At Time 2, the mother-adolescent dyads were contacted again at the end of the academic year, of which 304 dyads participated in the survey. The longitudinal model generated results similar to that of Time 1. Path analysis revealed that gender differences emerged in the complexity of the model. For girls, all stressors except emotional autonomy contributed to parenting stress, which in turn negatively influenced parenting style. Maternal control mediated the negative impact of parenting stress on achievement aspirations. However, parenting style did not predict girls' perceived academic competence. For boys, all stressors except emotional autonomy predicted parenting stress, which in turn impaired the quality of parenting style. However, parenting style did not predict any of boys' adjustment outcomes. Instead, emotional autonomy had a direct negative impact on achievement aspirations and perceived academic competence. / Based on results derived at Time 2, the model was revised and gender differences were tested using multi-sample analyses. In the final model, parenting stress had an indirect effect on girls' achievement aspirations through the mediation of parental control, whereas parenting stress had a direct effect on boys' achievement aspirations. However, only maternal academic distress predicted adolescent perceived academic competence in both genders. / The present dissertation broadened current literature in the area by proposing an integrated model of parenting stress. Findings suggested intervention to target at mother's parenting self-efficacy, and parenting alliance to ameliorate the stresses and burden of child caring. However, the validity of the findings may be impeded by limitations in relation to methodology. Implications for future research on parenting stress were discussed in detail. / There is no doubt that parenting is one of the most taxing roles. The issue of parenting stress is a complex phenomenon that requires research to be guided by theory and models (Abidin, 1990), without which advancement in the area would not be possible. The present dissertation was an attempt to propose an integrated model of parenting stress among Chinese mothers with children advancing from primary to secondary school. The integrated model was a modification of Abidin's (1992) model in that variables appropriate to the child's developmental stage and the Chinese culture were incorporated. The model postulated that parenting-relevant stressors/resources were predictive of parenting stress. Parenting stress then had a negative impact on adolescent outcomes through the mediation of parenting style. Negative outcomes would further accentuate parenting stress, thus creating a vicious cycle of maladaptiveness. The validity of the model in predicting adolescent achievement aspirations and perceived academic competence was tested at two time points over a 6-month interval. At Time 1, the cross-sectional model was tested in 510 mother-adolescent dyads. Results of path analysis revealed substantial gender differences. For girls, adolescent emotional autonomy, maternal academic distress, parenting alliance and parenting self-efficacy contributed to parenting stress. Parenting stress had a direct effect on parenting style and indirect effect on girls' achievement aspirations and perceived academic competence through the mediation of parental control. For boys, all the stressors except emotional autonomy contributed to parenting stress. Parenting stress had a direct effect on parenting style. However, parenting style did not mediate the effect of parenting stress as both parental control and parental responsiveness failed to explain boys' outcomes. Instead, boys' emotional autonomy contributed directly to lower levels of achievement aspirations and perceived academic competence. / Lai, Pui Yee. / "June 2007." / Adviser: Catherine S. K. Tang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-01, Section: B, page: 0717. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-165). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

