Development of story liking: Character identification, suspense, and outcome resolution.

Proposes a developmental model of story liking for suspense stories. The model predicts that (a) reader identification increases with greater perceived similarity between character and reader; (b) increased identification leads to greater suspense; (c) liking of outcome is a joint function of character valence (good or bad character) and outcome valence (positive or negative outcome); and (d) overall liking of story increases with greater identification, greater suspense, and greater liking of outcome. The model was tested by having 44 2nd, 64 4th, and 64 6th graders rate suspense stories on 10 affective scales. Results show that similarity to character increased reader identification, and this, in turn, produced more suspense. A strong developmental trend in evaluations of story endings was found: Young Ss preferred positive outcomes regardless of the valence of the character, but older Ss liked positive endings for good characters and negative endings for bad characters. This finding is interpreted as evidence for acquisition of the "just world" belief. Overall story liking was predicted by path analysis of independent contributions of character identification, suspense, and liking of outcome. Results support the proposed model of story appreciation. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in sensitivity to semantic structure of prose.

50 18–33 yr olds and 43 62–67 yr olds from low- and high-education populations heard narrative passages at different presentation rates and difficulty levels in 2 experiments. Immediately after listening to a tape-recorded version of each story, Ss orally recalled it. Results consistently demonstrate that younger Ss remembered more than older ones, but Ss from all groups favored the main ideas in their recalls. Also, Ss from all ages and educational levels were equally able to identify the important information in the stories. It is suggested that sensitivity to the semantic structure of prose is not a major component of adult age differences in discourse comprehension. It is further suggested that adult age differences observed on discourse comprehension tasks may reflect an age-related decline in processing capacity. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pictures, imagery, and retarded children's prose learning.

96 10–16 yr old educable mental retardates were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 experimental conditions to listen to a 20-sentence story: Picture Ss viewed illustrations of the story, imagery Ss were instructed to generate mental pictures of the story, repetition control Ss heard each sentence of the story twice, and control Ss simply listened to the story once. Planned comparisons revealed that picture Ss recalled more story information than did Ss in all other groups. Differences among the other conditions, age by conditions interactions, and age differences per se were not statistically significant. A number of theoretically and practically interesting issues are discussed in the context of recent prose learning findings with normal children. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental imagery helps eight-year-olds remember what they read.

To determine whether 8-yr-olds can use mental imagery to improve their memory of prose they read, 43 experimental Ss were given practice constructing mental images of progressively longer prose passages (sentences, paragraphs, and a short story) and were shown examples of good images. 43 controls were exposed to the prose material, but did not practice constructing mental images. Experimental Ss read 17 segments of a short story and constructed a mental image for each segment after reading the segment. Control Ss read the same story segments and were instructed to "do whatever you can or have to" in order to remember the story. Experimental Ss answered significantly more short-answer questions about the story than controls did. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in memory for prose: The question of sensitivity to passage structure.

The hypothesis that older adults remember prose less well than young adults because they are less sensitive to the structure of prose passages was investigated in three experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, older adults (aged 54–85) recalled less information than younger ones (aged 20–36) from stories having various structures, but there was no evidence that older people were insensitive to story structure. The pattern of recall of information high and low in the story structure was similar for young and old for each story examined. Experiment 3 extended the findings to recall of full-length essays and their summaries. These results suggest that the old are as sensitive to passage structure as the young. In addition, comparisons across the three experiments suggest that other frequently invoked explanations of age deficits in prose recall, such as individual differences in verbal ability and the nature of the materials used, cannot explain our results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Short-term memory processes in children with reading and arithmetic learning disabilities.

Examined the role of phonemic coding in short-term memory in 45 children with a reading disability, 38 children with a specific arithmetic disability, and 89 normal children, as measured by the Wide Range Achievement Test. Ss, aged 7–13 yrs, were administered a series of tasks that involved the visual or auditory presentation of rhyming and nonrhyming letters and either an oral or a written response. Younger Ss (7–8 yrs) with a reading disability did not show any difference between the recall of nonrhyming and rhyming letters, whereas normal Ss of the same age did. Older reading-disabled Ss (aged 9–23 yrs), like their normal counterparts, had significantly poorer recall of rhyming as opposed to nonrhyming letters. However, their overall levels of performance were significantly lower than normals. The same pattern was found with Ss with arithmetic disabilities for the visual presentation of stimuli. For the auditory presentation of stimuli, the performance of Ss with arithmetic disabilities resembled that of normals, except at the youngest ages. Whereas a deficiency in phonological coding may characterize younger children with learning disabilities, older children with learning disabilities appear to use a phonemic code but have a more general deficit in short-term memory. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of interest on attentional shift, recognition, and recall in young children.

