逻辑治疗的形而上学假设

逻辑治疗认为,不合理的推理引发了人类大多数行为和情感的问题。逻辑治疗有四个基本的形而上学假设:人类从前提逻辑地演绎出其情感中认知-行为的组份;人类天生容易犯错,且其行为与情感推理的前提往往包含错误;行为和情感问题往往起源于绝对主义、完美主义的现实概念;人类具有一种天生的意志力量,这种意志力量可以被用来克服谬误的行为、情感推理。     

Improving Measurement for Graduate Admissions

In this study we examined alternative item types and section configurations for improving the discriminant and convergent validity of the GRE General Test. A computer-based test of reasoning items and a generating-explanations measure was administered to a sample of 388 examinees who previously had taken the General Test. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that three dimensions of reasoning—verbal, analytical, and quantitative—and a fourth dimension of verbal fluency based on the generating-explanations task could be distinguished. Notably, generating explanations was as distinct from new variations of reasoning items as it was from verbal and quantitative reasoning. In the full sample, this differentiation was evident in relation to such external criteria as undergraduate grade point average (UGPA), self-reported accomplishments, and a measure of ideational fluency, with generating explanations relating uniquely to aesthetic and linguistic accomplishments and to ideational fluency. For the subset of participants with undergraduate majors in the humanities and social sciences, generating explanations added to the relationship with UGPA over that contributed by the General Test.     

Intertrial unconditioned stimuli differentially impact trace conditioning

Three experiments assessed how appetitive conditioning in rats changes over the duration of a trace conditioned stimulus (CS) when unsignaled unconditioned stimuli (USs) are introduced into the intertrial interval. In Experiment 1, a target US occurred at a fixed time either shortly before (embedded), shortly after (trace), or at the same time (delay) as the offset of a 120-s CS. During the CS, responding was most suppressed by intertrial USs in the trace group, less so in the delay group, and least in the embedded group. Unreinforced probe trials revealed a bell-shaped curve centered on the normal US arrival time during the trace interval, suggesting that temporally specific learning occurred both with and without intertrial USs. Experiments 2a and 2b confirmed that the bulk of the trace CS became inhibitory when intertrial USs were scheduled, as measured by summation and retardation tests, even though CS offset evoked a temporally precise conditioned response. Thus, an inhibitory CS may give rise to new stimuli specifically linked to its termination, which are excitatory. A modification to the microstimulus temporal difference model is offered to account for the data.     

Children's Reasoning about Interpersonal and Moral Conflicts

2 studies were conducted to determine if children make judgments about both justice and interpersonal relations in conflictful situations. In Study 1, 48 subjects (24 males and 24 females) in the third, sixth, and ninth grades (mean ages = 8.40, 11.38, 14.38 years) were administered 2 stories entailing conflicts between justice and interpersonal concerns. Children judged and justified acts in 4 conditions systematically varying interpersonal and justice concerns. Children generally gave priority to justice and rights over friendship, based primarily on considerations of welfare or rights. In Study 2, 76 subjects (39 males and 37 females) in the third, sixth, and ninth grades (mean ages = 9.08, 12.10, 14.92 years) were presented with 3 stories entailing conflicts between justice and interpersonal relations. Subjects gave greater priority to interpersonal considerations in Study 2 than in Study 1, and their evaluations varied according to the salience of the different concerns. In both studies, few gender differences were obtained. The results demonstrate that across development, concerns with justice and interpersonal relationships coexist in judgments of male and female children, and that the ways they are applied depend on the situation.     

Searching for ‘a third space’: a creative pathway towards international PhD students’ academic acculturation

Undertaking a PhD is a challenging endeavour. Pursuing a doctoral education in a ‘foreign’ context tends to increase the demands of this intellectual venture. The nature of research-based PhD programmes, often characterised by a lack of formal curricula where academic supervision lasts several years, may add another layer of complexity. Drawing upon an extended version of Urie Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological theory of human development, this paper attempts to offer a greater understanding of both academic and non-academic concerns confronting international PhD students with a view to highlighting their implications for institutional policy and practice. Underpinned by a visual metaphor approach, our research findings advocate embedding the use of ‘a third space’ as a creative pathway and strategy for maximising students’ chances of achieving a successful PhD academic acculturation journey.     

Early Shared Reading,Socioeconomic Status,and Children’s Cognitive and School Competencies: Six Years of Longitudinal Evidence

This study explored longitudinal associations between early shared reading at 2 to 3 years of age and children’s later academic achievement. It examined the mediating role of children’s vocabulary and early academic skills, and the moderating effects of family’s socioeconomic status. Data were drawn from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (n = 4,768). Academic achievement was assessed at 8 to 9 years of age via standardized national test scores of literacy and mathematics achievement. Results indicated that early shared reading was associated with children’s academic achievement directly and indirectly through receptive vocabulary and early academic skills. Also, the frequency of early shared reading predicted the outcome measures, over and above other home learning activities. Associations were stronger among low and middle socioeconomic status groups compared to the high socioeconomic status group. We conclude that shared reading offers unique opportunities for adults to teach young children new words and concepts.     

Secondary Students' Dynamic Modeling Processes: Analyzing,Reasoning About,Synthesizing, and Testing Models of Stream Ecosystems

In this paper, we explore dynamic modeling as an opportunity for students to think about the science content they are learning. We examined the Cognitive Strategies for Modeling (CSMs) in which students engaged as they created dynamic models. We audio- and videotape-recorded eight pairs of ninth grade science students and analyzed their conversations and actions. In analyzing appropriate objects and factors for their model, some students merely enumerated potential factors whereas others engaged in rich, substantial, mindful analysis. In reasoning about their models, students discussed relationships in depth, concentrated only on the most important key relationships, or encountered difficulty distinguishing between causal and correlational relationships. In synthesizing working models, students mapped their model to aid visualization, focused on their goal, or talked about their model's appearance or form. Students attempted to articulate explanations for their relationships, but sometimes their explanations were shallow. In testing their models, some students tested thoroughly but only a few persisted in debugging their model's behavior so that it matched their expectations. In our conclusion we suggest that creating dynamic models has great potential for use in classrooms to engage students in thought about science content, particularly in those thinking strategies best fostered by dynamic modeling: analysis, relational reasoning, synthesis, testing and debugging, and making explanations.     

Generalizability, Validity, and Examinee Perceptions of a Computer-Delivered Formulating-Hypotheses Test

The Formulating-Hypotheses (F-H) item presents a situation and asks examinees to generate as many explanations for it as possible. This study examined the generalizability, validity, and examinee perceptions of a computer-delivered version of the task. Eight F-H questions were administered to 192 graduate students. Half of the items restricted examinees to 7 words per explanation, and half allowed up to 15 words. Generalizability results showed high interrater agreement, with tests of between 2 and 4 items scored by one judge achieving coefficients in the .80s. Construct validity analyses found that F-H was only marginally related to the GRE General Test, and more strongly related than the General Test to a measure of ideational fluency. Different response limits tapped somewhat different abilities, with the 15-word constraint appearing more useful for graduate assessment. These items added significantly to conventional measures in explaining school performance and creative expression.