The Influential Mechanisms of Theory of Mind on Prosocial Behavior and the Effect of Mindfulness Intervention

Background:Theory of Mind(ToM)and empathy are crucial cognitive and emotional capacities that influence social interactions.While their role in promoting prosocial behavior has been established,the potential moderating effect of mindfulness on this relationship remains unexplored.Understanding these complex interactions is vital for developing effective interventions to foster prosocial behavior among college students.This study examines the influence of ToM on college students’prosocial behavior and explores the moderating role of mindfulness in this relationship.Methods:A mixed-methods approach combining questionnaires and experimental design was employed.Study 1:A survey of 759 college students(mean age 22.03 years;477 females)was conducted using the ToM Scale,Interpersonal Reactivity Index,Prosocial Behavior Tendency Scale,and Mindfulness Awareness Scale.Data were analyzed using correlation and moderated mediation analyses.Study 2:An 8-week mindfulness attention training program was implemented for the intervention group and compared with a control group.Mindfulness training served as a moderating variable to validate Model 59 from Study 1.Results:1.Study 1 found:(a)ToM was significantly positively correlated with prosocial behavior(r=0.31,p<0.01).(b)Empathy partially mediated the relationship between ToM and prosocial behavior(β=0.10,p<0.001,95%CI[0.06,0.14]).(c)Mindfulness negatively moderated the direct path between ToM and three dimensions of prosocial behavior,as well as the indirect path between empathy and kin altruism and reciprocal altruism.Specifically,high levels of mindfulness weakened the direct impact of ToM on prosocial behavior.High levels of mindfulness also weakened the indirect influence of ToM on prosocial behavior through empathy.2.Study 2 results showed:(a)The intervention group had significantly higher levels of trait mindfulness compared to the control group(t=2.56,p<0.05).(b)The validity of the moderated mediation model 59 from Study 1 was verified.Conclusion:While ToM and empathy play crucial roles in fostering prosocial behavior,mindfulness exhibits a more complex influence than anticipated,potentially inhibiting prosocial behavior under certain circumstances.These findings offer novel insights into the psychological mechanisms underlying prosocial behavior and underscore the importance of considering multiple interacting factors in its promotion.

Subtitle Translation of Puns in English Sitcoms from the Perspective of Speech Act Theory——A Case Study of Mind Your Language

Puns always play a vital role in sitcoms in order to create humor or ironies.Sometimes good translations of puns can decide whether target language audiences are able to obtain the equal understandings and reactions of the sitcoms as source language audiences get.Nevertheless,it is not easy for many translators to render faithfully and smoothly some English puns into Chinese.Therefore,this paper will analyze the subtitle translation of puns in the British sitcom Mind Your Language from the perspective of Speech Act Theory so as to find out some useful and helpful strategies for translation of puns in subtitling.

Theory of mind deficits in patients with esophageal cancer combined with depression

AIM:To characterize the two components of theory of mind(ToM) in patients with esophageal cancer combined with depression.METHODS:Sixty-five patients with esophageal cancer combined with depression(depressed group) and 62 normal controls(control group) were assessed using reading the mind in the eyes test,faux pas task,verbal fluency test,digit span test and WAIS IQ test.The depressed group was divided into two subgroups including psychotic depressed(PD) group(32 cases) and nonpsychotic depressed(NPD) group(33 cases).The clinical symptoms of patients were assessed using Beck depression inventory version Ⅱ and brief psychiatric reacting scale(BPRS).RESULTS:There was a significant difference between the depressed group and the control group on tasks involving ToM social perceptual components(mind reading:t = 7.39,P < 0.01) and tests involving ToM social cognitive components(faux pas questions:t = 13.75,P < 0.01),respectively.A significant difference was also found among the PD group,the NPD group and the control group on mind reading(F = 32.98,P < 0.01) and faux pas questions(χ 2 = 78.15,P < 0.01),respectively.The PD group and NPD group performed worse than normal group controls both on mind reading and faux pas questions(P < 0.05).The PD group performed significantly worse than the NPD group on tasks involving ToM(mind reading:F = 18.99,P < 0.01;faux pas questions:F = 36.01,P < 0.01).In the depressed group,there was a negative correlation between ToM performances and BPRS total score(mind reading:r =-0.35,P < 0.01;faux pas questions:r =-0.51,P < 0.01),and between ToM performances and hostile suspiciousness factor score(mind reading:r =-0.75,P < 0.01;faux pas questions:r =-0.73,P < 0.01),respectively.CONCLUSION:The two components of ToM are both impaired in patients with esophageal cancer combined with depression.This indicates that there may be an association between ToM deficits and psychotic symptoms in clinical depression.

