Developmental changes in free recall: The interaction of task structure and age

Free-recall learning and organization were measured for 3rd, 7th, and 11th graders under conditions which varied the type and amount of task structure. Task structure for the input or list-presentation phase was manipulated by using a random, constant, or alphabetic item sequence across trials. Task structure for the output or recall phase was manipulated by providing standard instructions or instructions which suggested the possible use of an alphabetic ordering scheme. Recall performance and organization showed an interaction between age and both manipulations of task structure. The 3rd graders required the maximal amount of task structure (alphabetic order with alphabetic instructions) to demonstrate recall facilitation relative to the completely unstructured control condition. The 7th graders showed recall facilitation for intermediate and high levels of task structure, and the 11th graders showed recall facilitation for low, intermediate, and high levels of task structure. The results are related to current hypotheses about developmental changes in recall performance and their relationship to changes in the systematic use of organizational strategies.     

Performance of retarded adolescents and nonretarded children on one- and two-bit logical problems

Groups of adolescents of retarded and borderline intelligence, ranging in IQ from 44 to 80 and in mean MA (mental age) from 8 to 12 yr, and groups of nonretarded children ranging in mean MA from 6 to 12 yr, were given logical problem solving tasks. In the nonretarded groups, on a one-bit problem only the kindergarten children (mean MA = 6 yr) failed to perform above chance, and were not tested further. On a two-bit problem, only the first graders (mean MA = 7 yr) failed to perform above chance.Conversely, in the low IQ groups, only the borderline group (mean MA = 12 yr) performed reliably above chance on the one-bit problem, and none performed above chance on the two-bit problem. There is a profound deficiency in low IQ individuals on certain tasks requiring logic and foresight, and MA markedly over-estimates their performance relative to the performance of nonretarded individuals.     

Persuasive argumentation and social comparison as determinants of attitude polarization

Several of our studies indicate that persuasive-arguments theory by itself is an adequate explanation of polarization. Sanders and Baron (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 1977, 13, 303–314) criticize this research. More generally, they contend that both argumentation and comparison are involved, “with persuasive arguments facilitating the shifts motivated by social comparison.” We feel that their critique is unconvincing. Relevant portions of the standard literature are reviewed to demonstrate that social comparison is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for polarization. Finally, we speculate about how persuasive-arguments theory could be extended to argument-poor settings (e.g., Asch's line comparison situation).     

Age differences in memory span

Five-year-olds recalled fewer items than adults in memory-span tasks involving both familiar and unfamiliar faces. This occurred even though the use of rehearsal and recoding strategies was minimized for adults. This residual age difference may be partially accounted for by two further processing limitations in children. The five-year-olds needed more time than adults to name a face (Experiment 1) and to encode a face (Experiment 2). In order to test whether limitations in children's initial recognition and stimulus-identification processes could account for recall performance, Experiment 3 reduced adults' exposure duration in the memory-span task. This led to a drastic reduction in the age difference. Other factors contributing to remaining age differences included adults' adaptability in using various alternative encoding and retrieval strategies which elevated their recall performance.     

Richard Rorty's realism

An examination of late Rorty shows that he does not abandon belief in an external world about which we can, and indeed must, acquire knowledge. His disapproval of the correspondence theory of truth does not involve the idea that anything other than local weather, for example, could falsify remarks about local weather. It is just that once we get done looking out the window or, if we are outside, feeling the right kind of drops make contact with our skin, there is nothing else we can do, nothing better, to make ourselves more certain, more cognitively secure. One can see this in the detailed work that enables scientific progress. Science improves itself by doing more of the same. G. E. Moore's famous open question stays open only as a reminder that our fallibility never disappears and that our cognitive security is never better than pro tem. Rorty, as a faithful pragmatist and undogmatic meliorist, thinks this is perfectly O.K.     

Un éclairage de la transition de retraite par l’analyse interprétative phénoménologique (IPA)

IntroductionInterpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) is a method of qualitative discourse analysis that aims to understand lived experience and the meaning that individuals attribute to it.ObjectivesAfter describing its theoretical foundations and its methodology, this paper applies this method on a research on the experience of retirement transition which collected 28 interviews. It thus aims to show the interest of this method in understanding the psychological and reflexive processes inherent in periods of life marked by transformations.MethodCentred on the way in which people imagine their own transformation of identity at retirement age and on the meaning they give to it, the analysis takes into account the adjustments made to daily life, to the relationship with time, and to social relations. This analysis is based on the detailed study of a case, and then compared to five other cases.ResultsThe need to make a break, manifested by the extent and form of the transformations given on a daily basis, varies according to the subjects, meaning being attributed not only to the break but also to continuity. A temporal experience marked by a present to be reconfigured and interpersonal relationships deemed meaningful, is, on the other hand, very shared.ConclusionBy bringing to light the psychological and reflexive processes of the experience of retirement, this study carried out with reference to the IPA can contribute to nourishing the practices of support for retirement, which are tending to develop.     

Mill's Liberalism and Liberalism's Posterity

It is argued that the moral theory undergirding J.S. Mill's argumentin On Liberty is a species of perfectionism rather than any kind of utilitarianism. The conception of human flourishing that itinvokes is one in which the goods of personal autonomy and individualityare central. If this conception is to be more than the expression ofa particular cultural ideal it needs the support of an empiricallyplausible view of human nature and a defensible interpretation ofhistory. Neither of these can be found in Mill. Six traditionalcriticisms of Mill's argument are assessed. It is concluded thatin addition to depending on implausible claims about human natureand history Mill's conception of the good contains disablingincommensurabilities. It is argued that these difficulties andincommensurabilities plague later liberal thinkers such as IsaiahBerlin and Joseph Raz who have sought to ground liberalism in avalue-pluralist ethical theory. No thinker in Mill's liberal posterity has been able to demonstrate the universal authority of liberal ideals.