Georgia State University

About: Georgia State University is a education organization based out in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 13988 authors who have published 35895 publications receiving 1164332 citations. The organization is also known as: GSU & Georgia State.

The comparative psychology of uncertainty monitoring and metacognition.

Abstract: Researchers have begun to explore animals' capacities for uncertainty monitoring and metacognition. This exploration could extend the study of animal self-awareness and establish the relationship of self-awareness to other-awareness. It could sharpen descrip- tions of metacognition in the human literature and suggest the earliest roots of metacognition in human development. We summarize research on uncertainty monitoring by humans, monkeys, and a dolphin within perceptual and metamemory tasks. We extend phyloge- netically the search for metacognitive capacities by considering studies that have tested less cognitively sophisticated species. By using the same uncertainty-monitoring paradigms across species, it should be possible to map the phylogenetic distribution of metacognition and illuminate the emergence of mind. We provide a unifying formal description of animals' performances and examine the optimality of their decisional strategies. Finally, we interpret animals' and humans' nearly identical performances psychologically. Low-level, stim- ulus-based accounts cannot explain the phenomena. The results suggest granting animals a higher-level decision-making process that in- volves criterion setting using controlled cognitive processes. This conclusion raises the difficult question of animal consciousness. The results show that animals have functional features of or parallels to human conscious cognition. Remaining questions are whether ani- mals also have the phenomenal features that are the feeling/knowing states of human conscious cognition, and whether the present par- adigms can be extended to demonstrate that they do. Thus, the comparative study of metacognition potentially grounds the systematic study of animal consciousness.

Enhancing social skills of kindergarten children with autism through the training of multiple peers as tutors.

Abstract: Many students with autism are being served in inclusive settings. Early intervention programs, traditionally home-based, are beginning to create center-based options which incorporate typically developing peers. One of the arguments for the use of inclusive programs is that students with autism will benefit from their exposure to and interactions with typical peers. Unfortunately, research suggests that in inclusive settings, typical peers and peers with autism do not always interact without prompting from an adult. This study used an ABAB design to determine if a peer buddy approach in which all students were trained to interact in dyads would increase non-adult-directed interactions. Data collected on the students with autism indicate that the peer buddy approach significantly increased their appropriate social interactions. Follow-up data on one of the students indicates generalization of appropriate social interactions to a new classroom.

School social bonds, school climate, and school misbehavior: A multilevel analysis

Abstract: This research examines the extent to which individual- and school-level factors explain variation in school misbehavior among a nationally representative sample of high school students. The results reveal that higher levels of school attachment, school commitment, and belief in school rules are associated with lower levels of misbehavior in school, net of family and peer influences. With regard to school climate, larger schools in urban areas explain variations in school misbehavior. Overall, the results suggest that individual- and school-level covariates should be included in the study of school misbehavior.