Narrative and Rhetorical Approaches to Problems of Education. Jerome Bruner and Kenneth Burke Revisited

Over the last few decades there has been a strong narrative turn within the humanities and social sciences in general and educational studies in particular. Especially Jerome Bruner’s theory of narrative as a specific ‘mode of knowing’ was very important for this growing body of work. To understand how the narrative mode works Bruner proposes to study narratives ‘at their far reach’—as an art form—and on several occasions he refers to the dramatistic pentad as an important method for ‘unpacking’ narratives. The pentad proposed by Bruner to study narratives was developed by the American philosopher and rhetorician Kenneth Burke and is embedded in his general linguistic theory of dramatism. From an educational perspective Bruner’s reference to the work of Burke has not been elaborated upon thus far. In this paper we aim to take Bruner’s suggestion at hand and explore how his educational theory of narrative as a mode of knowing can indeed be enriched by Kenneth Burke’s theory and method of dramatism. We claim that specifically the rhetorical framework that is developed by dramatism offers an important perspective about perspectives for education in a context that is increasingly confronted with a plurality of interpretive frameworks.     

The recovery of blocked memories in repeated recall tests

There is continued controversy over the possibility of blocked and subsequently recovered accurate memories. Memory blocking produced by a retrieval biasing procedure followed by recovery through repeated testing was demonstrated in two experiments. Predictions derived from the retrieval bias explanation and from the level of cumulative recall (LOCR) concerning hypermnesia for blocked material were tested. Expt 1 disconfirmed the retrieval bias hypothesis that the blocked material would remain blocked. However, there was no accelerated recovery despite the lower rate of recall for the bias group compared to the control group as predicted based on LOCR. Expt 2 replicated the Expt 1 findings and used metamemory tasks to further explore the recovery process. The data led the authors to conclude that accurate recovery of memory with corresponding high confidence is possible through repeated testing provided suggestive questioning and misinformation are not presented.     

A meta-analytic investigation of the relationship of state and trait anxiety to performance on figural and verbal creative tasks

Extensive research suggests when and how anxiety has debilitating or facilitating effects on routine cognitive tasks or motor tasks. However, research examining anxiety's relation to performance on creative tasks such as divergent thinking and artistic tasks is less conclusive despite a rather substantial literature. The authors' meta-analytic investigation of 59 independent samples finds that anxiety is significantly and negatively related to creative performance. In addition, the findings provide insights into factors such as task complexity, type of task (i.e., figural or verbal), and type of anxiety (i.e., state or trait) that moderate the relationship between anxiety and creativity-all of which are consistent with the idea that anxiety and creativity present competing cognitive demands. In addition to identifying gaps in the literature such as the need for research using a two-component model of anxiety in relation to creativity, the authors' results have practical implications for those seeking to increase individual creativity.     

Elaborating the Connection between Social Class and Classism in College

Scholarship has documented the challenges that face college students of marginalized economic backgrounds, an issue that is relevant for Community Psychology because of the field's commitment to social justice. Community psychologists are concerned with facilitating access to social resources such as education across the full range of social identities. The current study builds on recent research that has identified the key role of classism in students' struggles. We developed a new measure of college student financial stress in order to investigate the relationship between indices of social class (financial stress, subjective social status, and parental education) and indices of classism (institutional, interpersonal, and citational). We also explored whether race or immigration status moderated these relationships in a sample of diverse students (N = 278). Findings show that students' current financial stress has the strongest relationship with classism, and immigration status moderates the exposure to citational classism. Specifically, we found evidence for perpetuation of classism among U.S. born students higher on the social class ladder. Implications for future research include the importance of considering multiple domains of social class, studying social class in a context‐specific way, and differentiating dimensions of classism. Findings also suggest that financial stress is an important focus in the work to support marginalized students, and that classist narratives need to be addressed among students of higher social class.