Detection of linguistic ambiguity by reflective, impulsive, fast/accurate, and slow/inaccurate children.

Investigated the relation of conceptual tempo to children's detection of linguistic ambiguity. After completing the Matching Familiar Figures Test, 96 4th and 7th graders were classified as reflective, impulsive, fast/accurate, and slow/accurate and were asked to paraphrase the meaning of ambiguous sentences and then to indicate their meaning through a selection of pictures. Results indicate that reflective children were more successful than impulsive and slow/inaccurate children (a) in spontaneous paraphrasing of the multiple meanings of sentences and (b) in detecting the various ambiguities on the picture measure. In contast, on the paraphrase measure, prompting by the examiner to consider alternative meanings for the sentences eliminated differences among conceptual tempo groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problem-solving strategies in learning disabled and normal boys: Developmental and instructional effects.

A developmentally sensitive problem-solving task, the 20-Questions Game, was utilized in this study to examine development- and treatment-related variables among 48 learning disabled and 48 normal boys of two age levels (8–10 years old and 11–23 years old). Subjects performed on three different versions of the experimental task before, immediately after, and two weeks after receiving one of two treatment packages, which differed in their emphasis on task-specific and metacognitive strategies. Results indicated that both younger boys and learning disabled boys demonstrated less efficient problem-solving skills than their older and normally achieving peers. In all subject groups, boys' ability to make use of specific problem-solving skills was highly influenced by variations in stimulus characteristics. Brief training was effective in improving the performance of all subject groups on trained and untrained materials at posttest and follow-up trials. However, expected differences in effectiveness between treatment packages were not realized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problem-solving strategies for teaching mathematics to deaf students

This article battles its way through the contemporary philosophical assumptions regarding interactions with traumatized young people. That is, interaction by nurses as they attempt to provide 'a shoulder to cry on', 'someone to trust' or just simply 'a hand to hold'. The young people that are nursed in the hospital setting have experienced illness, surgery and recovery to name just a few, but when confronted with being separated from their families, being frightened and needing a friend the role of nursing takes on many different facets. The child (Pandora) a traumatized child taken from home to a new strange place, is warmly accepted by carers who seem to share a set of beliefs and assumptions about relationships and interaction. This article aims to explore the effects humanist and existentialist philosophy has had in guiding current nursing practice using extracts from his own practice and observations.     

Problem-solving workshop training.

Assessed the effects of intensive problem-solving training on outcomes related to counseling. 50 undergraduates who expressed a need for and willingness to participate in a problem-solving workshop were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: a treatment group, a pre–posttest control group, and a posttest-only control group. Treatment consisted of didactic presentations, group discussions, and directed practice in 5 90-min sessions that were designed for systematic training in 5 stages of problem solving. Dependent variables were generation of alternatives, decision-making skill, and Ss' perceptions of their problem-solving skills as measured by Subtests 2 and 3 of the Problem-Solving Test and the Problem-Solving Inventory. Results indicate that training did influence the quality of response, but training did not increase the number of Ss' alternatives. Ss participating in the workshop also described themselves as using fewer impulsive behaviors during problem solving than nonparticipant controls. No differences were found among groups on their ability to make effective choices from among a set of alternatives. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problem-solving behavior in suicidal adolescents.

Attempted to evaluate the assumption that suicidal behavior in adolescents is linked to diminished problem-solving capacity. The wais arithmetic subtest and rokeach's map reading problems test were administered to 13 suicidal, 13 psychiatric but nonsuicidal, and 13 normal adolescents. It was found that the suicidal group made significantly lower arithmetic subtest scores and failed the map test problems more often than the psychiatric and normal ss. It is concluded that the assumption of diminished problem-solving capacity in suicidal adolescents is correct. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problem-solving rigidity and decision time.

"The present study failed to reveal any significant relationship between rigidity and decision time… . The present results suggest that attempts to explain behavioral rigidity may have to resort to more complex concepts than impulsivity and caution." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problem-solving appraisal in an alcoholic population.

The major purpose of this study was to generalize research on problem-solving appraisal beyond normal populations to a clinical population, namely, inpatient recovering male alcoholics from a Veterans Administration hospital. Seventy-eight veterans were administered the Problem-Solving Inventory, the Mooney Problem Checklist, and the Psychiatric Diagnostic Interview. The results indicated that inpatient male alcoholics reported their problem-solving appraisal as more similar to late adolescents than to adults to whom they were closer in age. The severity of alcohol abuse did not positively correlate with problem-solving appraisal, but it did correlate with acknowledged personal problems. No differences were found between three major subgroups of alcoholics as to how they appraised their problem-solving ability. The results suggest that problem-solving appraisal of recovering alcoholics do not correspond with their ability to manage everyday life and their alcohol abuse. The results are further discussed in terms of psychological adjustment, the congruence between appraisal and ability, and "over-approaching" problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problem-solving skills in suicidal psychiatric patients.

