Individual differences in inhibitory control and children's theory of mind

This research examined the relation between individual differences in inhibitory control (IC; a central component of executive functioning) and theory-of-mind (ToM) performance in preschool-age children. Across two sessions, 3- and 4-year-old children (N = 107) were given multitask batteries measuring IC and ToM. Inhibitory control was strongly related to ToM, r = .66, p < .001. This relation remained significant controlling for age, gender, verbal ability, motor sequencing, family size, and performance on pretend-action and mental state control tasks. Inhibitory tasks requiring a novel response in the face of a conflicting prepotent response (Conflict scale) and those requiring the delay of a prepotent response (Delay scale) were significantly related to ToM. The Conflict scale, however, significantly predicted ToM performance over and above the Delay scale and control measures, whereas the Delay scale was not significant in a corresponding analysis. These findings suggest that IC may be a crucial enabling factor for ToM development, possibly affecting both the emergence and expression of mental state knowledge. The implications of the findings for a variety of executive accounts of ToM are discussed.     

Individual differences in children's risk perception and appraisals in outdoor play environments

Child characteristics including age, gender, risk-taking behaviour and sensation seeking are thought to influence children's ability to appraise risks. The present study investigated children's risk perceptions and appraisals in the context of common outdoor physical play activities. Risk perceptions and appraisal of four- and five-year olds were assessed using a pictorial risk appraisal measure and through individual semi-structured interviews examining children's decision-making. Sensation seeking and risk-taking behaviour were assessed using self- and parent-report measures. Results revealed that the children were able to identify injury risk behaviours however differentiating the severity of the potential injury was less accurate. Furthermore, the children appeared to use these judgements in their play to inform their behaviour whilst using playground equipment. Whilst they actively sought out those activities that offered challenge and excitement, they were aware of their abilities and showed caution in engaging in activities that were beyond their current capabilities. The results have implications for the provision of calculated risk-taking in outdoor play and for adult responses to the risk-taking behaviour of children.     

从“童心说“盾李贽的美学思想

“童心说”是李贽美学思想的核心。本主要叙述了“童心说”的主要内容以及李贽从“童心说”的观战出发,提倡“自然之为美”,反对“中和之为美”;主张无意为,反对有意为的美学思想,这此美学思想,开启了一代新思想和学的新风尚,无论在理论上和创作上都产生过积极的影响。     

Individual differences in children's ability to profit from picture adjunct aids

A paired-associate memory task with pictures and words as items was used to categorize fourth graders into four learner types: HH, high picture-high word; HL, high picture-low word; LH, low picture-high word; LL, low picture-low word. Some children in each classification read prose passages with picture adjunct aids; other children read the passages without adjunct aids. Although free recall for the prose passage yielded inconclusive data, a constructed response test for facts in the prose passages revealed significant Aptitude × Treatment interactions, such that poor paired-associate learners (i.e., LLs) profited more than did good paired-associate learners (i.e., HHs) from picture aids on the prose task. The children's standardized reading scores were positively related to memory performance, but good and poor readers did not differ in their ability to profit from picture aids. It was suggested that less-strategic learners, such as those who perform poorly on paired-associate tasks, are more likely to be helped by externally provided mediational aids, while more-strategic learners are more likely to be helped by instructions to generate their own mediational aids.     

Self-regulation and metacognition in young children's self-initiated play and Reflective Dialogue

This paper looks at ways in which a group of children aged three–four years exhibited evidence of self-regulation and metacognition. Videotaped episodes of children's activities and audiotaped dialogues between children and practitioners about the activities were analysed using an observational framework. The data here show children of three and four displaying extensive evidence of metacognitive and self-regulatory behaviour, with similar mean levels of frequency across both activities and dialogues. However, whilst the majority of evidence from the activities was of metacognitive regulation and skilfulness, that from the dialogues showed more evidence of metacognitive knowledge. It is also suggested that different social contexts may influence children's opportunities to develop and display self-regulation. The use of video data and opportunities for young children to reflect on their activities are suggested as valuable tools for research and pedagogical purposes, and as an effective means of eliciting young children's perspectives on their lives.     

