Evaluating the quality and impact of mediators for learning when using associative memory strategies

Recently, a series of studies has reported much greater recall for factual information when students were asked to generate elaborations in response to ‘why’ questions (elaborative interrogation) relative to studying provided elaborations. The two experiments reported here extend and clarify research regarding the strategic benefits of generating elaborations versus providing elaborations. In both experiments, undergraduates studied 30 sentences, all of which described one particular man doing one activity. Students used one of three study strategies. In two conditions, students studied provided elaborations (PE). Half of the elaborations explained why the particular man engaged in the particular activity and half did not explain the specific relations. In the remaining condition, students generated their own elaborations. In both experiments, students were provided with their generated/provided elaborations as cues for recalling the fact at testing. When students were not explicitly cued to use the generated/ provided elaboration at recall, elaborative interrogation (EI) consistently outperformed the PE condition. Recall in the EI condition did not exceed recall in the PE condition, however, when students were provided with good explanatory elaborations and were cued with them at testing. These experiments demonstrate that the poorer performance associated with providing relative to generating elaborations can be mediated by encouraging more meaningful processing of materials and prompting students to access their mediators at recall.     

Temporal control in fixed-interval schedules

The peak procedure was used to study temporal control in pigeons exposed to seven fixed-interval schedules ranging from 7.5 to 480 s. The focus was on behavior in individual intervals. Quantitative properties of temporal control depended on whether the aspect of behavior considered was initial pause duration, the point of maximum acceleration in responding, the point of maximum deceleration, the point at which responding stopped, or several different statistical derivations of a point of maximum responding. Each aspect produced different conclusions about the nature of temporal control, and none conformed to what was known previously about the way ongoing responding was controlled by time under conditions of differential reinforcement. Existing theory does not explain why Weber's law so rarely fit the results or why each type of behavior seemed unique. These data fit with others suggesting that principles of temporal control may depend on the role played by the particular aspect of behavior in particular situations.     

Cognitive, Dispositional, and Psychophysiological Correlates of Dependent Slot Machine Gambling in Young People

In Study 1, young dependent and nondependent slot machine gamblers were interviewed, assessed for locus of control and administered the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Dependent gamblers were revealed as reliably more internal in terms of locus of control than their nondependent counterparts, and, in the interview, were much more likely to affirm that they could exercise control over the slot machines they played. Dependent gamblers registered higher psychoticism scores than both the nondependent gamblers and appropriate age-group norms. Their high psychoticism scores resonated well with interview revelations that boredom mitigation frequent underlay dependent gambling.
In Study 2, blood pressure was monitored in dependent and nondependent gamblers at rest and before, during and after slot machine play. Subjects were given £5 for this purpose and the time it took them to use up this money was recorded, as was the extent of any returns they received. They were also asked how much they expected to recoup. The £5 lasted a similar amount of time for the two groups, and they managed similar rates of return on their stake. However, the dependent gamblers expected to win more than the nondependent gamblers and their estimates of returns exceeded what they actually recouped. Slot machine play was associated with an increase in blood pressure, and while groups did not differ in terms of the magnitude of the rise provoked, there was a general trend for dependent gamblers to show lower basal levels of cardiovascular activity, although this was statistically reliable only in the case of diastolic blood pressure.     

The family on television: Evaluation of gender roles in situation comedy

This study investigated whether television domestic comedies’ depictions of gender roles within the family have changed in the past 40 years. Ten domestic comedies were selected based on their popularity and the inclusion of siblings. These series were divided into two groups—pre and post 1984, given the time span covered by the series and the series’ setting. College students screened three representative episodes and made subsequent judgments on the portrayals of similarity, equality, and dominance, family satisfaction and family stability in the spousal, sibling, and familial relationships. Results indicated the depictions of gender roles fluctuated throughout the period, with peaks in satisfaction and stability ratings in the 1950s and mid-1980s. More recent domestic comedies contained less positive depictions, specifically displaying more dominance and less satisfaction and stability. Subjects reported families that were more distressed were less desirable and less like their own.     

ON THE VALUE OF KNOWING ONE'S LIKES AND DISLIKES:

Abstract— On the basis of laboratory research indicating that accessible altitudes ease decision making we hypothesized that freshmen who enter college knowing their likes and dislikes regarding academically relevant issues may experience better health in this new life setting To test this hypothesis, we conducted a prospective study in which students completed self-report inventories of negative life events and mental and physical health at two points in time. The accessibility of attitudes toward academically relevant issues was assessed in the initial session Regression analyses revealed three-way interactions between attitude accessibility, stress (as indexed by the number of negative life events), and initial health status when initial health, the generally positive relation between stress and illness was buffered by the possession of accessible attitudes For students with relatively poor initial health, recovery Has generally greater among those experiencing less stress, especially as attitude accessibility increased.     

Virtue as the basis of engineering ethics

This paper explores the nature of virtue theory as applied to engineering practice. It links virtue to specific areas of practice such as the selection of ends, devotion to service, the formation of justified belief, the conduct of dialogue, the taking of actions, and exercises of the will. These areas are related to a culture of virtue in which an engineering society creates the conditions enabling acts of virtue and celebrates individuals and their acts which exemplify identified virtues. The result is a basis for engineering ethics which draws attention to the impetus for an ethically sound life. An earlier version of this paper was presented by the author at a mini-conference, Practicing and Teaching Ethics in Engineering and Computing, held during the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, Washington, D.C., March 8–9, 1997.     

EFFECTS OF CHOOSING ACADEMIC ASSIGNMENTS ON A STUDENT WITH ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER

The effects of choosing academic assignments on the undesirable behaviors manifested by a second-grade student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were analyzed. This study extended Dunlap et al.'s (1994) research on choice making as a form of antecedent control. A reversal design showed that undesirable behaviors decreased when the student was given a choice of academic assignments.     

The estimation of ultrametric and path length trees from rectangular proximity data

A least-squares algorithm for fitting ultrametric and path length or additive trees to two-way, two-mode proximity data is presented. The algorithm utilizes a penalty function to enforce the ultrametric inequality generalized for asymmetric, and generally rectangular (rather than square) proximity matrices in estimating an ultrametric tree. This stage is used in an alternating least-squares fashion with closed-form formulas for estimating path length constants for deriving path length trees. The algorithm is evaluated via two Monte Carlo studies. Examples of fitting ultrametric and path length trees are presented.G. De Soete is Aspirant of the Belgian Nationaal Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek at the University of Ghent, Belgium. W. S. DeSarbo and J. D. Carroll are Members of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J. G. W. Furnas is Member of Technical Staff at Bell Communications Research, Murray Hill, N.J.