作为一个新的研宄范式，行为金融（behavioral finance)最本质的特征是应用心理学的发现去诊察人们的决策制定过程。然而，这些相关应用在投资决策领域，尤其是动态投资组合优化领域，仍然处于初级阶段。期望效用理论框架下的经典投资组合优化模型在数学上对应的是一个容易处理的凸优化_题，而建立在Kahneman and Tversky 前景理论（Prospect Theory, P T ) 基础上的行为投资组合优化模型则常常变成一个非凸的（non-convex)或者时间不一致的(time inconsistent)优化問题。因此，如何恰当地把行为金融领域的新发现应用到实际的资产组合选择中去仍然是个难题。本论文的目标正是想推动这一理论在实践中的应用：我们首先把投资者的心理特征建模到一个标准动态投资组合模型中，然后在由模型推导出来的最优投资策略中找出这些新特征的影响。 / 为了达到这一目标，本论文由探讨投资者行为与投资组合优化的三个独立研宄组成。在第一个研宄中，基于前景理论的S-型价值函数（S-shaped value function)，我们建立了一个多期动态资产组合优化的一般模型。不同于期望效用理论下的经典模型，行为金融理论下的投资组合模型在数学上往往是提法不当的（ill-posed)，常常会得出无穷最优解。He and Zhou [2011]在他们的单期模型中已经非常明确地指出了这一点。因此，我们首先在多期模型框架下找出能限制无穷最优解出现的条件，然后在这些条件之下我们推导出半显式的最优投资策略。特别地，我们发现在两类特殊情形下最优投资策略具有简单的(分片）线性反馈形式。这两类情形分别是：一类是服从任意分布的单个风险资产模型，另一类是服从椭圆分布的多个风险资产模型。也就是说，在这两种情形下分片幂函数型效用函数（S-型价值函数）对应于最优投资策略中的分片线性反馈机制。作为副产品，我们还发现引导出的每一期损失规避测度(induced loss aversion measure)具有时间单调性：它们会随着时间的推移而增大。这种单调性表明一个损失规避型投资者（loss-averse investor)的风险态度在他的整个投资周期里是随着时间变化而变化的。这也进一步为文献中关于投资期限效应（horizon effect)-长期投资者的投资策略是否应该与短期投资者的投资策略不同-这一长期争论的解决提供了线索。 / 在第二个研宄中，我们考察了动态参考水平（dynamic reference p o i n t ) 对于理解、刻画投资者在动态环境下的行为，以及他们的投资模式的作用。基于Arkes et al [2008, 2010]提出的人们看待损失和赢利的不同方式，我们在前景理论的框架下建立了一个参考水平的动态理论模型，并求出了对应的多期投资组合优化模型的半显示解。利用模型推导出来的最优持股股数的U-型属性，我们可以进一步说明人们在对待过去的损失和赢利时表现出来的非对称的自我调整方式与人们在股票交易中表现出来的非对称的交易行为-处置效应(disposition effect)-是有关联的。换句话说，动态参考水平的非对称调整方式在最优策略中表现为非对称的交易行为。我们的实验结果也进一步支持我们提出的理论模型。 / 除了时间维度的变化，我们有理由相信参考水平在空间维度也是不断变换的。作为社会性动物，我们的选择、决策不可避免地会受到身边亲朋好友的影响。我们的第三个研宄正是致力于考察这种社会互动过程。我们考察了PT型投资者与其它市场参与者（比如CRRA型投资者或者其它PT型投资者）的相互影响，以及他们的长期财富水平的收敛性_题。在一个PT型投资者与CRRA型投资者的互动模型中，PT型投资者明确知道CRRA型投资者的最优期末财富水平，并以此作为他的参考水平。如果PT型投资者的初始财富高于CRRA型投资者，那么他只要模仿CRRA型投资者的投资策略就可以保持优势，可以一直做得比CRRA型投资者好。另一方面，如果PT型投资者的初始财富低于CRRA型投资者，那么他只要采取一种“冒险投资策略就可以依然做得比CRRA型投资者好。当交易双方都是PT型投资者时，参考水平的选取可以有两种不同的方式：一种是，两个PT型投资者都以他们的平均财富作为参考水平；另一种是，两个PT型投资者以彼此的财富水平作为自己的参考水平。我们给出了在这两种方式下他们的长期财富得以收敛的充分条件。最后，我们讨论了在给定初始财富水平的情况下，交易双方如何选择最优参考水平的_题。我们从一个简单的博弈模型出发，得到了一个不是很令人满意的结果：在某些情况下均衡不存在。因而，将来我们需要寻找更好的模型去进一步探讨投资者间的这种社会互动与社会影响。 / The most fundamental aspect of the new paradigm of behavioral finance is the relevance of psychological insights in examining decision-making. However, this relevance is still in its early stage in the context of investment decision, especially in the context of dynamic portfolio selection. While the standard preference structure in Expected Utility Theory (EUT) leads to a tractable concave maximization formulation, the new psychological features of Kahneman and Tversky's Prospect Theory (PT), which is frequently applied in behavioral finance, often make related dynamic investment models non-convex and time inconsistent in the sense of optimization, thus intractable in general. Consequently, it is still not easy for us to properly apply insights from behavioral finance in the area of portfolio selection. The goal of this thesis is to translate some remarkable psychological insights associated with P T into investment details by including them in standard dynamic portfolio selection models and then reflecting them in the derived optimal policy. / To achieve this goal, this thesis is composed of three studies on investor behaviors and portfolio models. In the first study, we formulate and investigate a general multi period behavioral portfolio selection model under PT, featuring an S-shaped value function. Unlike the classical expected utility maximization model, a behavioral portfolio model could be easily ill-posed (i.e., infinitely leveraging an asset is optimal for the investor), as He and Zhou [2011] already noticed in their single-period model. Hence, we first discuss the ill-posedness issue and identify the conditions for the well-posedness under a multi-period framework. To be more specific, we show that the well-posedness of a multi-period portfolio selection