Children's generation and communication of mnemonic organizational strategies.

Using a series of alternating sort/recall trials, whether 108 1st, 3rd, and 6th graders' experience with categorically related items would facilitate their subsequent organization and recall of low-associated items was explored. Results indicate that 3rd graders exposed to the categorized materials recalled more low-associated items and demonstrated greater organization in sorting and recall than did 3rd graders with previous experience with low-associated materials. Sixth graders' performance with low-associated materials was not affected by their previous experience. Following the memory task, each S provided answers to a series of metamemory questions and then instructed a 1st-grade child in how to perform the memory task. The instructions given to the 1st graders, as well as the performance of these younger children, reflected the older children's differential experience with taxonomic vs low-associated materials. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's verbal rehearsal in a free-recall task.

Predicted that, while the use of categories in rehearsal would increase with age, organized rehearsal would be related to recall accuracy and recall organization for all ages tested. Data from 20 3rd and 20 6th graders confirm the predictions but are inconclusive for 20 kindergartners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Flexibility in children's use of spatial and categorical organizational strategies in recall.

Two studies investigated flexibility in children's use of spatial and categorical clustering strategies in recall. In Study 1, 10-, 12-, 14-, and 16-yr-olds and adults recalled the furniture from their home. 10-yr-olds organized furniture categorically, and 16-yr-olds and adults organized items spatially. 12- and 14-yr-olds exhibited equal levels of spatial and categorical organization. Study 2 investigated how encoding experiences and the recall task influenced the degree of spatial and categorical organization in 10- and 12-yr-olds' recall. When recalling objects, 10- and 12-yr-olds exhibited higher levels of categorical than spatial organization. When recalling objects and their locations, 12-yr-olds exhibited more spatial than categorical organization. Results are discussed in terms of age and task influences on flexibility of strategy use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Level of formal thought and organizational memory strategies.

Identified 28 9th graders of similar intelligence as being in either early or late formal-operational stages and presented them with tasks to assess their use of organizational memory strategies: multitrial free recall of unrelated and categorized words and a sorting task followed by free recall of the sorted words. In the multitrial free-recall tasks, late formal-operational adolescents generally showed greater amounts of recall organization than did early formal-operational adolescents. When storage organization was induced through sorting, however, the 2 groups showed equivalent recall organization. Across tasks, late formal-operational adolescents' recall exceeded that of early formal-operational adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of organizational signals on text-processing strategies.

Two hypotheses about how organizational signals influence text recal1 were tested: (a) that signals cause readers to change their text-processing strategies and (b) that signals facilitate readers' attempts to encode topic structure information but do not cause a shift in strategies. College students read and recalled a text that contained either no signals or contained headings, overviews, or summaries emphasizing the text's topic structure. At recall, students either received no cues or were reminded of the text's topics. Providing cues facilitated recall much more in the 3 conditions involving signaling than in the no-signals condition. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that organizational signals induce readers to change their text-processing strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's counting strategies for time quantification and integration.

This study investigated whether and how children spontaneously employ counting to measure and integrate the duration of events. A total of 180 children, 5 to 7 years old, judged the overall duration of two successive events, which were varied in a factorial design. For half of the children, the continuous events were accompanied by rhythmic beats of a metronome. This implicit hint of a segmentation of time enhanced the use of counting, particularly in younger children. By the age of 7 years, almost all children counted spontaneously, even without the hint of the rhythm. Several sensible counting strategies were observed and were closely related to an integration rule. The normative additive rule was found to predominate in children as young as 6 years, in contrast to previous studies. These results, which evidence a surprising potential for time quantification in young children, are discussed in terms of knowledge accessibility in different contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Covert rehearsal of tones.

Z. F. Peynircio?lu and M. L. Palmer (see record 1993-04390-001) found that memory for simple pairs or triples of tones did not benefit from covert rehearsal, although it did benefit from repetition. The present study systematically explored people's ability to rehearse different dimensions and varied the complexity of the musical stimuli. The first 6 experiments showed that even though repetition of tone pairs with pitch or interval as the relevant information led to better long-term recognition, covert rehearsal of the same stimuli did not. The next 2 experiments showed that covert rehearsal of pitch and interval information did benefit immediate recognition, however. The last 2 experiments showed that with more complex musical stimuli covert rehearsal can be effective and can lead to better long-term recognition. The results are discussed within the context of the transfer-appropriate processing framework. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's Beliefs About Parental Divorce Scale: Psychometric characteristics and concurrent validity.