The Evolution of Theory of Mind in the Human Evolution

Despite almost half a century of research for theory of mind, its evolutionary origin is largely unknown. This paper proposes that the evolutionary origin of theory of mind starts from the beginning of the human evolution to form hominins through bipedalism and the mixed habitat. The feet of the early hominins were still adapted for grasping trees rather than walking for long distances and running fast on the ground. The early hominins lived in the mixed habitat of grassy woodland with patches of denser forest, and freshwater springs. The difficulty of walking in the mixed habitat leads to division of labor for the home specialist group (small children, old people, and mothers with small children, and pregnant women) in the safe forest area and the exploration specialist group (young people without the care of small children) in the dangerous open area. The different tasks, attitudes, and mentalities in different specialist groups produce theory of mind as the ability to attribute different mental states to different specialist groups. (Uniformity of mind instead of theory of mind is for generalists without division of labor). The early Homo species with the open habitat developed theory of mind for hunter specialist group and gatherer specialist group. The middle Homo species with complex stone tools developed theory of mind for the cooperative specialist groups in the large production of complex stone tools. The late Homo species with complex social interaction developed theory of mind for mind reading to enhance cooperation and to detect cheaters in complex social interaction. For religion, the unusually harsh Upper Paleolithic Period developed theory of mind for imaginary specialists in terms of supernatural power, guidance, and comfort. Therefore, the three general types of theory of mind are for specialists in division of labor, mind reading in complex social interaction, and imaginary specialists in imaginary division of labor under harsh conditions. Self-awareness in the mirror self-recognition test is also explained.

Uta Frith’s thoughts on the Theory of Mind and Autistic Deficit: Dialogue between Art and Neuroscience

The contemporary scientist and German developmental psychologist at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience of University College London, Uta Frith has mainly focused her research on autism spectrum disorder and the related theory-of-mind deficit. To explain the autistic mentalistic deficit, the psychologist has used a specific tool: art, her initial pursuit cultivated at the Universität des Saarlandes, in Germany. Thus, this work seeks to reconstruct the artistic influences on Uta Frith’s scientific efforts, highlighting how the dialogical intersection of two seemingly distant disciplines, like art and neuroscience, can generate surprising new networks of signification and an understanding of the intrapsychic and interpsychic worlds. Art challenges us to develop moments of neuroscientific knowledge. On the other. In contrast, neuroscience offers the opportunity to develop further insights into the role of visual perception in contemplating works of art.

Conrad's Heart of Darkness in the View of Postcolonial Theory

As one of the most important and greatest novels of Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, has attracted extensive attention from literature fields in the world and has always been under critics since its publication. This paper,from the perspective of Edward Said's postcolonial theory—Orientalism,aims to analyze this classical work from the following three aspects: distorted description of the nature settings in Africa, distorted description of the image of the Africans as well as the white's blame on Africa for their degeneration.

Hearts and Minds

PROFESSIONAL ballerina Yu Chuanya sets high standards for herself. After a recent long haul flight from Beijing to Johannesburg, the 25-year-old went straight into intensive rehearsals soon after landing, ignoring the effects of jet lag in pursuit of her craft. What drove her passion was the unique collaboration on the ballet classic Swan Lake, iointly presented by Joburg Ballet of South Africa and Liaoning Ballet of China.