problem can be characterized in terms of an induced loss aversion measure. Under these well-posedness conditions, we then derive the semi-analytical optimal policy. In particular, for a market of one risky asset or a market of multiple risky assets which follow the elliptical distributions, the optimal behavioral portfolio policy takes a (piecewise) linear feedback form. In other words, the piecewise power utility function (S-shaped value function) is reflected in the derived optimal policy in the form of a piecewise linear feedback policy. As a byproduct, we also find that the induced loss aversion measures for individual time periods tend to increase as the terminal time approaches. This monotonicity property, which implies a changing risk attitude of a loss-averse investor during his investment periods, may shed light on the debate of horizon effect: whether or not a long horizon investor should allocate his wealth differently from a short horizon investor. / In the second study, we investigate the role of dynamic reference point to understand investors' behavior and describe their investment patterns in dynamic situations. In the framework of P T preference, we formulate the dynamics of the reference point by relating it to the way people perceive prior gains and losses, as suggested by Arkes et al [2008, 2010], and then derive a semi-analytical solution for a reference point adapted multi-period portfolio selection model, featuring a piecewise linear utility. Based on an optimal U-shape stock holding property predicted by our model, we further build a linkage between the asymmetric updating rule in reference point adaptation and the asymmetric trading behavior, i.e., the disposition effect. In other words, the asymmetric adaptation of the reference point is reflected in the derived optimal policy in the form of an asymmetric trading pattern. Our experiment also supports the proposed theoretical model. / Besides variation in the time dimension, there are good reasons to believe that the reference point should also change in the spatial dimension. As social animals, our choices and decisions are Inevitably Influenced by our friends and neighbors. In the third study, we address the social interaction process in which PT preferences are influenced by other market participants, e.g., the regular CRRA (Constant Relative Risk Averse) investors or other PT investors, and then study the long run wealth convergence of the two trading parties: one PT agent vs. one CRRA agent or both agents are of PT types. In the one PT agent vs. one CRRA agent model, the PT agent knows the CRRA agent's optimal terminal wealth and takes it as his reference point. If the PT agent also starts with a higher initial wealth level than that of the CRRA agent, he will always do better than the CRRA agent by imitating the CRRA agent's policy. On the other hand, if the PT agent starts with a lower wealth level than that of the CRRA agent, he can still do better than the CRRA agent by adopting a “gambling policy. When both trading parties are PT type investors, we consider two types of reference points: either both PT agents take their average wealth as their reference point or they are mutual reference dependent. Under both situations, we give sufficient conditions on the long run wealth convergence. Finally, we discuss the question: what is the best reference point for both PT agents when their initial wealth levels are given? We start with a simple gamble model and conclude with an unsatisfactory result: no equilibrium pair exists in some situations. Thus, more research efforts are needed in this direction in the future. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Shi, Yun. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves i-vi). