Children's judgments and attributions in response to the "mentally retarded" label: A developmental approach.

140 3rd graders, 188 6th graders, and 97 9th graders viewed a videotape in which a child failed a puzzle task. All of the Ss had identical information about the child's achievement scores and puzzle ability, but half were told that the child was mentally retarded. Consistent with key person perception and social cognition findings, the traitlike retarded label had little impact on younger Ss but strong effects on older Ss. Like adults in earlier research, 6th and 9th graders saw low effort as a less important cause of failure for the retarded than for the unlabeled child, and they saw less need to urge the retarded child to persist. Correlations showed no evidence of logical linkages among attributions, expectancies, and persistence-urging among 3rd graders, but strong linkages among 6th and 9th graders. Findings suggest that label effects are mediated by cognitive processes dependent on developmental level. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's attributions for failure and success in different aspects of reading.

Investigated the attributions of 82 3rd graders and 82 6th graders for their success and failure in different reading situations with an extended set of causes (as a function of age and achievement differences). Ss were split into good and poor readers on the basis of a median split on the Reading Comprehension subtest of the California Test of Basic Skills. Ss reading achievement was then assessed in 2 reading situations (evaluation of reading performance and reading for meaning). Ss were asked to rate the degree to which each of 6 causes (ability, paying attention, studying, luck, task difficulty, and assistance from others) was responsible for their success or failure. Findings show that 6th graders' locus of control scores varied across situations, while 3rd graders' scores did not. Studying and paying attention were salient to Ss as causes. Age and achievement interacted, with low-achieving 3rd graders giving higher ratings to causes more clearly beyond their control than high-achieving 3rd graders, whereas low- and high-achieving 6th graders did not differ. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's social sensitivity: Inferring emotions from conflicting cues.

48 preschoolers, 48 1st graders, and 48 6th graders answered questions and told stories about pictures containing (a) situational or facial cues alone, (b) situational and facial cues with congruent emotional implications, or (c) situational and facial cues with conflicting emotional implications. In a 4th condition, a narrative accompanied conflicting-cues pictures. The youngest Ss preferred to base inferences about emotions on facial expressions. This preference decreased with age. Explanations for this finding based on differential comprehension of cues and on the biasing effect of a narrative were ruled out. At all ages, Ss encoded both cues. They preserved in memory the emotional implications of situational cues but tended to reinterpret facial cues when there were conflicting situational cues. There were also developmental changes in the degree to which and the methods by which Ss reconciled the conflicting cues to emotion. Results are discussed in light of previous hypotheses about the development of social sensitivity, and an alternate view is advanced. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-serving effect (bias?) in academic attributions: Its relation to academic achievement and self-concept.

Related the size of the self-serving effect (SSE), the tendency to accept responsibility for one's successes but not one's failures, for academic self-attributions to other academic constructs in 3 studies, 2 with 5th graders (226 and 559 Ss) and 1 with 122 9th graders. Ss completed an attribution scale and a self-concept measure, and reading achievement was assessed for 5th graders. Results from the 3 studies demonstrate that the size of the SSE was larger for (a) attributions to ability and effort than those to external causes, (b) more able students, (c) students with higher academic self-concepts, (d) students inferred to have higher academic self-concepts by teachers and by peers, and, perhaps, (e) younger students. SSEs for outcomes in mathematics and reading, particularly for attributions to ability, were content specific. The content specificity of the SSE and this logical pattern of relations among the SSEs and other variables suggest that academic achievement and academic self-concept are nonmotivational influences on the SSE. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of experience in judgments of complexity of random shapes.

Examined the role of experience in the estimation of number of turns in random shapes using 2 types of training procedures with 54 3rd graders, 54 6th graders, and 54 college Ss. Systematic training groups practiced discriminating similar levels of complexity; random training groups practiced discriminating widely varying levels of complexity. Both training experiences resulted in significant improvements in the performance of college Ss when compared with a control group. The improvement in processing ability occurred primarily at the lower levels of complexity. 3rd- and 6th-grade training groups showed no significant improvement in performance. College Ss also showed a significant tendency to underestimate the information in random shapes as a result of the training, a finding which may account for previously reported preference shifts. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory organization during children's repeated recall.

