Effects of Motivation on Young Children's Object Recall and Strategy Use

The study was designed to examine the effects of motivation on young children's recall for object names and early-emerging mnemonic activities. Seventy-two 4-year-old children were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 instructional conditions: incidental, intentional, or motivational. Each child was shown 10 small toy objects and provided a 90 s study period prior to recall. The children's mnemonic behaviors were videotaped for subsequent coding. The children in the incidental condition were instructed to simply look at the toys while children in the intentional and motivational condition were given explicit instructions to remember. The motivational group was also told that they could keep whichever toys they remembered. A recognition memory task was employed to examine the extent to which the stimuli were encoded during the study period. The children's recall memory did not vary as a function of instructional condition. Children's use of singular versus multiple strategies was calculated, along with a weighted summary score giving most weight to the participant's use of mature mnemonic strategies. Significant differences in strategy use were found, favoring the motivational condition. Significant positive correlations were found between the weighted summary scores and object recall, and the teacher ratings of mastery motivation and object recall. Mastery motivation was found to be unrelated to the strategic summary scores, failing to mediate strategic behaviors. The results suggest that when providing incentives to remember, children apparently engaged in more effortful mnemonic processing in order to remember the items, even though a greater number of items were not recalled.     

儿童"假想伙伴"研究及其对教育的启示

“假想伙伴”现象的描述最早出现于20世纪30年代,但把它单独作为一个重要课题进行专门研究却是近二十年的事情。文章回顾了有关假想伙伴研究的历史起源和近期研究成果。文章认为创造假想伙伴是儿童解决适应困难的一个有效手段。分析这一现象对幼儿教育具有很大的启示意义。     

Intentional Teaching Facilitates Young Children's Comprehension and Use of a Symbolic Object

Children are exposed to symbolic objects that they have to learn to use very early in life. The authors’ aim was to examine whether it is possible to intentionally teach young children the symbolic function of an object. They employed a search task in which children had to use a map to find a toy. Experiment 1 revealed that with no instruction 3-year-, 10-month-old children were quite successful; 3-year-, 6-month-olds showed a divided performance; and 3-year-, 0-month-olds failed. With this baseline, Experiment 2 compared the performance of 3-year-, 0-month-olds in three different conditions: no-instruction, complete instruction (before the task begins), and teaching (complete instruction plus corrective feedback); only children in the teaching condition succeeded. However, children 6 months younger, 2-year-, 6-month-olds, failed despite teaching that was provided (Study 3). This research shows that at some points in development instruction is not enough; intentional teaching in communicative contexts is the mechanism that boosts symbolic understanding in early childhood.     

One Hidden Object,Two Spatial Codes: Young Children's Use of Relational and Vector Coding

An important characteristic of mature spatial cognition is the ability to encode spatial locations in terms of relations among landmarks as well as in terms of vectors that include distance and direction. In this study, we examined children's use of the relation middle to code the location of a hidden toy, using a procedure adapted from prior work on spatial cognition in gerbils (Collett, Cartwright, & Smith, 1986). Children of 4 and 5 years searched for a hidden toy in a large-scale environment. They were trained to find the toy with either 2 or 1 landmark present. On subsequent trials we altered the number and locations of the landmarks to determine how children represented the location of the toy. With 2 landmarks present during the initial training trial, the children coded both the middle location and the distance and direction from the toy to the landmarks. With 1 landmark present during the training trial, the children coded the location in terms of distance and direction to the single landmark. Our results shed light on seemingly inconsistent prior findings in both human and nonhuman species and indicate that both relational and vector coding are present in young children.     

儿童网络行为与学业成绩的关系:自我控制的调节效应

以547名4-6年级学生为研究对象,采用网络行为调查问卷、家庭富裕量表和青少年自我控制双系统量表,探讨儿童网络行为与学业成绩之间的关系,以及自我控制在二者之间的调节作用。结果发现:(1)儿童网络信息获取行为能够正向预测语文成绩;(2)自我控制调节网络信息获取行为与语文成绩之间的关系,同时也在儿童网络社交行为与语文成绩之间起调节作用。具体而言,自我控制中延迟满足的能力能够增强网络信息获取对语文成绩的促进作用,并且减缓网络社交行为对儿童的语文成绩的消极影响。     

Learning What to Remember: Vocabulary Knowledge and Children's Memory for Object Names and Features