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Abstract in Chinese --- p.iv / Acknowledgements --- p.vii / Contents --- p.viii / Notations --- p.xii / List of Tables --- p.xvi / List of Figures --- p.xvii / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2. --- Discrete-time Behavioral Portfolio Selection under Prospect Theory --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1. --- Introduction --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2. --- Model Setting --- p.10 / Chapter 2.3. --- Markets with a Single Risky Asset --- p.15 / Chapter 2.4. --- Markets with Multiple Risky Assets following Elliptical Distribution --- p.24 / Chapter 2.5. --- Numerical Study --- p.33 / Chapter 2.6. --- Conclusion --- p.42 / Chapter 2.7. --- Appendices --- p.43 / Chapter 2.7.1. --- Proof of Proposition 2.1 --- p.43 / Chapter 2.7.2. --- Lemmas Used in the Proof of Proposition 2.4 --- p.44 / Chapter 2.7.3. --- Proof of Proposition 2.4 --- p.46 / Chapter 2.7.4. --- Proof of Theorem 2.3 --- p.49 / Chapter 2.7.5. --- Lemma Used in the Proof of Theorem 2.4 --- p.50 / Chapter 2.7.6. --- Proof of Theorem 2.4 --- p.51 / Chapter 3. --- Asymmetric Reference Point Adaptation and its Implication in Deriving the Disposition Effect --- p.56 / Chapter 3.1. --- Introduction --- p.56 / Chapter 3.2. --- Behavioral Portfolio Selection Model with Reference Point Adaptation --- p.61 / Chapter 3.2.1. --- Market Setting --- p.61 / Chapter 3.2.2. --- Self-justification and Positive Reinforcement Reference Point Adaptation --- p.62 / Chapter 3.2.3. --- Multi-period Utility Maximization with Reference Point Adaptation --- p.66 / Chapter 3.2.4. --- Solution to Problem (P) and U-shape Property --- p.68 / Chapter 3.2.5. --- Application: Asymmetric Reference Point Adaptation Drives an Asymmetric Trading Behavior --- p.73 / Chapter 3.3. --- Discussion: Why Asymmetric Adaptation Rule Matters? --- p.80 / Chapter 3.4. --- Experimental Study --- p.83 / Chapter 3.4.1. --- Experiment Method --- p.83 / Chapter 3.4.2. --- Participants --- p.84 / Chapter 3.4.3. --- Design and Procedure --- p.84 / Chapter 3.4.4. --- Hypotheses --- p.86 / Chapter 3.4.5. --- Summary Results --- p.87 / Chapter 3.4.6. --- Test of a Simple Version g(·) --- p.91 / Chapter 3.5. --- Alternative Formulation of Asymmetric Reference Point Adaptation --- p.92 / Chapter 3.5.1. --- Alternative Formulation --- p.92 / Chapter 3.5.2. --- Multi-period Portfolio Selection Model and its Solution --- p.94 / Chapter 3.6. --- Conclusion --- p.99 / Chapter 3.7. --- Appendices --- p.100 / Chapter 3.7.1. --- Proof of Theorem 3.1 --- p.100 / Chapter 3.7.2. --- Proof of Theorem 3.2 --- p.103 / Chapter 3.7.3. --- Instructions to Participants --- p.105 / Chapter 4. --- Interactive Formation of the Reference Point in a Game Model --- p.108 / Chapter 4.1. --- Introduction and Literature --- p.108 / Chapter 4.2. --- CRRA Agent vs. PT Agent --- p.112 / Chapter 4.2.1. --- Theoretical Model --- p.112 / Chapter 4.2.2. --- Toy Example-1: One-step Success? --- p.114 / Chapter 4.3. --- PT-1 Agent vs. PT-2 Agent --- p.118 / Chapter 4.3.1. --- Average Wealth as Reference Point --- p.118 / Chapter 4.3.2. --- Toy Example-2: Converge or Diverge? --- p.120 / Chapter 4.3.3. --- Mutual Reference Dependence --- p.122 / Chapter 4.3.4. --- Toy Example-3: Converge or Diverge? --- p.123 / Chapter 4.4. --- Optimal Reference Point Selection --- p.125 / Chapter 4.4.1. --- Situation 1: Both PTs with Aggressive Targets --- p.127 / Chapter 4.4.2. --- Situation 2: PT-1 Agent with Conservative Target, PT-2 Agent with Aggressive Target --- p.130 / Chapter 4.5. --- Conclusion and Future Work --- p.133 / Chapter 4.6. --- Appendices --- p.136 / Chapter 4.6.1. --- Proof of Theorem 4.5 --- p.136 / Chapter 4.6.2. --- Proof of Theorem 4.6 --- p.137 / Chapter 4.6.3. --- Proof of Theorem 4.7 --- p.138 / Chapter 4.6.4. --- Proof of Theorem 4.8 --- p.141 / Chapter 5. --- Conclusion --- p.144 / Bibliography --- p.i

Thesis. 1976. M.Arch.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Rotch. / Bibliography: leaves 279-285. / M.Arch.