Individual differences in learning entrepreneurship and their implications for web-based instruction in e-business and e-commerce

This paper reports on outcomes from a White Rose Centre for Enterprise funded project Managing Innovation in the Digital Economy. This project aims to incorporate learning for enterprise into undergraduate and postgraduate curricula in information management and information systems. The paper presents results from a survey distributed to postgraduate information management and information systems students following completion of a module in E‐Business and E‐Commerce delivered by the Department of Information Studies at the University of Sheffield. The findings suggest that differences in levels of prior knowledge of business studies and in cultural background can impact on students’ acquisition of domain knowledge and intellectual and information research skills during collaborative development of a business plan. Implications of the results for web‐based instruction are addressed, by identifying teaching and learning strategies that support differential treatment of learners in terms of content and process. It is concluded that empirical investigation of individual differences within a student body can inform more effective methods for information systems and information management graduates to learn about and for entrepreneurship.     

Graphic symbols as "the mind on paper": links between children's interpretive theory of mind and symbol understanding

Children gradually develop interpretive theory of mind (iToM)—the understanding that different people may interpret identical events or stimuli differently. The present study tested whether more advanced iToM underlies children’s recognition that map symbols’ meanings must be communicated to others when symbols are iconic (resemble their referents). Children (6–9 years; N = 80) made maps using either iconic or abstract symbols. After accounting for age, intelligence, vocabulary, and memory, iToM predicted children’s success in communicating symbols’ meaning to a naïve map‐user when mapping tasks involved iconic (but not abstract) symbols. Findings suggest children’s growing appreciation of alternative representations and of the intentional assignment of meaning, and support the contention that ToM progresses beyond mastery of false belief.     

Individual differences in memory: Theory,data, and educational implications

This paper examines two theoretical perspectives from which the issue of individual differences in memory can be viewed and relates the perspectives to evidence available in the literature. The paper also reports the results of two studies which bear upon the issue of whether there are individual differences in the retention of learned material. The last section of the paper examines the educational implications of one of the theories presented in the paper.     

Hindsight bias and developing theories of mind

Although hindsight bias (the I knew it all along phenomenon) has been documented in adults, its development has not been investigated. This is despite the fact that hindsight bias errors closely resemble the errors children make on theory of mind (ToM) tasks. Two main goals of the present work were to (a) create a battery of hindsight tasks for preschoolers, and (b) assess the relation between children's performance on these and ToM tasks. In two experiments involving 144 preschoolers, 3-, 4-, and 5-year olds exhibited strong hindsight bias. Performance on hindsight and ToM tasks was significantly correlated independent of age, language ability, and inhibitory control. These findings contribute to a more comprehensive account of perspective taking across the lifespan.     

元认知迁移理论及其对教学的启示

与认知策略知识对应的元认知迁移理论是当代认知心理学对学习迁移理论的新发展,其基本思想在于强调认知策略在学习和问题解决中的重要作用。本文阐述了元认知迁移理论的基本观点及其对教学的启示。     

Individual differences in children's writing: A function of working memory or reading or both processes?

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a general or specific working memory (WM) system is related to writing and whether individual differences in reading and/or processing efficiency underlie the correlations between WM and writing. Two studies correlated WM with writing (Test of Written Language-TOWL) and reading measures. In Study 1, WM was correlated significantly with a number of writing measures, particularly to those measures related to text generation. Working-memory also contributed unique variance to writing, beyond what is predicted by reading comprehension. Study 2 compared the correlations of verbal and visual-spatial WM measures with the TOWL under initial and enhanced memory processing (dynamic assessment) conditions. The coefficients were statistically comparable between initial and enhanced processing conditions, suggesting that individual differences in processing efficiency do not account for the correlations between WM and writing. Overall, the results indicated that (a) WM measures contribute unique variance to writing, especially text generation, and (b) working memory performance improves under gain conditions, but this enhanced processing efficiency did not appear to mediate the links between WM and writing. Taken together, the two studies support a general capacity explanation for the relationship between working memory and text generation.     

Evolution of children's rights and implications for present policy

The decent treatment of children is a radical invention of our times. We believe that children have rights — rights to adequate food, shelter, and consistent care - based on their needs as developing organisms. Because of our concern for children as human beings, we are sensitive to their brutalization by adult caretakers. These ideas would have been incomprehensible to a person born several hundred years ago, when the concept of individual rights was almost unknown. The aim of this presentation is to discuss the evolution of children's rights and to place what we know about child abuse in the context of this evolution. We can then see how far we have progressed and perhaps get some perspective on desirable directions for the future.     

