Acta Psychologica最新文献

Grounded in Social Cognitive Theory, this study explores how interpersonal interactions shape the belief formation of Chinese pre-service English teachers, with particular attention to the mediating role of self-efficacy. Situated within China's hierarchical and collectivist educational context, this study examines how two key forms of interaction-those with mentors and with students-influence the development of teaching beliefs among 368 senior-year pre-service teachers. Results from structural equation modeling revealed that both teacher-mentor and teacher-student interactions significantly and positively predicted teacher beliefs, with the latter exerting a stronger direct influence. Importantly, self-efficacy emerged as a significant mediator in both relationships, explaining a larger portion of the indirect effect in the mentor pathway. These findings suggest that while direct engagement with students powerfully shapes teachers' belief systems, the impact of mentors primarily operates through the enhancement of teaching confidence, reflecting the cultural salience of authoritative guidance in the Chinese context. The study highlights the importance of integrating efficacy-based mentoring and authentic teaching experiences in teacher education programs to foster the development of coherent and resilient teacher belief systems.

Social and legal changes in a once strictly patriarchal country, such as those envisioned by Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 programmatic plan launched in 2016, can notably impact university enrollment. One key issue is female enrollment in STEM majors (Computer Science and Engineering) that have been traditionally viewed as leading to male occupations. The present study asked whether enrollment in such STEM majors can be linked to changes in the way female undergraduate students (age range: 18-25) define themselves. During their first year of university enrollment, 327 female students rated the extent to which the traits of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) defined them. Students also reported their self-efficacy in academic matters. In this cross-sectional study, a 7-point Likert scale was used to respond to questionnaires administered in class. Stereotypically masculine traits (e.g., ambitious, self-reliant, etc.) received higher endorsement from STEM than non-STEM students. Stereotypically feminine traits (e.g., affectionate, gentle, etc.) received higher endorsement from non-STEM students. Although self-efficacy was higher in STEM students, it was only weakly linked to the endorsement of gender-stereotyped traits. These findings suggest that amid social change, academic major choices are associated with self-concept differences in gender-stereotyped definitions of oneself. One's confidence in the selected field, however, may be less gender-stereotyped than once thought.

As artificial intelligence (AI) systems increasingly permeate healthcare and daily life, understanding the factors that shape attitudes toward their use is crucial. This study examined how individuals' general attitudes toward AI and their willingness to use AI-based tools in specific situations vary, and how these relate to mood, pain-related affective traits, and perceived social support. A total of 302 participants completed self-report measures assessing willingness to use AI in three contexts (health without pain, health with pain, and non-health; measured by scales in a Situational Judgment Task), along with general attitudes toward AI, mood (depression, anxiety, stress), pain catastrophizing, fear of pain, and perceived social support from family, friends, and others. Results revealed that willingness to use AI is strongly context-dependent: participants were less inclined to use AI in health-related scenarios, especially those involving pain, than in non-health contexts. Positive general attitudes toward AI consistently associated with willingness to use AI in all contexts, whereas negative attitudes did not. Mood variables were unrelated to AI attitudes or use. In contrast, pain-related affective traits showed modest associations: higher pain catastrophizing and fear of pain were linked to greater willingness to use AI in pain-related contexts, while helplessness was associated with more negative general attitudes toward AI. Perceived social support showed limited and inconsistent associations with AI use. Overall, the findings suggest that situational context and pain-related affective traits, rather than general mood or social support, play central roles in shaping attitudes toward AI use, particularly in sensitive healthcare settings.

Drawing on ecological systems theory, we investigate how microsystem components (i.e., individual characteristics and the family, school, and peer environments) collectively relate to English as a foreign language (EFL) achievement. To this end, we administered a cross-sectional questionnaire to 1395 Chinese middle school students and conducted a network analysis to model these relationships. The results indicated that dimensions of study engagement (dedication and vigor), teacher support, and family socioeconomic status (SES) were directly and positively associated with EFL achievement, whereas student cohesiveness, classroom order, classmate support, and friend support exhibited weak negative associations. Dedication operated as a central node whose activation had widespread consequences across the entire network. Parental support emerged as a key bridge node linking dimensions of distinct microsystem components. Furthermore, the directional associations among task orientation, student cohesiveness, and EFL achievement differed significantly between junior and senior high school students. Overall, the findings suggest that microsystem associations with EFL achievement operate through multiple pathways, vary in magnitude across the dimensions of the four microsystem components, and differ by developmental stage, underscoring the need for integrative, system-level approaches to improving adolescents' foreign language learning.

Although research on creativity and dyslexia produced contrasting results, accumulated evidence suggests that the characteristics associated with dyslexia may underlie the creative advantage often reported in the literature. Rather than a general creative advantage in individuals with dyslexia, empirical findings pointed at strengths in specific sub-processes of creative thinking. While previous studies have attempted to identify the cognitive mechanisms that explain the dyslexic creative benefit, the role of age has been scarcely investigated, especially during school transitions. To explore the age-related patterns of creative abilities in typical and atypical conditions, 64 children and preadolescents (age: 8-14) with and without dyslexia completed the Figure Completion test of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT; Torrance, 1990), together with a battery of reading tests. Results revealed a significant interaction effect between group (typical vs. dyslexia) and school level (primary vs. junior high school). Whereas primary school children with dyslexia showed comparable levels of flexibility and originality to their typical peers, junior high school students with dyslexia obtained significantly higher flexibility scores in the creative task. Furthermore, unlike typical peers - whose originality declined with age - children with dyslexia showed a tendency to increased originality. These findings reveal a distinct development of creativity in dyslexia, suggesting that creative skills may rise gradually across school years and counteract the age-related creative decline typically observed in adolescent peers.

