Bidirectional relations among empathy‐related traits,prosocial moral reasoning,and prosocial behaviors

This study examined the longitudinal links among empathic concern, perspective taking, prosocial moral reasoning, and prosocial behaviors. Four hundred and seventeen adolescents (225 girls; M_age = 14.70 years) from public schools in Spain completed measures of those constructs in three successive years. Path analyses showed support for the notion that empathic concern and prosocial moral reasoning accounted for the relations between perspective taking in earlier adolescence and later altruistic and public forms of helping. Moreover, there was support for a reverse causal model such that empathic concern and prosocial moral reasoning mediated the relations between altruistic (but not public) helping behaviors in earlier adolescence and later perspective taking. The implications for cognitive developmental and social cognitive theories of prosocial development were discussed.     

Equal But Not Always Fair: Value‐laden Sharing in Preschool‐aged Children

Prior work has shown that preschoolers divide resources fairly and expect others to do the same. The majority of research, however, has focused on how children make distributions with respect to number. Here we explore whether preschoolers attend to the value of the objects being shared. We presented four‐year‐olds and five‐year‐olds with two puppets and four stickers of different values to split between them. Our central question was whether children would share more valuable stickers with their preferred puppets. In Experiments 1–2, value was induced by making one sticker rarer than the others. In Experiments 3–4, value was measured subjectively (by asking the child which sticker s/he personally preferred). Across all experiments, children made fair numerical splits, but showed favoritism according to value. This work supports the hypothesis that young children coordinate number and value to show both fairness and favoritism when making resource distributions.     

I love chips and (h)ate them too: the role of ambivalence and contextual cues on attitudinally based eating behaviour / Me encantan las patatas fritas,las como y (también) las odio: el papel de la ambivalencia y de las claves contextuales en el comportamiento alimentario basado en la actitud

Although past work proposed ambivalence as moderating the consistency between attitudes and behaviours, empirical evidence is mixed. We address this matter by taking into account social influence processes and observing actual eating behaviour. We predicted that less ambivalent attitudes are more consistent with behaviours independently of context cues. In two studies, we first evaluated participants’ ambivalence towards the target food. A week later we observed their eating behaviour (Study 1), and analysed the influence of context cues on it (Study 2). Results showed that only less ambivalent attitudes are good predictors of actual behaviour. Importantly, context cues only influenced behaviour among individuals with ambivalent attitudes.     

Reciprocal Relations across Time between Basic Values and Value‐expressive Behaviors: A Longitudinal Study among Children

The current study examines the reciprocal relations between children's values and value‐expressive behavior over a sixth‐month period. Three hundred and ten sixth‐grade students in Italy completed value and value‐expressive behavior questionnaires three times in three‐month intervals during the scholastic year. We assessed Schwartz's (1992) higher‐order values of conservation, openness to change, self‐enhancement, and self‐transcendence, as well as their respective expressive behaviors. Reciprocal relations over time between values and behaviors were examined using a cross‐lagged longitudinal design. Results showed that values and behaviors had reciprocal longitudinal effects on one another, after the stability of the variables was taken into account (i.e., values predicted change in behaviors, but also behaviors predicted change in values). Our findings also revealed that: (1) values were more stable over time than behaviors and (2) the longitudinal effect of values on behaviors tended to be stronger than the longitudinal effect of behaviors on values. Findings are discussed in light of the recent developmental literature on value change.     

On the behavioural relevance of optional and mandatory impure public goods

Impure public goods combine a private good with a public good. Often, impure public goods have a charitable or ethical dimension, giving ethically motivated consumers a convenient option to contribute to public goods through the marketplace (in addition to direct donations). Impure public goods could potentially promote ethical giving or alternatively hinder charitable behaviour. We implement an economics experiment with a between-subject design to test the behavioural relevance of impure public goods with only a token (i.e. small) contribution to a public good. Contributions to the public good are negatively affected by the presence of impure public goods with token contributions. We explore one mechanism to offset this negative impact by making the token impure public good mandatory. We observe higher average contributions and several positive impacts on charitable behaviour, which supports the claim that this mechanism can potentially offset the negative impact of impure public goods.     

Nudging electricity consumption using TOU pricing and feedback: evidence from Irish households

This paper analyses the electricity usage of 5000 Irish residential consumers in response to the introduction of Time Of Use (TOU) tariffs and three different forms of financial feedback: immediate feedback from in-home displays (IHD), monthly billing and bimonthly billing. Half-hourly data on consumption collected during the trial indicated that TOU tariffs reduced consumption at peak, with some reductions lasting beyond the end of the peak period and post-peak spikes in usage were not observed. IHD feedback resulted in the most reliable reductions and bimonthly billing the least. Moreover, consumers slightly increase the electricity usage during the first hours of the night and early in the morning. Households with greater education react to the information associated to the TOU tariffs slightly more than the average.     

Effect of railway safety education on the safety knowledge and behaviour intention of schoolchildren

This study was designed to evaluate whether railway safety lessons are effective in increasing schoolchildren's safety knowledge and behaviour intention. The railway safety education in schools included a 45-min lesson on safe behaviour in a railway environment directed at 8–11 year old schoolchildren. The lessons were held in four schools located near railway lines in Finland. The effectiveness of this measure was evaluated based on a short survey directed at pupils before the lesson (base level) and around 2–3 months later (post-lesson) based on three variables which are considered as strong determinants of actual behaviour: behaviour intention, estimated dangerousness of the behaviour, and level of knowledge on the legality of the behaviour. The results show that the change in the share of correct answers was positive regarding all questions except for one question in which the difference was not significant. Based on this we can reasonably assume that railway safety education in schools can have a positive effect for all the measured variables, although the effect is not necessarily large. The results indicate that these positive changes can have a positive effect on the frequency of trespassing (i.e. fewer unsafe crossings in the future). We can further assume that reduction in the frequency of trespassing would reduce the frequency of trespassing accidents.     

The Theory of Conditionality: An Illustration of the Place of Norms in the Field of Social Thinking

In the field of the central core theory of social representations, research which has focused on the normative aspects is relatively recent as it dates back little more than ten years. The theory of conditionality which developed from research into the periphery of representation results from this. It is a particularly fruitful theory to explain “normative latitudes” and the behaviour accruing to them. One of the particularities of these works stresses the importance of linking the normative aspects with specific methods and/or analyses. In this paper, we will illustrate it via a specific tool developed in the field of traffic psychology: the Conditional Script Questionnaire (CSQ). This approach makes it possible to highlight the interactions between two systems of norms: the legal system and the social system. The implication of norms is fundamental in different processes already studied such as social influence or identity processes, and this article can be considered as an illustration of the place of norms in the field of social thinking.     

财务管理对高校经济行为的介入态势分析

伴随市场经济的发展和高校运营模式的改变,高校经济行为日益繁杂,面临各种风险和管理困难.财务管理作为经济管理的重要手段,必然积极介入到高校经济行为中去,从事先参与、事中控制、事后析评等角度,采用多种手段和途径发挥积极作用.在发展方向上,这一管理模式必然在确位理念、配套制度、架构机制、探寻手段和储备人才等各方面不断完善.     

基于出行行为的中心城市周边交通网络系统优化

在现有的中心城市以及区域交通网络规划及其改进研究成果的基础上,分析了目前区域交通网络规划及优化方法的不足,指出了中心城市周边的交通网络形成以及不断优化过程中,个体出行行为应当作为交通网络系统优化的根本依据,并据此提出了一种基于出行行为的中心城市周边交通网络系统的优化思路。