Evolution of cognitive processes for solving simple additions during the first three school years

The development of a group of children's cognitive strategies forn solving simple additions was studied by analyzing verbal reports given after each problem (I+J) was solved. The evolution of the cognitive processes involved a gradual shift from more primitive and less demanding strategies (in which, e.g., the child's fingers served as memory aid) to reconstructive memory processes (in which e.g., the answer was derived in a counting process in working memory) to retrieval processes (in which the answer was obtained form long term memory search). During the first semester of the first school year 36 percent of the problems (I⁺J≤13, I≠J, I≠0, I≠1, J≠1,) could not be answered, 40 percent of the solutions were obtained in the most frequent processes utilizing external meory aid and 16 percent in reconstructive memory processes. When in the second semester of the third school year, the same children solved th same problems by utilixing the followitn most frequent strategies; 31 percent long term memory retrieval, 38 percent reconstructive memory processes and 19 percent in processes utilizing external memory aid. If a problem was solved by using a given strategy this strategy was often most likely to have been used bt the child on the occasion before and to be used during the following semester as well. For long-term memory solutions this tendency was strongest and for other strategies it was coupled with a gradual shift towards strategies with increasing sophistication in terms of memory representation.     

Belligerence in alcohol dependence

Alcohol intoxication is frequently associated with acts of interpersonal violence. The present study indicates that a substantial proportion of patients with a primary diagnosis of alcohol dependence do not become violent while drinking. Those who did evidenced a clearly different personality profile, exhibited more problems related to alcohol use, and greater impairment of various cognitive neuropsychological functions. They also tended to have established a pattern of excessive alcohol use at an earlier age. The findings may be explained by a pre-alcoholic vulnerability of a nature which increases the probability of belligerent behavior during intoxication.     

THE DISCLOSURE-LIKING RELATIONSHIP

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of a perceiver's own disclosure on attraction for self-disclosing others. In Experiment 1, female undergraduates selected two topics and disclosed information on them to a confederate partner. This disclosure occurred either before or after the confederate disclosed information on three different topics that were either high or low in intimacy. Based on self-perception theory, it was predicted and found that intimacy of the subject's self-disclosure would be positively correlated with attraction for the confederate when the subject disclosed before her partner but not when she disclosed after her partner. A second prediction that subjects would be attracted toward a highly intimate partner only if they had previously disclosed was not confirmed. Instead, attraction for the confederate was greater when she had disclosed before the subject and when she had disclosed intimately. Experiment 2 varied the intimacy of the response of a partner to the subject's initial self-disclosure and whether this response dealt with the same topics or different topics. It was found that attraction was greater for an intimate than a nonintimate partner when topics for disclosure were the same. When disclosure topics were different, there was no significant difference in attraction for the intimate and nonintimate partner. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the disclosure-liking hypothesis.     

Psychometric properties of the serial colour word test

Abstract.— Lower bound reliabilities for the various parameters of two previously suggested models for the serial colour word test—one linear and one quadratic —are derived and estimated. The quadratic model gave mostly very low reliabilities, and the stronger, linear model also gave only a few high reliabilities. Validity was studied by means of discriminant functions (4 groups being used; 3 clinical and 1 normal). The validity of the test was low. The linear model gave the best results under cross validation.     

Risk, moral value of actions, and mood

In this article the acceptability of risk is related to the moral value of risky actions. Four widely different groups of subjects (clergy, MBA students, prison inmates and pregnant women) judged 20 individual and 20 collective acts with reference to acceptability of risk, moral value, and value and probability of negative and positive consequences. They also rated their current mood. Acceptability of risks was most strongly related to moral value, which thus was found to be an important determiner of acceptability of risk. A depressed mood was associated with a lenient attitude to risks. Societal acts were more negatively evaluated than individual acts. There was a strong positive correlation between values and probabilities of outcomes, both positive and negative.     

Brief Therapy: Focused Solution Development

This article describes the form of brief therapy developed at the Brief Family Therapy Center. We have chosen a title similar to Weakland, Fisch, Watzlawick, and Bodin's classic paper, "Brief Therapy: Focused Problem Resolution" (20) to emphasize our view that there is a conceptual relationship and a developmental connection between the points of view expressed in the two papers.     

Action and emotion in everyday life

This study of naturally occurring behaviour employed a "beeper technique" to investigate the actions carried out by 152 subjects in eight different groups, viz. adult students, employed students who were also parents, unemployed, art students, doctoral students, alcoholics, retired people and a control group. Actions were sampled for seven subsequent days, five times per day between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. at randomly selected occasions. Each action was rated on a number of variables, shortly after it was sampled (median delay approximately 10 min). Some of the findings were: Time allocation corresponded well with national estimates. Being under situational control was highly aversive. Instrumental and consummatory orientations correlated positively. The background variables were, on the whole, only rather weakly related to action ratings, but it was found that women and retired persons tended to report a higher level of well-being.     

Logical versus psychological necessity: A discussion of the role of common sense in psychological theory

Smedslund's has argued that psychological theory should be concerned with the logical analysis of common sense since (a) empirical data are "arbitrary" and no general and empirical laws can exist when it comes to human action; and (b) theoretical explanation of data is likely to be empirically empty—psychological theory often cannot be falsified. The argument was supported mainly by an analysis of Bandura's self-efficacy conceptions. Bandura's approach is, however, not developed to the point of being an explicit theory, a fact that explains why it can be demonstrated as being non-distinguishable from the naive analysis of action. Many well developed theories of decision making, such as Tversky's EBA theory, transcend common sense and are falsifiable. Common sense is, furthermore, subject to change over time and differs between cultures, and even between individuals. There is no such things as the common sense. It is also inconsistent and ambiguous and uses a loose mode of thinking which can often provide post hoc explanations but no predictions. Therefore, common sense probably offers little in the way of profound insights. Furthermore, the problems of inferrring general laws from unique events have not stifled progress in the natural sciences and should not discourage psychologists. The case for general laws in psychology is still being heard. Besides, even if findings are restricted in time and space they concern important questions of how people act here and now. Finally, Smedslund's attempt at logical analysis of treatment rules is shown to provide little more than semantic explication of the chosen definitions of key terms; in no way can such explication serve as a substitute for empirical research on psychotherapy effects.