Dialogic argumentation as a vehicle for developing young adolescents' thinking

Argumentive reasoning skills are featured in the new K-12 Common Standards (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010), yet with little said about their nature or how to instill them. Distinguishing reasoning skills from writing skills, we report on a multiyear intervention that used electronically conducted dialogues on social issues as the medium to develop argumentive reasoning skills in two cohorts of young adolescents. Intervention groups demonstrated transfer of the dialogic activity to two individual essays on new topics; argument quality for these groups exceeded that of comparison groups who participated in an intervention involving the more face-valid activity of extensive essay writing practice, along with whole-class discussion. The intervention group also demonstrated greater awareness of the relevance of evidence to argument. The dialogic method thus appears to be a viable one for developing cognitive skills that the comparison-group data show do not routinely develop during this age period.     

PEGS, BOARDS, AND RELATIVISTIC PERDURANCE

In an earlier work I developed an argument favoring one view of persistence (viz., perdurance) over its rivals, based on considerations of the relativity of three-dimensional spatial shapes of physical objects in Minkowski spacetime. The argument has since come under criticism (in the works of Theodore Sider, Kristie Miller, Ian Gibson, Oliver Pooley, and Thomas Sattig). Two related topics, explanatory virtues and explanatory relevance, are central to these critical discussions. In this paper I deal with these topics directly and respond to my critics by offering a new perspective on the issue.     

Coordinating own and other perspectives in argument

What does it take to argue well? The goal of this series of studies was to better understand the cognitive skills entailed in argument, and their course of development, isolated from the verbal and social demands that argumentive discourse also entails. Findings indicated that young adolescents are less able than adults to coordinate attention to both positions in an argument, an age-related pattern that parallels one found in discourse. Contributing to this weakness was inattention to the opposing position (in both constrained and unconstrained formats), but not ability to address the opposing position when explicitly asked to do so. In addition to implementing the necessary dual focus, results point to the importance of developing epistemological understanding of the relevance of the opposing position to argument, as well as of the goals of argument more generally. The results also reflect the close parallels between dialogic and non-dialogic argument.     

The search for peer advice in cyberspace: An examination of online teen bulletin boards about health and sexuality

The physical, emotional, and psychological changes that occur in adolescence prompt youths to have serious questions about their bodies, relationships, and health that are often personal, sensitive, or embarrassing. Past research has shown that adolescents are often reluctant to consult physicians, peers, and others for personal health questions due to concerns about confidentiality. One new venue for health information is the Internet, which is a promising resource due to its accessibility, interactivity, and anonymity. This study is a snapshot investigation of a popular health support website, which utilized a peer-generated bulletin board format to facilitate the discussion of adolescent health and social issues. Analyses of two health bulletin boards—one on teen issues and one on sexual health—were conducted on the questions and replies found on 273 topics of mainly anonymous adolescents collected over a 2-month period. Results revealed that the questions most frequently posted and viewed reflected interests and concerns about their changing physical, emotional, and social selves: Romantic relationships were the most frequent topic on the teen issues bulletin board; sexual health was the most frequent topic on the sexuality bulletin board. The bulletin boards proved to be a valuable forum of personal opinions, actionable suggestions, concrete information, and emotional support and allowed teens to candidly discuss sensitive topics, such as sexuality and interpersonal relations.     

The pursuit of self-interest: self-interest bias in attitude judgment and persuasion

Self-interest affected the direction of attitudes in 4 studies exploring attitude judgment and persuasion. Experiment 1 showed that both self-interest and symbolic concerns predicted attitudes. The biasing role of self-interest in producing the well-known persuasion effects of personal relevance and argument strength was examined by disentangling the competing effects of personal costs and benefits. Experiment 2 used a standard personal relevance manipulation in the absence of supportive arguments and showed that perceptions of personal costs associated with the advocated policy partially mediated its negative effects on attitudes. Experiments 3 and 4 independently manipulated the onset of personal costs associated with an issue and the onset of issue-related benefits conveyed by supportive arguments. Postmessage attitudes were an additive function of personal costs and argument-specified benefits, and perceived costs and benefits biased information processing in a self-interested manner. A revised conception of personal relevance and argument strength is discussed.     

