Racial identity and preference in Native and White Canadian children.

56 White and 44 Native (Indian) kindergartners and 1st graders were asked by a White or Indian experimenter to answer questions about their racial identity and preferences. Consistent with predictions from accessibility theory, Ss of both races made more accurate self-identifications when tested by an Indian experimenter, this effect being greater for Native Ss. Racial preferences showed a strong White bias, results consistent with both the escape and the light color bias hypotheses. Results are discussed in term of R. B. Zajone's (see record 1980-09733-001) distinction between cognitive and affective processes. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions of intentions and fairness judgments regarding interracial peer encounters.

To investigate how adolescents interpret ambiguous actions in hypothetical interracial peer encounters, we conducted a study in which 8th- and 11th-grade students (N = 837) evaluated 4 interracial peer encounters in which the intentions of the protagonist were ambiguous. The sample was evenly divided by gender and included both African American and European American adolescents. European American students, male adolescents, and 8th graders were more likely to attribute negative intentions to the protagonist in interracial exchanges than were African American students, female adolescents, and 11th graders. Although all participants viewed peer and teacher accusations of wrongdoing in ambiguous situations as unfair, ethnic minority students as well as female adolescents rated accusations of wrongdoing as more unfair than did ethnic majority or male adolescents. Eleventh graders were more likely to view accusations of wrongdoing for protagonists with a prior history of transgression as fair than were 8th graders. The findings are discussed in light of efforts to reduce prejudice and to facilitate positive intergroup peer interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Solving compare problems: An eye movement test of Lewis and Mayer's consistency hypothesis.

According to A. Lewis and R. E. Mayer's (1987) simulation model for understanding compare problems, students make more comprehension errors when the order of the terms in the relational statement is not consistent with the preferred order. Three eye movement experiments, designed to test a number of hypotheses directly derived from this model, are discussed. The 1st experiment with university students solving 1-step compare problems revealed no evidence in favor of the model; the data of the 2nd experiment with 3rd graders, on the other hand, provided good support. To explain the results of the 1st experiment, a 3rd experiment was carried out in which university students were given a set of 2-step compare problems. The results from that study also fit with the model well, suggesting that the model holds true only when the task puts some cognitive demands on the S. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Young children's understanding of a speaker's intentional use of a false utterance.

72 1st and 3rd graders and college students were read short stories containing a terminal communication from a speaker to a listener. The consistency between the story and the terminal communication was manipulated by making factual information congruent or incongruent with the terminal utterance. The intentionality of the speaker's use of the utterance was manipulated by portraying the speaker as aware or unaware of the facts. S's understanding of the use of the utterance and of the relation between the utterance and the facts was assessed by questions. Results show that the 1st graders' responses to inconsistency were biased by a literal interpretative strategy; these children had little understanding of how to evaluate nonliteral intentionality in the use of an utterance. Third graders made mature interpretations of inconsistency in an utterance and had some understanding of the intentional use of a false utterance. This understanding increased with age. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The high school environment: A comparison of coeducational and single-sex schools.

2,029 10th and 12th graders from 5 coeducational, 4 all-female, and 4 all-male high schools completed measures of value climate and environmental press (High School Characteristics Index) to evaluate the hypotheses that, compared with single-sex schools, coeducational schools would be perceived by their students as placing (a) less emphasis on scholarship and achievement; (b) greater emphasis on affiliation and pleasurable, nonacademic activities; and (c) less emphasis on control and discipline. Support was attained for Hypotheses 2 and 3, whereas the evidence relevant to Hypothesis 1 was inconsistent. Results confirm those of other studies in suggesting that, at least from the perspective of most students, coeducational schools enjoy an advantage both in terms of attending to social–emotional needs and minimizing the necessity of regimentation and discipline. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Hey, would you like a nice cold cup of lemonade on this hot day": Children's understanding of economic causation.

Three experiments were performed to examine development of understanding of functional relations in economics by children between ages 4 and 10 years. Results of Experiment 1 indicated that preschoolers understood the effects of demand, and 2nd graders also understood the effects of supply, but even 4th graders often failed to demonstrate understanding of the effects of motivation and morality. In Experiment 2, 4th but not 2nd graders proved able to explain how motivation and morality might influence sales when told that these variables had an effect. In Experiment 3, 2nd and 4th graders' evaluations of the plausibility of other children's explanations of effects of motivation and morality showed evidence of understanding, though those of kindergartners did not. The data supported the 3 hypotheses that motivated the experiments: (a) direct links between causes and effects are understood before indirect ones, (b) positive correlations between causes and effects are understood before negative ones, and (c) variables that produce effects are understood before ones that do not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselors' judgments of the quality of the prescreening stage of the career decision-making process.