Observed the interests of preschoolers through patterns of attention in the classroom and examined how interest affected their attentional shift, recognition, and recall. Ss were younger and older preschoolers, 8 2.9–3.5 yr olds and 8 3.6–4.2 yr olds, respectively. Ss' interests were assessed with 6 videotapes of each S during free play over a 3-wk period. In Study 1, interests were naturalistically identified from the tapes, using a coding procedure. In Study 2, using the same Ss, interests were related to performance in 3 experimental tasks assessing the direction of attentional shift to items in the peripheral visual field, the level of recognition of previously encountered pictures, and recall of previously presented objects. Findings show that younger Ss manifested a considerably weaker recency effect than did older Ss. Overall, Ss' interests were strong, relatively well focused, and individually variable. S's particular interests appeared to be a powerful determinant of the direction of attentional shift, level of recognition, and likelihood of recall. It is suggested that interests reflect the knowledge/value systems that preschoolers bring to the task of organizing experience, memory, and action. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pace and continuity of television programs: Effects on children's attention and comprehension.

16 15-min children's TV programs varying in continuity (high vs low), pace (high vs low), and animation (cartoon vs live production) were made from broadcast material and shown to 80 children from kindergarten and 1st grade and 80 children from 3rd–4th grade. Ss viewed 2 of the programs and were then tested for recall. The recall task required sequential seriation of still photos taken from the program. Older Ss attended longer and reconstructed sequences better than younger Ss. High-continuity (story) programs led to greater attention and better recall than low-continuity (magazine) programs. Low-paced shows were recalled better than high-paced shows. Older Ss recalled best when shown either low pace or story format or both. Young Ss showed additive increments in recall due to low pace and high continuity. Regression analyses indicated higher correlations between attention and recall for animated stories than for other types of programs, an effect attributed to their relatively high stereotypy in the medium. Results are interpreted as indicating evidence for development of active, schematic processing of TV by children and for strategic attending by older children, based on perceived processing demands. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variability in peer group perceptions: Support for the "controversial" sociometric classification group.

Examined whether there would be greater variability in children's perceptions of Ss in a controversial group than in their perceptions of peers in other sociometric classification groups. 480 3rd–5th graders nominated 3 same-sex children as best friends and 3 same-sex children as least-liked peers and rated each of their same-sex peers on 8 social roles and a liking scale. On the basis of the sociometric nominations, Ss were identified as being of popular, average, neglected, rejected, or controversial sociometric status. The 8 social roles were grouped to form 3 clusters labeled aggression, prosociability, and withdrawal. Ss were assigned variability scores that were the standard deviation of the ratings they received from their peers. Consistent with their sociometric classification, controversial sociometric group Ss evidenced higher variability scores on the liking ratings and on the withdrawal and prosociability clusters. In addition to providing support for the controversial sociometric classification, these results suggest the possible value of considering variability measures in conjunction with traditional cumulative or central tendency measures of sociometric status. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Media differences in children's story synopses: Radio and television contrasted.

Evaluated the relative effectiveness of 2 media for conveying narrative information by presenting 44 young children (aged 3–6 yrs) and 44 adults with the same story via either TV or radio. Ss then retold the story to an adult from memory. Media differences were found, with children in the radio condition showing significantly more errors in comprehension and memory than children in the TV condition. Both the inclusion of inaccurate story content and the distortion of actual story characteristics occurred more frequently for the purely aural than for the aural and visual. Although Ss in the radio condition showed greater recall of dialog and sound effects than did Ss in the TV condition, the actual events recalled with dialog or other auditory features tended not to be highly important to the overall theme. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

With a little help from my friend: Effect of single or multiple act aid as a function of donor and task characteristics.

