William A. Stock

Feedback in written instruction: The place of response certitude

This paper reviews written feedback from an information-processing perspective. The first section discusses the question of feedback as a reinforcer, and describes the feedback paradigm used as a conceptual guide for the following sections. In the second section we evaluate research on the form and content of feedback. In the last section, a model is developed that applies concepts from servocontrol theory to the feedback sequence. Finally, we report three experiments which support the major predictions of the control model.

Religion and Subjective Well-Being in Adulthood: A Quantitative Synthesis

What is the strength and direction of the relation between religion and subjective well-being in adulthood? We addressed this question by performing a quantitative research synthesis (meta-analysis). The dependent variable was zero-order correlations between religion and subjective well-being. Independent variables were measure, sample, and study characteristics. We found that religion was significantly, positively related to subjective wellbeing. The relation between religion and subjective well-being is stronger for religious activity than for religiosity measures. The relation is stronger for samples of older than younger adults. The strength of the religion/subjective well-being relation has decreased over time. Religion accounts for between 2 and 6 percent of the variance in adult subjective well-being.

Health and subjective well-being: a meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis was conducted of the health/subjective well-being relationship, based upon studies of United States adults published prior to 1980. Dependent variables were zero-order and first-order correlations. A total of 231 zero-order effect size estimates were extracted from 104 different sources, while a total of 189 first-order effect sizes were extracted from thirty-three different sources. The majority of effect sizes were derived from samples where the midpoint of the age range was sixty-five and over. The 95 percent confidence interval estimates, generated using Tukeys jackknife procedure, were .29 to .35 and .29 to .38 for the zero-order and first-order correlations, respectively. Using weighted regression procedures, univariate analyses indicated that all but one study and sample characteristics were significant (p < .05) predictors of zero-order and first-order correlations, though none of the predictors adequately specified variation in effect sizes. The mean value of the first-order correlations varied with the type of control variable, ranging from .42 (age) to .27 (SES composite). Health and subjective well-being were found to be positively and significantly related. Limitations of the meta-analysis were noted and suggestions were made for strengthening research on this topic.

A Research Synthesis of Gender and Social Class as Correlates of Subjective Well-Being

Meta-analytic techniques were used to synthesize findings from the extant empirical literature on gender and social class as predictors of subjective well-being among U.S. adults. Based upon Rubins (1979) research, we tested a family of hypotheses that gender, relative to social class, accounted for more variation in subjective well-being. Examination of zero-order and first-order effect sizes revealed that men have slightly higher subjective well-being than women and that, while gender is a statistically significant predictor of subjective well-being, it accounts for little variance. Three measures of social class, composite socioeconomic status, occupational status, and income also are significantly related to subjective well-being on the zero-order level; but that relation is reduced when gender is used as a covariate. Overall, across the studies we synthesized, gender does not transcend social class as a major determinant of subjective well-being.

The Social Activity/Subjective Well-Being Relation A Quantitative Synthesis

Meta-analytic techniques were used to synthesize findings on the social activity/subjective well-being relation. We chose zero-order and first order associations as our dependent variables and several different measure, sample, and study quality characteristics as our independent variables. We found that social activity is positively and significantly related to subjective well-being. Contrary to activity theory, informal activities and activities with friends were not related to subjective well-being consistently more strongly than were formal activities and activities with neighbors. In addition, the remaining measure, sample, and study quality characteristics were not adequate predictors of variation in activity/subjective well-being associations.

The Effects of Class Size: An Examination of Rival Hypotheses

There has recently been a great deal of interest in the use of meta-analysis to integrate research findings. Glass and Smith used meta-analytic techniques to describe the relationship between class size and academic achievement or classroom processes. The statistical methods used by Glass and Smith are open to criticism on several grounds. The present paper reports the results of reanalyses using statistical methods that can be rigorously justified. The statistical methods used herein can be shown to have certain optimal properties for the analysis of effect size data, and therefore the results of analyses based on these methods are generally preferable. The results of our analyses suggest that the use of suboptimal statistical methods did not greatly affect the results of the meta-analysis by Glass and Smith.

How geographic maps increase recall of instructional text

This article reviews research on how geographic maps influence the recall of associated text. Drawing on literature from cartography and educational, experimental, and cognitive psychology, the authors describe a model of map-text learning based on dual-coding theory and focused on activities that take place during working memory operations. The instructional implications of the model are explored, and recommendations for instructional applications are given.

Structure of subjective well-being among the elderly.

This article interprets subjective well-being within the framework of cognitive theories of emotion. A model consisting of three recurrent components of expressions of well-being--positive affect, negative affect, and cognition--was compared with two variations of models proposed by Liang. Drawing two random samples of persons with minimum age equal to 65 from the Myth and Reality of Aging in America Survey, lisrel analyses were undertaken on 17 items from the Affect Balance Scale and the Life Satisfaction Index Form A. All models provided an acceptable fit as indicated by ratios of chi-square to degrees of freedom. Implications are noted for the conceptualization and study of subjective well-being.

Subjective well-being measures: reliability and validity among Spanish elders.

The Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale, Life Satisfaction Index, and Affect Balance Scale were translated into Castilian Spanish and Catalan. Responses to these scales were obtained by interviews with 151 elderly persons living in Spain. Reliability estimates for the Life Satisfaction Index and the Affect Balance subscales were comparable to those for English-speaking samples, while reliability estimates for the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale were somewhat lower. Validity estimates among these scales were consistent with previous research and previously reported factor structures were found to fit the present data reasonably well, although factor loadings were lower than those previously reported. English and translated versions of the scales are provided in Appendix A.

Using maps to retrieve text : a test of conjoint retention

Abstract Two experiments tested the conjoint retention model by having undergraduates learn an intact map and text, and then see the map as a retrieval cue, in either its original form or a reorganized format. Subjects remembered more text events when cued by the original map. The pattern of results supports the assumption that image representations of maps improve text recall only when they retain both feature and structural properties available during encoding.