Semiotic research increasingly reveals the basic importance of structure at all levels of genetic, linguistic, and social process. The paradox that structure not only liberates but also imprisons has been familiar to members of many different cultures, and the search for personal release in transcendent states of feeling contrapuntally illuminates…

The study reported involved: (1) development of a concept learning task which embodied complex concepts similar to those included in elementary school curricula, and (2) investigation of the effects of type of thinking, abstract or concrete; grade levels, fourth, sixth, or eighth; and sex upon performance of human Ss with complex concepts of…

This paper describes and evaluates a new abstract form of the Purdue Elementary Problem-Solving Inventory. The new test parallels a shortened form of the original Inventory, but presents problems verbally rather than through slides. Both forms were given to advantaged and disadvantaged second- and fourth-graders. For the total sample, the slide…

A study was conducted to determine whether language provided for the child in discriminating specific criteria helps him significantly to learn to create and hold criteria for sorting, a major difference in the theories of Vygotsky and Piaget. Specifically three questions are investigated: (1) whether 3- to 5-year-old black ghetto children can be…

This study attempted to answer the following three questions: 1) Do students of grades four through seven perform equally well on both syncretistic understanding and logical thinking? 2) Do boys perform as well as girls on these two types of thinking? 3) Do students whose parents have a higher educational level perform as well as students whose…

Provides two exercises in abstract problem solving. Intended to parallel a physicist's approach to the solution of a law of nature, the activities are open ended without definite answers. (CP)

Examines relationship between literacy and intellectual development and the belief that literacy leads to higher forms of thought. Describes research findings among the Vai of Liberia, a people who invented a syllabic writing system to represent their own language. Investigates effects of becoming literate separately from effects of attending…

Investigates the extent of understanding of the logic of hypothesis testing by high school students, and whether this understanding is related to scholastic achievement or ability as measured by standardized tests. (Author/GA)

Two experiments used the sentence-picture verification paradigm to study encoding and comparison processes with spatial information. Subjects decided whether a spatial description of a geometric figure matched a second figure. Three critical results demonstrated that task-specific variables could be the primary determinants of how subjects verify…

Children learned two linear function rules under varying conditions: presence vs. absence of pointing; visual cues (context vs. weight vs. both pictured); and a verbal-only baseline condition. A complex rule was learned as a transfer task. Visual cues aided both learning and transfer; pointing helped initial learning, but retarded transfer.…

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)

Tests the egocentric hypothesis, i.e., if it can be shown that, given spatial cues, an infant searches at a position bearing an invariant relation to these cues, but with a varying egocentric position, then there would be strong evidence that his organization of space is not necessarily egocentric. (Author/RK)

This paper will report on a primary grade social-cognitive curriculum. We will first consider the construction of this curriculum from the principles of structural developmental and social perspective taking theory. Then we will discuss the curriculum evaluation. We will conclude by suggesting some new directions for evaluation. (Author)

Shows that age or conceptual tempo are not related to the number of trials needed to reach the criteria for a learning task. Impulsive responders performed more poorly than groups of slow-inaccurate, fast-accurate, and reflective responders on the transfer of learning task. (RL)