Grade 9 students' academic failure has been documented to lead to future academic failure at the secondary level. Research has shown that lack of persistence and problem solving behaviors when dealing with adversity have multiple consequences, including low self-esteem and dropout. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to examine Grade 9 teachers' perceptions related to the use of Habits of Mind, a program designed to address the dispositions of thinkers when faced with problems such as resilience or persistence. Guided by Bandura's social cognitive learning theory, which holds that environment relates directly to behaviors and feelings of self-efficacy, the study was designed to examine teachers' perceptions regarding Habits of Mind and academic success. The research questions addressed teachers' perceptions about utilizing specific habits of mind to support students' academic success as well as how teachers' instructional designs incorporate Habits of Mind. Interviews with 10 9th grade teachers and surveys were used to gather data. Data analysis was conducted in a process of pre-coding, ongoing coding, and development of themes from the data. Results showed that teachers perceived habits of mind as necessary for success, handling adversity, and adapting to life beyond high school. They also indicated that the desire for purposeful collegial interactions most effectively embeds habits of mind instruction within and beyond classrooms. Implications for social change include maximizing students' problem solving strategies and knowledge related to dealing with adversity, including failure, in order to help prepare students for successful post-secondary academic experiences, employment, and productive, responsible citizenship.

Time perception is a fundamental aspect of consciousness related to mental health. One cognitive state related to time perception is mind wandering (MW), defined as having thoughts unrelated to the current task. Little research has directly assessed the relationship between these two constructs, despite the overlap in clinical significance and the shared importance of attention for healthy functioning. In the present study, I addressed this by having a sample of 40 adults in the United States complete an online sustained attention to response task remotely while answering thought probes related to thought type and time perception. Multilevel modeling results indicated that cognitive factors were related to the judgements of passage of time (JOPOTs; the feeling that time is passing quickly or slowly) while they had little relation to the estimated duration or the accuracy of those estimations. Specifically, JOPOTs were related to attention to task and emotional valence, and the addition of MW, intentionality, and fixed/dynamic thoughts to the models explained additional variance. Duration estimations and JOPOTs were unrelated to each other, suggesting JOPOTs and duration estimations have different relationships to cognitive factors and should be studied as separate constructs. Additionally, results suggested that the heavy use of dichotomization in the MW literature should be shifted in favor of conceptualizing attention to task as a continuous variable. The difference in effects of MW on estimation durations and JOPOTs specifically is novel finding. This is the first study to evaluate the relationship between MW and both duration estimations and JOPOTs, thus it may advance mechanistic and phenomenological understanding of MW which could in turn inform clinical theories of time perception in disorders including ADHD and depression.

[Typewritten] Includes bibliography.

This dissertation argues for the truth of two fundamental premises: that testimony is the primary source of knowledge in human beings, and that testimony accounts for the emergence and formation of human minds. The thesis argues that the human ability to perceive as…, to remember as…, and to infer as…, is due to the say-so of others. All human beings, in virtue of being sentient beings, are able to experience both the external world and their own private states of consciousness, this work contends, however, that our ability to experience as… is a consequence of our emergence in a world of epistemic transactions and encounters, the most basic of which are explicated by the epistemological notion of testimony. The work argues, then, that we live in an interpreted world – a world interpreted by those who have gone before us. The thesis argues further, that the world-view that is built within us as a consequence of the sayings of others, induces and forms human minds. The work makes a strong commitment to the Kantian categories and that philosopher’s thesis of Transcendental Idealism. On the shoulders of the Kantian a priori, however, the dissertation argues that the formation of human doxastic structures is due to what one’s epistemic elders say about what is. As such, the thesis seeks to establish a fundamental link between ontology, epistemology, and the concept of mind. The work proposes a view of the concept of truth that synthesises the Correspondence Theory of Truth, the Coherence Theory of Truth, with a theory of meaning – I name this synthesis a Unified Theory of Truth. Extensive consideration is given to the concept of evidence and the role of trust in epistemic transactions. The work concludes with a consideration of the possibility that human beings may be able to have experiences as… that transcend the ways of ‘seeing’ that are due to testimony. An explanatory theory is posited that the writings and testimonies of mystics provide evidence that human beings are capable of meaningful experiences which cannot be accommodated by the conceptual structures that otherwise make meaning possible. The dissertation is argued in seven chapters and is constructed thus: Chapter One The thesis is stated in four premises: 1. that the testimony of others, with respect to what is the case (or may be the case), is the primary source of our beliefs about what is the case (or may be the case) 2. that the testimony of others provides adequate relevant grounds for one to claim to know what is the case 3. that education is testimony 4. that the formation and emergence of mind is due to testimony Significant presuppositions are identified and discussed. A brief argument in support of the thesis is posited. Reference is made to the evolution of the argument and the overall structure and organisation of the project is elucidated. Chapter Two The second chapter is dedicated to a detailed and extensive analysis of epistemic justification. I argue that the ‘evidence condition’ of the tripartite analysis of propositional knowledge is sometimes misapplied by those who argue that its function is to verify propositions. I argue that its function is to justify beliefs and that it does not verify that p – the evidence condition ‘tracks’ the belief condition, not the truth condition. I also examine the concept of evidence itself. Chapter Three A detailed examination of the concepts of ‘testimony’, ‘epistemic dependence’ and ‘epistemic independence’ is undertaken. I argue for the centrality and primacy of testimony in the formation of beliefs and subsequently one’s doxastic structures. I argue that testimony plays a fundamental role in the process of education and that this fact points to its significance and importance in epistemic transactions and the emergence of rational and self-reflective minds. Chapter Four In the fourth chapter I advert to the difficulty encountered in (a) embracing a strong commitment to intellectual autonomy and (b) accepting the say-so of others on trust. In the light of this observation, I undertake a linguistic conceptual analysis of the concept of trust and then examine the role trust plays in the acquisition of beliefs. I argue that the concept of trust does not exclude critical appraisal, but that when one trusts, one must be disposed to act in a certain way. I argue that although trust does play a fundamental role in formation of beliefs induced by the say-so of others, this does not make impossible critical appraisal of the attestations of others. Chapter Five In this chapter I note my agreement with other philosophers that testimony is the speech-act of attesting, but put up an argument that it is also the speech-act of informing. In consequence I undertake an analysis of the concept of information and examine the mechanisms and processes which are at work that enable ‘bits’ to become information for an entity or system. I argue that because testimony is the speech-act of informing, it is involved in the actual formation of human minds and, therefore, that we can attribute to testimony a deeper purpose than merely attesting to certain states of affairs. I argue that testimony builds, for human beings, a world-view and that it plays a fundamental role in how we come to interpret the experience of being. Chapter Six In the sixth and penultimate chapter I develop my thoughts on the relationship between a priori understandings, testimony, and meaning. I argue that there is a logical relationship between belief acquisition, meaning, and the emergence of fully developed human minds. In this chapter I give consideration to the possibility of thought, belief, and the existence of mind in non-human animals and pre-linguistic humans. I argue that there are good reasons to believe that non-human animals think and maybe develop understandings, but that the possession of mind, in the sense that one can be mindful and therefore attach meaning to experience and be conscious of self, is limited to human beings. I underwrite this view by adverting to the centrality of testimony within the human condition. Chapter Seven In the final chapter of this dissertation I move to a more speculative mode of philosophising and consider whether or not there may be meaningful human experiences which are not interpreted through the conceptual schema acquired as a consequence of the say-so of others. I undertake this speculation by examining the testimony of those who claim to have perceived God directly and those who seek to speak of purported mystical experiences. I also consider some counter-arguments to my thesis that have not been examined in previous chapters. I conclude that there may be meaningful experiences for human beings that lie beyond interpretation and that concepts such as ‘ineffability’ point to our attempts to speak of experiences which transcend our doxastic structures.

