In recent years, a rise in science and mathematics content has been observed in adult television programs. The programs CSI and Numb3rs, for example, frequently contain specific references to various science and mathematics problems. It is possible that a viewer's academic self-efficacy, defined as one's belief in the capabilities to organize and execute actions in the effort of goal attainment, may be influenced by such content; as such, television programs have the potential to positively engage adults in academics while simultaneously providing entertainment. To investigate this possibility, avid viewers of programs involving science and math were instructed to complete a questionnaire rating their chemistry and mathematics self-efficacy. In addition, the questionnaire examined viewers' understanding of specific science and mathematics topics before and after reading provided texts. Results showed a significant relationship between chemistry, but not mathematics self-efficacy and program preference. Gains in content knowledge were not observed in relation to program preference. Overall findings, however, indicate that adults may indeed engage with academic content in television programs. Such findings suggest that further research into academic self-efficacy and television content is warranted.

Manipulatives have the potential to be powerful tools in helping children improve their number sense, develop advanced mathematical strategies, and build an understanding of the base ten number system. Physical manipulatives used in classrooms, however, are often not designed to promote efficient strategy use, such as counting on, and typically do not encourage children to perceive higher-order units in multi-digit numbers. The aim of this study was to closely examine the affordances of a novel grouping by tens virtual manipulative. Seventy-nine first grade students were randomly assigned to one of two math software comparison groups or a reading software control group. In the math comparison groups, children received scaffolding and feedback while playing a computerized enumeration game that required them to use the novel grouping by tens manipulative. Children in the Transformation group used a manipulative that transformed from a unitized to a continuous model, while children in the Unitized group used a manipulative that remained discrete. Researchers recorded children's strategy use and accuracy when determining how many objects appeared on the screen, and the data were examined microgenetically. Children's counting on abilities, base ten understanding, and number sense were tested at posttest to examine group differences. The results showed that using the transforming manipulative significantly improved children's ability to count on at posttest. The math software also improved girls' base ten understanding at posttest. Children who used the math software in both conditions improved in their advanced strategy use and accuracy over time. These findings suggest that virtual manipulatives have the potential to improve children's strategy use and base ten understanding in ways that physical manipulatives may not. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