MindManager在教育技术课程理论教学中的实践研究

教育信息化的核心是教学信息化,但目前在教育技术课程理论教学中,还缺乏能有效减轻教师教学、学生学习负担,明显提高教学质量的教学软件。作为一款著名的思维导图工具Mindjet公司的MindManager操作简单,功能强大,通过两年多的实践,笔者探索了MindManager在教育技术课程理论教学中应用的方式,总结了它的作用,发现了应用中的一些问题。

On the Philosophical Ontology for a General System Theory

System is a very general concept and theoretically speaking, every problem encountered can be modeled as a system. Thus, the general system theory (GST) proposed by Bertalanffy (1968) and developed by many others e.g. Bunge (1977;1979;1983a;1983b) and Maturana and Varela (1980;1987) could be treated as a theory of everything (TOE). However, it is well-known that the present version of GST has not reached the level of TOE because it lacks a clear ontology. Currently, quantum mechanics (QM), Newtonian mechanics (NM) and general relativity (GR), suitable for microscopic, macroscopic and cosmic phenomena respectively are based on very different ontologies. In this paper, a unified ontology for the general system theory which could be applied to any scale from micro to cosmic is proposed. It is expected that this could lay a foundation to generalize GST to TOE.

Brain as an Emergent Finite Automaton: A Theory and Three Theorems

This paper models a biological brain—excluding motivation (e.g., emotions)—as a Finite Automaton in Developmental Network (FA-in-DN), but such an FA emerges incrementally in DN. In artificial intelligence (AI), there are two major schools: symbolic and connectionist. Weng 2011 [1] proposed three major properties of the Developmental Network (DN) which bridged the two schools: 1) From any complex FA that demonstrates human knowledge through its sequence of the symbolic inputs-outputs, a Developmental Program (DP) incrementally develops an emergent FA itself inside through naturally emerging image patterns of the symbolic inputs-outputs of the FA. The DN learning from the FA is incremental, immediate and error-free;2) After learning the FA, if the DN freezes its learning but runs, it generalizes optimally for infinitely many inputs and actions based on the neuron’s inner-product distance, state equivalence, and the principle of maximum likelihood;3) After learning the FA, if the DN continues to learn and run, it “thinks” optimally in the sense of maximum likelihood conditioned on its limited computational resource and its limited past experience. This paper gives an overview of the FA-in-DN brain theory and presents the three major theorems and their proofs.

＂Greasing the Skids＂： Interdisciplinary Rhetoric and Mindblindness

The idea of mindblindness reaching outside of neuroscience is an important one. It is significant because there is concern in all quarters about the prevalence and meaning of autism diagnoses. Secondly, mindblindness rhetoric reflects the kinds of rhetorical devices scholars use to analyze this theory. Finally, mindblindness is a fertile ground for research collaboration between neuroscientists, social scientists and humanities scholars as it skirts the boundaries of disciplinarity. What about mindblindness theory makes it an interdisciplinary phenomenon, complete with interdisciplinary collaborations and mutual knowledge-seeking？ I argue in this paper that specific forms of rhetoric ＂grease the skids,＂ meaning that they can be construed flexibly in both the neuroscientific language and the ＂other-discipline＂ language. Because of the flexibility of these rhetorical conveyances, interdisciplinary collaboration has exploded around mindblindness dialogue, despite the traditional differences in disciplinary methodology.

