activation of antiviral innate immune signalling. This work reveals the metabolic and functional consequences of glucose oxidation in the endothelium, highlights the importance of PKM2 for endothelial growth and links metabolic dysfunction with autoimmune activation in ECs.

Are We Rational or Not? The Exploration of Voter Choices during the 2016 Presidential and Legislative Elections in Taiwan.

The decisions voters make-and whether those decisions are rational-have profound implications on the functionality of a democratic society. In this study, we delineated two criteria in evaluating voter rationality and weigh evidence of voter rationality versus irrationality. Furthermore, we compared models in two different elections in Taiwan to explore the reasons behind the irrational choices voters can make. Survey questions and an implicit association test (IAT) were administered prior to both elections among 197 voters in Taipei. These voters then reported their actual votes post-election. Model testing suggests that voters often are rational, but are more likely to make irrational choices in more important elections. Our findings indicate that voters generally aim to be diligent and to optimize their choices, even if they make less rational choices in the end. Further implications regarding elections and human rationality are discussed.

LIMCH1 regulates nonmuscle myosin-II activity and suppresses cell migration.

Nonmuscle myosin II (NM-II) is an important motor protein involved in cell migration. Incorporation of NM-II into actin stress fiber provides a traction force to promote actin retrograde flow and focal adhesion assembly. However, the components involved in regulation of NM-II activity are not well understood. Here we identified a novel actin stress fiber-associated protein, LIM and calponin-homology domains 1 (LIMCH1), which regulates NM-II activity. The recruitment of LIMCH1 into contractile stress fibers revealed its localization complementary to actinin-1. LIMCH1 interacted with NM-IIA, but not NM-IIB, independent of the inhibition of myosin ATPase activity with blebbistatin. Moreover, the N-terminus of LIMCH1 binds to the head region of NM-IIA. Depletion of LIMCH1 attenuated myosin regulatory light chain (MRLC) diphosphorylation in HeLa cells, which was restored by reexpression of small interfering RNA-resistant LIMCH1. In addition, LIMCH1-depleted HeLa cells exhibited a decrease in the number of actin stress fibers and focal adhesions, leading to enhanced cell migration. Collectively, our data suggest that LIMCH1 plays a positive role in regulation of NM-II activity through effects on MRLC during cell migration.

Linking parental socialization about discrimination to intergroup attitudes: The role of social dominance orientation and cultural identification.

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the interaction of parental socialization about discrimination and social dominance orientation (SDO) in predicting the cultural identity and intergroup attitudes of the Minnanese, an ethnic group in Taiwan that faced systematic discrimination during the early decades of Chinese Nationalist rule. Because high SDO individuals tend to support group-based dominance, we hypothesized that under high preparation for bias, which may reinforce narratives that place the historically disadvantaged Taiwanese in a subordinate position, Minnanese high in SDO would identify less with Taiwanese and more with Chinese (the historically high-status outgroup) compared with their low SDO counterparts. METHOD: We examined our hypotheses using a sample of Minnanese (N = 365; 183 women, 182 men; average age = 44.35) who participated in a nationally representative survey of Taiwanese adults. RESULTS: As predicted, among Minnanese exposed to high levels of preparation for bias, those with high SDO expressed greater levels of Chinese identification and more favorable attitudes toward Chinese than their low SDO counterparts (no difference was found in attitudes toward Taiwanese). Among Minnanese exposed to low levels of preparation for bias, SDO predicted neither Chinese nor Taiwanese identity. Moreover, the interaction effect of preparation for bias and SDO on attitudes toward Chinese was mediated by Chinese identity. CONCLUSION: Using a unique, non-Western sample, this study demonstrated the role that parental socialization about past discrimination, in combination with belief in group-based dominance, plays in the construction of group identity and intergroup attitudes among members of historically disadvantaged ethnic groups. (PsycINFO Database Record

Voting Intention and Choices: Are Voters Always Rational and Deliberative?

Human rationality--the ability to behave in order to maximize the achievement of their presumed goals (i.e., their optimal choices)--is the foundation for democracy. Research evidence has suggested that voters may not make decisions after exhaustively processing relevant information; instead, our decision-making capacity may be restricted by our own biases and the environment. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which humans in a democratic society can be rational when making decisions in a serious, complex situation-voting in a local political election. We believe examining human rationality in a political election is important, because a well-functioning democracy rests largely upon the rational choices of individual voters. Previous research has shown that explicit political attitudes predict voting intention and choices (i.e., actual votes) in democratic societies, indicating that people are able to reason comprehensively when making voting decisions. Other work, though, has demonstrated that the attitudes of which we may not be aware, such as our implicit (e.g., subconscious) preferences, can predict voting choices, which may question the well-functioning democracy. In this study, we systematically examined predictors on voting intention and choices in the 2014 mayoral election in Taipei, Taiwan. Results indicate that explicit political party preferences had the largest impact on voting intention and choices. Moreover, implicit political party preferences interacted with explicit political party preferences in accounting for voting intention, and in turn predicted voting choices. Ethnic identity and perceived voting intention of significant others were found to predict voting choices, but not voting intention. In sum, to the comfort of democracy, voters appeared to engage mainly explicit, controlled processes in making their decisions; but findings on ethnic identity and perceived voting intention of significant others may suggest otherwise.