This study evaluated the psychometric characteristics of the Children's Beliefs About Parental Divorce Scale with three nonclinic samples (N?=?170; mean age?=?11.06 years). The findings revealed evidence of six subscales (Peer Ridicule and Avoidance, Paternal Blame, Fear of Abandonment, Maternal Blame, Hope of Reunification, and Self-Blame); moderate item-total correlations and Cronbach alphas within each scale; and moderate 9-week test-retest reliability. The number of problematic beliefs varied by family structure but generally not by age, gender, or length of parental separation. When age was controlled for, children with many problematic beliefs were found to be anxious, to have poor self-concepts in areas related to parents, and to report little social support. However, total problematic beliefs were unrelated to parents' and teachers' ratings of children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Findings are discussed in terms of models of children's divorce adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Executive fit rehearsal.

Outlines a psychological procedure aimed at improving the working relationship between a newly hired executive and the executive's reporting official. The "Executive Fit Rehearsal" (EFR) attempts to systematically engage the executive and reporting official in a dialogue designed to anticipate and overcome problems resulting from individual differences in personality, expectations, work styles, and communication patterns. The procedure supports consensus and mutual understanding. To assess the effectiveness of the procedure, evaluation forms were mailed to participants of 15 consecutive Executive Fit sessions. Ss' reactions to the EFR indicate that the process facilitated adjustment to the work setting and improved communications. Comments from subordinates were more uniformly positive, suggesting that the process may be most helpful for new employees. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retrieving for rehearsal: An analysis of active rehearsal in children's memory.

Two experiments with 96 2nd graders and 24 6th graders explored the operation of retrieval processes in Ss' active rehearsal strategies. Both experiments used free-recall tasks, in which Ss were given instructions in active rehearsal as well as supports that might facilitate the retrieval operation and thus enhance both rehearsal and recall performance. In Exp I, 2nd and 6th graders were given visual or auditory access to an 18-item stimulus-word list. Results show that, by providing 2nd graders with an opportunity to view previously presented words, rehearsal activity and recall increased substantially, whereas the performance of the 6th graders was not affected. In Exp II, presentation time and visual access to a similar 18-word list were manipulated for 2nd graders. Results show that the provision of extra time for an item enabled Ss to execute a more active rehearsal strategy. Extra time had only minimal effects on recall, except when it was combined with visual access to the items. Findings suggest that retrieval per se is not necessary for the beneficial effects of active rehearsal, if other procedures can be followed to permit the juxtaposition of several items in rehearsal. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's strategy use in computational estimation.

Examined strategic aspects of children's performance in computational estimation. 23 5th-grade children (aged 10 yrs old) were asked to provide estimates of 48 3- by 3-digit addition problems. After each problem, Ss were asked to say how they found the solution. Verbal protocols, speed, and accuracy were collected for each problem so as to identify which computational estimation strategy is used on each trial, and how each strategy is used, selected, and executed. The results show that children used 4 strategies: rounding with decomposition, rounding without decomposition, truncation, and compensation. Strategies appeared to differ in frequency and effectiveness. Finally, children chose strategies in an adaptive way so as to obtain fast and accurate performance. Implications of these findings for understanding children's computational estimation performance and strategies in numerical cognition in general are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal seriation: Children's solution strategies and stage of cognitive development.

Examined performance on various verbal seriation problems (which require the derivation of the order of the items in a series when only verbal information is provided regarding the order with pairs of items) in relation to other cognitive tasks. 60 7–9 yr olds were individually assessed with (1) 5 tasks representing concrete and formal operations, (2) either a set of standard verbal seriation problems or a set of problems that involved physical manipulations of premises, and (3) another set of standard verbal seriation problems. Verbal seriation ability was a valid indicator of beginning formal operations. Differences in solutions and strategies among forms of the verbal seriation problems were found, although different from those typically reported for adults. Performance on problems involving physical manipulations of premises did not differ markedly from that on standard problems. (French abstract) (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's misbehaviors and parental discipline strategies in abusive and nonabusive families.

In 20 abusive families with 4–11 yr old children and a matched control group of 20 nonabusive families, parents were trained to report children's misbehaviors, parental disciplinary and affective reactions, and children's responses to discipline for 5 consecutive days. Abused children committed more aggressive transgressions and were more likely to oppose parental interventions than control children. Abusive parents used punitive disciplinary practices more frequently than control parents, who made more frequent use of reasoning techniques and simple commands. Abusive parents more often reported being angry and disgusted after disciplinary interventions. Sequential analyses indicated that the type of discipline used by control parents depended on the type of child misbehavior. For abusive parents, punishment was the predominant type of discipline regardless of the types of child misbehavior. Findings are discussed in terms of coercion models of family interaction and internalization models of socialization. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of organizational cues and strategies on good and poor comprehenders' story understanding.