Wong, Yuen Shan Noel. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-66). / Abstracts in English and Chinese, appendix also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / 摘要 --- p.iii / Acknowledgement --- p.iv / Table of Content --- p.v / Lists of Tables --- p.vii / Lists of Figures --- p.viii / Chapter CHAPTER 1. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Background --- p.1 / Overview of Emotional Labor --- p.3 / Antecedents of Emotional Labor --- p.4 / Consequences of Emotional Labor --- p.6 / Moderators --- p.9 / Moderating Effects on the Display Rule-Emotion Regulation Relations --- p.12 / Emotional stability and extraversion --- p.14 / Person-job fit and person-organization Fit --- p.18 / Moderating Effects on the Emotion Regulation-Negative Outcomes Relations --- p.21 / Emotional stability and extraversion --- p.22 / Person-job fit and person-organization Fit --- p.23 / Chapter CHAPTER 2. --- METHOD --- p.28 / Participants --- p.28 / Measures --- p.29 / Analysis Plan --- p.32 / Chapter CHAPTER 3. --- RESULTS --- p.35 / Descriptive Analyses --- p.35 / Structural Equation Modeling --- p.38 / Chapter CHAPTER 4. --- DISCUSSION --- p.48 / Moderating Effects on the Display Rules-Deep Acting Relation --- p.48 / Moderating Effects on the Display Rules-Surface Acting Relation --- p.52 / Moderating Effects on the Emotion Regulation-Outcomes Relations --- p.53 / Common Method Variance --- p.53 / Limitations --- p.55 / Implications --- p.56 / Chapter CHAPTER 5. --- CONCLUSION --- p.58 / References --- p.59 / Appendix --- p.67

No description available.

One of the most powerful and life-changing events that can occur in the life of a family is the death of a child. Researchers who have studied death and bereavement suggest that a child's death has a dramatic impact on parents. However, little is known about the ways in which child loss influences a parent's sense of identity and subsequent parental behavior. The purpose of this study was to explore how the life event of having a child die affects parents in their sense of identity and behavior as a mother or father. It was also to search for common patterns and themes in parental accounts of a child's death that provide a better understanding of this topic. Individual mothers and fathers were interviewed and asked about their experience in losing a child, and how this experience shaped their feelings of identity and parental behavior in relation to both the deceased child and their other children. Nineteen mothers and fathers who had children die as a result of accidental causes or illness were interviewed. Interview transcripts were qualitatively analyzed for content. Findings were broken into four primary categories: (a) parental experience in the context of loss; (b) impact of a child's death on parental identity; (c) parental behavior in relation to the deceased child; and (d) parental behavior in relation to surviving children. The findings provided support to the idea that a child's death has a significant impact on parental identity and a parent's subsequent behavior. The findings demonstrated that how a child dies is a critical factor in how parents experience the loss. The findings related to parental identity show that parents struggle with their sense of competence, mourn the lost parent-child bond, and feel a loss of parental hopes for the future. The findings about parental behavior in relation to the deceased child suggest that connecting with and remembering the child in diverse ways are fundamental aspects of parental behavior after a child's death. The findings also show that a child's death shapes surviving parent-child relationships as parents mediate the loss experience for children, become more protective, and increase their parental efforts in behalf of children. / Graduation date: 2000

The purpose of this study was to determine whether changes in physical space impacted preschool children's cooperative behavior. These changes in physical space included differentiated and undifferentiated ceiling height and wall color. This study used an experimental design with subjects experiencing four conditions each. The sample consisted of 30 preschool children across four different half-day preschool classes in a preschool laboratory on a university campus. Children were assigned to small groups of four children. Each group was comprised of two boys and two girls. The groups experienced each condition for five minutes each week over a four-week period. A multivariate repeated-measures analysis was used to determine whether the predictor variables: age, gender, and condition, were related to the outcome variable of cooperative behavior. There was a significant main effect for Condition on children's cooperative behavior. Post-hoc comparisons revealed the cooperative behavior scores of children in the condition with a differentiated ceiling and an undifferentiated wall color to be significantly higher than all other conditions. A polynomial contrast revealed a nonlinear relationship between the conditions. Additionally, older children were more cooperative than younger children. Boys were more cooperative than girls. In differentiated spaces, whether in ceiling height or in wall color, children's cooperative behavior scores increased. Physical spaces where ceiling height and wall color were both undifferentiated or differentiated appeared to depress children's cooperative behavior scores. The undifferentiated space may have not been stimulating enough to enhance children's cooperative behavior, while the space with both differentiation in the ceiling height and wall color may have been overstimulating for preschool children. Administrators and planners of children's play spaces must be aware of how overly simple or highly complex environments can negatively impact on children's development. / Graduation date: 1997