基于情绪ABC理论的正念训练对PCI患者的应用研究

目的探讨基于情绪ABC理论的正念干预对冠心病经皮冠状动脉介入治疗(PCI)术后患者的应用效果。方法选取2022年收治的80例冠心病PCI术后患者,随机分为试验组和对照组,每组40例。对照组给予心内科常规治疗与护理,试验组在常规护理的基础上给予基于情绪ABC理论的正念训练。分别于干预前、干预2个月后、干预6个月后评价患者的心肺功能[6 min步行距离(6 MWD)]、睡眠[匹兹堡睡眠质量指数(PSQI)]、焦虑抑郁[焦虑自评量表(SAS)、抑制自评量表(SDS)]、心脏不良事件的发生情况。结果干预前,2组患者6MWD、PSQI评分、SAS、SDS评分比较,差异均无统计学意义(P>0.05);干预2个月和6个月后,试验组6MWD、PSQI、SAS、SDS评分均优于对照组,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05);干预6个月后,2组患者心脏不良事件发生率比较,差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。重复测量方差分析结果显示时间效应、组间效应、交互效应均有统计学意义(P<0.05)。结论基于情绪ABC理论的正念训练可提高患者的睡眠质量,改善负性情绪,提升心肺功能,值得临床推广应用。

A Comparison of New General System Theory Philosophy With Einstein and Bohr

The New General System theory was developed to be a theory of everything for complex systems within the world we can observe.This theory was constructed by supplementing a new mind-ether ontology into Bertalanffy’s general system theory framework.This theory is basically a generalization of classical mechanics rather than a revolution to it taken both by Einstein and Bohr in developing their relativity theory and quantum mechanics.The purpose of this paper is to reveal the reasons why Einstein and many others fail to unify relativity theory with quantum mechanics through comparing the main differences in philosophical opinions among NGST,Einstein,and Bohr.It is the hope of the authors that this clarification could speed up the unification process.

慢性心力衰竭患者运动康复依从性量表的编制及信效度检验

背景慢性心力衰竭患者运动康复效果的维持有赖于良好的运动康复依从行为,有效及科学地评估其运动康复依从性具有重要的实践意义,但目前国内外尚缺乏公认的慢性心力衰竭患者运动康复依从性评价工具。目的编制慢性心力衰竭患者运动康复依从性量表,为快速便捷地评估慢性心力衰竭患者运动康复依从性提供科学、适宜的工具。方法在前期慢性心力衰竭患者运动康复最佳证据总结和质性研究的基础上,通过文献回顾、结合课题组意见,形成初始条目池;根据小样本预调查、德尔菲专家函询形成临床测试版量表。便利抽样法选取2020年11月—2021年2月在江苏省3所三级甲等医院心血管内科就诊的稳定期慢性心力衰竭患者作为研究对象。第一阶段发放有效量表274份,结合项目反应理论和经典测量理论对量表的条目进行筛选并进行探索性因子分析,形成正式版量表;第二阶段发放有效量表282份,对正式版量表进行验证性因子分析和信效度分析,形成最终版量表。结果正式量表包括2个维度11个条目。各条目的难度合理,且均未出现逆反阈值,条目区分度、项目信息量及项目特征曲线均较优。量表总的Cronbach’sα系数为0.905,其中“处方依从”维度Cronbach’sα系数为0.895,“监测依从”维度Cronbach’sα系数为0.910。总折半信度为0.724、重测信度为0.902。探索性因子分析结果显示2个因子能解释总变异的70.231%,进一步验证性因子分析的结果显示模型各参数较优,拟合较好。结论本研究构建的慢性心力衰竭患者运动康复依从性量表的条目难度、区分度合理,项目信息量较好,同时具有较高的信度和效度,可作为慢性心力衰竭患者运动康复依从性的评估工具。

On the Aesthetic Wonder and Unity at the Peak of Literary Theory in the Six Dynasties Key

The study found that the classics born during the turbulent Six Dynasties period,starting from Cao Pi’s“The Classics”to“Wen Fu”,“Wen Xin Diao Long”,“Shipin”and other classics,can all be analyzed to have a common origin.Attributes,that is,the philosophical strategy of dualistic isomorphism of explicit and implicit,is also a pattern;it can be proven that this is the philosophical key to interpreting and studying the classics of the Six Dynasties.It not only governs many aesthetic principles and aesthetic methods,but also emphasizes the need to transcend the appearance of current existence,transcend the current utilitarianism,and pay attention to the hidden and non-existent,just like paying attention to dark matter and antimatter in the universe.Pay attention to the origin of Shipin and expand aesthetic horizons;this philosophical secret not only exists in the classics of the Six Dynasties,it has its unity,graphics and vitality,as well as its historical inheritance and continuous operation.Its trajectory marks the context of literary theory and aesthetics;the modern construction of contemporary literary theory must be based on its operating trends.Only by transcending all utilitarianism can we better demonstrate the natural characteristics of Chinese tradition such as nationality.Otherwise,literary theory,aesthetics,and philosophy will not be self-consistent.