Can high self-control have drawbacks? Extensive research has shown the lifelong benefits of self-control for important outcomes such as education, health, income, and happiness. Far less work has been done on its potential negative impacts, where an overwhelmingly positive trait can end up having a less than positive effect on behavior. Recent research suggests that one such side effect may be an increased susceptibility to illusory control (IOC): in situations where actual control is limited but the potential for illusory control is high, high self-controllers may end up being more prone to overconfidence than low self-controllers, and this susceptibility may play out in suboptimal risk-taking behavior. Here, a series of five studies tests this causal chain, exploring the links between self-control and illusory control and the resulting impact of the relationship on risky decisions in the financial domain. In studies 1 and 2, high self-controllers consistently underperformed low self-controllers on two tasks of risk-taking, the Columbia Card Task and the Lottery Gambling Task. These effects persisted both under stress and in normal conditions. Individuals high in self-control failed to learn as well from negative feedback and were more prone to overconfidence, leading us to posit a causal mechanism rooted in the illusion of control, and specifically, in the positive affect that accompanies it. Studies 3 through 5 proceeded to test this relationship directly, on a decision-making task that looked specifically at financial risk-taking, the Behavioral Investment Allocation Strategy (BIAS). Across the three studies, we validated our findings from Studies 1 and 2 in the new risk-taking task, by showing that individuals low in self-control consistently outperformed those in high self-control by making more optimal choices and fewer errors throughout the game. We next tested the precise causal mechanism of the observed decision making patterns by manipulating IOC (Study 3), positive affect (Study 4), and perceived self-control (Study 5). We found that inducing IOC increased the number of errors committed by both high and low self-controllers across the board: individuals in the IOC condition made fewer optimal choices and performed worse overall, confirming our suspicion that IOC can be responsible for sub-optimal choices on financial risk-taking in stochastic environments. However, because the effect was non-selective, the precise causal mechanism and its relations to self-control still remained to be determined. In Studies 4 and 5, we were able to disambiguate the mechanism behind the underperformance caused by IOC. Specifically, we demonstrated that inducing positive affect (Study 4) reduced the number of optimal choices for low self-controllers on the BIAS task, making them look more like high self-controllers in their decisions. Surprisingly, the induction actually improved performance by high self-controllers. The perceived self-control induction (Study 5) also had a differential effect on high and low self-controllers. It decreased the number of optimal choices made by low self-controllers, again making them look more like high-self-controllers--but, just as with the positive affect induction, it increased the number of optimal choices made by high self-controllers. The increase in positive affect that accompanied the self-control induction was a significant mediator of the effect, a mediation that held when we pooled data from all three studies into a single affective mediation analysis. The induction results for low self-controllers confirm our hypothesis that the positive affect that usually accompanies both the illusion of control and high self-control can be an Achilles heel of high self-control in certain environments with limited actual control, creating a feeling of overconfidence that translates into suboptimal decision making. We explain the surprising improvement in performance of high self-controllers under induction conditions, as compared to baseline, by the higher self-reflection ability that accompanies high self-control. Specifically, a situation that is normally "hot" for high self-controllers is cooled through an induction that draws their attention to their high baseline self-control and accompanying positive affect. As a result, they reflect on their choices to a greater extent and act more in line with their usual optimal decision making ability. We thus both identify a specific environment where high self-control can prove to be a limiting factor for optimal decision making, and suggest a possible way to remedy that limitation, by providing a cooling period and drawing the attention of high self-controllers to the reasons for their sub-optimal strategy (namely, their positive feelings and high opinion of their own self-control). Together, the findings provide tantalizing implications for the sub-optimal market choices that even the most intelligent and successful individuals will make under the right conditions--and equally tantalizing ways to make those choices more sound.

Complex systems are an important topic in science education today, but they are usually difficult for secondary-level students to learn. Although graphic simulations have many advantages in teaching complex systems, scaffolding is a critical factor for effective learning. This dissertation study was conducted around two complementary research questions on scaffolding: (1) How can we chunk and sequence learning activities in teaching complex systems? (2) How can we help students make connections among system levels across learning activities (level bridging)? With a sample of 123 seventh-graders, this study employed a 3x2 experimental design that factored sequencing methods (independent variable 1; three levels) with level-bridging scaffolding (independent variable 2; two levels) and compared the effectiveness of each combination. The study measured two dependent variables: (1) knowledge integration (i.e., integrating and connecting content-specific normative concepts and providing coherent scientific explanations); (2) understanding of the deep causal structure (i.e., being able to grasp and transfer the causal knowledge of a complex system). The study used a computer-based simulation environment as the research platform to teach the ideal gas law as a system. The ideal gas law is an emergent chemical system that has three levels: (1) experiential macro level (EM)(e.g., an aerosol can explodes when it is thrown into the fire); (2) abstract macro level (AM) (i.e., the relationships among temperature, pressure and volume); (3) micro level (Mi) (i.e., molecular activity). The sequencing methods of these levels were manipulated by changing the order in which they were delivered with three possibilities: (1) EM-AM-Mi; (2) Mi-AM-EM; (3) AM-Mi-EM. The level-bridging scaffolding variable was manipulated on two aspects: (1) inserting inter-level questions among learning activities; (2) two simulations dynamically linked in the final learning activity. Addressing the first research question, the Experiential macro-Abstract macro-Micro (EM-AM-Mi) sequencing method, following the "concrete to abstract" principle, produced better knowledge integration while the Micro-Abstract macro-Experiential macro (Mi-AM-EM) sequencing method, congruent with the causal direction of the emergent system, produced better understanding of the deep causal structure only when level-bridging scaffolding was provided. The Abstract macro-Micro-Experiential macro (AM-Mi-EM) sequencing method produced worse performance in general, because it did not follow the "concrete to abstract" principle, nor did it align with the causal structure of the emergent system. As to the second research question, the results showed that level-bridging scaffolding was important for both knowledge integration and understanding of the causal structure in learning the ideal gas law system.

