Stephen L. Benton

The relationship between information-processing ability and notetaking.

Abstract This study examined the relationship between lecture notetaking behaviors and academic ability and the relationship among lecture notetaking behaviors, information-processing ability, and more global measures of ability (i.e., GPA and ACT scores). Previous research had not investigated working-memory ability and specific notetaking behaviors. Four types of information were gathered from the 32 undergraduate students participating in this experiment: (a) score on a test of information-processing ability, (b) analyses of notes taken during a designated lecture, (c) score on a test pertaining to that lecture, and (d) score on a course exam covering several other lectures. In addition, GPA and ACT scores were drawn from each students records. Results confirmed that amount of notetaking is related to academic achievement and established that ability to hold and manipulate prepositional knowledge in working memory is related to the number of words, complex propositions, and main ideas recorded in notes. In fact, stepwise multiple regression analyses indicated that this information-processing ability was a more significant predictor of complex propositions and words recorded in notes than were global measures of ability such as GPA or ACT scores. This research is of practical importance because pedagogical activities may reduce cognitive strain associated with notetaking and because information-processing ability is, in part, controllable.

What's in a Picture? Comparing Gender Constructs of Younger and Older Adults

To identify tacit gender role constructs, 192 younger adults (M age = 21.1) and 126 older adults (M age = 70.1) were given a series of six drawings unrelated to gender, asked to create a brief description of the person who made each drawing, and then asked to guess the persons age and sex. Using the Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) system as a guide, gender prototypes were developed. Three findings were significant. First, there was widespread agreement across generations and across sexes on the central features of prototypical femininity (low self-esteem, restricted/oppressed, emotional distress) and on prototypical masculinity (successful/accomplished, risk-taking, strong/determined, problem-solving, and emotional distress). Second, significant intergenerational differences regarding masculinity were found (younger adults citing more role strain and more emotional expressiveness). Third, one within-generation difference was found (younger men versus younger women regarding prototypical femininity). Implications of these findings are discussed.

Students' perceptions of parents' and teachers' qualities of interpersonal relations

A sample of 561 predominantly white, midwestem high school students, grades 10–12, rated both a parent and a teacher on the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory. Students were assigned randomly to rate a teacher in either a required subject or an elective subject and either their mother or their father. Sex cleavage was found in 12th-grade students who rated samegender teachers higher on warmth than they rated opposite-gender teachers. Evidence for developmental differences came from 11th and 12th graders who reported greater warmth from their parents than did 10th graders. Twelfth graders also perceived greater empathy from parents than did 10th graders. Eleventh-and 12th-grade students also perceived greater warmth from parents than from teachers. Overall, girls perceived greater genuineness from parents and teachers than did boys. Finally, students who lived with the parent they rated perceived greater warmth and congruence from that parent than did students who lived apart from their parent.

K-State Problem Identification Rating Scales for College Students

Abstract The K-State Problem Identification Rating Scales, a new screening instrument for college counseling centers, gathers information about clients’ presenting symptoms, functioning levels, and readiness to change. Three studies revealed 7 scales: Mood Difficulties. Learning Problems, Food Concerns, Interpersonal Conflicts. Career Uncertainties, Self-Harm Indicators, and Substance/Addiction Issues.

Evidence-Based Practice in Psychology among College Counseling Center Clinicians

ABSTRACT This empirically based study sought to discover factors underlying diverse sources of information used to inform therapy practice, perceived salience of sources of evidence for clinical practice, importance of common factors to therapy efficiency, and beliefs about evidence-based practice, particularly in the form of evidence-supported treatments (ESTs). The investigation also sought to uncover possible relationships between a variety of individually based demographics and institutionally based demographics and their possible relationship to factors underlying these diverse sources of information. A number of interesting findings emerged.

The Woodcock-Johnson Revised-Its Factor Structure

Data from the manual for the Woodcock-Johnson Revised Achievement Tests (WJ-R) were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis. Two highly correlated oblique factors were found rather than the multi-factor structure posited by the test authors. The major factor, use and comprehension of language, may represent general intelligence. The second factor, number skill, was relatively small. The use of discrepancies among WJ-R scores and between them and measures of intelligence is not warranted for the evaluation of learning disabilities.

SIMULATION AND DISSIMULATION ON ALCOHOLISM INVENTORIES: THE ALCADD AND THE MAST

A group of 36 normal college students was administered the Alcohol Addiction Test and Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test under three conditions. Significant contrasts between the scores obtained under the honest and simulated alcoholism conditions showed that normal subjects can simulate alcoholism on these inventories.

Attributes of organizational ability related to writing ability

Abstract The present study investigated the relationship between writing ability and a reconstruction test requiring anagram solving, word reordering, sentence reordering, paragraph assembly. The results of a canonical correlation corroborated earlier findings that this test is a good predictor of writing ability.

Psychological Foundations of Elementary Writing Instruction

Publisher Summary Elementary teachers are doing a better job of teaching students how to write. However, in some areas of writing instruction, they can do better. Students must understand that writing is a problem-solving process, in which much learning can occur. This chapter illustrates endogenous development, exogenous learning, functionalism, dialectical constructivism, and an eclectic approach to elementary writing instruction. The essence of endogenous development is that individuals create knowledge about writing within their own memory structures rather than acquire information from the environment. Young writers experiment at an early age by representing their ideas in drawing and printing. Students of low socioeconomic status are at a marked disadvantage in terms of expressive language abilities. A two-stage model of spelling development—inability to spell versus spelling competence—has progressed into five stages, such as precommunicative, semiphonetic, phonetic, transitional, and competent spelling. Exogenous learning stems from the empiricist assumption that knowledge is acquired from the environment and therefore can be learned. Phonemic awareness refers to the knowledge of sound patterns in letters and words and about how to blend and delete phonemic segments.

Elaboration of Ideas in Prose Production.

AbstractThe current study examined the differential effects of question level (top-level, mid-level, or base-level) and question number (one, two, or three) upon measures of elaboration in writing. Elaboration measures were defined as top-level ideas that indicate a predominant relationship between two or more ideas, mid-level ideas that further explain or describe a top-level statement, and base-level ideas that provide exemplification. Experiment 1 examined the interaction effect between the level and the number of pre-writing questions. Experiments 2 and 3 examined processing time as an alternate explanation to an elaboration hypothesis. The results indicated that (a) regardless of question number, writers who receive base-level questions generate a greater number of details and examples than do those who receive top- or mid-level questions; and (b) base-level questions enhance elaboration even when processing time is held constant.