Showing papers in "American Psychologist in 1971"

Human problem solving: The state of the theory in 1970.

Abstract: The theory of problem solving in 1970--and especially the part of it that is empirically validated--is primarily a theory that describes the problem spaces and problem-solving programs, and shows how these adapt the information-processing system to its task environment. At the same time that it has answered some basic questions about problem-solving processes, the research has raised new ones: how do problem solvers generate problem spaces; what is the neurological substrate for the serial, limited-memory information processor; how can our knowledge of problem-solving processes be used to improve human problem solving and learning? Each node in a problem space may be thought of as a possible state of knowledge to which the problem solver may attain. But the subject of internal representation links problem-solving research with two other important areas of psychology: perception and psycholinguistics. The theory of problem solving gives a new basis for attacking the psychology of education and the learning process.

Cultural Differences and Inferences About Psychological Processes.

Abstract: PERHAPS the most prevalent view of the source of ethnic and social class differences in intellectual performance is what might be summed up under the label \"the deficit hypothesis.\" I t can be stated briefly, without risk of gross exaggeration. It rests on the assumption that a community under conditions of poverty (for it is the poor who are the focus of attention, and a disproportionate number of the poor are members of minority ethnic groups) is a disorganized community, and this disorganization expresses itself in various forms of deficit. One widely agreedupon source of deficit is mothering; the child of poverty is assumed to lack adequate parental attention. Given the illegitimacy rate in the urban ghetto, the most conspicuous \"deficit\" is a missing father and, consequently, a missing father model. The mother is away at work or, in any case, less involved with raising her children than she should be by white middle-class standards. There is said to be less regularity, less mutuality in interaction with her. There are said to be specialized deficits in interaction as well—less guidance in goal seeking from the parents (Schoggen, 1969), less emphasis upon means and ends in maternal instruction (Hess & Shipman, 196S), or less positive and more negative reinforcement (Bee, Van Egeren, Streissguth, Nyman, & Leckie, 1969; Smilansky, 1968). More particularly, the deficit hypothesis has been applied to the symbolic and linguistic environment of the growing child. His linguistic community as portrayed in the early work of Basil Bernstein (1961), for example, is characterized by a restricted code, dealing more in the stereotype of interaction than in language that explains and elaborates upon social and material events. The games that are

Long-range experimental modification of values, attitudes, and behavior.

Abstract: 1. Contemporary social psychologists generally agree that a necessary prerequisite to cognitive or attitude change is the presence of a state of imbalance or inconsistency. Two major experimental methods generally employed to create such a psychological state are (a) to induce a person to engage in behavior that is incompatible with his attitudes and values and (b) to expose him to information about the attitudes or values of significant others that are incompatible with his own attitudes and values. In contrast to these two well-known methods, we have employed a third method, namely, to expose a person to information designed to make him consciously aware of states of inconsistency that exist chronically within his own value-attitude system below the level of his conscious awareness. 2. While the main theoretical focus of contemporary social psychology is on the concept of attitude and on theories of attitude change, the present focus is on the concept of value and on a theory of value change. This shift from attitudes to values is made on the assumption that values are more fundamental components within a person's makeup than attitudes and, moreover, that values are de-

Dynamics and morality of violence and aggression: Some psychological considerations.

Abstract: Presents a psychological basis for evaluating aggressive behavior. Issues discussed include: instinctive vs. learned nature of aggression, origins of aggressive drive, the relationship between aggression and masculinity, the effects of inhibition of aggression upon personal adjustment, and the reduction of aggression by nonaggressive means. An examination is also made of how aggression is evaluated by the community at large as it touches on political and nonpolitical contexts. Some of the criteria for making a moral evaluation of a violent act are presented. (47 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

Prelude to 2001: Explorations in Human Communication.

Abstract: N the science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey and in the book based on that film (Clarke, 1968), one of the principal characters is a computer called HAL. HAL is quite a remarkable gadget. It directs and plots the course of an enormous vehicle traveling through deep space. It computes courses, speeds, and trajectories for satellite vehicles that leave and return to the mother ship. It monitors continuously the various subsystems of the space ship and displays the information it senses in a variety of forms. In anticipation of emergencies and equipment failures, it alerts the astronauts and suggests expedient courses of remedial action. It controls the physiological condition of astronauts who are in hibernation for the duration of the trip, as well as those who are in a normal physiological state and on duty. When the astronauts are bored, it plays chess with them and engages in other intellectual diversions upon request. Indeed, HAL even has some primitive human emotions and motivations, and it is those that eventually lead to a catastrophic end of the mission. All these things that HAL did in the film are more fact than fiction, for computers today already do all the things enumerated or are at least capable

The pathos of power: A psychological perspective.

Abstract: THERE is something about the aura of the term "presidential address" which makes it a special burden and a special source of anxiety for everyone involved. Every speech, address, article, or essay exposes an important part of oneself for critical examination by an audience or by readers. For a long time, I have tried to persuade my students that everything that a person writes—all forms of communication—may be viewed as projective materials which reveal aspects of the totality and the complexity of his personality to sensitive observers. If this is true it would follow that to communicate to psychologists, who view themselves as experts in the analysis of personality and character, is to invite not only an analysis of the substance of what one communicates, but also to expose oneself to probing and critical examination. There must be an incorrigible ego drive which propels one to assume the risks of exposure to an audience of psychologists, given the fact that the threat of exposure is greater the more accurate are the judgments concerning the character and wisdom of the speaker. There remains the problem of how can one make a presidential address in some way worth the anxieties and risks? One could use it as an opportunity to try to clarify the underlying conceptual framework implicit in his thoughts, research, writing, teaching, and social action. In one's personal and professional life, it is possible to move from project to project and from encounter to encounter, and to take on a variety of responsibilities and roles without having the time to give thought to the theo-