In life, people commonly face repeated decisions under risk or uncertainty. While normative economic models assume that people tend to make choices that maximize their expected utility, suboptimal behavior - in particular, probability matching - is frequently observed in research on repeated decisions. Probability matching is the tendency to match prediction probabilities of each outcome with the observed outcome probabilities in a random binary prediction task. For example, when people are faced with making with a sequence of predictions, such as repeatedly predicting the outcome of rolling a die with four sides colored green and two sides colored red, most people allocate about two-thirds of their predictions to green, and one-third to red. The optimal strategy, referred to as maximizing, would be to choose the outcome with the higher probability in every trial in the prediction task. Various causes for probability matching have been proposed during the past several decades. Here it is proposed that implicit adoption of a perfect prediction goal by decision makers might tend to elicit probability matching behavior. Thus, one factor that might affect the prevalence of probability matching behavior (investigated in Studies 1 and 2) is the type of performance goal. The manipulation in Study 1 contrasted single-trial prediction with prediction of four-trial sequences, which it is hypothesized might create an implicit perfect prediction goal for the sequence. In Study 2, three levels of goal were explicitly manipulated for each sequence: a perfect prediction goal, an 80% correct goal, and a 60% correct goal. In both studies it was predicted that more matching behavior would be observed for those who have a goal of perfect prediction than those who have a more reasonable (lower) goal. The results of both studies, conducted in an online worker marketplace, supported the goal-level hypothesis. The second factor proposed to affect the prevalence of probability matching is the type of conceptual schema describing the events to be predicted: independent events or complementary events. Study 3 investigated the effects of schema type and abstraction level of context on matching or maximizing behavior. Three abstraction levels of stories were included: abstract, concrete random devices, and real-world stories. The main hypothesis was that when the two options to be predicted are independent events, less matching and more maximizing behavior should be observed. Data from Study 3 supported the hypothesis that independent events tend to elicit more maximizing behavior. No effects of abstraction level were observed.

The present research examined the effects of inserted strategy questions (ISQs) and structured text on fifth grade students' comprehension of expository text passages that presented the cause/effect text structure at the sentence level (least complex) and at the paragraph level (more complex). Two studies were conducted to investigate this relationship. In the first study, an independent factorial design was utilized with two between-subjects variables (ISQs and structured text). Based on the positive findings from the first study, a second study was conducted that added a within-subjects variable (cause/effect complexity). A total of 48 fifth-grade students in the first study and 95 fifth-grade students in the second study were asked to read expository text passages that presented the cause/effect structure at both the sentence level and the paragraph level. Students were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: (1) ISQs present with well-structured text; (2) ISQs absent with well-structured text; (3) ISQs present with less-structured text; or (4) ISQs absent with less-structured text. In both studies, the effectiveness of ISQs and well-structured text was measured by performance on a written summary task. For the second study, a comprehension questions task was added. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) were carried out to analyze the data. In the first study, main effects of ISQs and structured text were found on the written summary, as was an interaction between these two factors when the cause/effect structure was presented at the more complex level. In the second study, main effects of ISQs, structured text, and cause/effect complexity were found on the written summary task, but not for the comprehension question task. While the interaction between these three factors did not reach conventional significance on the written summary task, the relationship was investigated further due to our findings from the first study. Taken together, these results suggest that both ISQs and well-structured text improve students' comprehension of expository social studies passages; however, the effect is greatest when both factors are combined, especially when the text is more complex. Suggestions for extending this work and pedagogical implications based on these findings are discussed.