We examined a diathesis-stress-hopelessness model of suicidal behavior, the diathesis in question being a cognitive deficit in problem solving. We further expanded an analysis of the problem-solving skills and deficits of suicidal persons. This we accomplished by comparing a sample of 50 hospitalized patients on suicidal precautions with a control sample of 50 nonsuicidal hospitalized patients. The suicidal group differed from the control group on a number of dependent measures in accordance with the hypothesis that suicidal individuals are deficient in impersonal and interpersonal problem solving, experience more stress, and are more hopeless. Interpersonal problem-solving deficits were confined to tasks requiring subjects to generate alternative solutions to problems, as well as to anticipate negative consequences for proposed solutions. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

例说解题与美学

在解题过程中正碡运用简洁美、和谐美、奇异美的美学准则,可开阔解题思路,激发解题灵感,起到宏观指导的决策作用.     

Problem-solving thinking of psychiatric patients.

Tested the hypotheses that psychiatric patients are less able than normal controls to address themselves to hypothetical real-life problematic situations and less able to provide solutions to such problems. Using a means-ends story-completion technique, differences were found between the performances of 53 short-term psychiatric inpatients and 61 hospital employee controls that supported both hypotheses. Results of this study are discussed in terms of other problem-solving approaches to the understanding of psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The reflective educator.

Since the Boulder conference on training in clinical psychology in 1949, at least 13 national conferences have been convened to examine issues in training for practice in psychology, all based on the assumption that extensive training is required to develop professional skills in psychotherapy, psychodiagnosis, and related professional functions. This assumption is challenged by a large body of research that fails to show any relationship between training and efficacy in common forms of practice. Educators of professional psychologists are urged to heed the challenge closely and examine its implications critically. At the same time, educators of researchers in psychology are encouraged to examine common assumptions about the nature of practice in psychology and to consider conceptions of professional work that emphasize reflection in action and disciplined inquiry, rather than psychotherapy and psychodiagnosis, as defining features. Education for practice is neither science nor art, but a profession in itself. When the educational process is approached from this vantage point, novel opportunities for systematic investigation emerge. Decisive studies of the appropriate kind have yet to be done. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relative effectiveness of behavioral and reflective group counseling with parents of mentally retarded children.

Evaluated the relative effectiveness of behavioral and reflective group parent counseling. Ss were 51 mothers of mentally retarded children who were assigned to behavioral, reflective, or waiting-list control groups. 6 success criteria, including direct observations, attitudinal scales, maternal reports, and frequency counts, were used to measure outcome (e.g., Hereford Parent Attitude Survey and the Missouri Behavior Problem Checklist). Both types of counseling had a beneficial effect relative to the untreated controls, but the behavioral method resulted in a significantly greater magnitude of improvement. The consistency of these results across measures strongly suggests that the behavioral technique was the treatment of choice for counseling parents of the retarded. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Helping disturbed children: Psychological and ecological strategies.

Presents the address of the President to the Seventy-Fourth Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, held in New York, September 3, 1966. The talk focuses on the reeducation of emotionally disturbed children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of verbal fluency abilities and strategies in elementary-school-age children.

This study of two experiments designed to examine children's abilities and strategies for completing tests of verbal fluency. In Experiment 1, 64 third graders and 71 sixth graders completed four fluency tasks constructed for the study as well as several tests of other verbal abilities. Subjects received two sets of scores for the fluency tasks: a fluency score and scores for strategies expected to distinguish more verbally fluent children from less fluent children. The results demonstrated that the two sets of scores were positively correlated. In Experiment 2, 40 third graders and 38 sixth graders completed expanded versions of two of the fluency tasks used in Experiment 1. The results revealed grade and gender differences in strategy use as well as in level of task performance. In addition, the results indicated that the children's scores for one of the two strategies were strong predictors of their performance on the verbal fluency tasks. The effects of strategy selection and implementation, grade, and gender (as well as their combined influence on children's verbal fluency skills) are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problem-solving ability of creative and non-creative college students.

