Doctor of Education / Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology / Stephen Benton / This study explored the implications of cultural conceptions of the self (independent vs. interdependent) for epistemological beliefs, ways of knowing, and academic studying. Community college students (N = 340) were recruited from two community colleges in the Midwestern United States and one predominantly Hispanic community college in the Southwestern United States. Students completed a number of paper-and-pencil instruments, including measures of epistemological beliefs, self-construal, ways of knowing, and approaches to studying. As predicted, significant correlations were found between interdependent self-construal and omniscient authority, and also between interdependent self-construal and connected knowing. Although no effects were found for ethnicity on epistemological beliefs and ways of knowing, acculturation appears to be an important influence on ways of knowing. A path analysis indicated that acculturation exhibited both a direct and indirect effect on connected knowing. The indirect effect on connected knowing was through interdependent self-construal. Students who were less acculturated (i.e. more likely to speak English as a second language or to be born in another country) were more likely to endorse an interdependent self-construal, and consequently more likely to endorse connected knowing. These results suggest that conceptions of the self may be important influences on personal epistemology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:KSU/oai:krex.k-state.edu:2097/84 |
| Date | January 1900 |
| Creators | Marrs, Heath |
| Publisher | Kansas State University |
| Source Sets | K-State Research Exchange |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | 490844 bytes, application/pdf |
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