This research was designed to explore the nature of reasoning. In general, three categories of theories about reasoning (the inferential rule approach, the mental models approach, and the operational constructive approach) are used to explain reasoning. In this research, a simple transitivity of length task was selected as the experimental vehicle to explore these approaches for their veracity. Each approach was assessed for spatial and linguistic conditions which might influence reasoning about transitive length relations. The length difference under consideration in the reasoning task, the order in which the premise statements about the length differences were presented and the linguistic relational term used to describe the length difference were selected as the experimental variables. Three measures of reasoning about transitive length relations were assessed: judgements, judgements-plus-justifications, and necessity understanding. A between-within factorial, cross-sectional design was employed. The order of the premise statements (optimal/control) was manipulated as the experimental between-subjects factor. The two experimental within-subjects factors, length difference (large/small) and linguistic relational term (“longer”/”shorter”), were fully crossed and counterbalanced. Ninety-six preschool and school-age children, evenly divided by gender and age (5-6 years, 7-8 years, 9-10 years), participated in the study. The developmental character of transitive reasoning in the age range studied was confirmed for two of the three measures of reasoning. More failures of judgement were observed when a large length difference was matched with the linguistic relational term “longer” and when a small length difference was matched with the linguistic relational term “shorter” than when the length differences and relational terms were mismatched. The arrangement of the premise figure did indirectly influence any measure of transitive reasoning but a large length difference in combination with the control premise figure was found to increase the frequency of transitive judgements-plus justifications. It is concluded from the analysis of the findings of this research that transitive reasoning about length is likely to result from constructive processes, rather then from application of logical rules. However, it is unclear whether the constructive processes in question are best explained in terms of cognitive operations or in terms of figurative mental models.

This study examines the relative influence of traditional and biomedical theories of health and disease on the reasoning about childhood nutritional problems by mothers in rural South India. Mothers with different levels of schooling, traditional practitioners, and medical experts were interviewed. Their explanations of nutritional problems were verbally recorded and analysed using methods of cognitive analyses. / Nutritional concepts and their interpretations given in the mothers' explanations matched that of the traditional theory of Siddha medicine, prevalent in South India. With an increase in formal education, there was an increase in the use of concepts derived from modern biomedical theory. However, the mothers exhibited little understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved. Implications of these findings for designing nutrition and health education are discussed, in relation to knowledge reorganization to replace harmful concepts and relations with beneficial ones.

No description available.

Individuals with autism experience specific deficits in the area of executive function. A differentiated view of executive function was recently described by Metcalfe and Mishel, in which a distinction was made between hot, affective components and cold more purely cognitive, non-affective components. The "Hot/Cold" distinction of executive function was examined in a group of children with autism in relation to a group of typically developing children matched on verbal, pattern and Leiter mental ages. Two hot (Gamble and Delay of Gratification) and two cold tasks (DCCS and SOP) were administered. Children with autism successfully completed fewer trials of the SOP, irrespective of the matching variable, and experienced more difficulty switching rules on the DCCS in relation to typically developing children when matched on non-verbal and performance mental ages. No differences were found on the hot executive function tasks, except for the group matched on VMA. These findings underscore the importance of using multiple matching groups in the study of persons with autism, and provide evidence for cold rather than hot executive function deficits as a primary in autism.

Despite the fact that the moods, symptoms, and disorders associated with anxiety and depression frequently co-occur in youth, very little is known about the developmental pathways leading to comorbid anxiety and depression. The common aetiology hypothesis proposes that anxiety and depression share common risk, vulnerability, and causal factors which increase the likelihood that they will co-occur. Such common aetiological factors are expected to temporally precede the onset of symptoms and to be uniquely associated with symptoms of each disorder, independent of the strong association between anxiety and depression. Previous research has identified vulnerability factors in the development of both anxious symptoms (e.g., behavioural inhibition) and depressive symptoms (e.g., pessimistic inferential styles) in children. However very little research has examined whether these vulnerability factors are specific to either anxious or depressive symptoms, or whether they are common to both. The purpose of the research presented in this dissertation was to examine the common aetiology hypothesis of anxiety and depression in children by evaluating the specificity of two well-established theories. In addition, the applicability of a diathesis-stress model to the development of anxious and depressive symptoms in children was examined. The research described in Chapter 2 examined behavioural inhibition and found that behaviourally inhibited children who experienced high levels of stress demonstrated increases in anxious, but not depressive symptoms across a six-week period. The research described in Chapter 3 examined the hopelessness theory and found that in the presence of high levels of stress, pessimistic inferential styles about causes, consequences, and the self predicted increases in hopelessness depression symptoms in children with low levels of initial hopelessness depression symptoms. Moreover, children with pessimistic inferential styles about either consequences or the self demonstrated increases in anxious symptoms across the six-week period, even after controlling for changes in hopelessness depression symptoms. These findings have several implications. In line with the common aetiology hypothesis, pessimistic inferential styles about consequences and the self appear to be common vulnerability factors. In contrast, behavioural inhibition and pessimistic inferential style about causes appear to be specific vulnerability factors for anxious symptoms and hopelessness depression symptoms respectively. Finally, vulnerability factors for both anxious and depressive symptoms appear to be amenable to a diathesis-stress framework.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-103). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR19729

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Mar. 3, 2008). Directed by Robert E. Guttentag; submitted to the Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 50-52).

Thesis PlanA (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.L.T)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-105). Also available via the World Wide Web

Dissertation (Ph.D.) -- The Institute for Clinical Social Work, 1996. / A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Institute of Clinical Social Work in partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.