Children's probability intuitions: understanding the expected value of complex gambles

Two experiments used Information Integration Theory to study how children judge expected value of complex gambles in which alternative outcomes have different prizes. Six-year-olds, 9-year-olds and adults (N = 73 in Study 1, N = 28 in Study 2) saw chance games that involved shaking a marble in a bicolored tube. One prize was won if the marble stopped on blue, another if it stopped on yellow. Children judged how happy a puppet playing the game would be, with the prizes and probability of the blue and yellow outcomes varied factorially. Three main results appeared in both studies: First, participants in all age groups used the normatively prescribed multiplication rule for integrating probability and value of each individual outcome--a striking finding because multiplicative reasoning does not usually appear before 8 years of age in other domains. Second, all age groups based judgment of overall expected value meaningfully on both alternative outcomes, but there were individual differences--many participants deviated from the normative addition rule, showing risk seeking and risk averse patterns of judgment similar to the risk attitudes often found with adults. Third, even the youngest children took probability to be an abstract rather than physical property of the game. Overall, in contrast to the traditional view, the present results demonstrate functional understanding of probability and expected value in children as young as 5 or 6. These results contribute to the growing evidence on children's intuitive reasoning competence. This intuition can, on the one hand, support surprisingly precocious performance in young children, but it may also contribute to the biases evident in adults' judgment and decision.     

Mechanisms of the relation between perinatal problems, early childhood illness, and psychopathology in late childhood and adolescence

Data on perinatal and early childhood somatic and psychological risk factors of a random sample of children were gathered in early to middle childhood and employed to examine the long-term risk of emotional and behavioral problems of late childhood and adolescence. 3 issues were addressed: First, can syndromic specificity of such effects be identified on scaled and diagnostic measures of syndromes? Second, are these effects attributable to excess risk of low-income children for both perinatal and later childhood problems? Third, are the intervening mechanisms identifiable as intellectual impairment, vulnerability to poor health, poor maternal caretaking, maternal rejection, or maternal stress associated with marital problems? Findings indicated that elevated risk was present for all syndromes, both at the scale level and at the diagnostic level. None of the examined intervening mechanisms fully accounted for the effects of early risks.     

Using stakeholder feedback to improve online professional development opportunities

Abstract

Traditional professional development is often characterized as being expensive, time consuming, and lacking impact. In contrast, online professional development provides greater flexibility and is becoming increasingly popular for school personnel. In this article, we report the process and outcomes of gathering feedback to adapt traditional in-person to online training differentiated for the participants to maximize utility, efficiency, and effectiveness in meeting the needs of key stakeholders. Focus groups were conducted with teachers, administrators, and other specialists to gather feedback on content as well as how online learning modules (OLMs) could be tailored to meet specific school site and team needs. We discuss our findings in the context of continuing efforts to improve general and specific professional development opportunities.     

Historical Evolution of the Field View and Textbook Accounts

We analyzed how two basic electromagnetism textooks approach the concept of electric field. We limited our study to the reasons given in these textbooks for the introduction of the field representation and to how accurate, coherent, and complete these reasons are. Because many times historical reasons are intertwined with textbooks' explanations of physical phenomena, we used the historical evolution of the field representation to guide our analysis. The analysis shows that one textbook mixes up the historical and pedagogical reasons for the introduction of the concept of field. The other one presents a sketch that might lead students to understand the field and the action-at-a-distance views as supplementing each other.     

云南现代远程教育网络学习支持服务体系建设探究

现代远程教育工程的实施，给云南教育的跳跃式发展提供了机会和条件。云南要发展现代远程教育，必须遵循其特点，加大政府投入，规则、建设好现代远程教育中心及其下设的学习中心，构建起完善的学习支持服务体系，为学习提供适用的学习计划和学习呈现材料，联系学习、施教和有关部门，通过各种教学资源的应用，展开和控制教学过程，形成开放式的教育网络，为所有社会成员提供学习机会。     

生态旅游者的非生态旅游行为的深层成因研究

文章在界定生态旅游者和生态旅游行为的基础上,提出了生态旅游者非生态旅游行为的概念,通过对比生态旅游者的非生态旅游行为与理想的生态旅游行为的差异,分析了非生态旅游行为产生的心理结构、行为意识和价值取向原因,在此基础上提出了规范生态旅游者行为的途径。     

A SYSTEMIC,STUDENT-CENTERED STUDY OF UNIVERSITY SERVICE

This paper discusses the methods and findings ofthe Student Focus Project, a sixmonth study of studentperceptions of service at a large university inBrisbane, Australia. The study paneled 24 focus groups of undergraduate students to assess theirbeliefs about a pretested set of questions concerningpositive and negative aspects of university life,successes and frustrations with university service,attempts to overcome the obstacles of university life,and what students expect from their relationship to theuniversity. Of the themes identified in the StudentFocus study, it was found that malignantbureaucracy and the balkanization ofInformation are systemic factors that negativelyinfluence student perceptions of the quality ofuniversity service. It was also found that studentstrategies for service recovery can contribute to the overall confusion andpoor performance of university services.     

关于校准研究的现状及研究趋势

校准(calibration)始终是心理学判断领域研究的一个重要课题。自上世纪70年代末以来，国外心理学界对此进行了大量研究，但国内心理学界关于这方面的研究相对较少。为此本文首先阐述了校准的理论背景，并简要介绍了校准的定义、计算公式等基本问题，然后对校准问题的研究现状进行了总结，并对以往研究的局限和未来研究的趋势进行了简要评述。