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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Big Data In Social And Psychological Science: Theoretical And Methodological Issues, Lin Qiu, Sarah Hian May Chan, David Chan Dec 2017

Big Data In Social And Psychological Science: Theoretical And Methodological Issues, Lin Qiu, Sarah Hian May Chan, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Big data presents unprecedented opportunities to understand human behavior on a large scale. It has been increasingly used in social and psychological research to reveal individual differences and group dynamics. There are a few theoretical and methodological challenges in big data research that require attention. In this paper, we highlight four issues, namely data-driven versus theory-driven approaches, measurement validity, multi-level longitudinal analysis, and data integration. They represent common problems that social scientists often face in using big data. We present examples of these problems and propose possible solutions.


Is Agent-Neutral Deontology Possible?, Matthew Hammerton Dec 2017

Is Agent-Neutral Deontology Possible?, Matthew Hammerton

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

It is commonly held that all deontological moral theories are agent-relative in the sense that they give each agent a special concern that she does not perform acts of a certain type rather than a general concern with the actions of all agents. Recently, Tom Dougherty has challenged this orthodoxy by arguing that agent-neutral deontology is possible. In this article I counter Dougherty's arguments and show that agent-neutral deontology is not possible.


What Influence Gratitude? The Effects Of Type Of Benefactor, Sense Of Entitlement And Downward Counterfactual Thought, Chou Chuen Yu Dec 2017

What Influence Gratitude? The Effects Of Type Of Benefactor, Sense Of Entitlement And Downward Counterfactual Thought, Chou Chuen Yu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Research has shown that gratitude towards a benefactor positively predicts subjective well-being and other outcomes such as reciprocity and helping behaviours. However, previous research has not examined whether this effect is consistent or will differ across benefactor type (i.e., individual versus group). Research has also not examined the potential effects of accompanying thoughts related to the benefit assessment. Through two experimental studies, the hypotheses that gratitude towards benefactor is lower for group benefactor as compared to individual benefactor, that self-entitlement thoughts and downward counterfactual thoughts will have main effects on gratitude as well as moderate the effect of benefactor type …


Adaptive Mating Memory: Attractiveness And Contextual Effect On The Remembering And Misremembering Of Potential Mates’ Faces, Peter Kay Chai Tay Dec 2017

Adaptive Mating Memory: Attractiveness And Contextual Effect On The Remembering And Misremembering Of Potential Mates’ Faces, Peter Kay Chai Tay

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Research on adaptive memory demonstrates that words and objects are remembered better if they are evaluated in relation to their survival or reproductive fitness value. Using the error management theory as a framework to elucidate memory biases emerging from adaptive costs and benefits, the present research examined if memory is enhanced for faces of potential mates (i.e., opposite sex individuals) in an ancestral context when the facial attractiveness and the observer’s short-term mating motive were also considered (i.e., Adaptive mating memory). In two studies, participant read scenarios depicting survival threats, mating, or modern environment, and were told to rate a …


Kiasu And Creativity In Singapore: An Empirical Test Of The Situated Dynamics Framework, Chi-Ying Cheng, Ying-Yi Hong Dec 2017

Kiasu And Creativity In Singapore: An Empirical Test Of The Situated Dynamics Framework, Chi-Ying Cheng, Ying-Yi Hong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article investigates how Singaporeans' creativity is influenced by Kiasu, an indigenous construct corresponding to fear of losing out. We examine the impact of Kiasu on creativity, both as a personal value and a shared cultural norm in four studies. Study 1 showed that Singaporeans' Kiasu value endorsement predicts lower individual creativity. Study 2 demonstrated that this negative relationship is mediated by a self-regulatory focus on prevention. Study 3 further showed the impact of Kiasu as a personal value and a cultural norm by finding a significant three-way interaction effect of Kiasu prime, personal Kiasu value endorsement, and need for …


The Neural Basis Of Human Female Mate Copying: An Empathy-Based Social Learning Process, Jin-Ying Zhuang, Xiaoqing Ji, Zhiyong Zhao, Mingxia Fan, Norman P. Li Nov 2017

