Moving to Learn: How Guiding the Hands Can Set the Stage for Learning

Previous work has found that guiding problem‐solvers' movements can have an immediate effect on their ability to solve a problem. Here we explore these processes in a learning paradigm. We ask whether guiding a learner's movements can have a delayed effect on learning, setting the stage for change that comes about only after instruction. Children were taught movements that were either relevant or irrelevant to solving mathematical equivalence problems and were told to produce the movements on a series of problems before they received instruction in mathematical equivalence. Children in the relevant movement condition improved after instruction significantly more than children in the irrelevant movement condition, despite the fact that the children showed no improvement in their understanding of mathematical equivalence on a ratings task or on a paper‐and‐pencil test taken immediately after the movements but before instruction. Movements of the body can thus be used to sow the seeds of conceptual change. But those seeds do not necessarily come to fruition until after the learner has received explicit instruction in the concept, suggesting a “sleeper effect” of gesture on learning.     

Reading Cristina García's The Agüero Sisters as Latina Feminist Philosophy

Through an analysis of the interconnections or lack thereof between gender and epistemology, I present Cristina García's The Agüero Sisters as a text of Latina feminist philosophy. First, I use the works of Linda Alcoff and Walter Mignolo to illustrate the political nature of epistemology and how women and people of color in particular are disenfranchised from such a political endeavor. Then I examine the connections among the concepts of origin, absence, inheritance, and knowledge‐construction in García's novel to further a critique of standard epistemology and point to an emphasis on reconnection with feminine and maternal knowledge for this text's female characters. Moreover, a depiction and elaboration of María Lugones's ideas of the “coloniality of gender” and “decolonial feminism” in this novel augments this critical examination of epistemology and places emphasis on women as knowledge‐producers.     

Healthy Women, Healthy Men, and Healthy Adults: An Evaluation of Gender Role Stereotypes in the Twenty-first Century

An important question often asked when counselors-in-training read textbook discussion of gender role stereotypes, especially of older work such as the classic study by the Brovermans and their colleagues, is “Haven’t these biases been eliminated or at least reduced?” The current study was designed to replicate the work of the Brovermans and their colleagues to answer that specific question and to determine how current counselors-in-training perceive healthy adult women, healthy adult men, and healthy adults. As in the prior research, initial ratings of the social desirability of traditional gender role stereotypes were conducted, and the findings showed many similarities to past research. That investigation was followed by a modified Stereotype Questionnaire, based on the original work of Rosenkrantz, Vogel, Bee, I. Broverman, and D. M. Broverman (1968). Healthy adult women were found to be significantly different from healthy adult men as well as from healthy adults. In addition, the results suggest that there have been changes in counselors’ perceptions of healthy adults. Counselors-in-training were found to hold two standards for mental health—one for women and another for men.     

Theoretical frameworks for working with harder to reach families: lines,curlicues, and spirals: comment on Donovan and Pocock

This article comments on the Donovan and Pocock articles appearing in this issue, both of which address the evolution of theory and practice in family therapy. An emphasis is placed on the importance of integration and a shared philosophy of theory and practice in our current political and economic managed care climate, in which it is critically important to embrace the integrated and chaotic whole of what is happening in theory and in practice.     

Suicidality Among Chronically Homeless People with Alcohol Problems Attenuates Following Exposure to Housing First

This study is the first to document suicidality among chronically homeless people with alcohol problems (N = 134) and examine its trajectory following exposure to immediate, permanent, low‐barrier housing (i.e., Housing First). Suicidal ideation, intent, plans, and prior attempts were assessed at baseline and during a 2‐year follow‐up. Baseline suicidal ideation was over four times higher than in the general population. Two‐year, within‐subjects, longitudinal analyses indicated severity of suicidal ideation decreased by 43% from baseline to follow‐up. Significant decreases were also found for intent and clinical significance of ideation. No participants died by suicide during the 2‐year follow‐up.     

Language familiarity effects in short-term memory: The role of output delay and long-term knowledge

Four experiments examined the origins of language familiarity effects in bilingual short-term recall. In Experiments 1A and 1B, bilingual adults were tested on serial recall and probed serial recall of words and nonwords in their first and second languages. A first-language advantage was obtained on both measures, indicating that the beneficial effects of language familiarity are not exclusively attributable to lesser output delay during overt recall. In Experiments 2A and 2B, the same group of bilinguals was tested on serial recall and serial recognition of word lists in both languages. Although a sizeable first-language advantage was obtained on the serial recall measure, recognition performance was comparable in the two languages. On the basis of these results it is suggested that language differences in bilingual immediate memory arise in large part as a consequence of the differential availability of language-specific long-term knowledge with which to support retrieval processes in serial recall.     

Influences of metamemory on performance predictions for text

When predicting future performance on tests over text material, do individuals estimate retention in addition to assessing comprehension? In Experiment 1, participants either rated their comprehension or predicted performance for each text, with lower ratings indicating lower confidence either in comprehension or in eventual performance. Judgement magnitude was significantly lower for performance predictions than for comprehension ratings, suggesting that predictions were based partly on retention estimates. In Experiment 2, predictions varied with anticipated test delay (15 min or 2 weeks) whereas comprehension ratings did not, providing further evidence that individuals estimate retention when predicting performance. Analyses of individual differences suggest that both good and poor performers incorporate retention estimates when predicting performance, but better performers do so in a more discriminative manner. Implications for theory of metacognitive judgements are discussed.