Inducing cognitive development and learning: A review of short-term training experiments I. The organismic developmental approach

The author reviewed and interpreted the literature of experimental studies whose purposes were to determine rules of generation that transform a child's cognitive organization at one stage of development into that of the next, more advanced stage. The categories of the research methodology were consistent with the organismic-developmental approach, and the findings of the studies tended to support most of the hypotheses generated from this approach. Some unresolved theoretical and methodological issues were presented, and research strategies to shed light on these issues were proposed.     

A method for obtaining an ordered metric scale

A method is presented for collecting data which will yield a scale on which the entities are ranked in preference (ordinality), the distances between the entities on the scale are ranked (ordered metric), and all combinations of the distances are ranked (higher-ordered metric). The sources drawn upon are von Neumann and Morgenstern (9), and lattice theory. An empirical example is given in which a higher-ordered metric scale is derived.I am grateful to Professor William L. Lepley (Department of Psychology) and Professor Jack R. Tessman (Department of Physics) for their critical reading of this paper. Paul Hurst and Robert Radlow participated in many discussions on the form of measurement discussed in this paper, and assisted in collecting data. I am also grateful to Professor T. C. Benton (Department of Mathematics) for certain source materials.     

Relations Between the Development of Teaching and Theory of Mind in Early Childhood

The relations among children’s theory of mind (ToM), their understanding of the intentionality of teaching, and their own peer teaching strategies were tested. Seventy-five 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds completed 11 ToM and understanding-of-teaching tasks. Subsequently, 30 of the children were randomly chosen to teach a peer how to play a board game, and their teaching strategies and levels of contingent teaching were recorded. There were developmental changes in the children’s understanding of teaching as an intentional activity. When teaching their peers, 3-year-olds used demonstration, whereas 4- and 5-year-olds added verbal explanations and began to adapt contingently to the learners’ changing knowledge level. Relations among ToM, understanding of teaching, and teaching level were found. The results suggest that the development of children’s teaching strategies and their contingency are closely tied to the development of ToM.     

Re-conceptualizing Self,Speaker, and Body: Applying an Enactive and Conversation Analytic Approach to Selfhood and Cognition

In this article I review significant contributions to the subfield of Embodied Cognition that formulate an inclusive account of the body's role in cognitive processes. I argue that a reconceptualization of the mind–body problem must take into account some notion of the self as a nonlocalized, transient phenomenon that emerges through day-to-day interaction. Drawing on literature from epistemology, phenomenology, and Conversation Analysis, I aim to revise contributions that rely on essentialized notions of the self and speaker, in terms of an enactive and Conversation Analytic approach to selfhood and cognition.     

Mystics and Sufi masters: Thomas Merton and dialogue between Christians and Muslims

The Cistercian, Trappist monk Thomas Merton (1915–1968), author of numerous books on Christian spirituality, monasticism and social commentary, was a forerunner in popular inter‐religious dialogue in the twentieth century. In this connection, he is best known for his sympathetic explorations of themes from Asian religions, particularly Zen and other forms of Buddhism. This article calls attention to his studies in Islam, initially under the guidance of Louis Massignon (1883–1962), and particularly in Sufism. It highlights his interactions with a number of contemporary Muslim thinkers, and describes his decade‐long correspondence with a Pakistani Muslim student of Sufi texts, a unique instance of a sustained dialogue in letters on religious themes between a Muslim and a Christian in modern times. The article also calls attention to the ways in which Merton took inspiration from Islamic sources in the development of his own spiritual teaching.     

To Aggregate or Not to Aggregate: Steps for Developing and Validating Higher-Order Multidimensional Constructs

The use of higher-order multidimensional constructs (i.e., latent constructs comprised of standalone variables) in the organizational psychology and behavior literatures is becoming commonplace. Despite their advantages (e.g., greater parsimony and bandwidth), the development and validation of such constructs often unfolds in an indiscriminant fashion. It is not surprising, then, that much debate has arisen regarding the viability of many higher-order constructs. In this article, we outline ten recommendations for improving the construct- and criterion-related validity of higher-order constructs. Chief among these recommendations include the need for researchers to specify precise theoretical and empirical inclusion criteria, to rule out alternative explanations for the emergence of a higher-order factor and to assess incremental and relative importance. To illustrate how these recommendations play out, we apply them to core self-evaluation as an example. We believe that higher-order constructs may offer unique insight into work-relevant phenomena, provided they are established via rigorous means.     

The association of parenting style and child age with parental limit setting and adolescent MySpace behavior

Parent and teen MySpace user pairs completed online surveys administered in June (N = 266) and September 2006 (N = 341) to assess relationships between parenting styles and limit setting and monitoring of online behaviors, the prevalence of Internet dangers and pre-teen and teen MySpace behaviors. Cross-comparison measures of MySpace usage, parenting style, limit setting/monitoring, MySpace problems, and media perceptions were used. Parenting styles were strongly related to adolescent MySpace experiences, behaviors, and attitudes, with some age differences. Parents with older children were more likely to have Neglectful or Indulgent parenting styles and less likely to set limits on online behavior. The extent of sexual solicitation, pornography, and cyberbullying was relatively low as compared with studies asserting a high incidence of Internet-related problems. Parents' high estimates of online dangers were not matched by their low rates of setting limits and monitoring teens. Theoretical and practical perspectives of the results are offered to enhance social networking experiences for parents and their children.     

Developmental differences in error-related ERPs in middle- to late-adolescent males

Although there are some studies documenting structural brain changes during late adolescence, there are few showing functional brain changes over this period in humans. Of special interest would be functional changes in the medial frontal cortex that reflect response monitoring. In order to examine such age-related differences, the authors analyzed event-related potentials following errors in a visual flanker task and a go/no-go task in adolescent males, 15-16 and 18-20 years old. Response times and accuracy were comparable between groups on each task, but the younger group made more go/no-go errors, suggesting this task was more difficult. Error-related negativity, thought to be generated in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), had greater amplitude for the older adolescents on both tasks; thus the increased errors are not simply due to performance level differences. Results from this study suggest that the ACC, which supports response monitoring, is late to mature due to age-related structural or neurochemical changes.