Presented a list of categorically related words to 20 2nd graders and 20 6th graders in a memory test. Multiple recall tests followed the initial presentation of words so that changes in memory organization could be assessed over recall attempts. Ss in both grades remembered many new words on later recall trials that they had not remembered on Trial 1. The proportions of new words recalled and the retrieval characteristics of these words were similar in both grades. Younger Ss, however, forgot many words during repeated recall, and older Ss did not. Different patterns of forgetting were correlated with different types of organizational strategies. Second graders recalled words in a sequential, rote manner with few transformations or rearrangements of words. Sixth graders, on the other hand, actively constructed larger categories or chunks of words over recall attempts. The spontaneous reconstruction of remembered information by 6th graders is interpreted as a manifestation of constructive memory-monitoring skills. Some potential advantages of a repeated recall paradigm for developmental research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lexical ambiguity and children's word recognition.

Conducted 2 experiments to examine the word recognition processes of 2nd, 4th, and 6th graders. In Exp I, 72 Ss named target words that were primed by words that had more than 1 meaning. Targets were related either to the more or less frequent sense of the ambiguous prime or were unrelated to it. Findings indicate that older Ss were more likely than younger Ss to restrict processing of ambiguous words to the most frequent meaning. While younger Ss showed approximately equal facilitation for words related to either meaning, regardless of each one's relative frequency, 6th graders apparently retrieved only the most frequent meaning. Exp II, with 36 Ss, was similar to Exp I but included neutral primes and varied the interval between presentation of prime and target. Results show that all groups showed automatic retrieval of both meanings of the ambiguous word. For 6th graders, however, this retrieval was followed by a 2nd stage, in which attention was allocated to the more frequent meaning, maintaining it, while the less frequent meaning was inhibited. Overall data indicate that older children use meaning frequency to narrow the amount of information kept active following word recognition. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of headings by children for text search.

Examined the development of text search strategies in 144 4th, 6th, and 8th graders who were assigned to reading booklets with or without headings embedded in the reading material. Both younger and older Ss demonstrated evidence of efficient use of headings as locational aids when explicitly instructed on how to use them, and spontaneous use of headings as a search strategy was observed in half of the 4th and 6th graders and in most of the 8th graders. Ss at all levels read faster when asked to search for a specific fact than when asked to read the story line by line, indicating their awareness of when to skim. Findings suggest that by the 4th grade, children may have the cognitive skills to benefit from headings but may use these skills only in structured situations. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Origins and pawns in the classroom: Self-report and projective assessments of individual differences in children's perceptions.

Two studies examined the significance of children's perceptions of their classroom environment along autonomy vs external control dimensions. Study 1 related a self-report measure of the perceived classroom climate—R. deCharms's (1976) origin climate questionnaire—to other self-related constructs. Among 140 4th–6th graders, the more "origin" the Ss perceived in their classroom, the higher their perceived self-worth, cognitive competence, internal control, and mastery motivation, and the lower their perceived control by unknown sources or powerful others. These relationships were primarily due to individual differences within classrooms rather than average classroom differences. Ss also wrote projective stories about an ambiguous classroom scene. Ratings of these stories indicated that originlike behavior in Ss' fantasy was associated with autonomy-oriented teachers and low aggression. Self-report and projective methods converged, particularly for Ss whose self-reported perceptions were extreme. In Study 2, with 578 Ss, relative contributions of classroom and individual difference effects were further examined. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of perceived autonomy and issues in assessment strategies. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

General and context-specific encoding: A life-span development study.

Examined general and context-specific encoding across the life span, using the same procedure for all ages. Ss included 2nd- and 5th-grade schoolchildren, college students, and individuals aged 65+ yrs. Ss were asked to generate a personal word association to each of 24 target items prior to a surprise cued-recall test. The cues were either the S-generated associates or category labels. Ss at all ages recalled more associate-cued than category-cued items. Using the college students' performance as a baseline, 2nd graders performed equally poorly with both types of cues; 5th graders performed relatively more poorly with category than associate cues; and the older Ss performed relatively more poorly with associate than with category cues. (French abstract) (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)     

Test anxiety, stress, and intelligence-test performance.

Administered the Test Anxiety Scale for Children and the CMA scale to 332 6th graders. Later Ss were given an intelligence test under a number of experimental conditions designed to induce varying amounts of stress. Results were analyzed by means of 2 (anxiety) * 5 (experimental conditions) * 2 (sex) analyses of covariance, Ss having been classified as high or low anxious on the basis of their anxiety-scale scores. These analyses revealed that none of the effects of the main independent variables or of their interactions were significant. Results do not support either of the hypotheses: that high-anxious Ss will be more adversely affected by stress; and that test anxiety is more directly related to test performance than is general anxiety. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of comprehension monitoring as a function of context.