基于毒邪与络病学说探讨免疫炎症在慢性心力衰竭中作用

慢性心力衰竭(以下简称心衰),是各种心脏疾病的终末期阶段,其发病机制与免疫炎症密切相关。免疫细胞激活后,产生大量炎症因子,损伤心肌细胞,导致心肌纤维化、心室重构等病理改变。“毒损心络”是心衰发生、发展的主要病机,贯穿心衰发展的始终,以不同的形式影响心衰的发展及预后。该文通过查阅相关文献,基于毒邪与络病学说,从免疫炎症与心衰的关系及中药防治进行系统梳理,提出心衰早期,以心气虚为主,兼心气阴虚,尚未化毒、入络;心衰中期,心气亏虚为本,痰浊、瘀血、水饮留滞络脉,有化毒、入络趋势;心衰晚期,痰、瘀、水蕴结成毒,损伤心络。中药以复方治疗为主,多具有益气温阳、化瘀利水、解毒通络之功效,通过恢复M1/M2、Th1/Th2及Th17/Treg细胞之间的动态平衡,调节促炎/抗炎因子,从根本上祛除或缓解因毒邪产生的病理状态,减轻炎症,调整心之气血阴阳,达到扶正祛邪、保护心功能的作用,为临床防治心衰提供指导。

基于正邪理论探讨Th17/Treg细胞在慢性心衰中的作用

慢性心力衰竭是多种心血管疾病的终末期阶段,心肌损伤后,免疫介导的Th17、Treg细胞在心衰的发病机制具有关键作用,通过分泌炎症因子,导致心肌纤维化、心室重塑。中医正邪理论内涵丰富,对于认识Th17/Treg细胞与心衰的发展及相互作用具有指导意义,隶属于正邪理论范畴,即Th17/Treg细胞平衡,有利于维持机体的免疫平衡,属于“正气”范畴;Th17/Treg细胞失衡可能破坏机体内环境的稳定,导致免疫异常,促进疾病的发生,属于“邪气”范畴。基于此,作者以正邪理论为切入点,从宏观、微观角度来阐述Th17/Treg细胞在慢性心力衰竭发展中的作用,提出心衰早期,正虚为主,邪实为辅;心衰中期,正虚邪实;心衰晚期,邪实为主,正虚为辅;心衰终末期,正虚为主。临床通过扶正祛邪,调整机体正邪平衡,恢复机体Th17/Treg细胞的动态平衡,以期为中医理论阐述Th17/Treg在心衰的发展作用的现代研究奠定基础,为心衰的诊治提供新的理论依据。

象性合参论远志效用特色与优势

采用药性与法象理论合参方法,融合现代药理与临床认识,阐释远志双调心神的作用机制,为远志治疗难治性病证提供药学与临床依据。研究发现,远志的特殊药象是其宁心安神功效的药材学基础,结合其“辛烈开窍”的性能特点,采用象性合参的方法,不仅有助于理解远志双调心神的特殊功效及其“安神不闭窍,开窍不动神”的药效特点,而且对认识用其治心神疾患、睡眠紊乱以及惊风、中风、癫痫等病证的作用优势,也提供了“象思维”的路径。象性合参还可揭示远志交通心肾的作用机制,并与其双调心神作用结合,拓展治疗心神失常之应用范围。因此,运用象性合参阐释远志的多重药理效用,是探析其治疗疑难杂病机制的重要方法。