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Previous findings on the association between theory of mind (ToM) and aggression in children are mixed. The "social skills deficit view" regarded ToM as a "single-edged sword" and proposed that a lack of ToM can lead to aggression, while the "double-edged sword view" proposed that children with advanced ToM can still show much aggression because children can also leverage ToM to harm others. To resolve the dispute between the two views, we conducted a meta-analysis combining cross-sectional and longitudinal findings from 53 studies including a total of 11,579 children aged between 2 and 15 years. The overall negative correlation between ToM and aggression was small but significant (r = -0.08). The negative correlation was robust, with the magnitude of the correlation being similar across physical versus relational aggression, proactive versus reactive aggression, cognitive versus affective ToM, preschoolers versus school-aged children, different aggression measurements, and different levels of societal individualism. Moreover, the negative correlation was found regardless of whether ToM and aggression were measured concurrently or at different time points, but the correlation was the largest when ToM was measured before aggression. Whether the aggression was bullying or not also moderated the association, with ToM only being negatively related to non-bullying aggression but not bullying. Together, these findings suggest that ToM is a "single-edged sword" to decrease general aggression and that aggression might also give rise to lower ToM capacity during development.

Regret is a negative emotion that individuals experience when they perceive the actual outcome of a given situation to be less desirable than the counterfactual outcome. Experiences of regret generally manifest in the form of both sadness (emotional regret) and a tendency to change associated decision-making (behavioral regret). Prior studies employing a box selection paradigm suggest that children begin experiencing emotional regret at approximately 6 years of age. However, behavioral regret remains a less well-studied phenomenon in children. Herein, we explored both forms of regret among 143 children (8-12 years old) using a sequential risk-taking task (the devil task). These analyses revealed that children were able to experience both emotional and behavioral regret, although they were more sensitive to the former relative to the latter. No significant correlations were observed between these two varieties of regret, and the children exhibited higher regret sensitivity to missed opportunities rather than to losses. These findings suggest that emotional regret and behavioral regret may be subject to distinct developmental trajectories and adaptive significance. Further studies should thus take both of these forms of regret into consideration when studying relevant outcomes., Author(s): Zan Liu [sup.1] , Ye Hong [sup.1] , Yanjie Su [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) https://ror.org/02v51f717, grid.11135.37, 0000 0001 2256 9319, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory [...]

Previous studies suggested that the degree of pupil dilation distinguishes between different levels of flight cadets, particularly, in terms of task performance. In other words, pupil dilation is heavily influenced by cognitive load, and, therefore, may reflect flight ability. However, few researches paid attention to this correlation. In this study, we analyzed the eye movement performances of 40 flight cadets and 17 pilots performing a simulated airplane panel task, and assessed the flight ability and executive function (EF) of flight cadets. Based on our analysis, there was a marked negative correlation between cognitive load-induced pupil dilation and flight ability and training success. Moreover, considering the correlation between executive function and flight ability, upon adjustment of EF, pupil dilation still retained a unique predictive effect. Our results revealed that cadets who use less cognitive resources to complete tasks tend to have better flight abilities. Given these evidences, pupil dilation, caused by cognitive load, can serve as a potential indicator for pilot selection., Author(s): Zhong Zheng [sup.1] , Shihuan Gao [sup.1] , Yanjie Su [sup.1] , Yulu Chen [sup.2] , Xieshun Wang [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) https://ror.org/02v51f717, grid.11135.37, 0000 0001 2256 9319, School [...]

Reciprocity is a potential issue in college teaching if professors benefit students in return for better student evaluation results. The reciprocity in college teaching is framed as kind intention and consequence, including teaching styles, attendance requirement, delivery mode, grading and course difficulty. This study explored whether and to what extent reciprocity exists in these forms. A dataset containing 9,543,998 records on 919,750 professors from ratemyprofessor.com was used. The results show that reciprocity exists in the five forms to different extents. The reciprocity in attendance requirement and delivery mode is relatively minor. We suggest that the reciprocity in teaching styles is instrumental to the transformation from the teacher-centred approach to the student-centered approach, that professors need not feel pressured to change courses into attendance-flexible or in-person courses, and that the reciprocity in grading and course difficulty may cause goal displacement and impair teaching effectiveness.

Empathy for pain in daily life is more complex than in lab settings and involved higher cognitive abilities. In order to investigate the role of executive function in preschoolers' empathy for pain, we investigated the role of three subcomponents of executive function (inhibitory control, working memory and cognitive flexibility) in children's empathy for pain, and recorded the attentional process with eye tracking (N = 46). Results showed that inhibitory control (IC) and working memory (WM) were associated with preschool children's empathy for pain and moderated the effect of physical cue on empathy for pain. With higher IC and WM, there was a higher difference in empathy caused by cue type. Eye-tracking results showed that attention partially mediated the roles of inhibitory control and working memory. These results suggested that both executive function and attention were important for children to make accurate empathic responses for pain.