Examined the nature of perceptual classification in children and young adults. Found that most children attend selectively to one stimulus dimension when making perceptual classification judgments. Suggests that this developmental trend does not appear to be a holistic-to-analytic shift but rather a trend toward greater consistency in following a…

Tested Cooper and Fazio's dissonance model. Subjects made arguments that were consistent or inconsistent with their attitudes and were provided feedback about consequences. Attitude-change effect only occurred when behaviors were both inconsistent and resulted in aversive consequences. Results suggest that cognitive inconsistency may be necessary…

Describes an exploratory study on the acquisition and use of knowledge representation skills and structures by sixth-graders, supported by a computer-based learning environment. Results indicated that symbolic structures can be taught successfully, and that students using them in the context of instructional tasks perform at the higher band of…

Considers the role of obligation in counselors' motivation to do their work. Observes that narrative practices related to the humanities, and to religious and spiritual traditions, may help counselors when obligation-based motivation is overwhelmed by the harsher elements of human nature and of the counseling profession. (RJM)

Delineates the current consensus regarding the nature and the development of intellectual ability. Examines when one would expect general abilities to moderate the relationship among domain-specific and other processes. Reviews recent studies in which general abilities were used as independent variables or covariates. Suggests that generally,…

Findings from several social science research studies support the view that knowledge is socially constructed and based on the experience and interpretation of events. Results of this study demonstrate that a multimethod approach has greater explanatory power when traditional and contructivist methods are combined. (Author/AEF)

Explores some speculative hypotheses on states of knowing and learning, and how these states and processes might be applied to artificial intelligence and expert systems development. (JKP)

Two experiments investigated perceptual primacy of dimensional and similarity relations in stimulus classification of mentally retarded children. Results support a distinction between separable and integral stimulus structures, but do not support an integral-to-separable shift in perceptual development. Results suggest implications for…

Examined the effects of perceived control and close alternative outcomes on counterfactual generation (thoughts of what could have been). Subjects played a "wheel of fortune" game in which they controlled one of two wheels. Results supported the idea that people generate counterfactuals about events over which they have perceived…

Examined impact of outcome controllability on counterfactual thoughts (thoughts of what could have been). Two studies showed that outcome controllability affected counterfactual direction: thoughts on how things could have been better were more frequent following controllable outcomes, and thoughts on how things could have been worse followed…

Didactic transposition theory asserts that bodies of knowledge are designed not to be taught but to be used. Discusses didactic transposition, the transposition of knowledge regarded as a tool to be used to knowledge as something to be learned in mathematics textbooks. (14 references) (MDH)

Discusses how student errors can be utilized to understand the nature of the conceptions that underlie students' mathematical activity. Looks at why errors are made in mathematics, how teachers and students perceive errors, and how to use errors in the classroom. (MDH)

This study examined differences in reported depressive symptomatology and related dysfunctional cognitions in nonhandicapped, learning-disabled, and seriously emotionally disturbed adolescents from both public school and juvenile correction settings. No significant main effect was found for differences across label, but consequential differences…

Compares 7 biology faculty members, 9 genetic counselors, and 26 undergraduate students according to both expertise and problem-solving success within the domain of genetics. Findings are consistent with the hypothesis that as expertise is attained, the individual restructures knowledge into a framework based upon the critical dimensions which…

Addressed three issues in a description of techniques used to study how people learn structured sequences. These are the content of what is learned, the role of conscious awareness in syntactic learning, and the role of limited-capacity processing or focal attention in syntactic learning. (Contains 86 references.) (Author)