Adaptation to role transitions can have various outcomes. Health and demographic characteristics as well as environmental control have been shown to affect the transition to the role of patient. The acutely ill elderly's adaptation to the role of hospitalized patient has not been measured from the elderly patient's perspective. This study utilized a random sample of 176 hospitalized elderly medical-surgical patients and the patients' registered nurses to examine the relationships among demographic and health characteristics, latitude of choice and elderly hospitalized patient adjustment. Patients were excluded who had been in ICU for more than 24 hours, had decreased mental status, or were judged to be too physically ill to participate. The study used an adaptation of the Latitude of Choice Scale (a measure of environmental control) developed by Hulicka and colleagues, a nurse-rated hospitalized patient adjustment scale developed by Cicirelli, and an adaptation of the adjustment scale for patients' self-assessment. Results from a series of multiple regression analyses indicate that, taken as a group, neither demographic nor health characteristics predict environmental control, as measured by the adapted version of the Latitude of Choice Scale (LOC). However, one individual health characteristic, length of time since last hospitalization, was a negative predictor of LOC. Further, the results indicate that taken as a group, health and demographic characteristics, along with patient LOC scores are not predictive of either nurse or patient-rated adaptation. The individual health characteristic "patient acuity rating" did negatively predict both nurse and patient-rated adjustment scores. Nurse-rated patient adjustment scores were also negatively predicted by the participants' prior number of hospitalizations. A paired-t test indicated that patients rated themselves significantly better adjusted than did their nurses. This finding was judged to be clinically unimportant because of the small real difference in the mean scores. Random-effects ANOVA found no significant variance between nurses' ratings of patients. / Graduation date: 1991

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

Holistic processing and left-side bias are both behavioral markers of expert face recognition. In contrast, expertise in Chinese character recognition involves left-side bias but reduced holistic processing (Hsiao & Cottrell, 2009). Here I hypothesized that this reduction in holistic processing may be related to writing rather than reading experience. In Experiment 1, I tested Chinese literates who could read and write Chinese characters fluently (Writers), and Chinese literates who had limited writing practices and thus had reading performance far exceeding their writing ability (Limited-writers). I found that Writers perceived Chinese characters less holistically than Limited-writers. In contrast to what previous research suggested, reduction in holistic processing in Chinese readers depended on writing experience instead of reading performance. In addition, reading performance was affected by font familiarity and context for Limited-writers but not Writers. Writing experience seems to enhance analytic processing and awareness of orthographic components of Chinese characters, which may in turn facilitate reading in unfamiliar fonts. By contrast, both Writers and Limited-writers showed a similar level of left-side bias in processing symmetric Chinese characters, suggesting that left-side bias is a consistent expertise marker for orthographic processing uninfluenced by writing experience. In Experiment 2, I investigate the developmental trend of holistic processing in Chinese character recognition and its relationship with reading and writing abilities by testing Chinese children who were learning Chinese at a public elementary school in Hong Kong on these abilities. I found that the holistic processing effect of Chinese characters in children was reduced as they reached higher grades; this reduction was driven by enhanced Chinese literacy rather than age. In addition, I found that writing performance predicts reading performance through reduced holistic processing as a mediator. Overall, the results of this study suggest that writing hones analytic processing, which is essential for expert Chinese character recognition, and in turn facilitates learning to read in Chinese. This study is also the first to identify Limited-writers as a window onto basic processes of reading. / HKU 3 Minute Thesis Award, 2nd Runner-up (2012) / published_or_final_version / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy