Categories of Large Numbers in Line Estimation

How do people stretch their understanding of magnitude from the experiential range to the very large quantities and ranges important in science, geopolitics, and mathematics? This paper empirically evaluates how and whether people make use of numerical categories when estimating relative magnitudes of numbers across many orders of magnitude. We hypothesize that people use scale words—thousand, million, billion—to carve the large number line into categories, stretching linear responses across items within each category. If so, discontinuities in position and response time are expected near the boundaries between categories. In contrast to previous work (Landy, Silbert, & Goldin, 2013) that suggested only that a minority of college undergraduates employed categorical boundaries, we find that discontinuities near category boundaries occur in most or all participants, but that accurate and inaccurate participants respond in opposite ways to category boundaries. Accurate participants highlight contrasts within a category, whereas inaccurate participants adjust their responses toward category centers.     

Patterns of Response Times and Response Choices to Science Questions: The Influence of Relative Processing Time

We report on five experiments investigating response choices and response times to simple science questions that evoke student “misconceptions,” and we construct a simple model to explain the patterns of response choices. Physics students were asked to compare a physical quantity represented by the slope, such as speed, on simple physics graphs. We found that response times of incorrect answers, resulting from comparing heights, were faster than response times of correct answers comparing slopes. This result alone might be explained by the fact that height was typically processed faster than slope for this kind of task, which we confirmed in a separate experiment. However, we hypothesize that the difference in response time is an indicator of the cause (rather than the result) of the response choice. To support this, we found that imposing a 3‐s delay in responding increased the number of students comparing slopes (answering correctly) on the task. Additionally a significant proportion of students recognized the correct written rule (compare slope), but on the graph task they incorrectly compared heights. Finally, training either with repetitive examples or providing a general rule both improved scores, but only repetitive examples had a large effect on response times, thus providing evidence of dual paths or processes to a solution. Considering models of heuristics, information accumulation models, and models relevant to the Stroop effect, we construct a simple relative processing time model that could be viewed as a kind of fluency heuristic. The results suggest that misconception‐like patterns of answers to some science questions commonly found on tests may be explained in part by automatic processes that involve the relative processing time of considered dimensions and a priority to answer quickly.     

The Indirect Effect of Teachers’ Creative Mindsets on Teaching Creativity

Understanding how teachers’ implicit beliefs promote and inhibit students’ creativity has important implications for fostering creativity in the classroom. This study investigated whether the effect of teachers’ fixed creative mindset on their self‐efficacy for teaching creativity was mediated by their perceptions of students’ potential and the degree to which this indirect effect varied by level of growth creative mindset. A sample of educators (N = 119) completed an online survey containing questions regarding creative mindsets, perceptions of students’ potential, self‐efficacy for teaching creativity, and a set of relevant covariates. A moderated mediation analysis indicated that the more teachers believed creativity to be innate, the less teachers tended to perceive every student to possess creative potential. Consequently, teachers’ confidence in their ability to teach for creativity was diminished. Results from the corresponding tests of simple indirect effects indicated that this negative indirect effect of a fixed creative mindset was lessened by teachers’ growth creative mindset. Taken together, the findings suggest the likely significant role of teachers’ fixed and growth creative mindsets for fostering creativity in classroom.     

Flexible Computerized Adaptive Tests to Detect Misconceptions and Estimate Ability Simultaneously

The Scaling Individuals and Classifying Misconceptions (SICM) model is an advanced psychometric model that can provide feedback to examinees’ misconceptions and a general ability simultaneously. These two types of feedback are represented by a discrete and a continuous latent variable, respectively, in the SICM model. The complex structure of the SICM model brings difficulties in estimating both misconception profile and ability efficiently in a linear test. To overcome this challenge, this study proposes a flexible computerized adaptive test (FCAT) design as a new test delivery method to increase test efficiency by administering an individualized test to examinees. We propose three item selection methods and two transition criteria to determine adaptive steps based on the needs of estimating one or two latent variables. Through two simulation studies, we demonstrate how to select an appropriate item selection method for an adaptive step and what transition criterion should be used between two adaptive steps. Results reveal the combination of the item selection method and the transition criterion could improve the estimation accuracy of a specific latent variable to a different extent and thus provide further guidance in designing an FCAT.     