Sex differences in self-disclosure: Effects of topic content,friendship, and partner's sex

Male-female differences in self-disclosure were found as a function of sex stereotyping of topic content. Men disclosed less than women on “feminine” topics, which emphasized personal concerns and sensitivities. Men and women did not differ in disclosure on “neutral” topics, considered appropriate for both sexes to discuss. Men and women did not differ in disclosure on “masculine” topics (emphasizing assertiveness) in two of three experiments. Theoretical mechanisms that might mediate sex differences in self-disclosure were considered.     

Predicting Conversational Reports of a Personal Event

This study concerns topic selection in conversational reports of a personal event, the birth of a baby. Ninety phone calls from 12 fathers and 7 mothers were analyzed in terms of the subject's prior concerns (prenatal questionnaire) and the outcome of events (postpartum questionnaire). Four analyses were conducted. The first showed that subjects were likely to mention topics of high, rather than low, prior concern, and unusual, rather than ordinary, outcome. The second showed that chronologically early topics were discussed before late topics. These findings were compatible with either a memory (i.e., “knowledge telling”) or a communication (i.e., “knowledge processing”) model of topic selection. Two additional analyses were conducted to evaluate predictions derived from each of these models. The first analysis showed that the conversations also contained a small set of pro forma topics that appeared earlier and more frequently than other topics. The second showed that these topics were more likely to be recipient-initiated. These results suggest that reporters deviated from an optimal retrieval plan to take the recipient into account. The results as a whole support a communication-based, “knowledge processing” (Bereiter & Scardomalia, 1980) model of topic selection.     

Majority versus minority influence and prediction of behavioral intentions and behavior

Two experiments examined the effects of majority and minority influence on attitude-consistent behavioral intentions. In the first experiment, when attitudes were changed via minority influence there was a greater likelihood to engage in an attitude-consistent behavioral intention than when attitudes were changed via majority influence. This suggests that minority influence leads to stronger attitudes (based on systematic processing) that are more predictive of behavioral intentions, while attitude change via majority influence is due to compliance through non-systematic processing. Further support for this interpretation comes from the finding that the amount of message-congruent elaboration mediated behavioral intention. When there was no attitude change, there was no impact on behavioral intention to engage in an attitude-consistent behavior. Experiment 2 explored the role of personal relevance of the topic and also included a real behavioral measure. When the topic was of low personal relevance, the same pattern was found as Experiment 1. When the topic was of high personal relevance, thus increasing the motivation to engage in systematic processing, attitudes changed by both a majority and minority source increased behavioral intention and actual behavior. The results are consistent with the view that both majorities and minorities can lead to different processes and consequences under different situations.     

Antecedents of consumers' citizenship behaviour towards organic foods

Within the consumer behaviour literature, there has been little research on factors that influence customers' choices for organic foods. This study investigates three aspects of the Taiwanese organic food market. The first aspect considers how argument quality, source credibility, and social comparison affect consumer‐social venture identification. The second aspect examines how identity attractiveness, social media engagement, and self‐determination affect personal relevance. The third and final aspect investigates how consumer‐social venture identification and personal relevance influence customer citizenship behaviour. The results show that consumer‐social venture identification and personal relevance have significant and positive effects on customer citizenship behaviour. Furthermore, argument quality, source credibility, and social comparison all have significant and positive effects on consumer‐social venture identification. Finally, identity attractiveness, social media engagement, and self‐determination have significant and positive effects on personal relevance. This study makes three contributions regarding consumers' behaviour of purchasing organic foods. First, it explores whether consumer‐social venture identification and personal relevance are antecedents of customer citizenship behaviour. Second, it investigates whether argument quality, source credibility, and social comparison are antecedents of consumer‐social venture identification. Last, it examines whether identity attractiveness, social media engagement, and self‐determination are antecedents of personal relevance. The practical implications of this study indicate that firms must pay more attention to consumers' information search/sharing and perceptions of a credible environment for sharing information and their awareness about healthy items and personal images on social networking sites.     