Two studies with 59 Ss (preschoolers–4th graders) explored the effects of stimulus factors on children's ability to monitor comprehension of messages as listeners in a referential communication situation. Results of Exp I show that both complexity of the stimulus array and degree of message ambiguity affected performances. In line with previous findings, 4th graders but not younger Ss showed evidence of effective comprehension monitoring. Data from Exp II show that when conducive stimulus conditions were arranged, even 1st graders demonstrated considerable skill in comprehension monitoring. In addition to investigating comprehension monitoring per se, the studies also examined the role of comprehension monitoring in directing the overall comprehension process. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ambivalence and defense: Effects of a repressive style on normal adolescents' and young adults' mixed feelings.

Ambivalence has been associated in theoretical works with psychopathology and with defenses against conflict. Ambivalence was operationalized as mixed feelings. 75 9th graders (27 boys and 48 girls), 50 12th graders (19 men and 31 women), and 80 Yale University undergraduates (38 men and 42 women) completed questionnaires assessing ambivalence, psychopathological symptoms, and repressive and nonrepressive styles. Compared with nonrepressive Ss, repressive Ss at all grade levels reported lower levels of mixed feelings and relatively less uncertainty about their feelings. Whereas the absence of felt anxiety was sufficient for lower self-reported psychopathological symptoms, a repressive style was necessary for lower self-reported ambivalence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acquisition of formal scientific reasoning by 10- and 13-year-olds: Designing a factorial experiment.

A study of 60 5th and 8th graders indicates that 8th graders who received conceptual-framework-plus-analog problem instruction generated more complete factorial arrays than did Ss who received conceptual framework alone who tended to attain perfect performance more often than Ss in the control condition. 5th-grade conceptual-framework-plus-analog Ss generated all combinations more often than Ss in either of the 2 remaining conditions, which did not differ. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective reading: Attention to the "unattended" lines.

Previous research on selective reading indicates that upon direct questioning Ss are usually unable to recall words that appear in irrelevant lines. In 3 experiments with male 6th graders (n = 24) and college freshmen (n = 31), a procedure was developed to examine the influence of the unattended lines on memory for the words in attended lines in selective reading. In each study, q of the Ss were given a set of selective reading passages to be read aloud. In the irrelevant lines of each passage were wrong answers to the questions which followed that story. The remainder of the Ss in each experiment read control passages without irrelevant lines. Results show that although Ss in the selective reading condition could not recall the words in the irrelevant lines, their answers to the questions following each passage were influenced by that "unattended" material. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental differences in the memory search of categorized lists.

16 right-handed female 3rd and 6th graders were tested in a recognition memory task with short lists of items from 1 or 2 categories. Latency data for 1-category lists of letters or digits were consistent with a serial-exhaustive model of memory search for both groups. It was also found that the younger Ss searched these lists more slowly. For 2-category lists, developmental differences were found in Ss' ability to use the category information to facilitate information retrieval. Although the category information was very salient for Ss of both ages, only the 6th graders were able to use it to modify their memory search. It was noted that the 6th graders' 2-category data were consistent with a particular nonexhaustive search strategy, the random entry model, which has previously been identified by M. J. Naus et al (see record 1973-06031-001) for adult Ss. The similarity of the 3rd graders' memory search for 1- and 2-category lists suggests that young children do not systematically use information that they have available in permanent memory to facilitate their performance in memory search. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

New method for studying semantic encoding in children.

Used a familiarization procedure in 2 experiments investigating word encoding in 40 2nd and 40 6th graders. Previous studies using release from proactive inhibition have indicated that developmental changes on some encoding dimensions occur during this period. It is argued that the dependence of release from proactive inhibition on deliberate recall decreases its pertinence to the process of encoding. Exp I confirmed previous findings that the taxonomic classes animals and body parts are encoded by Ss in both grades. Exp II revealed that Ss in both grades also encode the evaluative connotation of words, a finding that has previously emerged only inconsistently. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

High school students' perceptions of AIDS risk: Realistic appraisal or motivated denial?

296 9th and 10th graders were asked to indicate their absolute and comparative risk of acquiring AIDS and to complete questionnaire items measuring AIDS-related behaviors and the constructs expected to influence risk judgments. Results indicate Ss used their behaviors as a basis for assessing personal risk in the sense that they perceived higher risk when their behavior was in fact riskier. However, this relation did not hold for those Ss classified as repressors on a repression-sensitization scale; repressors' perceptions of absolute (but not comparative) risk were negatively correlated with degree of behavioral risk. In a secondary analysis, perceived absolute risk emerged as a significant predictor of intention to change AIDS-risk behaviors. Data support a motivational interpretation of perceived invulnerability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)