Although young children can map a novel name to a novel object, it remains unclear what they actually remember about objects when they initially make such a name–object association. In the current study we investigated (1) what children remembered after they were initially introduced to name–object associations and (2) how their vocabulary size and vocabulary structure influenced what they remembered. As a group, children had difficulty remembering each of the features of the original novel objects. Further analyses revealed that differences in vocabulary structure predicted children's ability to remember object features. Specifically, children who produced many names for categories organized by similarity in shape (e.g. ball, cup) had the best memory for newly‐learned objects' features—especially their shapes. In addition, the more features children remembered, the more likely they were to retain the newly learned name–object associations. Vocabulary size, however, was not predictive of children's feature memory or retention. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that children's existing vocabulary structure, rather than simply vocabulary size, influences what they attend to when encountering a new object and subsequently their ability to remember new name–object associations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preferences and Children's Use of Gender-Stereotyped Knowledge About Musical Instruments: Making Judgments About Other Children's Preferences

A developmental model of gender-stereotype acquisition (Martin, 1989) proposes that by the age of 8 years children draw upon information about gender-stereotyped interests as well as other children's sex when deciding how much other children would like different activities; younger children rely on sex only when making such decisions. We examined whether the judgments that children made about other children's preferences were different from those that they made about their own preferences for masculine and feminine musical instruments. Three hundred twelve children aged 8–9 years ranked 6 instruments in order of preference, and rated on a 4-point scale how much they would like to play each one. Children were then asked to decide how much other children would like to play each instrument. Only girls' own preferences for feminine instruments differed according to the gender-stereotyping of their most-preferred instrument. Judgments about how much other children would like masculine and feminine instruments did not differ according to those children's gender-stereotyped interest. Children made stereotypical predictions about the preferences of children of unknown sex who played either a masculine or feminine instrument. Implications for a theoretical account of the development of children's gender-stereotypes are discussed.     

Young Children's Imitative and Innovative Behaviour on the Floating Object Task

Past research has shown that children will copy the actions of adults with high fidelity, even actions that are obviously causally irrelevant to the modelled outcome. However, this phenomenon has always been documented in cases where a clear functional outcome has been brought about (e.g. getting a box open to retrieve a toy). Here, we demonstrate how young children will continue to adopt the precise actions shown to them by an adult even if the goal of the actions is not realized during modelling. A group of 4‐year‐old participants were presented with a toy lying at the bottom of a Perspex tube. Despite the availability of a bottle of water, and unlike the responses of a group of adults, few children spontaneously identified the solution of pouring the water into the tube to raise the toy up the tube where it could be reached. The majority did so, however, after seeing an adult demonstrate this approach. Critically, children copied the specific method of the adult, even when this involved the unnecessary steps of pouring from the bottle into a cup before pouring from the cup into the tube. These results highlight the value of overimitation to children growing up in a world filled with objects whose operating mechanisms are often hidden or unclear. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

不同数学水平儿童的数量估计:图形排列方式的影响

采用参照蔡方之等(2004)所设计的图形材料,考察了不同图形排列方式对不同数学学业水平小学生数量估计的影响。35名三年级被试参加了本实验,其中优生20人,差生15人。行为数据和口头报告分析结果显示:(1)优生是更合理的数量估计者。优生数量估计的绝对误差百分比明显小于差生。(2)图形排列方式对数量估计产生了显著影响。不同图形排列方式可能会造成规则-随机数量错觉和均匀-不均匀数量错觉,从而使均匀及规则图形被高估幅度更大。     

Daily Versus Major Life Events as Predictors of Symptom Frequency: A Replication Study

Predictions of physical symptomatology by daily life events and by major life events were compared, replicating and expanding work reported by De-Longis, Coyne, Dakof, Folkman, & Lazarus (1982). Analyses of daily, prospective data collected on 79 married men for 90 days demonstrated that daily, undesirable events were better predictors of symptom frequencies than either past, major life events or daily, desirable events. These results, similar to those found by DeLongis et al. (1982), were further explored by examining “healthy” subjects versus subjects with prior medical conditions. Undesirable daily events were a much stronger predictor of physical symptoms in the healthy group than in the prior medical conditions group.     

Neither Hypocrisy Nor Replication: A Protestant Account of Imitating Christ as Moral Exemplar

In this article a Protestant view of the imitation of Christ is offered as part of participation in Christ and as taking place in ordinary life (Luther, Calvin). Imitating Christ as moral exemplar does not mean copying him, as a human effort to emulate a high moral ideal, but loving the neighbour as he did in the particularities of one's own life. It is a striving rooted in Christ's lowliness, which makes imitation an achievable though demanding ethical requirement for each individual (Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer). Imitation is a ‘putting on Christ’ that is neither a hypocritical pretending nor a pretentious replication but a striving to re‐present Christ in an authentic Christian existence.     