The first stage of the career decision-making process is prescreening, which aims at locating promising alternatives deserving further exploration. J. L. Holland's (1997) concepts of differentiation, consistency, and coherence were adapted to cases in which an individual's career-related preferences, which serve as guidelines for locating such promising alternatives, are expressed in many work aspects (e.g., length of training, income, work environment) and not merely in terms of vocational interests. The assumption was that, as for interests, the optimal starting point is crystallized preferences. Judgments of 29 career counseling psychologists and 48 counseling graduate students who were presented with information about the career-related preferences of 18 hypothetical clients supported the hypotheses that crystallized preferences are differentiated, that they are consistent, and that they are coherent. The judgments of these experts on 9 lists of occupations supported the hypothesis that the desirable outcome of the prescreening stage is a concise and homogeneous list of promising alternatives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rhymes and reasons: Some aspects of the child's appreciation of poetic form.

Investigated 18 1st and 3rd graders' appreciation of rhyme, rhythm, and alliteration in poetry. Several measures were used to assess each child's appreciation of the poetic devices. Even 1st graders exhibited some appreciation of rhyme and rhythm in poetry. These Ss displayed an ability to attend to these poetic devices as measured by a detection task, 2 concept learning tasks, and a production task. Moreover, they also expressed preferences for poetry samples containing these devices. However, such was not the case for alliteration. First graders experienced difficulty in attending to alliteration, and neither 1st nor 3rd graders displayed any tendency to prefer poems with alliteration. The results of a posttest questionnaire indicated that only a few children showed any understanding of how the devices function in poetry. It is concluded that although 1st graders have some rudimentary appreciation of rhyme and rhythm in poetry, the ability to understand how such devices function in poetry is a much later development. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The content and manipulation of cognitive maps in children and adults

Comparison of cognitive maps generated by first graders, fifth graders, and college students using a triangulation task revealed that the first graders possessed very accurate, coherent cognitive maps. However, analyses of the cognitive maps generated when Ss were asked to imagine either the room rotating (mental rotation) or themselves moving within the room (perspective-taking) revealed that the accuracy and completeness of the mental manipulation increased dramatically with age. Only the cognitive maps of the college students were coherent and accurate during mental rotation than during perspective-taking. Careful attention was given to the types of errors made, and several systematic error patterns were identified which reflected qualitative differences. These qualitative differences indicated mental manipulation was a two-stage process. In the first stage, a strategy of transformation was applied to the ordinal spatial relationships contained within the cognitive map. First graders evidenced difficulty here. In the second stage, more specific relationships between self and spatial layout were reconstructed. Fifth graders evidenced difficulty here. In contrast, college students were able to complete both stages of the process.     

Social or evolutionary theories? Some observations on preferences in human mate selection.

In this article, we extend the research by Buss and Barnes (1986) on preferences in human mate selection. Buss and Barnes explored human mate preferences by identifying major dimensions of preferences, sex differences in selection preferences, and the relations between mate preferences and characteristics of obtained partners. To examine these questions, Buss and Barnes studied two heterosexual samples. In discussing their findings, they specified two general theoretical orientations to understanding human mate preferences, the first based on social factors and the second based on principles of evolutionary biology. The relative adequacy of these two perspectives was not evaluated because as Buss and Barnes noted, the two sets of hypotheses are not inherently incompatible. In this extension of their research, we examine mate preferences in samples of both heterosexual and homosexual couples, using variation in sexual orientation to evaluate further the adequacy of social and evolutionary theories in explaining human mate preferences. Although some aspects of partner preferences are consistent with both theoretical orientations, we demonstrate that other patterns are explained more adequately by a social perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Field independence and imagery-assisted prose recall of children.

Studied 78 kindergartners and 65 3rd graders to investigate the hypotheses that (a) 3rd graders who scored above that grade's median in field independence would recall more when they were given imagery directions than 3rd graders low in field independence and controls, and (b) there is a strong positive correlation between recall of a story and field independence for 3rd graders given imagery directions than for 3rd graders given control directions or for kindergartners given either kind of directions. The relationship between imagery-assisted prose recall and field independence was significantly stronger than the relationship between control recall and field independence for 3rd graders, but not for kindergartners. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Deterioration and facilitation hypotheses in sensory-deprivation research.

2 opposing hypotheses have emerged from research in sensory deprivation: it impairs mental functioning and it facilitates mental functioning. Much evidence exists for either or both cases, but review of some of the literature suggests that whatever the requirements of the human organism for varied external stimulation, mere reduction or increased patterning of input will not alone produce major disruptive or enhancing effects. The multiplicity of reported results makes it appear unwise to conclude that sensory or perceptual isolation, as it is currently conceived, results in deterioration or facilitation of mental function until more research is accomplished. Evidence from learning studies, in which the disparate hypotheses are most pronounced, stimulated the present attempt to integrate empirically the phenomena reported in a wide range of studies in sensory deprivation. (35 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparisons of U.S. and Japanese first graders' cognitive representation of number and understanding of place value.

Examined the argument that differences in mathematics performance between students from the United States and Japan may be due, at least in part, to fundamental variations in cognitive representation of number that result from differences in numerical language characteristics that differentiate the two groups. Twenty-four first graders from each country participated in the study. The results suggest that first graders in the United States and Japan differ in their cognitive representation of number, and that this difference may positively affect the Japanese children's understanding of place value and their subsequent mathematics performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of personal constructs through nonverbal tasks.

