This dissertation presents various machine learning applications for predicting different cognitive states of students while they are using a vocabulary tutoring system, DSCoVAR. We conduct four studies, each of which includes a comprehensive analysis of behavioral and linguistic data and provides data-driven evidence for designing personalized…

The development of a 20-item semantic differential assessment instrument for measuring student attitudes toward the subject of chemistry is described (Attitude toward the Subject of Chemistry Inventory-ASCI). Instrument subscales and survey items pertain to interest and utility, anxiety, intellectual accessibility, emotional satisfaction, and…

ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN IN EACH OF THE GRADES 2 THROUGH 6 WERE INCLUDED IN THIS STUDY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEANING IN CHILDREN. BASED ON STUDIES WITH ADULTS BY OSGOOD ET AL, THIS RESEARCH EXAMINED THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THE "EVALUATIVE" SYSTEM OF AFFECTIVE MEANING DEVELOPS FIRST, FOLLOWED BY INCREASED USE OF THE "POTENCY" AND…

A study showing that lexically equivalent words in two languages have different affective meanings, that affective intensity of dominant language words is greater than for second language equivalents, and that the difference is greatest for words with high affective meaning demonstrates that affective meaning is an important component of…

Reports on an experiment conducted on 23 Israeli kindergarteners and 16 Israeli college students, which used a variant of a semantic differential test in order to test the hypothesis that young Israeli children, like adults, ascribe sexual meanings to words without regard to grammatical gender. (Author/AM)

The research reported here was directed at two distinct but related problems: (1) the assumption of bipolarity underlying standard semantic differential scales, and (2) the demonstration of the similarities between D-4 (the square root of the sum of squares of the difference between each word's mean rating and 4.00 on a number of scales) as a…

Response to article Development of the ability to encode within evaluative dimensions,'' Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1972, 13, 210-19. (EJ 053 728). (CB)

Considers the hypothesis that thought results in the "reinterpretation" of inconsistent beliefs so as to make them more consistent with the initial attitude direction. The resulting cognitions, being more univocal would, in turn, produce attitude polarization. (Author/RK)

A study was conducted investigating whether a sequence of visuals presented in a serial manner differs in connotative meaning from the same set of visuals presented simultaneously. How the meanings of pairs of shots relate to their constituent visuals was also explored. Sixteen pairs of visuals were presented to both male and female subjects in…

The applicability of Piaget's cognitive processes of assimilation and accommodation to the learning of verbal nonsense syllables (ten low association value consonant-vowel-consonant trigrams) was tested experimentally. Twenty-two undergraduates (ten female and 12 male) at the University of Michigan served as subjects. It was hypothesized that…

This study demonstrated a reliable method of determining the attributes of prose materials on an imagery-concreteness scale, and evaluated the effects of an advance organizer and a learning passage on learning and retention when the attributes of these passages are defined on a concrete-imagery continuum. (Author/PN)

This study was undertaken to test the validity of Neuringer and Lettieri's hypothesis (suicide as a result of a life style versus suicide as an acute reaction to problem situations) about the relationship between suicidal behavior, state and cognitive style. (Author/RK)

A computer-interactive multidimensional scaling program was used together with free response methods to represent and label dimensions of individual cognitive structure underlying persons' perceptions. The dimensional structures derived were predictive of semantic differential, paired comparison, and Repertory Grid Test triad judgments.…

This study is part of a program designed to attempt identification of dissonance through components of electrophysiological instrumentation, for measuring and presenting to a person some of his own unconscious dissonance, of which he is normally unaware. Using college students as subjects, the authors used attitude ratings on values to attempt to…

A new method for separating affective and denotative meaning subsystems in semantic differential ratings of any homogeneous concept domain is developed and illustrated using personality ratings data. Possible applications of this method are discussed. (Author/JKS)