From east to west: accessibility and bias in self-other comparative judgments.

People often weight information about the self more heavily than information about other people when making social comparative judgments. One possible explanation for this egocentrism is that information about the self is more accessible than information about others. We examine this egocentrism in samples from the United States and Taiwan. Study 1 finds egocentrism in comparisons of the self with the average other person in both cultures. Study 2 measured reaction times, demonstrating that (a) information about the self is more accessible than information about the average other and (b) as the accessibility of self-information increases, so does the influence of that information. Study 3 replicates Study 2, using comparisons with a specific other person. Egocentrism occurred in both cultures, suggesting that heavier weighting of self-information occurs across the traditional East-West cultural divide.

Visual feedback and target size effects on reach-to-grasp tasks in children with autism.

This study explores the effects of visual condition and target size during four reach-to-grasp tasks between autistic children and healthy controls. Twenty children with autism and 20 healthy controls participated in the study. Qualisys motion capture system and kinematic measures were used to record movement. Autistic group showed significantly longer movement time, larger normalized jerk score, more movement unit than controls, especially in non-visual feedback and small target blocks. Autistic group also showed significantly larger maximal grip aperture and normalized maximal grip aperture in visual feedback condition than controls. Autistic children demonstrate motor coordination problems and also depend on more visual cuing in high accuracy tasks. Autistic children develop other compensatory skills while performing tasks.

A randomized controlled trial of the community-friendly health recovery program (CHRP) among high-risk drug users in treatment.

Existing evidence-based HIV risk reduction interventions have not been designed for implementation within clinical settings, such as methadone maintenance programs, where many high-risk drug users seek treatment services. We therefore systematically developed an adapted, significantly shortened, version of a comprehensive evidence-based intervention called the Community-friendly Health Recovery Program (CHRP) which has demonstrated preliminary evidence of efficacy in a feasibility/acceptability study already published. In a randomized controlled trial reported here, we tested the efficacy of the CHRP intervention among high-risk drug users newly enrolled in drug treatment at an inner-city methadone maintenance program. The CHRP intervention produced improvements in drug risk reduction knowledge as well as demonstrated sex- and drug-risk reduction skills. Support was found for the IMB model of health behavior change. Implications for future intervention research and practice are considered.

Endorsement of sexist ideology in Taiwan and the United States: social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, and deferential family norms.

Despite close relationships between men and women in daily lives, gender inequality is ubiquitous and often supported by sexist ideology. The understanding of potential bases of sexist ideology is thus important. According to Duckitt's dual-process model (2001), different worldviews may explain different types of sexist ideology. Individuals who hold a "competitive world" worldview tend to endorse group-based dominance. This lends itself to the endorsement of hostile sexism, because hostile sexism is an obvious form of male dominance. Conversely, individuals who hold a "dangerous world" worldview tend to adhere to social cohesion, collective security, and social traditions. This lends itself to the endorsement of benevolent sexism, because benevolent sexism values women who conform to gender norms. As predicted by Duckitt's model, research has shown that social dominance orientation, a general orientation towards the endorsement of group-based dominance, is closely associated with hostile sexism. Furthermore, right-wing authoritarianism, which measures adherence to social traditions, is closely associated with benevolent sexism. Due to the interdependent nature of gender relationships, the current research proposed that a relationship-based belief in hierarchy, deferential family norms, and norms depicting proper manners among family members should predict the endorsement of hostile and benevolent sexism, after controlling for social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism. As predicted, according to student samples collected in Taiwan and the US, the endorsement of deferential family norms predicted the endorsement of hostile sexism and of benevolent sexism, respectively. In addition, among men and women, social dominance orientation predicted hostile sexism more strongly (as opposed to benevolent sexism), whereas right-wing authoritarianism predicted benevolent sexism more strongly (as opposed to hostile sexism). Implications regarding relationship norms, social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, and sexist ideology are discussed.

Kinematic performance of fine motor control in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: the effects of comorbid developmental coordination disorder and core symptoms.

BACKGROUND: The aims of this study were: (i) to determine whether differences exist in the fine motor fluency and flexibility of three groups (children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], children in whom ADHD is comorbid with developmental coordination disorder [DCD] [denoted as ADHD+DCD], and a typically developing control group); and (ii) to clarify whether the degree of severity of core symptoms affects performance. METHODS: The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, the Beery-Buktenica Development Test of Visual-Motor Integration and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children were used as prescreening tests. The Integrated Visual and Auditory+Plus test was utilized to assess subjects' attention. The redesigned fine motor tracking and pursuit tasks were administered to evaluate subjects' fine motor performance. RESULTS: No significant difference was found when comparing the performance of the Children with ADHD and the typically developing group. Significant differences existed between children in whom ADHD is comorbid with DCD and typically developing children. CONCLUSIONS: Children with ADHD demonstrated proper fine motor fluency and flexibility, and deficient performance occurred when ADHD was comorbid with developmental coordination disorder. Children with ADHD had more difficulty implementing closed-loop movements that required higher levels of cognitive processing than those of their typically developing peers. Also, deficits in fine motor control were more pronounced when ADHD was combined with movement coordination problems. The severity of core symptoms had a greater effect on children with ADHD's fine motor flexibility than did fluency performance. In children with pure ADHD, unsmooth movement performance was highly related to the severity of core symptoms.