“WHAT can men do, what do they do, and what do they want to do ?”—these are the uestions that Prof. Thorndike seeks to answer in a very comprehensive and elaborate treatise. His undertaking is inspired by the belief that man has the possibility of almost complete control of his fate if only he will be guided by science, and that his failures are attributable to ignorance or folly. The main approach is through biological psychology, but all the social sciences are appealed to and utilized in an effort to deal with the human problem as a whole. The relative immaturity of the sciences dealing with man is continually stressed, but it is claimed that they provide a body of facts and principles which are “far above zero knowledge”, and that even now they are capable of affording valuable guidance in the shaping of public policy. Human Nature and the Social Order By E. L. Thorndike. Pp. xx + 1020. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1940.) 18s. net.

Human Nature and the Social Order

The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem.

The disorders called mental illnesses afflict many persons with distress and disability and, in aggregate, constitute substantial social, personal, and economic problems in our culture Psychotherapists assert the skills to provide alleviation and solutions, and often do Professor Dawes' book is not a derisory expose, as the title might suggest, but a thoughtful scrutiny of the present state of scientific thinking and the lack of it in clinical practice Up to about 1950 most professional therapists were physicians Since then, attracted by status and salaries, professing therapists without medical training have increased exponentially in number The clinical practice of psychology has increasingly divorced itself from its research base, while the rigor of training in scientific method has diminished There are now more clinical psychologists than psychiatrists and more psychiatric social workers than clinical psychologists Treatment is provided in the main by nonphysicians Almost anyone can open an office and solicit

House of Cards: Psychology and Psychotherapy Built on Myth

The Golden Cage: The Enigma of Anorexia Nervosa

Culture influences basic motivational processes; however, Western theories of achievement motivation seem to have neglected the role of culture. They are inadequate when trying to explain student motivation and engagement across a wide range of cultural groups because they may not have the conceptual tools needed to handle culturally relevant information. Personal investment (PI) theory is proposed as a viable alternative that could be used across diverse cultural contexts. It designates three components of meaning: sense of self, perceived goals, and facilitating conditions as central to understanding investment in the educational enterprise. Moreover, it is an integrative framework that can shed light on both etic (culturally universal) and emic (culturally specific) dimensions of student motivation. Studies utilizing PI theory are reviewed revealing interesting etic and emic findings. Implications for cross-cultural research in educational psychology are discussed.

Culture's Consequences on Student Motivation: Capturing Cross-Cultural Universality and Variability through Personal Investment Theory.

Asian students on average not only performed better than other ethnic groups as documented in multinational achievement tests, but also in general showed more negative emotions and test anxiety. We argued that this seemingly paradoxical achievement pattern was rooted in the endorsement of social-oriented achievement motivation (SOAM) among Asian students. Within SOAM, academic achievement is construed as an obligation to parents and significant others. This research tested if Chinese students endorsing SOAM would indeed show goal endorsement, emotions, and behavioral tendency that typify obligatory endeavors in academic settings. First, endorsing SOAM indeed was associated with viewing academic achievement as indicative of a person’s obligation (Study 1); the stronger the individuals held this link, the more they felt guilty and a failure when they met with academic setbacks (Study 2); endorsing SOAM was associated with experiencing anxiety in taking examination (test anxiety; Studies 4 and 5) and feeling...

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When Academic Achievement Is an Obligation: Perspectives From Social-Oriented Achievement Motivation

A meaning system approach to Chinese students' achievement goals.

Scale development in the extant gambling literature has been dominated by pathological gamblers, but the non- or sub-clinical gamblers have been overlooked. Moreover, most scales are predominantly based on Western samples; only a few of the scales have Chinese versions validated with Chinese samples. A rarely explored niche still exists for the development of an indigenous scale for Chinese gamblers. The current exploratory study made the first step towards such a direction by identifying factors through the construction of an indigenous Gambling Motives, Attitudes and Behavior (GMAB) scale for Chinese gamblers. Preliminary items were generated primarily from focus group discussions. The items were administered through a telephone survey in which 791 randomly sampled gamblers participated. Exploratory factor analyses revealed (a) five dimensions of gambling motives, namely, self-worth, monetary gains, sensation seeking, boredom alleviation, and learning; (b) four dimensions of gambling attitudes, namely, luck and fate, attitudes toward negative consequences in gambling, techniques, and superstition; and (c) six dimensions of behavior, namely, impaired control in gambling, gambling involvement, arousal reaction, superstitious behavior, controlled gambling and casino exploration. Implications of the interplay among these factors and future research directions were discussed.

Development of an Indigenous Inventory GMAB (Gambling Motives, Attitudes and Behaviors) for Chinese Gamblers: An Exploratory Study

This study tested the applicability of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) on gambling intention and involvement in a representative Chinese sample in Macao, recruited by a random residential number dialing method. We successfully interviewed 685 respondents, with about one-third of them reporting that they had participated in gambling activities during the 12 months prior to the interview. The results of structural equation modeling suggested that favorable attitudes toward superstition and techniques, poor sense of perceived behavioral control over gambling refusal, and high gambling intention increased vulnerability to excessive gambling involvement. These findings generally support the efficacy of the TPB in explaining gambling intention and involvement among both Chinese gamblers and non-gamblers. Some practical implications of the findings are discussed within the Chinese context.

Chinese Attitudes, Norms, Behavioral Control and Gambling Involvement in Macao

The present study aims to evaluate and refine the Inventory of Gambling Motives, Attitudes and Behaviours (GMAB) specifically designed to assess gambling-related cognitions and behaviours of Chinese gamblers with a random sample of 697 Chinese adults in Macao who were interviewed by telephone. Confirmatory factor analysis generally replicated the basic factor structure of the three domains of GMAB although the removal of several items with low factor loading or cross-loading was suggested. Moreover, the findings supported the addition of another motivational subscale, socialization. The revised version has six subscales of motives (self-worth, monetary gains, sensation seeking, boredom alleviation, learning and socialization), four of attitudes (fate and luck, negative consequences of gambling, techniques and superstition), and five of behaviours (impaired control, gambling involvement, arousal reaction, superstitious behaviour and controlled gambling). The psychometric properties of the revised GMAB (GMA...

Vivienne Y. K. Tao

Papers

When Academic Achievement Is an Obligation: Perspectives From Social-Oriented Achievement Motivation

A meaning system approach to Chinese students' achievement goals.

Development of an Indigenous Inventory GMAB (Gambling Motives, Attitudes and Behaviors) for Chinese Gamblers: An Exploratory Study

Chinese Attitudes, Norms, Behavioral Control and Gambling Involvement in Macao

Psychometric evaluation of the inventory of Gambling Motives, Attitudes and Behaviours (GMAB) among Chinese gamblers