Experimental Studies of the Relation Between Rate of Reading and Speed of Association

Three groups of Ss read a five-paragraph story. One group read the middle paragraph under conditions of .2-second DAF. The other two groups functioned as control groups. Both an immediate and a delayed oral recall were obtained. The usual changes in reading rate were observed. Immediate memory for the material presented under DAF was severely impaired. Delayed retention showed a marked relative increase, but not enough of an absolute increase to eliminate the significant difference between the experimental and the control groups.     

Orthographic Knowledge and Reading Fluency among within Word Pattern Spellers in Grades 2–5

This study investigated relationships among the reading fluency, word recognition, language background, and reading achievement in second through fifth graders. Among the 250 students sampled, 70% were within word pattern (WWP) spellers. These WWP stage spellers were remarkably similar in reading, regardless of grade and Limited English Proficient designation. Years in school did not compensate for orthographic development in reading rate and word recognition. There were significant differences in reading rates for 1-min and passage rates (ηp 2?=?.34) for students in this stage, and criterion referenced test pass rates were associated with Curriculum-Based Measure norms for reading rate. Implications for instruction are presented.     

Are Children's Concerns About Punishment Related to Their Aggression?

Although moral reasoning is recognized as an influence on students' behavior, it is often overlooked in policies and interventions developed to change their behavior. Relations between specific types of moral reasoning (i.e., imminent, probable, physical, and psychological) and teacher-reported overt aggression were examined in 203 first and second graders. Regression analyses indicated that psychological reasoning explained a significant amount of the variance in overt aggression. Follow-up analyses indicated that overtly aggressive boys demonstrated more concern for the imminent consequences of their behavior on themselves (e.g., punishment) and less concern for the psychological consequences of their actions on others (e.g., hurting others' feelings) than nonaggressive boys. Implications for the prevention and treatment of aggressive behavior are discussed.     

What Do People Find Incompatible With Causal Determinism?

Four studies explored people's judgments about whether particular types of behavior are compatible with determinism. Participants read a passage describing a deterministic universe, in which everything that happens is fully caused by whatever happened before it. They then assessed the degree to which different behaviors were possible in such a universe. Other participants evaluated the extent to which each of these behaviors had various features (e.g., requiring reasoning). We assessed the extent to which these features predicted judgments about whether the behaviors were possible in a deterministic universe. Experiments 1 and 2 found that people's judgments about whether a behavior was compatible with determinism were not predicted by their judgments about whether that behavior relies on physical processes in the brain and body, is uniquely human, is unpredictable, or involves reasoning. Experiment 3, however, found that a distinction between what we call “active” and “passive” behaviors can explain people's judgments. Experiment 4 extended these findings, showing that we can measure this distinction in several ways and that it is robustly predicted by two different cues. Taken together, these results suggest that people carve up mentally guided behavior into two distinct types—understanding one type to be compatible with determinism, but another type to be fundamentally incompatible with determinism.     

Cognition of the relation between an event and a circumstance understood to explain the event

A model is advanced for the process of explanation, according to which (a) an event to be explained is understood to be a value on a particular dimension of variation; (b) a circumstance believed to explain the event is understood to be a value on another dimension of variation; (c) the two dimensions are understood to be related such that the dimension whose value is to be explained is more likely to take that value when the dimension of circumstance takes its obtaining value than when the dimension of circumstance takes an alternative value. Evidence for the model is reported from a study in which Ss made two judgments about a human action-wchich of two statements of circumstance specifying alternative values for a certain dimension was the better explanation for the action, and which of the same two statements described the case in which the action, or for certain items the opposite action, was more likely to occur. For each of five different actions, the judgments were significantly related as required by the model.     

Implicit alternatives to a stimulus,difficulty of encoding,and schema-plus-correction representation

Garner has hypothesized that a S exposed to a stimulus infers alternatives to it. Data are reviewed which establish a close correlation between the number of implicit alternatives to a stimulus and the difficulty of encoding that stimulus. This correlation provides a datum to be explained and suggests that the identification of specific implicit alternatives may provide clues to the encoding process. For dot patterns of a certain kind, it has been suggested that the rotations and reflections of a stimulus are its only alternatives, but a close examination of certain data indicates that, for many of these patterns, the alternatives also include one or more other patterns which differ from the stimulus only in the position of a single dot and which locate that dot in a position where it is more predictable from the other dots. It is suggested that the one-dot-different alternatives represent schemas used in schema-plus-correction encoding.     

Even cowboys sing the blues: Difficulties experienced by men trying to adopt nontraditional sex roles and how clinicians can be helpful to them

Difficulties clinicians experience in appropriately treating men attempting to adopt nontraditional sex roles are discussed and suggestions made to ameliorate these difficulties. While the impact of the women's movement has made therapists more sensitive to societal influences on the behavior of women, comparable attention has not been paid to societal influences on the sex-role stereotypical behavior or to the price paid by men who violate stereotypical sex-role expectations. Further, clinicians who have been socialized into dominant societal values may have difficulty tolerating men who are trying to abandon higher status traditional masculine values for nontraditional ones; such clinicians are unlikely to provide decent treatment for males espousing new sex roles.     

Shame,guilt, blaming,and anger: Differences between children in Japan and the US

Recent research and theory on shame and guilt has highlighted the “dark side to shame” in motivating harmful behavior. Although researchers recognize that cultural differences in shame exist, few studies have examined such differences. In this study of 130 fourth and fifth graders from the United States and 118 from Japan, cultural differences in anger, shame, guilt, and externalization of blame were examined. Consistent with predictions, compared to American children, Japanese children were more prone to experience shame and guilt and less likely to externalize blame. However, they also were more likely to experience anger. Directly, and indirectly through blaming, shame had much greater effects on anger among American than Japanese children. Whereas the effects were positive and significant among American children, they were negative and nonsignificant among Japanese children. Among Japanese children, it was guilt, rather than shame, that was related to anger, and in a negative manner. Findings suggest that in anger, the “dark side to shame” but also the more positive side to guilt, are moderated by cultural context.     

Boarding School Attendance and Physical Health Status of Northern Plains Tribes

Our hypothesis was that boarding school attendance among Northern Plains tribal members was associated with lower self-reported physical health status controlling for demographic, socioeconomic variables, the number of mental health and physical health problems. This secondary analysis used the American Indian Service Utilization, Psychiatric Epidemiology, Risk and Protective Factors Project data collected from 1997 to 1999. This analysis included (n = 1638) Northern Plains tribally enrolled members, aged 15–54, who lived on or within 20 miles of their reservations. Using linear regression and path analysis we examined the indirect, direct, and combine associations of boarding school attendance and physical health status. Results confirm boarding school attendance contributed indirectly (beta = ?.83, CI = ?1.33,-.33, p. ≤ .001) through number of physical health conditions to lower physical health status. Combined direct and indirect results (beta = ?.39, CI = ?1.20, .42) show American Indians who attended boarding school have lower physical health status (beta = ?1.22, CI = ?2.18,-.26, p. ≤ .01) than those who did not. The relationship of American Indian boarding school attendance and physical health status is complex with more than one path existing. We need to better understand the relationship of boarding school attendance and American Indian health, identify risk factors, and develop interventions for families and younger generations.