Relationship of Connected and Separate Knowing to the Learning Styles of Kolb,Formal Reasoning,and Intelligence

The present investigation examined the relationship between the Connected and Separate Knowing dimensions of the Knowing Styles Inventory [K. H. Knight, M. H. Elfenbein, and J. A. Messina (1994) A Scale to Measure Connected and Separate Knowing: The Knowing Styles Inventory, paper presented at the meeting of the New England Educational Research Organization, Rockport, ME; (1995) A Preliminary Scale to Measure Connected and Separate Knowing: The Knowing Styles Inventory, Sex Roles, Vol. 33, pp. 499–513] and the Concrete Experience and Abstract Conceptualization learning modes of D. A. Kolb [(1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall], formal reasoning ability [B. Inhelder and J. Piaget (1958) The Growth of Logical Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence, New York: Basic Books; (1975) The Origin of the Idea of Chance in Children, New York: W. W. Norton; K. G. Tobin and W. Capie (1981) The Development and Validation of a Group Test of Logical Thinking, Educational and Psychological Measurement, Vol. 41, pp. 413–423], and vocabulary and abstract thinking ability [W. C. Shipley, (1940) A Self-Administering Scale for Measuring Intellectural Impairment and Deterioration, Journal of Psychology, Vol. 9, pp. 371–377], Study 1 (126 females, 117 males) found that males who were more connected were more likely to describe their learning style as emphasizing feeling rather than thinking (i.e., scored higher on Concrete Experience). Studies 2 (59 females, 39 males) and 3 (56 females, 58 males) found no relationship between Connected or Separate Knowing and formal reasoning and vocabulary or abstract thinking ability, respectively. Suggestions for future research were presented.     

Component mechanisms underlying the processing of hierarchically organized patterns: inferences from patients with unilateral cortical lesions

Subjects identified target letters that occurred randomly at the local or global level in a divided attention task. The visual angle of the stimuli was varied. Neurologically intact controls showed a reaction time advantage for local targets which increased as visual angle increased. Patients with lesions centered in the posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG) showed a larger local advantage than controls if the lesion was on the right and a global advantage if the lesion was on the left. STG patients were no more influenced by visual angle than were controls. Control subjects also showed the usual interference of global distractors on responding to local targets. STG patients showed little evidence of interference. Control patients with lesions centered in the rostral inferior parietal lobe performed normally. The findings suggest that several component mechanisms are involved in the processing of hierarchical levels of structure, each linked to specific anatomical regions.     

An extrapolation of the physical attractiveness and sex variables within the Byrne attraction paradigm

Memory & Cognition - Twenty male and 20 female volunteer general psychology students were assigned to one of four treatment conditions in a totally randomized 2 by 2 ANOVA to test the...     

Freud's "Project": a theory for Studies on Hysteria

The controversy about the place of Sigmund Freud's unfinished draft of 1895, "Project for a Scientific Psychology," in the history of his thought, is addressed. It is argued that the "Project" may be understood as a suppressed response to the theory of hysteria presented by Josef Breuer in his and Freud's joint work, Studies on Hysteria. It is suggested that the "Project" may be read, in part, as a substitute for Breuer's theory. The timing and circumstances of the "Project's" composition are discussed. Its substantive and formal congruence with Studies on Hysteria is brought out. Freud's comments on scientific hypotheses are discussed, and it is shown that they constitute an implicit criticism of Breuer's theory.     

Minimized tolerance to the suppressive effects of CCK8 on operant responding

This study was designed to determine if tolerance to cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK8) could be prevented or minimized by spacing injections, and if an appetitive operant conditioning paradigm provides a sensitive baseline to test the effects of CCK8. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to press a lever for water according to a fixed-interval 60-sec schedule of reinforcement. After response rate stabilized, rats were given a series of CCK8 (0.04 mg/kg, ip) injections spaced several days apart. The first injection of CCK8 produced complete response suppression during the 30-min test session, while later injections produced partial or complete suppression. Thus, tolerance to CCK8, as measured by operant response rate, may be minimized if injections are appropriately spaced.     

The relationship between state anxiety and depressed mood: A validity study

The validity of the A-State Scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale was assessed using data from a general health survey. Depression and anxiety states were found to coexist, however, evidence from a factor analysis, showing items from the two tests loaded on separate factors, demonstrated that these states can be measured independently. Both the A-State and the Zung Scales were found to comprise two factors, and for each scale, one factor consisted of positively phrased items, and the other of negative items. The implications of these findings for the construct validity of the two scales are discussed.     

A minicomputer method for generating dichotic word pairs

A computer method is described for generating dichotic word pairs. The Purdue Laboratory system is implemented with a DEC PDP-12 computer.     

Coping strategies and psychological distress in cancer patients before autologous bone marrow transplant

The increased use of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) to treat a variety of cancers has led researchers to study psychological functioning of BMT patients. The majority of studies conducted, however, has focused on adjustment after transplantation. Cancer patients' use of coping strategies before undergoing this procedure may also relate to levels of psychological distress. Our aims were (1) to provide normative coping data, controlling for situation-specific variables with a homogeneous sample, targeted stressor, and fixed time point, using the Ways of Coping Questionnaire; and (2) to identify coping strategies associated with distress before high-dose chemotherapy. Subjects were 49 patients scheduled to receive high-dose chemotherapy and an autologous bone marrow transplant. Consistent with previous coping research, we found that escape-avoidance was related to psychological distress on several measures. Item endorsement analyses of the escape-avoidance subscale suggest that patients may have used more passive than active avoidance strategies. Subsequent participation in a longitudinal study was not affected by initial levels of avoidant coping.     

The Interactional Context of Problem-, Emotion-, and Relationship-Focused Coping: The Role of the Big Five Personality Factors

ABSTRACT This study examined the role that personality and situational factors play in three forms of coping responses: problem-, emotion- and relationship-focused. Coping responses were strongly associated with whether the situation involved a primarily agentic (work) or communal (interpersonal) stressor. Among communal stressors, the involvement of close versus distant others was also associated with coping responses. Situational factors were linked most strongly with the use of problem-focused (planful problem solving) and relationship-focused (empathic responding) modes of coping. Dimensions of personality derived from the five-factor model (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) had important associations with coping responses. Coping responses were best predicted by models that included both the additive and multiplicative effects of person and situation factors. Taken together, the findings suggest that a model of coping that considers both agentic and communal dimensions of stressful situations, includes interpersonal dimensions of coping, and considers personality and situation factors in tandem is needed to increase the predictive utility of current models.     

The value problem and the nature of knowledge

Jason Baehr has argued that the intuition that knowledge is more valuable than mere true belief is neither sufficiently general nor sufficiently formal to motivate the value problem in epistemology. What he calls the “guiding intuition” is not completely general: our intuition does not reveal that knowledge is always more valuable than true belief; and not strictly formal: the intuition is not merely the abstract claim that knowledge is more valuable than true belief. If he is right, the value problem (as we know it) is not a real problem. I will argue in this paper that he is wrong about the generality claim: knowledge is always more valuable than true belief; and yet he is right about the formality claim—there is more to the intuition than just the abstract claim that knowledge is more valuable than true belief. What this amounts to, I will argue, is that there is still a value problem but that the guiding intuition can tell us how to solve it.