Observed college students (N=195) divided according to sex and measures of wittiness to determine the effects of humor on problem solving in groups. Results showed that group composition was not a crucial issue in problem-solving performance, but that humerous group interaction was, and did not interfere with ongoing task performance. (LLL)

This study with 432 college students examined how variables influence the relative performance of groups and individuals on creative problem-solving tasks. Having more ideas available (through a priming manipulation) led to better individual performance. Group performance, however, was enhanced by training appropriate to problem content that…

This study attempted to extend prior research on everyday problem solving by analyzing the effects of goal clarity and the presence or absence of a partner on performance in a number of problems. Subjects were 35 undergraduates who were screened, matched, and tested as singles or dyads during which time they thought aloud. Problems included mazes,…

This paper provides experimental demonstration of remindings during learning and examines their effect on performance, as well as effects of practice and difficulty. Three experiments examining the occurrence, effects, and conditions of remindings are presented, and the implications for theories of cognitive skill learning are discussed.…

An anagram task administered to high and low test-anxious subjects under varied levels of external distraction showed a significant main effect of test anxiety for the "hard" anagrams which also interacted with the subjects' sex and distraction. The effects of increments of anxiety arousal produced by distraction are discussed.…

Discusses problem-solving styles in environmental management and the specific deficiencies in these styles that might be grouped under the label "tunnel vision," a form of selective attention contributing to inadequate problem-formulation, partial solutions to complex problems, and generation of additional problems. Includes educational…

Young children and college-age adults were read short stories describing a consistent or inconsistent adult response to a child's action and were given additional information that resolved or failed to resolve the inconsistency. Results concerned subjects' abilities to detect and resolve the inconsistency and to repair a comprehension problem in…

Compared performances for male and female groups using three different group problem-solving procedures: unstructured, structured-open, and structured-forced. Results indicated that female groups performed better with the structured-forced procedure than with the structured-open procedure. Male groups performed better with the structured-open…

Patterns of language, thinking, and behavior differentiate the modes of the practitioner and of the conceiver. Long-range planning in higher education may reveal conflict between the two. To "operationalize" is defined as an exact managerial deployment that will put ideas into action. (Author/MLW)

This study investigated whether undergraduate students encode spurious correlations in memory and exhibit them during the learning process leading to ineffectual problem solving. Findings suggested that even experienced students relied on surface-structure feature-algorithm correlations for solving new problems. Findings pose implications for…

Developmental differences in reasoning ability and item processing demands are analyzed in a study of cognitive determinants of number analogy performance in two IQ levels of elementary school children and college students. The amount of solution-related information in working memory was the crucial processing demand. Process differentiations of…

Research on gender differences in group performance suggests that males excel at brainstorming while females excel at human relations and integration. To investigate the relations among gender, interaction style, and task performance, 264 college students (130 female, 134 male) worked in three person same sex groups on a production task which…

Use of a retention test in an investigation regarding the post-knowledge of results (KR) interval provides evidence suggesting that, while activity during the post-KR interval is detrimental to performance, no such assumption can be made about its effect on learning. Implications for motor learning and performance are discussed. (Author/PP)

Fifty-five college students were assessed on four types of cognitive and metacognitive measures in math, language, and visual/spatial tasks. They were measures on self-reported general metacognitive skills, predicted performance, metacognitive behaviors, and actual performance. The students' self-reported assessments of their ability on a general…

Methodological issues in the use of protocol analysis for research into human problem solving processes are examined through a case study in which two students were videotaped as they worked together to solve mathematical problems "out loud." The students' chosen strategic or executive behavior in examining and solving a problem was…