When humans use the mental states (e.g., beliefs, intentions) and the emotional states of others to predict or explain another person�s behaviour, they have demonstrated their theory of mind understanding. Theory of mind is "one of the quintessential abilities that makes us human" (Baron-Cohen, 2000, p. 3). Emotion understanding has been considered by some to be an aspect of theory of mind understanding. There are several theories proposed to explain the development of theory of mind, from changes in representational abilities (Perner, 1991), to having an innate domain specific module (Fodor, 1992; Leslie, 1994), to social linguistic influences (Nelson et al., 2003). One facet of theory of mind understanding, understanding false belief, has been consistently found to develop at around 3 or 4 years of age (e.g., Wimmer & Perner, 1983). Another cognitive ability that develops at the approximately the same time is that of autobiographical memory. Autobiographical memory has been defined as "memory for information and events pertaining to the self" (Howe & Courage, 1993, p. 306). There are also several theories explaining the onset of autobiographical memory. Two similar theories by Perner (1991) and Welch-Ross (1995) proposed that until a child possesses dual representational abilities (or theory of mind), they cannot form autobiographical memories. Nelson (1993) and Fivush (2001) have both proposed that autobiographical memory is developed through shared narratives with more experienced others (e.g., parents). There are several factors that have been found to contribute to theory of mind, emotion understanding, and autobiographical memory. Language abilities have been related to all three cognitive abilities (e.g., Slade & Ruffman, 2005; Dunn & Cutting, 1999; Harley & Reese, 1999). Factors such as maternal talk, gender of the child, and the number of siblings the child has, have all been related to at least two of these abilities. In the current study, I addressed the relation between theory of mind understanding, emotion understanding, and autobiographical memory in three studies. The first study investigated the relations between language, theory of mind, emotion understanding, and mother-child talk about past events in 61 children at three 6- month intervals from 42- to 54- months of age. The second study also investigated these factors and the children�s pretense in 59 children at 48- months of age. In the second study, the mother�s theory of mind and emotion understanding were also measured. In the third study, I investigated the relations between theory of mind, emotion understanding and early memory recall in 73 adults, with an average age of 20 years. One key finding was that, despite theoretical predictions, there was no clear relation between theory of mind understanding and autobiographical memory in either children or adults. Results showed that theory of mind and emotion understanding are related but distinct abilities. The number of siblings, or the gender of the participants were not strongly related to theory of mind, autobiographical memory, or emotion understanding. Language abilities and maternal talk were the strongest factors related to the development of theory of mind, autobiographical memory and emotion understanding.

1 v. (various pagings) / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (D.Litt.) from the Dept. of Philosophy, University of Adelaide, 1972

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. Andrea Scarantino, Eddy Nahmias, committee co-chairs; Sebastian Rand, committee member. Electronic text (84 p. : ill.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Dec. 13, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 80-84).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2006. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Jennifer Etnier; submitted to the School of Health and Human Performance. Includes bibliographical references (p. 37-43).

Konstanz, Univ., Diss., 2009

Thesis (M.A.)--Denver Seminary, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-70).