Presents evidence that the psychological principles that govern the perception of decision problems and evaluation of probabilities and outcomes produce predictable shifts of preference when the same problem is framed in different ways. (Author/SK)

Using attribution theory and social learning theory, a conceptual model explaining how attributional and efficacy questions influence family conflict attitudes and behaviors is presented. The effect of causal attributions on blaming behavior and generalizations is examined. More attention should be paid to individual cognitions in family conflict.…

A theory is proposed of the processes which enable a subject to learn while solving a problem. One subject's protocol--including 224 steps and taking 90 minutes--is described. Adequacy of the mechanisms is guaranteed by a computer simulation of the processes in an adaptive production system. (Author/GDC)

This theoretical model for message design directs the designer to design a block of time that optimizes the information load and message complexity within the constraints of the receiver's abilities and experience, the requirements of the source, and the capabilities and limitations of the medium. (Author/JEG)

Speculates on underlying processes for the reaction time variance and age differences in anticipation latency using the Visual Expectation Paradigm. Discusses the dichotomization of reactive and anticipatory behavior, limitations of longitudinal designs, drawbacks in using standard procedures and materials, and inferences that can be made…

Explores whether exposure to increasingly sophisticated mental models at different points in a chemistry education class showed up in patterns of preference and use of models in interpreting physical properties and phenomena. (Contains 92 references.) (DDR)

Examines and identifies students' mental models of an abstract mathematical concept regarding intuition. Observes how students think reflectively on their mental models in a whole-class discussion in terms of logical thinking. (DDR)

The hypothesis that gains in reading performance occurring among dyslexic children during individually paced reading are partially attributable to changes in short-term memory processing was tested with 23 elementary school students. Findings provide support for a causal role for short-term memory functioning in text processing. (SLD)

Discusses a cognitive model that is an alternative to Jerome Bruner's spiral curriculum, developed and based on the metaphor that the mind's knowledge base is a lattice. States that the lattice metaphor offers an understanding of cognition but some questions still remained unanswered. (CMK)

Used the structural equation model approach to test a model hypothesizing the influence of parental involvement on students' academic aptitudes, self-concept, and causal attributions, as well as the influence of these variables on academic achievement. Results for 261 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years suggest that cognitive-affective variables are…

Describes a study that investigated the information-seeking behavior of users searching a card catalog and a comparable online catalog. The purpose was to explore whether a theory of human remembering, retrieval by reformulation, might be useful in explaining search behavior in bibliographic databases. (61 references) (CLB)

A putative causal relationship of cognitions to affects in different phases of teachers' stress cycles was studied for 414 elementary school teachers in Finland. Results provide only negligible support for the causal predominance of cognitions in disturbed affects; the opposite seemed to prevail. Implications for teacher satisfaction are…

Allegations that the most able teachers intend to leave teaching were challenged by qualitative and quantitative data collected from prospective teachers completing their credentialling diploma at the University of Queensland. A multiple classification analysis showed that those who were confident of promotion, committed to and satisfied by…

Factors affecting decision-making on where to go for recreation, specifically state park choice, were analyzed in a study based on data, collected via a telephone survey, from 452 Oklahoma households. The relative accuracy of various models for predicting individual destination choices were also examined. (IAH)

Multinomial modeling--a methodology that can be used to measure and study cognitive processes--is discussed, and applications are presented. This statistically based technique involves estimating hypothetical parameters that represent the probabilities of unobservable cognitive events and is compatible with computational theories of cognition.…