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.

Second-order consensus in networks of dynamic agents with communication time-delays

This paper proposes second-order consensus protocols with time-delays and gives the measure of the robustness of the protocols to the time-delay existing in the network of agents with second-order dynamics. By employing a frequency domain method, it is proven that the information states and their time derivatives of all the agents in the network achieve consensus asymptotically, respectively, for appropriate communication timedelay if the topology of weighted network is connected. Particularly, a tight upper bound on the communication time-delay that can be tolerated in the dynamic network is found. The consensus protocols are distributed in the sense that each agent only needs information from its neighboring agents, which reduces the complexity of connections between neighboring agents significantly. Numerical simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and the sharpness of the theoretical results for second-order consensus in networks in the presence of communication time-delays.

Approximate Controllability of Second-Order Neutral Stochastic Differential Equations with Infinite Delay and Poisson Jumps

The modelling of risky asset by stochastic processes with continuous paths, based on Brow- nian motions, suffers from several defects. First, the path continuity assumption does not seem reason- able in view of the possibility of sudden price variations （jumps） resulting of market crashes. A solution is to use stochastic processes with jumps, that will account for sudden variations of the asset prices. On the other hand, such jump models are generally based on the Poisson random measure. Many popular economic and financial models described by stochastic differential equations with Poisson jumps. This paper deals with the approximate controllability of a class of second-order neutral stochastic differential equations with infinite delay and Poisson jumps. By using the cosine family of operators, stochastic analysis techniques, a new set of sufficient conditions are derived for the approximate controllability of the above control system. An example is provided to illustrate the obtained theory.

Second-order interference of two independent and tunable single-mode continuous-wave lasers

The second-order temporal interference of two independent single-mode continuous-wave lasers is discussed by em- ploying two-photon interference in Feynman＇s path integral theory. It is concluded that whether the second-order temporal interference pattern can or cannot be retrieved via two-photon coincidence counting rate is dependent on the resolution time of the detection system and the frequency difference between these two lasers. Two identical and tunable single-mode continuous-wave diode lasers are employed to verify the predictions. These studies are helpful to understand the physics of two-photon interference with photons of different spectra.

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.

Oscillation of Second-Order Half-Linear Neutral Advanced Differential Equations

The purpose of this paper is to study the oscillation of second-order half-linear neutral differential equations with advanced argument of the form(r(t)((y(t)+p(t)y(τ(t)))')^(α))'+q(t)yα(σ(t))=0,t≥t_(0),when∫^(∞)r^(−1/α)(s)ds<∞.We obtain sufficient conditions for the oscillation of the studied equations by the inequality principle and the Riccati transformation.An example is provided to illustrate the results.

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.

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.

An R(x)-orthonormal theory for the vibration performance of a non-smooth symmetric composite beam with complex interface

A composite beam is symmetric if both the material property and support are symmetric with respect to the middle point. In order to study the free vibration performance of the symmetric composite beams with different complex nonsmooth/discontinuous interfaces, we develop an R(x)-orthonormal theory, where R(x) is an integrable flexural rigidity function. The R(x)-orthonormal bases in the linear space of boundary functions are constructed, of which the second-order derivatives of the boundary functions are asked to be orthonormal with respect to the weight function R(x). When the vibration modes of the symmetric composite beam are expressed in terms of the R(x)-orthonormal bases we can derive an eigenvalue problem endowed with a special structure of the coefficient matrix A :=[aij ],aij= 0 if i + j is odd. Based on the special structure we can prove two new theorems, which indicate that the characteristic equation of A can be decomposed into the product of the characteristic equations of two sub-matrices with dimensions half lower. Hence, we can sequentially solve the natural frequencies in closed-form owing to the specialty of A. We use this powerful new theory to analyze the free vibration performance and the vibration modes of symmetric composite beams with three different interfaces.

Nonlinear Time-Domain Theory for the Simulation of Moored Floating Body Motion

Nonlinear wave loads can induce low-frequency and high-frequency resonance motions of a moored platform in deep water. For the analysis of the nonlinear response of an offshore platform under the action of irregular waves, the most widely used method in practice is the Cummins method, in which the second-order exciting forces in the time domain are computed by a two-term Volterra series model based on incident waves, first-order body motion response, and quadratic transfer functions(QTFs). QTFs are bichromatic waves acting on a body and are computed in the frequency domain in advance. For moving bodies, QTFs are related to the first-order body response, which is to be determined in the simulation process of body motion response but is unknown in the computation procedure of QTFs. In solving this problem, Teng and Cong(2017) proposed a method to divide the QTFs into different components,which are unrelated to the body response. With the application of the new QTF components, a modified Cummins method can be developed for the simulation of the nonlinear response of a moored floating platform. This paper presents a review of the theory.

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.

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.

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。

中国心学的多重意蕴

中国心学具有多重意蕴:一是广义的心学,凡重视心,对心及心与诸范畴的关系展开系统论述的即是广义之心学,包括儒家心性之学等;二是佛教、道教心学,其以心本论为特征,并对理学产生了重要影响;三是心本论心学,指以心为宇宙万物的本原、万物之所以存在的根据的心学,这是比较典型的心学,以陆王心学等为代表,当然也包括了佛教、道教心学。多重意蕴之心学,包括儒佛道三教融合与互动,促进了中国心学的演变发展,体现了中国哲学重视哲学思辨和主体意识,注重道德理性,突出主体思维,强调内省修养,培养理想人格等基本特征,是合本体论、认识论、伦理学、人性论和修养论为一体的思辨性哲学体系。