96 Israeli males were asked to bring a good same-sex friend with them to the experiment. Half the Ss were told that their teammate, with whom they were to interact at a later stage of the experiment, was their friend. The other half were told that they had been teamed up with someone whom they did not know. Ss were instructed to solve a detective story, the performance of which was presented to half the Ss as related to ego-relevant dimensions (e.g., intelligence, creativity) and to the other half as related to non-ego-relevant dimensions (e.g., luck and momentary mood). The assignment was insolvable, and Ss were helped by their supposed teammate to obtain the "correct" solution. Half received help on one detective story, and the other half received help on 2 stories. Results show that Ss who had been helped twice on an ego-relevant task by a good friend had the least-favorable affect and self-evaluations. Ss who had been helped twice by a good friend on a non-ego-relevant dimension tended to have the most-favorable affect and self-evaluations. Similar patterns were observed for measures of external perception (i.e., liking for helper, evaluations of helper, and relations with the helper). Implications for research on recipient reactions to aid, social comparison processes, and close interpersonal relations are discussed. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Summarizing stories after reading and listening.

48 college students either listened to or read 3 tape-recorded stories, each about 2,000 words in length. Immediately after processing each story, Ss wrote a summary in 60–80 words. A comparison of the summaries written after reading with those written after listening revealed only minor differences. Ss tended to include a little more idiosyncratic detail in their summaries after listening than after reading, but the shared content of the summaries remained remarkably unchanged. It is concluded that these results can aid in the identification of the common core of comprehension processes that underlie both listening and skilled reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Checking it out: Cognitive style, context, and problem type in children's monitoring of text comprehension.

Three experiments investigated the effects of age, context, and reflection–impulsivity (as assessed by the Matching Familiar Figures Test) on children's monitoring of comprehensibility problems in extended passages. In Exp I with 20 kindergartners and 20 2nd graders, reflective listeners were generally more effective detectors of referentially ambiguous terms in brief texts than were their impulsive agemates. Presence of a perceptual context for the messages significantly facilitated Ss' ambiguity detection as well. Exp II replicated the perceptual-context effect for 20 1st graders but failed to find any effects of cognitive style. In Exp III, 72 1st, 3rd, and 6th graders heard stories with several types of coherence problems, including referential confusions or global text-organization problems (missing story themes or resolutions). Half the Ss anticipated retelling the stories, and half did not. No effects of this listener–purpose manipulation were observed. More reflective listeners again detected referential ambiguities more readily overall, but this cognitive style effect did not extend to other types of message problems. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Means-ends thinking, adjustment, and social class among elementary-school-aged children.

Presented 6 stories to 74 normal and 34 emotionally disturbed middle- and lower-class 10-12 yr. olds to test Ss' cognitive capacity in solving simulated real-life problems. This capacity was measured by means-ends thinking, defined as an ability to construct a story plot that reflects planning, awareness of potential obstacles, and recognition of time necessary to reach a stated goal. Irrespective of social class and intellectual functioning, disturbed youngsters in special schools expressed both fewer elements of means-ends thinking and stories more limited to pragmatic, impulsive, and physically aggressive means than did normal Ss in regular schools. Implications are that training in this area early in a child's life could supplement a preventive mental health program. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of depression on structural aspects of the recall of prose.

Investigated depressed patients' memory for stories. This indicated that although normal Ss showed particularly good recall for units central to the structure of the story, this did not hold for depressed Ss. In contrast, effects of centrality were comparable in high- and low-IQ Ss and effects of imageability of story units were comparable in both depressed and normal Ss. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that depressed patients do not use structure to organize stories when encoding them. A failure to identify central aspects of material and selectively recall them is likely to be a handicap to everyday functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empathy and the development of guilt in children.

Semiprojective stories describing explicit wrongful acts were shown to 72 1st-, 3rd-, and 5th-grade boys and girls. Ss then were asked how they would feel if they were the wrongdoer, why, and then to complete the story. Coded interview responses indicated that Ss who had received prior encouragement to empathize with the victim exhibited more intense guilt than those who had not. Developmental changes in Ss' reasons for guilt paralleled those of moral judgment studies; older Ss exhibited victim-oriented concern and relied on internal justice principles; younger Ss feared detection and punishment. Boys also reported more intense guilt feelings than did girls. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Familiarity and attraction to pictures of children's faces.

Studied the relationship between familiarity and liking of a peer in 32 children in Grades 1–6. Pictures of boys' and girls' faces were shown at different frequencies; Ss then ranked the faces according to liking. Marked individual differences were found. For Ss with high sex-typed preferences, increased familiarity led to increased liking of same-sex faces and decreased liking of other-sex faces. For Ss with less sex-typed preferences, familiarity did not affect liking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)