When exploring new environments, people regularly alternate among many sources of spatial information including direct visual input, navigation aids such as maps and mobile devices, and verbal route descriptions. These spatial representations typically depict the environment from one of two perspectives: first-person, embedded route perspective or top-down, bird's eye survey perspective. Visual spatial cognition research has explored the nature of learning within each of these perspectives independently, but little work has been done to explore how on-line visual processing of combined perspectives affects cognition, meaning there is little understanding of the cognitive costs of using different navigation tools to learn large-scale environments. This dissertation addresses such questions through two experiments that guide participants through simple paths in large-scale environments, each consisting of a simple path through a small virtual town presented on a desktop computer display. By timing participants' movement through each environment and how they respond to either externally-controlled or participant-controlled perspective switches, the experiments measure the cognitive load of visually processing dynamic perspectives during navigation. These on-line processing measures are complemented by tests of visual recognition and recall memory, which reveal how switching perspectives affects the accuracy of the resulting spatial mental model. The results indicate that the cognitive load associated with changing perspectives is primarily dependent on the quantity of visual information the change introduces -- the transformation itself is not particularly disorienting after the first exposure to the environment. Furthermore, although forced perspective switches do not appear to significantly affect spatial memory accuracy relative to viewing the environment from a consistent perspective, navigator-controlled switching results in significantly more accurate spatial memory, indicating that navigation aids which allow for perspective control might better support spatial learning than fixed-perspective interfaces. The findings also support previous research showing that route perspective navigation generally yields more accurate spatial memory than survey perspective learning, particularly after extensive experience in the environment. Overall, the findings demonstrate many new aspects of how perspective affects spatial cognition, with implications for spatial learning and the design of navigation aids.

The perceived exercise of volitional control results in better recall, beyond the effects of preference and attention to the task. Greater perceived control resulted in increased memory both in explicit learning (Studies one, two, and three) and implicit learning (four and five). In Studies one through three we used word list materials and allowed participants either an illusion of choice, forced choice or no choice during learning. Study 1 showed that perceived choice resulted in greater memory compared to forced choice. Study 2 showed that compared to no choice baseline, forced choice resulted in decreased cued recall performance, while the choice condition was marginally greater. In Study 3 we replicated this effect, and with better statistical power found that choice produced significantly greater recall than control, and forced choice produced significantly diminished recall. Studies four and five employed a novel implicit memory paradigm, leading participants to believe that their actions had caused an outcome either before the action, after the action occurred, after the ostensible outcome, or no causality (Study 4), caused by either oneself or another student (Study 5). Memory for the "outcome" was greater when the perception of causality was induced before the outcome compared to both after outcome and no causality for both self and other as causal agents. Moreover, greater perceived causal involvement of either self or other increased the emotional response to the negative outcome. Our results are best understood in terms of increased motivational relevance, leading to greater accessibility and salience of events caused by an intentional agent.

The basic conceptual idea of this study is that interaction between the personal characteristics of the worker and of the client is a major factor in determining the quality of the casework relationship. Workers possessing differing personal characteristics will have differential success in forming relationships with clients possessing differing personal characteristics. The influence of a specific personal characteristic, cognitive style, was investigated. Cognitive style, manifested perceptually as field-dependence--field-independence, is a salient dimension influencing characteristic modes of functioning in a diversity of areas. The major hypothesis was that clients would perceive the relationship as being relatively more positive when their cognitive styles were congruent with their workers' cognitive styles than when they were incongruent. Since differences in relationship levels were viewed as being strictly a function of interaction, the individual styles of the workers and the individual styles of the clients were not expected to have an influence. These hypotheses are derived from previous. studies which suggest that persons having similar cognitive styles are able to communicate more effectively and form more positive relationships than persons having dissimilar styles. A second portion of the study dealt with the association between cognitive styles and worker's choice of treatment techniques. Prior studies suggest that differential treatment methods are appropriate for clients having differing cognitive styles. The evidence suggests that field-dependent persons with their global cognitive orientation seek external structure whereas field-independent persons with their discrete cognitive orientation prefer to structure their own experiences. This led to the hypothesis that there would be a significant difference between the choice of treatment methods employed by workers when treating clients having differing cognitive styles. With field-dependent clients, workers would place relatively more emphasis on supportive techniques. With field-independent clients, workers would place relatively more emphasis on techniques that promote self-awareness. The data were collected in five offices of two family service agencies. The sample consisted of twenty-two experienced caseworkers and fifty-one of their clients, women experiencing interpersonal problems. Workers' and clients' scores on the Embedded Figures Test and evaluations of figure drawings were used to measure cognitive style. Client perception of the relationship was evaluated through the use of the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory. This provided measures of worker regard, empathy, unconditional positive regard, and genuineness, as well as a total score. It was administered individually to each client immediately following the fifth interview. Classification of casework method was derived from worker judgments of the techniques considered most significant in achieving casework goals with each client. All of the hypotheses received mild but consistently significant support from the data when the Embedded Figures Test was used as the measure of cognitive style. Client perception of regard, empathy, genuineness, and the total relationship were significantly more positive when worker- client cognitive styles were congruent than when they were incongruent. As predicted, the interaction effects were the only significant effects. Differences in worker styles and differences in client styles did not have independent effects on relationship levels. There was a significant difference between the choice of methods workers considered to be most influential in achieving casework goals with clients having differing cognitive styles. With field-dependent clients, workers placed relatively more emphasis on supportive techniques and with field-independent clients, workers placed relatively more emphasis on techniques that promote self-awareness. In addition, although not stated as an hypothesis, it was found that field-independent clients showed, as anticipated, greater specificity in differentiating relationship qualities than did field-dependent clients.

