A critical reanalysis of Barrett, Caldwell, and Alexander's (1985) critique of dynamic criteria. Summarizes and questions Barrett, et al.'s three definitions of dynamic criteria and their conclusion that reported temporal changes in criteria could be explained by methodological artifacts. A greater focus on dynamic criteria as constructs is…

Responds to Austin, Humphreys, and Hulin's (1989) critique of Barrett, Caldwell, and Alexander, suggesting that the burden of proof still rests on the advocates of the concept of dynamic criteria, and that empirical support is lacking for the existence of dynamic criteria as a simplex. Contrary evidence from educational, organizations, and…

To test predictions regarding the attentional capacity requirements of Piaget's stage of concrete operations, a battery of concrete operational tasks and two measures of attentional capacity were administered to 120 first-, second-, and third-graders. Findings concern class inclusion, transitivity of length and weight, and multiplication of…

Discusses the use of truth tables to help students establish valid or invalid conclusions under a given set of premises. Provides several inference examples using the truth table. (YP)

Examines personal relevance in relation to the ability of 48 5- to 10-year-old children to describe others in terms of psychological characteristics. Results suggest that verbal inferencing skills of young children have been underestimated and that they may be more oriented toward affective goals than older children when anticipating interaction…

Describes how storytelling can enhance both literal and inferential comprehension, motivate oral discussion, increase perceptual knowledge of metaphor, explain and promote interesting language usage, instill deeper meaning to children's personal experiences, and excite children about literature, storytelling, and creative interpretations of story.…

A new item-fit index is proposed that is both a descriptive measure of deviance of single items and an index for statistical inference. This index is based on assumptions of the dichotomous and polytomous Rasch models for items with ordered categories. A simulation study is described. (SLD)

Examined whether the use of superordinate terms in 206 children's definitions is predictable by relevance theory. Children (ages 5-10) gave definitions for 16 basic-level words and 4 superordinate words from natural kind and artifact semantic domains. Superordinate terms were used more frequently when they supported more inferences. Findings…

Two experiments studied how preschool children acquire a naive theory of kinship (NTK). Overall, results implicate a type of theory building that involves inferences from preexisting knowledge rather than structural change, use of analogy, or acquisition of new knowledge. (DR)

This commentary on EC 603 695 argues that significance testing is a necessary but insufficient condition for positivistic research, that judgment-based assessment and single-subject research are not substitutes for significance testing, and that sampling fluctuation should be considered as one of numerous epistemological concerns in any…

Presents a mathematical-categorization model using multiple-step chains of reasoning (CORs) and memory for examples. In 5 experiments, 144 undergraduates memorized descriptions of fictional people, then made predictions from incomplete descriptions using 1-, 2-, or 3-step CORs. The multiple-step context model with one- and two-step inference…

The minimalist hypothesis of inference processing is proposed. According to this hypothesis, the only inferences coded automatically during reading are those based on easily available information and those required to make statements in a text locally coherent. Five experiments with 249 college students support the hypothesis. (SLD)

Recommends treating basic skills students as if they have innate knowledge, not an intellectual disease. Underscores inference as a key activity in critical thinking. Suggests strategies for improving students' inferential powers. Argues that the strategies can help students recognize their inferential ability and learn to use it in writing. (SG)

Examination of English-as-a-Foreign-Language reading coursebooks indicated that these books do not systematically incorporate insights derived from research into training designed to develop lexical inferencing strategies. The books give little advice on exploiting cues from morphology and little relationship is detectable between proposed…

Five experiments were used to determine whether and why second graders, fourth graders, and college students differ in modifying causal inferences about a surprising event in a story. Illustrated how encoding and retrieval factors contribute to inference modification. Results showed small developmental increases in inference modification in…