This paper develops the thesis that the knowledge a person possesses has a potent influence on what he or she will learn and remember from exposure to discourse. After outlining some assumptions about the characteristics of the structures (schemata) in which existing knowledge is packaged, a theory of the processes involved in assimilating the…

This book is concerned with tracing the history and logic of the psycholinguistic orientation toward reading, and is directed at reading teachers and teachers of language skills and communication processes in general. Its underlying theme is that reading is essentially a communicative process that can be fairly autonomously acquired when text…

The relationship between writing skills development and cognitive development is the focus of numerous research studies and deserves significant consideration in curriculum planning. Writing development studies indicate that as children work through the various modes of discourse (argumentation, exposition, narration, and description), they…

The development of game theory was a response to a need to understand human decision making processes in situations of incomplete or imperfect information. By reducing decision making situations to probability game systems, it is possible to analyze and test various competitive strategies that maximize wins and minimize losses. Although game…

Abstracts of research papers in computer and information science are given for 68 papers in the areas of information storage and retrieval; human information processing; information analysis; linguistic analysis; artificial intelligence; information processes in physical, biological, and social systems; mathematical techniques; systems…

Self-concept must be viewed from the broader context of total organismic functioning. The human organism, functions in ways which support its own survival, maintenance, and growth. As one aspect of the total organismic functioning, self concept also may be thought of as being formed by processes which serve to support survival, maintenance, and…

The Piagetian perspective of adult cognitive development and adult education could have implications for how work and formal reasoning can be related to adult education programs and policy. During adolescence and adulthood, many individuals enter the cognitive period of formal operations (the last of three stages in Piaget's conceptual framework…

Contemporary social psychology takes a simplistic approach to the conceptualization and measurement of intergroup attitudes. Most definitions involve only the affective component of attitudes, and most measurement devices are restricted self-report, paper and pencil questionnaires. A broader and more flexible approach is required to adequately…

Written syntactic complexity is considered in relation to the four modes of discourse (argumentation, exposition, narration, and description). In a study of 153 children at three ability ranges within each of three grade levels (three, four, and five), syntactic complexity was found to differ significantly across the modes. The range of syntactic…

Following deCharms' theory of personal causation and Harvey's conceptual systems approach to cognitive complexity, it was hypothesized that the manner in which teachers choose to promote motivating classroom climates is a function of the systems teachers use to substantiate their own beliefs. A focal concept was the degree to which students are…

Three interrelated processes; storage, retrieval, and judgment, are distinguished in an attempt to describe stereotype formation. The results of four experiments are described. These experiments were designed to answer some of the questions about what information is learned, how it is stored, how it is retrieved, and, once retrieved, how it is…

Past research on the development of referential communication abilities in children does not provide a basis for explaining precisely why communicative effectiveness increases. The common assumption is that developments in role-taking facilitate the child's ability to adapt to hearers. A reasonable alternative explanation is that a child's…

A reliable, easily administered performance test of selective attentional ability was sought. A monaural listening task provided a baseline control for adequate hearing and memory; a dichotic listening task then provided indices of ability to focus attention and resist distraction while a simultaneous listening task provided measures of ability to…

A study was performed to investigate the storage and retrieval dynamics that occur during paired-associate acquisition by means of the storage-retrieval separation technique discussed recently by Chechile & Meyer (1976). Thirty subjects learned an 18-item paired-associate list to a criterion of three perfect trials. In the test phase of each…

The main objective of the research was to define and dimensionalize the self concept. In a theoretical approach similar to the debates on the meaning of intelligence, this study attempted to determine whether the self concept is a general factor which explains more specific selves, whether it connotes a hierarchical structure, or whether it is…