In two experiments, we investigated the influence of organizational cues on story comprehension by 7- to 8-year-old children, matched in age and decoding skills but differing in comprehension ability. In Experiment 1, children read abstract stories with titles and pictures that did or did not integrate story information. Providing integrative cues improved comprehension by poor, but not good comprehenders, but had no effect on verbatim recall. Both skill groups recalled more main ideas than subsidiary ones. In Experiment 2, two new groups read the stories without pictures or titles. Poor comprehenders trained to look for "clue words" to infer main story consequences, implicit in the stories, showed better comprehension than such children given no training. Good comprehenders performed at a uniformly high level regardless of training. The results are discussed in terms of cognitive control required to select and coordinate information in text. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's goals and strategies in response to conflicts within a friendship.

Little is known about the skills required for friendship, as distinct from those required for peer acceptance. The present study examined whether children's goals and strategies in friendship conflict situations are predictive of their friendship adjustment, after accounting for level of peer acceptance. Fourth- and 5th-grade children (N?=?696) responded to 30 hypothetical situations in which they were having a conflict with a friend. Results indicated that children's goals were highly related to their strategies and that children's goals and strategies were predictive of their real-life friendship adjustment. Pursuing the goal of revenge toward a friend was the goal or strategy most strongly associated with lacking friends and having poor-quality friendships. Gender differences were also found for each goal and strategy, with girls displaying a more prosocial goal and strategy orientation than boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's use of intention cues in evaluating behavior.

Examines the proposition that 5–10 yr old children are unable to focus on intention cues but use consequence information in evaluating others' behavior. Piaget's paradigm for testing young children's moral evaluations is examined, as is related research. A conceptual analysis of the paradigm indicates that it is inappropriate for assessing the use of intention cues in evaluating behavior. A review of research suggests that children do evaluate on the basis of intentions and ignore consequence information when accidental and intentional acts are explicitly specified. The review also indicates that children's failure to judge on the basis of intentions when intent and outcome covary may be due to the fact that evaluation of ill-intentioned acts occurs earlier in the developmental sequence than does the evaluation of well-intentioned acts. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's use of dispositions to predict classmates' behavior.

Kindergartners, 3rd, and 6th graders chose classmates whom they would and would not like to have on their team for an academic contest and as playmates. Ss also rated their classmates on likableness and academic ability. At all ages, children's choices for the academic competition and the play situation were significantly associated with their ratings of their classmates' academic and social competence, respectively. Ss typically referred to academic abilities to explain their teammate choices for the academic contest and to social competence or friendship to explain playmate choices. Questions about the stability of classmates' academic and social competencies revealed that not until 6th grade did Ss indicate that there are limits in the degree to which academic and social competencies could improve with effort. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender, self confidence, and social influence strategies: An organizational simulation.

Investigated whether men and women in positions of equal power differ in the strategies they use to influence subordinates. 24 male and 24 female undergraduates were placed into a supervisory role in a simulated organizational setting and were compared on the frequency, range, and types of influence strategies they used to direct the work of 3 bogus subordinates. Although gender differences consistent with general sex-role stereotypes were found, most differences were weak and only of marginal significance. Relative to males, females made fewer influence attempts, used a more limited range of influence strategies, used fewer rewarding strategies, particularly promises of pay increases, and used more coercive strategies, especially pay deductions. Females displayed lower levels of self-confidence than did males, and sex-linked differences in self-confidence explained much of the gender difference observed in the frequency with which influence attempts were made and the extent to which coercive strategies were used. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of maintenance rehearsal on human memory.

There has been a conflict among several theories of memory as to whether the duration of the rehearsal of an item is necessarily related to its long-term retention. This conflict has centered on the question of whether rote rehearsal intended solely to maintain an item in awareness will lead to an increase in long-term-memory performance for that item. This question has been addressed with a variety of paradigms and has been answered in several ways. A review of the literature suggests that the duration of maintenance rehearsal affects the memory trace chiefly by increasing self-coding (item information) and that, consequently, its effects tend to be more evident on recognition than on recall tests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)