The Neural Basis Of Human Female Mate Copying: An Empathy-Based Social Learning Process, Jin-Ying Zhuang, Xiaoqing Ji, Zhiyong Zhao, Mingxia Fan, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural basis of human female mate copying.Consistent with previous mate copying effects, women's attractiveness ratings for target males increased significantlygreater after the males were observed paired with romantic partners versus ordinary friends, and this wasmainly accounted for by males being paired with attractive romantic partners. Attractiveness ratings for male targetswere lower when they were paired with an attractive opposite-sex friend. The fMRI data showed that the observationallearning process in mate copying recruited brain regions including the putamen, the inferior frontal gyrus, themiddle cingulate, the SMA, the insula, and the thalamus …


The Search For Meaning Amid Tasks Galore And Race To Be First, David Chan Nov 2017

The Search For Meaning Amid Tasks Galore And Race To Be First, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

For most, life is a busy pursuit.But it is good every now and then to take the time to reflect on why you dowhat you do.


How And When Do Attributions Affect Relationship Satisfaction? Judgments Of Partner Suitability And Implicit Theories Of Relationships, Justus Rui Hao Wee Nov 2017

How And When Do Attributions Affect Relationship Satisfaction? Judgments Of Partner Suitability And Implicit Theories Of Relationships, Justus Rui Hao Wee

Dissertations and Theses Collection

Drawing on the traditional internal-external dichotomy embraced by attribution research in other non-relational domains, research on attributions in romantic relationships has largely focused on distinguishing between the impact of making partner (internal) and external attributions. Given that past research on relationship cognitions showed that people think in relationship specific ways (e.g., relational schemas; Baldwin, 1992), I propose the need for the inclusion for attributions that capture relationship-specific causes. With that in mind, the present research explored the incremental value of interpersonal attributions, which refer to the perception that a partner’s behaviors are caused by their love and care (or lack …


Attaining The Peak: Three Factors That Inhibit Performance, Marcus Marsden Nov 2017

Attaining The Peak: Three Factors That Inhibit Performance, Marcus Marsden

Asian Management Insights

The willingness of individuals and teams to experience the ‘discomfort of adaptation’, as opposed to the ‘comfort of learning’, is the crucial meta-factor in the drive to increase performance. Too much time and effort is spent on strategy and knowledge. This is not to say that strategy and knowledge are not important. However, the focus on looking ‘outside’ rather than ‘inside’ for performance solutions, while it may be more comfortable for everyone concerned, does not quite cut it. As Grashow and Heifetz state in The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, “The most common error organisations make is to try and solve …


Intercultural Experience And Creativity, Chi-Ying Cheng, Yi Wen Tan Nov 2017

Intercultural Experience And Creativity, Chi-Ying Cheng, Yi Wen Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Creativity, commonly defined as a production of novel and useful ideas, has long been considered as a type of individual difference that is highly associated with personality traits and intellectual intelligence, which cannot be changed easily. Recently, it has been demonstrated that creativity can occur as a result of cognitive, emotional, and motivational processes that are driven by intercultural experiences, which can be acquired. In line with the creative cognition approach, individuals with direct intercultural experiences exhibit higher individual creativity. Specifically, those who adopt biculturalism as their acculturation strategy and develop a high level of integration between their bicultural identities …


Beyond Personal Control: When And How Executives' Beliefs In Negotiable Fate Foster Entrepreneurial Orientation And Firm Performance, Evelyn W. M. Au, Xin Qin, Zhi-Xue Zhang Nov 2017

Beyond Personal Control: When And How Executives' Beliefs In Negotiable Fate Foster Entrepreneurial Orientation And Firm Performance, Evelyn W. M. Au, Xin Qin, Zhi-Xue Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Negotiable fate, the belief that fate imposes boundaries within which personal actions can shape outcomes, is rooted in Chinese collective wisdom. This belief is hypothesized to prompt executives to use of available resources to create opportunities by directing their attention to controllable aspects of unpredictable environments. Thus, executives' endorsement of negotiable fate beliefs is expected not only to enhance firm-level entrepreneurial orientation, but also to positively predict firm innovation and financial performance. We further expect these mediation effects to be stronger under dynamic environments. Studies of top executives in China support the theorized moderated-mediation model. By providing evidence for its …


Above, On, Or Shang (上)? Language And Spatial Representations Among English–Mandarin Bilinguals, Wei Xing Toh, Lidia Suãrez Nov 2017

Above, On, Or Shang (上)? Language And Spatial Representations Among English–Mandarin Bilinguals, Wei Xing Toh, Lidia Suãrez

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This study investigated if exposure to spatial language could affect spatial cognition in English-Mandarin bilinguals by focusing on contact/noncontact distinctions, an area that has been a source of contention in the language-and-thought literature. Sixty-three participants were first primed with sentences containing spatial terms (e.g., above, on) before performing a spatial decision task. Approximately half of the participants (n = 33) were primed in English; for the remaining participants (n = 30), primes comprising Mandarin spatial terms―which mark spatial distinctions differently than in English (e.g., shang in Mandarin signifies both above and on in English)―were employed instead. Our findings revealed that …


The Neural Basis Of Human Female Mate Copying: An Empathy-Based Social Learning Process, Jin-Ying Zhuang, Xiaoqing Ji, Zhiyong Zhao, Mingxia Fan, Norman P. Li Nov 2017

The Neural Basis Of Human Female Mate Copying: An Empathy-Based Social Learning Process, Jin-Ying Zhuang, Xiaoqing Ji, Zhiyong Zhao, Mingxia Fan, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural basis of human female mate copying.Consistent with previous mate copying effects, women's attractiveness ratings for target males increased significantlygreater after the males were observed paired with romantic partners versus ordinary friends, and this wasmainly accounted for by males being paired with attractive romantic partners. Attractiveness ratings for male targetswere lower when they were paired with an attractive opposite-sex friend. The fMRI data showed that the observationallearning process in mate copying recruited brain regions including the putamen, the inferior frontal gyrus, themiddle cingulate, the SMA, the insula, and the thalamus …


Testing, Retesting And Selecting The Right Job Applicant, Singapore Management University Oct 2017

Testing, Retesting And Selecting The Right Job Applicant, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Allowing applicants to retake a test can help increase the likelihood of hiring the best person for the job


Angry Faces Are More Resistant To Forgetting Than Are Happy Faces: Directed Forgetting Effects On The Identity Of Emotional Faces, Peter Kay Chai Tay, Hwajin Yang Oct 2017

Angry Faces Are More Resistant To Forgetting Than Are Happy Faces: Directed Forgetting Effects On The Identity Of Emotional Faces, Peter Kay Chai Tay, Hwajin Yang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Using the item-method directed forgetting paradigm (i.e. intentionally forgetting specified information), we examined directed forgetting of facial identity as a function of facial expression and the sex of the expresser and perceiver. Participants were presented with happy and angry male and female faces cued for either forgetting or remembering, and were then asked to recognise previously studied faces from among a series of neutral faces. For each recognised test face, participants also recalled the face’s previously displayed emotional expression. We found that angry faces were more resistant to forgetting than were happy faces. Furthermore, angry expressions on male faces and …


Sexual Conflict In Mating Strategies, Norman P. Li, Jin Chuan Yong Sep 2017

Sexual Conflict In Mating Strategies, Norman P. Li, Jin Chuan Yong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Why do men and women come into conflict over mating and sex? This chapter examines the adaptive reasons, which trace back to key differences in minimum obligatory parental investment (Trivers 1972). Reflecting these differences, men tend to be relatively eager for casual sex, whereas women are relatively more cautious, requiring their sexual partners to be of higher quality or committed for a longer duration. As each side strives for its own reproductive interests, the other side’s strategy is often interfered with, resulting in conflict.


Stability And Change In Parenting And Adjustment Profiles Across Early, Middle, And Late Adolescence In Chinese American Families, Su Yeong Kim, Shanting Chen, Lester Sim, Yang Hou Sep 2017

Stability And Change In Parenting And Adjustment Profiles Across Early, Middle, And Late Adolescence In Chinese American Families, Su Yeong Kim, Shanting Chen, Lester Sim, Yang Hou

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Chinese American parents have a reputation for being “tiger” parents, and Chinese American adolescents are widely viewed as “model” minorities. However, these stereotypes fail to capture the within-group variation among Chinese Americans. This chapter aims to present findings on Chinese Americans’ parenting profiles and adolescent adjustment profiles. Four parenting profiles were identified. Supportive (high levels of positive and low levels of negative parenting) was the most prevalent parenting profile, followed by tiger (high levels of both positive and negative parenting), easygoing (low on both positive and negative parenting), and harsh (low levels of positive and high levels of negative parenting). …


Tackling The Health Gap: The Role Of Psychosocial Processes, Nancy E. Adler, Jacinth J. X. Tan Sep 2017

Tackling The Health Gap: The Role Of Psychosocial Processes, Nancy E. Adler, Jacinth J. X. Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In The Health Gap, Michael Marmot describes how, starting even before birth, social conditions set individuals on trajectories that eventuate in inequities in health and longevity. In addition to race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status linked to income and education plays a major role in determining health trajectories. The effects emerge not only at the very bottom of the socioeconomic spectrum, but across the whole range.1 The fact that health effects persist at levels where resources are more than adequate to fulfill material needs suggests that the health gap is not due only to material privation associated with poverty, but also …


Polygenic Hazard Scores In Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease, Chin Hong Tan, Bradley T. Hyman, Jacinth J. X. Tan, Christopher P. Hess, William P. Dillon, Gerard D. Schellenberg, Lilah M. Besser, Walter A. Kukull, Karolina Kauppi, Linda K. Mcevoy, Ole A. Andreassen, Anders M. Dale, Chun Chieh Fan, Rahul S. Desikan Sep 2017

Polygenic Hazard Scores In Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease, Chin Hong Tan, Bradley T. Hyman, Jacinth J. X. Tan, Christopher P. Hess, William P. Dillon, Gerard D. Schellenberg, Lilah M. Besser, Walter A. Kukull, Karolina Kauppi, Linda K. Mcevoy, Ole A. Andreassen, Anders M. Dale, Chun Chieh Fan, Rahul S. Desikan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Identifying asymptomatic older individuals at elevated risk for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) is of clinical importance. Among 1,081 asymptomatic older adults, a recently validated polygenic hazard score (PHS) significantly predicted time to AD dementia and steeper longitudinal cognitive decline, even after controlling for APOE e4 carrier status. Older individuals in the highest PHS percentiles showed the highest AD incidence rates. PHS predicted longitudinal clinical decline among older individuals with moderate to high CERAD (amyloid) and Braak (tau) scores at autopsy, even among APOE e4 non-carriers. Beyond APOE, PHS may help identify asymptomatic individuals at highest risk for developing Alzheimer's neurodegeneration.


Why Is Workplace Bullying So Widespread And Rising?, Singapore Management University Aug 2017

Why Is Workplace Bullying So Widespread And Rising?, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Pressure, disorganisation and regulatory failure are red flags


Jokes About Politics: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, David Chan Aug 2017

Jokes About Politics: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This essay is about the psychologyof sociopolitical humour. First, letme assure you that writing orreading about humour does not killthe fun, although you may not laughout loud. By humour, I mean a jokeor a funny communication with asocial purpose clear to the audience– to provoke laughter and provideamusement.


When Pursuing Multiple Goals, People Prioritize The Minimally Acceptable Level Over The Aspiration Level, Huey Woon Lee Jul 2017

When Pursuing Multiple Goals, People Prioritize The Minimally Acceptable Level Over The Aspiration Level, Huey Woon Lee

Dissertations and Theses Collection

When pursuing multiple goals over time, the amount of time (i.e., resources) available affects which goal is pursued: people prioritize (i.e., spend time on) the goal furthest from the aspiration level when there is plenty of time available to attain the aspiration level on the multiple goals but switch to prioritize the goal closest to the aspiration level when the time available starts to run out (e.g., Schmidt, Dolis, & Tolli, 2009). Although the aspiration level is the most commonly examined goal level, other goal levels possessing different psychological meanings (e.g., minimally acceptable or status quo goal levels) also exist. …


The Relationship Between Anxiety, Mind Wandering And Task-Switching: A Diffusion Model Analysis, Andree Hartanto Jul 2017

The Relationship Between Anxiety, Mind Wandering And Task-Switching: A Diffusion Model Analysis, Andree Hartanto

Dissertations and Theses Collection

Although the negative impact of anxiety on task-switching has been documented, little is known about the extent or mechanisms of this impairment primarily because of the complex nature of task-switching and difficulty in probing the occurrence of worries within participants. To address this issue, we employed a stochastic diffusion model analysis along with a novel thought-probe technique in task-switching paradigm. Across 152 participants, we found state anxiety was linked to higher switch costs in nondecision time but not drift rate parameter of diffusion model, which indicates that the locus of task-switching impairment in anxious individuals is pertinent to the efficiency …


A Proposal And Examination Of A Novel Life History And Sociometer Model Of Self-Esteem, Jin Chuan Yong Jul 2017

A Proposal And Examination Of A Novel Life History And Sociometer Model Of Self-Esteem, Jin Chuan Yong

Dissertations and Theses Collection

Self-esteem occupies an esteemed position in psychological research, but the self-esteem scholarship has often raised more questions than it has answered. Recent alternative approaches to self-esteem have made decent strides in resolving the mixed findings abound in the literature, such as a call for greater focus on self-esteem’s functionality and domain-specific components of self-esteem. However, the lack of a well-grounded, parsimonious theory of self-esteem has kept these proximate theories and findings disparate and our overall understanding of self-esteem incomplete. The current dissertation sought to address these issues by developing a model of self-esteem based on the evolutionarily driven sociometer and …


Being Smart About Using Smartphones, Andree Hartanto, Hwajin Yang Jul 2017

Being Smart About Using Smartphones, Andree Hartanto, Hwajin Yang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In recent years, smartphones have become a ubiquitous part of our lives. Their multi-functionality and portability have made our lives more convenient and efficient.


What Motivates Workaholism And Should It Be Avoided?, Singapore Management University Jun 2017

What Motivates Workaholism And Should It Be Avoided?, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

New study reveals why some people are prone to work too much


Motivated Cognition And Fairness: Insights, Integration, And Creating A Path Forward, Laurie J. Barclay, Michael R. Bashshur, Marion Fortin Jun 2017

Motivated Cognition And Fairness: Insights, Integration, And Creating A Path Forward, Laurie J. Barclay, Michael R. Bashshur, Marion Fortin

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

How do individuals form fairness perceptions? This question has been central to the fairness literature sinceits inception, sparking a plethora of theories and a burgeoning volume of research. To date, the answer to thisquestion has been predicated on the assumption that fairness perceptions are subjective (i.e., “in the eye of thebeholder”). This assumption is shared with motivated cognition approaches, which highlight the subjectivenature of perceptions and the importance of viewing individuals arriving at those perceptions as active andmotivated processors of information. Further, the motivated cognition literature has other key insights thathave been less explicitly paralleled in the fairness literature, including …


Towards Unobtrusive Mental Well-Being Monitoring For Independent-Living Elderly, Sinh Huynh, Hwee-Pink Tan, Youngki Lee Jun 2017

Towards Unobtrusive Mental Well-Being Monitoring For Independent-Living Elderly, Sinh Huynh, Hwee-Pink Tan, Youngki Lee

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

It is essential to proactively detect mental health problems such as loneliness and depression in the independently-living elderly for timely intervention by caregivers. In this paper, we introduce an unobtrusive sensor-enabled monitoring system that has been deployed to 50 government housing ats with the independent-living elderly for two years. Then, we also present our initial findings from the 6-month sensor data between August 2015 and April 2016 as well as the survey data to measure the subjective well-being indicator. Our study showed the promising results that "room-level movements within a house" and "going out" behavior captured by our simple sensor …


Team-Efficacy Dispersion Pattern And Team Creativity, Michal Franc Jun 2017

Team-Efficacy Dispersion Pattern And Team Creativity, Michal Franc

Dissertations and Theses Collection

Present study compared the effect of two team efficacy (i.e., team members’ belief that the team can successfully perform a specific task) dispersion patterns in their effect on team creativity. Two dispersion patterns were manipulated such that the first one consisted of team members sharing an average level of team efficacy belief (i.e., shared team efficacy pattern), while the second dispersion pattern consisted of a majority of team members sharing a below average level of team efficacy belief and one minority member with relatively higher team efficacy belief (i.e., minority member team efficacy pattern) (DeRue, Hollenbeck, Ilgen, & Feltz, 2010). …


The Differential Identity Activation & Integration Mechanism (Diaim): A Model Linking Female Businesspersons’ Identity Integration And Identity Activation To Negotiation, Yi Wen Tan Jun 2017

The Differential Identity Activation & Integration Mechanism (Diaim): A Model Linking Female Businesspersons’ Identity Integration And Identity Activation To Negotiation, Yi Wen Tan

Dissertations and Theses Collection

Women play an important role in business management (female businesspersons) but yet they face constraints in the workplace, such as in negotiations. As female businesspersons seem to be facing seemingly conflicting gender and business identities, the level of the integration between these identities, as captured by the construct gender-professional identity integration (G-PII), can be a critical factor that influences female businesspersons in negotiations. It is expected that the level of G-PII influences female businesspersons’ negotiation behaviors when their different identities (i.e., female identity, business identity or dual identities) are activated. Hence, a DIAIM model that depicts how female businesspersons with …