Determinants of Children's Primary Health Care Use

We review factors that influence children's use of primary health care services. Predictors of pediatric health care use include child health status, child mental health, parent and family functioning, demographic characteristics, and access to health care services. Health services research is marked by inconsistencies due to varying approaches to measurement, population sampling, and analysis, and models that do not incorporate situational factors. We present recommendations for practicing clinicians and discuss suggestions for future research to help identify additional factors that may influence a parent's decision to seek help from pediatric physicians. Health care use is determined by multiple factors, and complex models will lead to improved strategies for maximizing health status and establishing optimal pediatric care.     

Assessing Object Representations as a Continuous Variable: A Modification of the Concept of the Object on the Rorschach Scale

Current methods for assessing the quality of internalized object representations have not provided a continuous variable that simultaneously includes both an accuracy and a maturity component. A modification of Blatt, Brooks, Brenneis, and Schimek's (1976) Concept of the Object on the Rorschach scale that would combine the two components by weighting the quality of each response according to its form level was proposed. Initial discriminant and convergent validity of this modification was checked through correlations and multiple regression analyses using behavioral, diagnostic, and demographic data from 84 adolescent inpatients as dependent variables. Results indicate the modified score was directly related to measures of peer relatedness, intelligence, psychological health, and reality testing, and indirectly related to measures of psychosis and hostile, unmanageable behavior. The results support the utility of the modification for providing a continuous score that assesses both developmental maturity and accuracy, the two dimensions on which the concept of object representation is based.     

The Double-Rating Method: A Replication and Extension

The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend Hui's (2001 ) findings of effectiveness of the double-rating method. To address a statistical analysis concern in Hui's original study, this study employed 2 measures of social desirability: the Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MCSDS; Crowne & Marlowe, 1964 ) and the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR; Paulhus, 1984, 1988 ). For both scales, participants in the single-rating method condition had higher social desirability scores than did those in the double-rating method. There were also positive correlations between socially desirable responses for others and socially desirable responses for self. However, only for the BIDR did participants respond for themselves in the manner that they believed fellow students would respond.     

Self-Efficacy and Political Skill as Comparative Predictors of Task and Contextual Performance: A Two-Study Constructive Replication

This study examined how competition within teams influences which type of achievement goals employees adopt. We studied how dispositional learning-goal and performance-goal orientation interact with team-level competition and predict whether team members adopt state learning or performance achievement goals. State achievement goals, in turn, were proximal antecedents of two outcome measures: job-related self-efficacy and supervisory ratings of job performance. The participants were 502 employees and 55 supervisors. Results confirmed that competition was positively associated with state performance goals. Trait performance-goal orientation influenced whether competition was negatively associated with state learning goals. In highly competitive teams, trait performance-goal orientation was negatively related to state learning goals, whereas in less competitive teams, a performance-goal orientation was positively related to state learning goals.     

身体之为"窍":宋明儒学中的身体本体论建构

在先秦儒学与医学之中,身体之“窍”（七窍／九窍）被视为“精神”的“孔窍”、“门户”与“通道”,它们内根于“五脏”,外联于天地之气。保持“孔窍”的通畅,无论对“卫生”,抑或对“修身”均意味重要。其中,耳、目、口三窍尤为儒家修身所注重。阴阳五行理论兴起后,身体之“窍”与天地万物之“窍”之间的同构关系得到彰显。 在承继前人五脏“开窍于目”、“开窍于耳”、“开窍于口”、“开窍于鼻”、“开窍于二阴”这一思想基础上,理学家一方面深刻挖掘出身体之窍的本体论向度,提出一个完整的“天地之心”的发窍路线图：“天地之心”发窍于人心,人心（通过五脏六腑）发窍于耳目口鼻四肢这一连续性的发窍结构,并借助于汉儒身体之“窍”与天地万物之“窍”之间的同构关系思想,揭示出天地之心一人心（灵窍）一七窍一体结构的时间性（“七窍”、“灵窍”与天地万物的运作的同步性）,另一方面,呈现出丰富的“七窍”与“心窍”修身经验,这些经验极大丰富了孔孟“四勿”与“践形”功夫。 儒家强调身体之窍、心窍的“虚”、“无”性格,与萨特所代表的意识现象学有着本质的区别。儒家“通身是窍”的理念折射出儒家的“主体性”乃是扎根于生生不已、大化流行之中与他者、天地万物相互感应、相互应答的身心一如的存在,这种主体性本身就嵌在身体之中,无论是“惕然动乎中,赧然见乎色”之耻感,抑或是“恻然动乎中”之“不忍”、“悯恤”、“顾惜”之同感,乃至生意津津之一体生命的生机畅遂感、乐感,皆是深深嵌入身体之中“觉情”与“实感”。儒家身体的这种本体论向度,不仅迥异于Hans Jonas所批评的存在主义的虚无主义精神气质,而且为克服这种虚无主义提供了深厚的理论资源。