The conflicts of postmodern and traditional epistemologies in curricular reform: A dialogue

A radical opponent of Western higher education asserts that its pedagogy and content depend on belief in objective truth and knowledge. This epistemology and education are attacked as exclusive and domineering toward women, minorities, and non-Westerners. The critic puts forward a pragmatist epistemology, leading to multi-cultural education aimed at social criticism and personal autonomy. The critic's dialogue with a defender of traditional epistemological ideas provides a critical introduction to the claims justifying many radical criticisms of Western curricula and pedagogy.     

What is educational theory and how to make it?

An analysis is provided detailing the conditions for the appropriate theoretical study of the object of educational science: pedagogy.     

Aphasics' selective deficits in appreciating grammatical agreements

This study attempted to dissociate in aphasic patients different aspects of grammatical capacity. Subjects were asked to evaluate sentences containing violations of agreements between pronouns and verbs. Agreements which are considered primarily structural in nature were violated (e.g., a surface object case like “them” placed in a surface subject sentential slot) while other violated agreements seemed to involve both structural and semantic information (e.g., lack of agreement between a pronoun and a verb in terms of the number of people performing the act). These violations were couched in one of three types of sentential frames which varied in terms of syntactic complexity (e.g., active declarative vs. passive syntactic voices). The results revealed that Broca's aphasics found agreement violations difficult to detect in complex syntactic frames. They were quite successful at detecting even violations of the largely structural “case” type of agreement, however, when couched in simpler syntactic frames. Fluent aphasics encountered more difficulty detecting violations of agreements involving both semantic and structural information than agreements which were primarily structural in nature, that is, regardless of the syntactic frame. These unique performance profiles suggest that Broca's aphasics may be agrammatic only with respect to certain aspects of a sentence's structure, and that fluent aphasics may also experience some selective—but different—grammatical deficits.     

Values,preferences, needs,work ethics,and orientations to work: Toward a conceptual and empirical integration

There have been comparatively few attempts on either the conceptual or empirical level to integrate values, preferences, needs, work ethics, and orientations to work. A rationale outlining the way these concepts can be related to each other, is presented. It is maintained that these concepts are categories of relations between humans and work. These categories are qualitatively similar and differ principally in the level of generality of the characteristics of work considered. Complete-link cluster analysis is suggested as a method of analysis compatible with the proffered rationale. Two studies are presented with data gathered during the development of two versions of Work Aspect Preference Scale (WAPS). The samples for the two studies both comprised senior high school students, controlled for sex and age, who were administered the WAPS. Study 1 had a sample of 532 while Study 2 had a sample size of 482. Both sets of data were cluster analyzed. Results indicated a very substantial amount of agreement between the two samples, particularly at the more general levels of clustering. The bipartite and tripartite groupings of vocational needs suggested by L. H. Lofquist and R. V. Dawis (Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1978, 12, 12–19) were confirmed as were the findings of J. Mortimer (Sociology of Work and Occupations, 1975, 2, 29–53). Other clusters were also identified with findings from previous research. It is concluded that the investigation of preferences at different levels of generality and the interrelation between these levels shows great promise for both the researcher and the counselor and therefore merits more research effort.     

Making and correcting errors during sentence comprehension: Eye movements in the analysis of structurally ambiguous sentences

Eye movements were recorded as subjects read sentences containing temporary structural ambiguities. In accord with the garden-path theory of sentence comprehension, shorter reading times were found for sentences conforming to certain independently motivated parsing strategies (late closure and minimal attachment) than for comparable sentences which violate these strategies. Further, longer fixation durations were associated with the very first fixation in the region of the sentence which disambiguated the sentence, suggesting that the human sentence-parsing mechanism operates in a rather systematic fashion, immediately computing the structural consequences of fixated material for the analysis of preceding material. The pattern of regressive eye movements did not conform to the view that the parsing mechanism automatically returns to the beginning of the sentence to revise an incorrect analysis of linguistic material nor did it support the view that the parsing mechanism systematically backtracks through the sentence until the source of the erroneous analysis is located. Rather, the pattern of regressions indicated that the parsing mechanism typically engages in selective reanalysis, exploiting whatever information it has available about the type of error it has committed to guide its reanalysis attempts. Finally, it is emphasized that an understanding of the parser's revision procedures is essential to an explanation of why certain linguistic structures cannot be successfully parsed by humans.     

On the self-perpetuating nature of stereotypes about women and men

An experiment was conducted to investigate an interpersonal process that contributes to the perpetuation of stereotyped beliefs about women and men. Male-female pairs of unacquainted individuals interacted to negotiate a division of labor on a series of work-like tasks (that differed in their sex-role connotations) in a situation that permitted control over the information that male perceivers received about the apparent sex of female targets. The perceivers' beliefs about the sex of their targets initiated a chain of events that resulted in targets providing behavioral confirmation for perceivers' beliefs about their sex. Targets believed by perceivers to be male chose tasks relatively masculine in nature, and targets believed by perceivers to be female chose tasks relatively feminine in nature. Although this behavioral confirmation effect was initially elicited as reactions to overtures made by perceivers, it persevered so that eventually targets came to initiate behaviors “appropriate” to the sex with which they had been labeled by perceivers. The specific roles of perceivers and targets in the behavioral confirmation process are examined. Implications of these findings for the perpetuation of stereotyped beliefs about the sexes are discussed.     

Autonomic responsivity of subjects with body boundary differences during white noise stimulation

A white noise stimulus (85 dB) was used to investigate differences in heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) responsivity of 32 male subjects. The subjects were divided into high and low body boundary (HB and LB) groups, according to Fisher's (1970) revised scoring system of Holtzman Inkblot responses. The hypothesis predicting a significantly larger HR response, that is resistant to habituation, for the LB group, was confirmed. The prediction that the HB group would reveal a larger SC amplitude response accompanied by a shorter recovery time, was supported for the latter. The results confirmed the hypothesis, based on behavioral observations, that the HB individual experiences stress less intensely than the LB person. It also points to individual differences as an important variable in evaluating noise as a stressor.     

Comparison of observational recordings in vivo, via mirror, and via television

Simultaneous observational recordings were made in vivo, via an observation mirror, and via closed circuit television. Three of nine observers had extensive experience recording behavior in vivo; three had extensive experience recording behavior via mirror; and three had extensive experience recording via television. Observers recorded nine categories of disruptive behavior for children in a special class setting. Frequencies of behavior recorded in vivo, via mirror, and via television differed significantly for only one category, vocalization. There were no significant main effects or interactions involving the observers' previous experience. Occurrence reliability coefficients computed within and between media demonstrated the similarity of observer agreement in all three media. Data collection procedures using an observational mirror or closed circuit television appear to be reasonable alternatives to in vivo observation in circumstances similar to those in the present study.     

Reward and number of choices in children's probability learning: An attempt to reconcile conflicting findings

Five event schedules (75:0, 75:25, 75:0:0, 72:25:0, 75:12.5:12.5) were examined in a size discrimination task with penny rewards and plastic token markers. The subjects were 100 fourth graders (mean age = 9.4 years) and 100 undergraduates of both sexes. Whether or not the event probabilities summed to unity proved to be a more important determiner of terminal performance than the number of response alternatives in the task (p < .01). Females maximized more than males (p < .001) and college students more than fourth graders (p < .001). Greater maximization was exhibited by fourth graders in the reward condition (p < .01). These reward effects appeared to be more consistent with a detrimental-effects-of-reward interpretation than either utility or expectancy interpretations.