College students were given Guilford Alternate Uses, Guilford Consequences and an Anagram test which determined a creative and noncreative group. Rebus puzzles comprised of a neutral and threat category were administered to 4 subgroups formed to control set and practice effects. The heightened ability of creative Ss to observe accurately was supported by 2 significant findings: (1) faster solution times, and (2) increased number of solutions under an incomplete information condition. Results failed to confirm the hypothesis that creative individuals respond differentially in a threat situation. A 3rd significant finding obtained was that creative Ss gave up on puzzles they could not solve faster than noncreative Ss. An efficient problem-solving variable for creative individuals was proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling for indecisiveness: Problem-solving and anxiety-management training.

Evaluated counseling procedures for reducing anxious vocational indecision. 32 university students with this problem were identified and randomly assigned to 5 training conditions: anxiety management, problem solving, a combination of the 2, a placebo procedure, and a no-treatment condition. The same counselor group administered the treatment and placebo procedures. The experimental design consisted of pre- and postassessment of vocational, anxiety-related, and problem-solving variables. A combination of anxiety-management and problem-solving training resulted in significantly greater gains than either method alone with respect to vocational exploratory behavior, awareness of career plans, and problem-solving behavior. It is concluded that vocational indecision appears to be due to deficiencies in problem solving and execution of chosen alternatives. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional strategies, attention, and metacognition in Puerto Rican children.

60 2nd-, 5th-, and 8th-grade Puerto Ricans participated in a strategy assessment task and an incidental learning task that provided a measure of attentional performance. Metacognition concerning attention was assessed by asking Ss to predict how much incidental material they would recall. ANOVAs revealed no developmental changes in the use of an efficient attentional strategy, the amount of central recall, the amount of incidental recall, or in metacognitive knowledge. Results differ from a previous study by the 1st author and M. G. Weiss with 60 predominantly White, middle-class Florida children in which attention and strategies became increasingly efficient as a function of age. In comparison to the Florida sample, Puerto Rican 2nd graders' strategies were more efficient and the 8th graders' strategies were less efficient. Attention on the incidental learning task was less selective for the Puerto Rican Ss than the Florida Ss. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training impulsive children to talk to themselves: A means of developing self-control.

Examined the efficacy of a cognitive self-instructional (SI) training procedure in altering the behavior of impulsive school children. Study I, with 15 2nd graders, employed an individual training procedure which required the impulsive child to talk to himself, initially overtly and then covertly, in an attempt to increase self-control. Results indicate that the SI group improved significantly relative to attentional and assessment control groups on the Porteus Maze Test, performance IQ on the WISC, and on a measure of cognitive impulsivity. The improved performance was evident in a 1-mo follow-up assessment. Study II, with 8 kindergartners and 7 1st graders, examined the efficacy of the components of the cognitive treatment procedure in altering the impulsive child's performance. Results indicate that cognitive modeling alone was sufficient to slow down the impulsive child's response time for initial selection, but only with the addition of SI training was there a significant decrease in errors. Treatment and research implications of modifying S's cognitions are discussed. (45 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading strategies for children and adults: A quantitative model.

Developed an additive model to account for reading times for 2 different reading tasks (reading for retention and reading for comprehension). The reading strategies of 48 college students and 64 5th graders and individual differences between fast and slow readers were examined. Ss were assumed to have processors that handle the lexical, structural, and meaning information in sentences. The various task, age, and reading speed groups were hypothesized to use the 3 processors for differing amounts of time. The model was supported by word-by-word reading times for 80 sentences and by 9 empirical indices of lexical, structural, and meaning attributes of text. Results show that for skilled adult Ss, relatively more time was spent processing structure in the retention task, and meaning in the comprehension task. Fifth graders had not fully mastered the connection between task demands and linguistic processors shown by adults, and thus used mixtures of the adult strategies. (101 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problem-solving instruction and problem-solving transfer: The correspondence issue.

R. E. Mayer and A C. Wittrock (1996) have raised the specificity-generality issue as it applies to the teachable aspects of problem-solving transfer. Simply put, do the instructional practices that foster more efficient acquisition-learning of problem-solving strategies automatically foster more efficient problem-solving transfer? On the basis of the present findings the answer is no. Four instructional conditions differing in levels of specificity produced different levels of acquisition. However, when the same students engaged in a delayed problem-solving task, comparable levels of problem-solving transfer performance were observed. In this case, a general approach to problem-solving instruction produced significantly poorer acquisition-learning performance but equally good problem-solving transfer performance. Results are discussed within the context of investigating prior knowledge (F Dochy, M. Segers, & A M. Buehl, 1999) and the identification of source memory (A. Koriat, M. Goldsmith, & A. Pansky, 2000) as a viable tool in this effort. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)