This dissertation organizes in a conceptually and historically coherent form the available knowledge on socio-moral development. The purpose in doing so is to bring the information into the mainstream of social work education and practice. Emphasis is placed upon the significance and compatibility of sociomoral development to the field of social work from interventive, psychological, and philosophical perspectives. It is viewed as congenial to ego psychology and as fitting within the ecosystems orientation being advanced by contemporary social work theorists. Its potential as a heuristic model for generating new and effective methods of intervention across a diverse range of settings and populations is elaborated upon. The material synthesized in this dissertation is organized and presented within the cognitive-structural framework of Jean Piaget. At the heart of the synthesis, however, is the moral developmental psychology and philosophy of Lawrence Kohlberg. The six stages of moral development which Kohlberg's longitudinal research have led him to identify are elaborated upon at length. They are posited as universal stages in light of the extant cross-cultural validation. Although only a relatively small number of people pass through all six stages, it is necessary that passage through each stage be in an unvarying sequence. Each stage signifies a particular conception of justice that is more differentiated and integrated than the previous one and is, hence, said to be more adequate for resolving competing claims between individuals or between an individual and the general welfare. In order to successfully achieve any given stage, it is necessary to first arrive at a corresponding stage of social perspectivism, which is the ability to take another's or a societal point of view. Therefore, the relevant work on perspectivism of Mead, Feffer, Flavell, and Selman is examined. The relationship between cognition and moral development, as well as between moral judgment and behavior, is also explored. To provide depth and full comprehension of Kohlberg's work, the cognitive-structural developmental psychology of Piaget is formulated, followed by an extensive presentation of Piaget's early and only material on moral judgment, which serves as a point of departure for Kohlberg. An analysis is offered to differentiate areas of agreement and disagreement between Piaget's and Kohlberg's basic findings on moral development, the latter position representing a refinement and extension of the former. One section of the dissertation is devoted exclusively to marshaling criticisms against Kohlberg's methodological practices and the theory supporting his psychology and philosophy. A related section provides a comparative analysis of alternate approaches to moral development, focusing specifically upon psychoanalytic and social learning models. In effect, the presentation of opposing approaches, held to be viable by their proponents, also constitutes critical commentary. Methods of intervention are classified into psycho-dynamic, interpersonal, and organizational categories. Assignment of an interventive method is more a matter of emphasis, however, than mutually exclusive categories. It is urged that the Piaget-Kohlberg sociomoral model, based upon a cognitive-structural developmental psychology, be integrated into social work education. It would contribute to professional education a relevant, but neglected, body of knowledge and would also provide a means for facilitating the sociomoral advance of students. Most importantly, this organismic-environmental model of human development would provide new strategies of intervention that could be readily assimilated to the philosophy of contemporary social work practice.