Individual differences and institutional constraints

This article develops a multilevel examination of the structural changes in schooling and employment counselling that are necessitated by rapidly evolving conditions in the job markets of postindustrial as well as developing economies. International and national macro-structures appear increasingly fluid in the altered political and commercial environments of the 1990s. These alterations place wrenching constraints on national and regional institutions as well as the individuals who are seeking a job niche that is not only personally satisfying and rewarding but stable. Distinct regional and provincial structures need to be understood idiographically and modified as global changes amplify at all levels. At the school and jobseeking end of this continuum are the legions of confused individuals of widely varying aptitudes, competencies, and interests who avail themselves of government programs of an educational, counselling, and retraining character. Major developmental and career psychology issues that flow from these conditions and structural changes are addressed. Issues seen to be of major importance that will be examined are (among others): correspondence between the demand characteristics of schools and regional job markets; discrepancies between the givens of physical anthropology and institutional demands on both children and adults, poorness of fit between individuals and the institutions in which they work and are trained, and the threeat of a cultural entropy that banalizes institutions and standardizes all dimensions of life.     

Pointing to parallels in ability-related differences in the use of metacognition in academic and psychomotor tasks

This paper offers a brief review of the use of metacognition by proficient and poor performers in academic and psychomotor tasks as well as highlights the parallels and provides directions for future research. Metacognition is knowledge about one's own cognitive processes [Flavell, J.H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive-developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34, 906–911.]. To date, the study of the use of metacognition by children with different levels of abilities (from those having a learning disability to those identified as gifted) has been mostly restricted to the cognitive abilities in academic areas such as reading, writing, or mathematics. The structure of knowledge has been more extensively explored in the expertise literature in the performance of both academic and psychomotor tasks. Similarities have been noted in the characteristic differences between experts and novices in both these types of tasks. Studies have begun to explore the use of metacognition in psychomotor tasks such as key strokes, ball throwing–catching, and running. It seems that, as with the structure of knowledge, parallels also exist in the use of metacognition by poor and proficient performers in academic and psychomotor tasks.     

Individual differences in English Learning Strategies

Some learners’ personal factors, such as gender, major, motivation and language proficiency, influence the use of language learn- ing strategies. This paper reports the results of a survey study which investigates the individual differences and the employment of English learning strategies, examines the association between enjoyment and strategy use, motivation and strategy use, gender and strategy use, major and strategy use, English proficiency and strategy use.     

Parents' involvement in children's learning in the United States and China: implications for children's academic and emotional adjustment

This research examined parents' involvement in children's learning in the United States and China. Beginning in seventh grade, 825 American and Chinese children (mean age=12.74 years) reported on their parents' involvement in their learning as well as their parents' psychological control and autonomy support every 6 months until the end of 8th grade. Information on children's academic and emotional adjustment was obtained. American (vs. Chinese) parents' involvement was associated less with their control and more with their autonomy support. Despite these different associations, parents' heightened involvement predicted children's enhanced engagement and achievement similarly in the United States and China. However, it predicted enhanced perceptions of competence and positive emotional functioning more strongly in the United States than China.     

Individual differences in local and global metacognitive judgments

Metacognition and Learning - Extensive research has been conducted to understand how accurately students monitor their studying and performance via metacognitive judgments. Moreover, the bases of...     

Language facility and theory of mind development in deaf children

Deaf children with signing parents, nonnative signing deaf children, children from a hearing impaired unit (HIU), and oral deaf children were tested on three first-order theory of mind (ToM) tasks--a subset was also given a second-order task (Perner & Wimmer, 1985). A British Sign Language (BSL) receptive language task (Herman, Holmes, & Woll, 1999) and four nonverbal executive function tasks were also administered. The new BSL task allowed, for the first time, the receptive language abilities of deaf children to be measured alongside ToM abilities. Hearing children acted as controls. These children were given the same tasks, except the British Picture Vocabulary Scale was substituted for the BSL task. Language ability correlated positively and significantly with ToM ability, and age was correlated with language ability for both the deaf and hearing children. Age, however, underpinned the relationship between ToM and language for deaf children with signing parents and hearing children but not for nonnative signing, HIU, or oral deaf children. Executive function performance in deaf children was not related to ToM ability. A subset of hearing children, matched on age and language standard scores with signing deaf children, passed significantly more ToM tasks than the deaf children did. The findings are discussed with respect to the hypotheses proposed by Peterson and Siegal (1995, 2000) and Courtin (2000).