Children and adults were tested on their beliefs about whether visual processes involved intromissions (visual input) or extramissions (visual output) across a variety of situations. Results were inconsistent with the idea that simple experiences increase or reinforce a coherent theory of vision and have implications for understanding the nature…

Two experiments involving 65 college students support the hypothesis that, when students read about a familiar topic, they use a reinstatement-and-integration strategy in which familiar knowledge is retrieved from long-term memory along with some information about the original context in which facts were learned. (SLD)

Supports the hypothesis that literal and metaphorical interpretations can result from similar contextual constraints. Finds that a metaphorical interpretation may be selected because a literal interpretation would have been inappropriate and that likewise a literal interpretation may be selected because a metaphorical interpretation would have…

Children ages five, seven, and nine years named objects with multiple names in a neutral context and in a biased context. Children selected names in accord with nonlinguistic constraints, but at the cost of longer naming times. Both name selection success and associated cost were more evident in older children than in younger children. (TJQ)

The influence of graphic patterns and their interpretive context on learning accompanying prose was studied with 128 undergraduates. Results suggest that maps, unlike diagrams, are sequentially encoded and that abstract graphic displays can adopt map-like characteristics as a result of the context in which they are presented. (SLD)

Describes and interprets the processes that supervisors currently use in conference, relying on anthropological linguistics and other qualitative techniques. Reconstructs a contextual definition of the supervisor conference and suggests some implications for future supervisory study and practice. Supervisors' controlling behaviors make collegial…

Examined the influence of social context variables on separation responses in nine-month-old infants. Indicated that nine month olds need not be highly stressed by being put in a new setting with a substitute caregiver. Use of procedures practiced in a model day care program effectively buffeted infant stress responses under individual and group…

Although teacher effectiveness research prescriptions predominate in today's classrooms, educational research is being influenced by the work of Piagetian cognitive psychologists and educational anthropologists like Shirley Brice Heath and cultural psychologists like Michael Cole. These experts stress the importance of personal invention and the…

Three experiments examined how flexibly two- to four-year-old children use the words "big" and "little" in normative, perceptual, and functional contexts. Results showed that children switched easily from a normative context but made errors when asked to switch to a normative context. (MDM)

After crisis conditions abated, directors of a U.S. Agency for International Development/University of Nebraska at Omaha joint project resolved to implement strategic planning for literacy education (including curriculum development, teacher education, and assessment) in Afghanistan. This article describes the rigors of educational planning in a…

The ability of 14 persons (ages 10-20) with and 14 children (ages 5-10) without mental retardation (MR) to adjust the linguistic form of directives as a function of the listener's affective state and activity level was examined. Although both subject groups were sensitive to the communicative context, directives of MR subjects were more imposing.…

A discussion of the student activities administrator's role in solving substantial problems on the job looks at typical difficult situations and offers models for dealing with them. Each model consists of five practical steps for problem resolution. Situations addressed include emergencies, motivational crises, and externally imposed…

In an Illinois study of the degree to which availability of alternative recreational opportunities influenced household expenditures, relative effects of site characteristics were compared to spatial context within which recreators made destination choices. The principal factors influencing per person per day expenditures were agglomerative and…

Investigates whether variations in five audience characteristics (size, status, familiarity, similarity, and behavior) are related to audience anxiety. Supports the contention that the effect of situational factors are greatly tempered by an individual's predisposition to respond anxiously. Discusses instructional implications of these findings.…

Reviews research on apologies, considering research goals and results in assessing the "maturity" of apology research. Argues that such research needs to progress beyond a descriptive goal to an explanatory goal in terms of the underlying cultural assumptions that inform the perception of contextual factors that in turn inform apology…