Improving Personal Happiness Through Couple Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Self-directed Couple Enhancement Program

Although personal happiness is highly associated with social relationships, basic questions remain regarding the causal effect of improved social relationships on happiness. The main aim of this study was to test whether emotional and cognitive dimensions of personal happiness can be increased by means of a self-directed relationship enhancement program, which aims to increase relationship-relevant skills such as dyadic coping, communication, and conflict resolution. N = 220 couples were randomly assigned either to an intervention or to a waiting list control group (survey: pre-, post-, 3- and 6-month follow-ups). Multi-group latent change score models reveal that (1) personal happiness can be increased through a couple intervention; (2) change in personal happiness was predicted by an increase in skills and relationship satisfaction through the intervention; (3) the least happy participants benefited most from the intervention. Improving spousal interactions may help people become and stay happier. Participants in this study did not relapse to their set point of personal happiness as could be expected by adaptation theory. Thus, not treating individuals directly, but rather the dynamic system of spousal interactions as a whole, offers a potentially very powerful area for happiness research.     

Working mechanisms of a web-based self-management intervention for cancer survivors: a randomised controlled trial

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether problem-solving skills and perceived personal control over cancer recovery mediated the intervention effects on depression and fatigue of a web-based computer-tailored intervention for cancer survivors – the Kanker Nazorg Wijzer (Cancer Aftercare Guide).

Design: Patients were recruited through 21 Dutch hospitals (November 2013–June 2014). The mediation model was tested in a randomised controlled trial with an intervention group (n = 231) and a waiting list control group (n = 231).

Main outcome measures: Hypothesised mediators problem-solving skills (SPSI-R) and personal control (IPQ-R) were measured at baseline and 3 months from baseline. Outcomes depression (HADS) and fatigue (CIS) were measured at baseline and 6 months from baseline.

Results: The intervention effects in decreasing depression and fatigue were mediated by personal control. Problem-solving skills did not mediate the intervention effects on depression and fatigue.

Conclusion: While personal control in the control group decreased in the first three months after baseline, levels of personal control within the intervention group were maintained. This effect partially explained the intervention effects on depression and fatigue. The results provide evidence for the relevance of addressing personal control in web-based interventions in order to improve psychosocial well-being in early cancer survivors.     

Developing Roles and Skills in Community-Living Adults With Severe and Persistent Mental Illness

People with severe and persistent mental illness often experience a disruption in the development of social roles, and the skills within these roles. Role Development, a set of guidelines for practice, is an intervention to develop roles and skills. The purpose of this study was to continue to examine the efficacy of this intervention. Ten people attending two community mental health programs participated in evaluation and treatment based on Role Development. Quantitative pretest and posttest measures were used. Qualitative components were incorporated to get a sense of the experience involved in developing roles and skills. Quantitative results indicated statistical significance (p < .05) in the development of roles and skills. Qualitative data revealed multiple trends experienced by the participants. This study contributes to the evidenced-based knowledge regarding development of roles and skills for persons living with severe and persistent mental illness.     

The Merited Response Argument and Artistic Categories

The merited response argument is an argument in favor of artistic ethicism. According to this view, the interaction between art and morality is such that a moral defect in a work of art negatively influences the work's artistic value (and a moral merit, when relevant, is always an artistic merit). I contend that the argument relies on a criterion of aesthetic and artistic relevance that, when properly understood, fails to constitute a premise that either the artistic contextualist or the autonomist would accept. I then offer a version of the merited response argument that supports artistic contextualism and argue that, given certain controversial assumptions, immoral art in the Western tradition is more common than typically acknowledged in the recent literature on the topic.     

Personal epistemology across cultures: exploring Norwegian and Spanish university students’ epistemic beliefs about climate change

The primary aim was to explore and compare the dimensionality of personal epistemology with respect to climate change across the contexts of Norwegian and Spanish students. A second aim was to examine relationships between topic-specific epistemic beliefs and the variables of gender, topic knowledge, and topic interest in the two contexts. Participants were 225 Norwegian and 217 Spanish undergraduates enrolled in psychology or education courses, and the dimensionality of topic-specific personal epistemology was explored through factor analyses of the scores on a 49-item questionnaire. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to predict scores on the epistemic belief dimensions emerging from the factor analyses with gender, topic knowledge, and topic interest, respectively. Even though considerable cross-cultural generalizability in dimensionality was demonstrated, this research also draws attention to the cultural embeddedness of topic-specific epistemic beliefs. Moreover, differences in the predictability of topic knowledge and topic interest in Norway and Spain, suggest that factors constraining or enhancing adaptive epistemic beliefs concerning particular topics may vary across cultures.     