Cognitive-Behavior Family Therapy: Contemporary Myths and Misconceptions

The field of couple and family therapy has grown in the direction of expanding its horizons by looking toward innovative ideas and whatever works to facilitate change. Despite its demonstrated track record with a broad range of behavioral and emotional disorders, the cognitive-behavior therapies (CBT) may have been underutilized by couples and family therapists unlike some of the more traditional and postmodern approaches. This article explores some of the basic tenets of the cognitive-behavioral approach with families and proposes it as both a useful intervention tool as well as a theoretically compatible model to systemic approaches. In addition, a number of contemporary myths and misconceptions are discussed that may be precluding CBT's utilization by therapists in the field.     

Randomized controlled trial of an intervention to change cardiac misconceptions in myocardial infarction patients

There is converging evidence that changing beliefs about an illness leads to positive recovery outcomes. However, cardiac misconceptions interventions have been investigated mainly in Angina or Coronary Heart Disease patients, and less in patients following Myocardial Infarction (MI). In these patients, cardiac misconceptions may play a role in the adjustment or lifestyle changes. This article reports a randomized controlled trial of an intervention designed to reduce the strength of misconceptions in patients after a first MI. The primary outcome was the degree of change in misconceptions and the secondary outcomes were: exercise, smoking status, return to work and mood (anxiety and depression). Patients in the intervention condition (n = 60) were compared with a control group (n = 67) receiving usual care. Both groups were evaluated at baseline and 4, 8 and 12 months after hospital discharge. There was a significant time-by-group interaction for the total score of cardiac misconceptions. Patients in the intervention group significantly decreased their total score of cardiac misconceptions at 4 months compared with the control group and this difference was sustained over time. Patients in the intervention group were also more likely to exercise at the follow-up period after MI than the control group. This intervention was effective in reducing the strength of cardiac misconceptions in MI patients and had a positive impact on health behaviour outcomes. These results support the importance of misconceptions in health behaviours and the utility of belief change interventions in promoting health in patients with Myocardial Infarction.     

中国大学生对艾滋病知识的了解以及对艾滋病患者的反应

本研究区分艾滋病知识的两个不同侧面: 对艾滋病的误解和对艾滋病的正确认识, 并第一次在中国探讨这两个不同侧面的知识对艾滋病患者的认知、情感、行为反应的不同预测作用。119名(31男, 88女)来自上海、132名(59男, 73女) 来自广州的大学生参加了本调查。结果发现被调查的大学生: 1) 普遍对艾滋病存在误解, 即认为艾滋病可以通过日常的一般接触传染, 并且, 这种误解和对艾滋病的正确认识相互独立; 2) 都表达了对艾滋病患者的厌恶情感、与艾滋病患者接触的不舒服感; 3) 尽管如此, 但都不支持对艾滋病患者采取强制措施, 也不认为艾滋病患者感染艾滋病是他们自己的责任。研究还发现, 和来自广州的大学生相比, 来自上海的大学生对艾滋病有着更多的了解, 对艾滋病患者有着更少的负性情感、更少的消极态度、他们也更少地把感染责任归结到患者本身。特别有趣的是, 本研究发现, 对艾滋病患者的负性反应具有显著预测能力的是对艾滋病患者的误解而不是正确认识, 即误解越多, 负性反应越多。这些发现提示, 中国未来的艾滋病防治工作应该继续大力加强对艾滋病相关知识的宣传教育, 不仅要让人们知道艾滋病是通过什么途径传染的, 还要特别消除他们对艾滋病的许多误解, 从而减少或消除对艾滋病患者的许多歧视性反应, 营造一个良好的艾滋病防治环境; 同时, 中国的艾滋病防治还应该注意地区差异, 不同地区的防治力度和采取的策略应该和各地的实际疫情相适应。     

The generality of belief in unsubstantiated claims

We tested the hypothesis that people show generality in their endorsement of unsubstantiated claims, employing more types of measures than used in previous studies. We found that measures of generic conspiracist ideation, specific fictitious conspiracy theory, and false conspiracy theory beliefs were all strongly and positively intercorrelated. A multiple regression analysis revealed that the measures of specific false and fictitious conspiracy theories both significantly predicted generic conspiracist ideation. A second broader test of the generality hypothesis showed that these measures of false and fictitious conspiracy belief were positively intercorrelated with measures of psychological misconceptions, pseudoscience, poorly supported psychological practices, and paranormal beliefs. However, the measures of misconceptions and pseudoscience displayed substantially lower correlations. The results provide support for the generality of acceptance of a wider variety of unsubstantiated claims than used in previous studies and also suggest differences in the types endorsed based on the kind of knowledge and content measured.