Dona M. Kagan

Beliefs and behaviours of kindergarten teachers

Summary This study examines relationships between the cognitive styles of kindergarten teachers and their tendency to endorse or manifest a child‐centred vs a teacher‐structured approach to kindergarten. Subjects were 51 kindergarten teachers who completed self‐report instruments assessing cognitive style, teaching ideology, classroom behaviour, and occupational stress. An outside rater observed each classroom for two hours, recording the frequencies of two kinds of teacher behaviour: verbal interactions, and ‘mapping’ data indicating the positions of teacher and students within the classroom. Teachers’ self‐reported beliefs and behaviours were strongly consistent with outside raters’ observations. In addition, a cluster of observed classroom behaviours was associated with a child: centred ideology: working and communicating with individuals or with small groups of children rather than with large groups; and using few negative comments. Teachers who endorsed and exhibited these child‐centred behaviours te...

Addictive Personality Factors

This study was designed to compare mean scores obtained by alcoholics, compulsive gamblers, smokers, chronic joggers, and control subjects on six subfactors of the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale. Results indicated that some MacAndrew factors may be more sensitive to additive pathology than others. Alcoholics emerged as the most pathological group, in terms of scores on the Cognitive Impairment, Social Maladjustment, and Risk Taking scales. Gamblers and smokers appeared to be distinctly different, more socially oriented addicts. Frequency of jogging was negatively related to measures of addiction but positively related to measures of compulsiveness.

Cognitive Level and Achievement in Computer Literacy

Abstract This study measured to what degree achievement in a computer literacy course related to each of the following variables: general cognitive level, computer aptitude and prior experience using computers, and inherent stress. Subjects were 60 students enrolled in an undergraduate business course designed to teach the use of software packages. Achievement was measured by three course exams. Achievement early in the course was moderately related to measures of computer aptitude and cognitive level, but by the end of the course prior experience using computers emerged as the most important variable. Despite the logical and empirical connections drawn between general cognitive abilities and the ability to learn how to use computers, general abilities may be only marginally relevant to the task of learning to use software.

The social implications of higher level thinking skills

This paper describes theoretical and empirical research suggesting that individuals who are capable of perceiving others in complex and divergent ways may be able to communicate more effectively, adapting verbal messages to fit the perspectives of listeners. This proposition represents a link between several fields of inquiry that researchers rarely interrelate: higher level thinking skills, social cognition, social competency, and communications. Key concepts within each field are historically defined, and directions for future research are outlined.

Relationships among Measures of Social Cognition and Measures of Social Skill.

This study was designed to examine relationships among measures of social cognition, social competence, and actual social behaviors observed naturalistically. Subjects were twenty‐three kindergarteners who completed standardized tests of social cognition and mental maturity. Teacher ratings and ratings of peer popularity were also obtained for each child. The children were then observed over a 90‐day period, as they worked together in small groups on tasks assigned by the teacher. The only kind of observed social behavior significantly related to performance on the test of social cognition was negative or aggressive comments, suggesting that more socially sophisticated children may have perceived social interactions as opportunities to manipulate or control their peers. Rating scales completed by the teacher emerged as the most accurate gauges of observed social behaviors.

The Relationship Between Aerobic Activity and Cognitive Performance Under Stress

This study examined the relationship between regular aerobic activity and cognitive performance under stress when personality and inherent aptitude were statistically controlled. Aerobically conditioned subjects have been shown to mediate the physiological response to stress under physical challenge. Would aerobically conditioned subjects also respond more efficiently to psychological stress under cognitive challenge? Forty volunteers completed a battery of personality and aptitude measures and then completed two cognitive tasks (written tests of logic), one under a condition of no stress, the other while being verbally pressured by a test monitor. Heart rate and blood pressure were measured during and after each cognitive task. Contrary to the experimental hypothesis, aerobic activity was related to inferior cognitive performance and to elevated blood pressure under stress. Inherent cognitive aptitude and personality traits emerged as far more important correlates of cognitive performance under stress than did the level of exercise.

Using Class Climate Scales to Evaluate Gifted Inservice Programs.

Abstract This study represents a novel approach to evaluating the effectiveness of an inservice program designed to help teachers enrich classroom instruction to make it more appropriate for gifted students. Results indicate that the number of inservice courses taken by teachers over a two and one‐half year period was associated with increased emphasis in their classes on higher‐level thinking skills and illustrates the use of class climate scales as a tool for program evaluation.

Divergent thinking and social cognition among fifth and sixth graders

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between performance on tests of divergent thinking and childrens strategies and reasons for making friends. Subjects were 157 fifth and sixth graders who took a battery of divergent thinking tests and wrote responses to three hypothetical social situations. Scores on a test designed to measure divergent thinking, defined as the ability to perceive others in differentiated and divergent ways, were significantly related to responses to each of the social situations. Subjects who obtained high scores on this test tended to select relatively indirect, subtle, and mature social strategies. The primary contribution of this study is the tentative assignment of ordinal values to a range of social strategies that have been found consistently in studies of childrens social cognition.