Writing About Upsetting Family Events: A Therapy Analog Study

This therapy analog study investigated whether a writing intervention based on contextual therapy would have positive effects on physical, mental, and relational health. One-hundred-and-three college students were randomly assigned to write about either an upsetting family event/issue from childhood or a trivial event during a four-day period. As anticipated, relative to the control participants, those in the experimental condition reported an increase in negative mood and physical symptoms immediately after writing each day. Also as anticipated, the experimental participants also reported feeling better about themselves and their topics at post-test. Unexpectedly, there were either no significant differences or differences in the unpredicted direction between the control and experimental groups in physical, psychological, and relational functioning at posttest and follow-up. However, post-hoc analyses revealed differential changes within the experimental group as a function of the personal relevance and the degree of previous disclosure of the topics. Limitations of written expression as a therapeutic tool are discussed.     

Do We Need Integrity in a Theory of Justice? A Critique of the ‘Argument from Integrity’ in Favour of Accommodations

A number of authors in recent liberal political theory have advanced an ‘argument from integrity’ in favour of legal accommodations. This holds that people are entitled to forms of legal accommodations every time they can plausibly claim that complying with a certain norm compromises their ability to act in accordance with some fundamental personal values. I advance two points against this argument. Valuing integrity unconditionally is implausible because a life devoid of integrity is one that does not prevent anyone from developing crucial liberal virtues. If integrity is valued conditionally, on the other hand, its normative role becomes redundant. In fact, I argue, the key liberal values of fairness and toleration can give a more plausible guidance with regard to the problem of how to treat (and sometimes accommodate) moral commitments that are incompatible with public norms. I conclude that the notion of personal integrity is, by itself, unnecessary and possibly detrimental in a theory of justice.     

Japanese preschoolers’ evaluation of circular and non-circular arguments

Observational and experimental data have revealed that preschoolers possess some argumentation skills, both in the production and the evaluation of arguments. However, these skills might have been fostered by the particular cultural context of Western middle- and upper-classes families, to which most children studied belong. Some data suggests that children in other cultures possess at least some of these skills, but no experimental data had been gathered in Eastern cultures. These cultures are supposed to frown on argumentation, and might thus be less conducive to the early development of argumentation skills. We test the emergence of argument evaluation skills in Japanese 5-year-olds by presenting them with a choice between endorsing a strong, perceptual argument, and a weak, circular argument. A first experiment revealed a trend in the direction of the strong argument. A second experiment that addresses some methodological concerns of the first demonstrates a significant tendency to follow the strong argument. These results are similar to those previously gathered in two other cultures (Swiss and Maya), and suggest that some basic argumentation skills are early developing across cultures.     

Object specificity and personal relevance in long-term visual remembering

The personal relevance of an object is multi-faceted, each facet being capable of contributing to the effects on object memory attributed to personal relevance. An object's status as an individual object (object specificity), rather than just a category of object, is one such facet and its impact on the long-term visual remembering of everyday objects is assessed in two experiments. Images and drawings were produced under generic (e.g., “Please draw a bed”) and personal exemplar (e.g., “Please draw your bed”) instructions, and participants indicated the degree to which the image on which their drawing was based was of a specific object or a generic object. Object specificity induced a sense of time and place for a remembered object, the most recent encounter with the object being most salient. Other aspects of personal relevance collectively facilitated the retrieval of an object's category-irrelevant features (thereby increasing the vividness of the object image), the other objects with which it was seen, and a more general episodic sense of place. Against a broader theoretical perspective, it is proposed that visual episodic memory and visual knowledge are primary sources of information for specific personally relevant objects and generic objects, respectively.