Attempted to devise essentially nonverbal procedures for the measurement of a person's role constructs as defined by G. H. Kelly. This procedure was adopted to allow the extension of personal construct theory to the social psychological realm. The graphic procedure would have the additional value of opening up approaches to personality measurement with S groups (i.e., young children and handicapped Ss) that cannot adequately respond to verbal materials. 2 studies compared 49 6th graders with 49 12th graders and 50 neuropsychiatric with 50 medical patients on the Personal Construct Inventory, specifically constructed for this purpose and pretested with 177 Ss. 6 hypotheses were tested in each study, with 5 out of 6 finding confirmation in both investigations. Results indicate the hypotheses about the nature of role constructs are tenable and merit further investigation. The feasibility of the graphic approach to measurement is illustrated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual Strategies Theory: An evolutionary perspective on human mating.

Proposes a contextual-evolutionary theory of human mating strategies. Both men and women are hypothesized to have evolved distinct psychological mechanisms that underlie short-term and long-term strategies. Men and women confront different adaptive problems in short-term as opposed to long-term mating contexts. Consequently, different mate preferences become activated from their strategic repertoires. Nine key hypotheses and 22 predictions from Sexual Strategies Theory are outlined and tested empirically. Adaptive problems sensitive to context include sexual accessibility, fertility assessment, commitment seeking and avoidance, immediate and enduring resource procurement, paternity certainty, assessment of mate value, and parental investment. Discussion summarizes 6 additional sources of behavioral data, outlines adaptive problems common to both sexes, and suggests additional contexts likely to cause shifts in mating strategy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identification of informal reasoning fallacies as a function of epistemological level, grade level, and cognitive ability.

Informal reasoning fallacies are violations of critical discussion norms. As epistemological understanding of knowledge justification appears to underlie the informal reasoning skills of argument construction and evaluation, it was hypothesized that adolescents with greater epistemological sophistication would be more able to identify informal reasoning fallacies. It was hypothesized that 11th graders would be more epistemologically sophisticated than 7th or 9th graders and, thus, would more likely identify fallacies. Students responded to questions regarding argument scenarios that did or did not contain fallacies. More 11th graders identified fallacies. Epistemological level predicted only identification of one type of fallacy that might be described as epistemological in nature. Cognitive ability also seemed to contribute to the increased ability with grade to identify fallacies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Women's Health Curriculum by a problem-based learning method for medical students at the University of California, San Francisco

OBJECTIVES: Our objectives were to (1) expand and strengthen the women's health curriculum at the University of California, San Francisco, and (2) evaluate the responses of both medical students and faculty to this curriculum. STUDY DESIGN: A written evaluation of the curriculum in women's health was completed by both students and faculty. Variables studied included mean scores of cases, the overall course score, and the preferences of medical students for faculty specialty in teaching the small groups. RESULTS: The overall course evaluation score was 7.81 (range 1 to 10). For those students who had both faculty from internal medicine or family medicine and obstetrics and gynecology, there was a strong preference that obstetrician-gynecologists teach the majority of the cases. CONCLUSIONS: The new case-based curriculum in women's health was enthusiastically received by both medical students and faculty.     

Measuring and monitoring general health status in elderly persons: practical and methodological issues in using the SF-36 Health Survey

An action perception approach (i.e., Heider, 1958) was used to investigate the influences of qualitatively different goal-related actions on 2nd- and 5th-grade children's and college students' perceptions of actors' effort expenditure (i.e., trying) and goal desire (i.e., wanting). Actors performed three repetitive actions or three equifinal actions within 2 reward conditions (offer of reward or no reward, for attempting to attain a prosocial goal). At each age level, perceptions of effort and want varied significantly by goal-related actions, whereas reward information did not emerge as an influential factor in differentiating perceptions of effort and want. Age-related findings suggested that, compared with the college students, the children overattributed trying and wanting to the actors. In the repetitive-actions condition, both 2nd and 5th graders gave significantly higher effort and want ratings than college students did. In the equifinal-actions condition, 2nd and 5th graders gave significantly higher effort ratings than college students did.     

Children's understanding in reading and listening.

Children's understanding was assessed after they read or listened to brief texts that described a scene, explained a sequence of events, or told a story. Data were obtained in a developmental study of 157 2nd–6th graders and in a study of 150 5th graders. The data indicate that effectiveness in understanding depends on the fluency with which component processes of perceptual recognition, comprehension, and memory are coordinated. The understanding of novice readers, who recognized a printed text accurately but laboriously, was poorer than their understanding of a comparable spoken text. In skilled readers, a similar loss of understanding occurred when accurate recognition was accomplished at a fast pace. When skilled readers listened to a text that they could simultaneously read, their understanding was better than when they read orally. These findings interacted with text content, some materials being associated with the findings concerning both loss and improvement of understanding and other materials being associated with neither. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)