This study explores the effect of two different rhetorical tropes, metaphor and metonymy, on mental imagery, pleasure, and memory in Chinese advertising copy. It extends previous research on the effects of different rhetorical tropes on advertising efficacy. One hundred and eleven Chinese adults viewed a series of Chinese ads featuring either metaphor or metonymy in their copy. Participants rated the mental imagery and pleasure evoked by each ad and then completed both free and cued recall tasks to assess which rhetorical trope was more memorable. Results showed that advertisement copy featuring metaphor elicited significantly greater mental imagery, pleasure, and both cued and free recall than ad copy featuring metonymy. These findings provide evidence that different rhetorical figures elicit different psychological outcomes in Chinese advertising copy and extend our understanding of consumer responses to rhetorical devices.

The current study developed and validated the Creativity Nurturing Behavior Scale (CNBS) to assess sibling interactions that foster creativity. It is specifically designed to capture the unique relational behaviors within a sibling dyad. The scale was grounded in theories of social learning, attachment, and creative cognition. A rigorous psychometric analysis, including exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, demonstrated the scale's reliability and validity with a 32-item and eight-factor structure. Measurement variance across genders was established. Latent mean comparisons revealed significant gender differences in certain dimensions of sibling relationships. The scale's reliability and validity were established using a sample primarily consisting of multi-child, traditional family structures from India and Oman. The CNBS offers a tool for researchers to understand creativity development within this specific sibling dynamic of high family salience households. The scale showed a significant correlation with creativity performance. The CNBS provides a valuable tool for researchers and practitioners to understand and promote creativity development within the sibling dynamic of high family salience households. A key limitation of the CNBS is its current validated scope, which is not generalizable to single-child families, highly diverse family structures, or different macro-cultural contexts without further re-validation.

The literature presents contradictory evidence regarding the influence of supervisor negative gossip on work behaviors of targeted employees. By regarding supervisor negative gossip as a stressor that triggers targeted employees' self-regulatory processes, this study investigates the roles of targeted employees' cognitive appraisal and regulatory focus in the relationship between supervisor negative gossip and their proactive/withdrawal behavior. Results from a scenario-based experiment and a time-lagged field study showed that: (1) supervisor negative gossip elicits both challenge and hindrance appraisals among targeted employees; (2) supervisor negative gossip has an indirect positive effect on targeted employees' proactive behavior and an indirect negative effect on their withdrawal behavior via challenge appraisal, and this indirect effect is significantly strengthened by promotion focus; (3) supervisor negative gossip also has an indirect negative effect on targeted employees' proactive behavior and an indirect positive effect on their withdrawal behavior via hindrance appraisal, and this indirect effect is significantly weakened by prevention focus. This study highlights that the impact of supervisor negative gossip on targeted employees' proactive/withdrawal behaviors depends on their cognitive appraisal and regulatory focus. It also clarifies the self-regulatory mechanism underlying targets' behavioral responses to supervisor negative gossip.

The role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in tourism education is pivotal in preparing students for a digitally driven industry. While ICT tools enhance learning through online platforms, simulations, and data analytics, students differ markedly in their willingness to engage with these tools. This study examines how ICT self-efficacy influences undergraduate tourism students' intention to use ICT, with ICT knowledge acquisition as a mediator and organizational ICT support as a moderator. Drawing on Social Cognitive Theory, we employed a quantitative design and analyzed survey data from 450 tourism students at a Chinese university using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that ICT self-efficacy has both direct and indirect positive effects on use intention through ICT knowledge acquisition, and that perceived organizational ICT support strengthens the links between self-efficacy and both knowledge acquisition and use intention. The structural model explains 54% of the variance in use intention, indicating substantial explanatory power. These findings highlight the joint importance of psychological resources and institutional support in fostering ICT adoption in tourism education and suggest targeted strategies for building students' digital competencies.

In the EFL context, learning engagement, as a crucial factor for students' academic achievement and future development, has garnered sustained scholarly attention. Although perceived teacher support is widely recognized as a key external predictor, the internal psychological mechanisms through which it affects learning engagement remain underexplored. Therefore, based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, this study explores the effects of perceived teacher support on learning engagement, with a focus on the mediating roles of second language (L2) grit and foreign language (FL) enjoyment. Using survey data from 489 EFL students at two Chinese colleges, the study applied Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) for analysis. Results indicated that perceived teacher support directly and positively predicted learning engagement, L2 grit, and FL enjoyment. Moreover, L2 grit and FL enjoyment played both independent and chain mediating roles between perceived teacher support and learning engagement. The findings not only offer a theoretical framework that explains a motivational-affective pathway through which perceived teacher support affects learning engagement, but also provide practical implications for designing targeted supportive teaching interventions.