Showing papers in "American Psychologist in 1972"

Does television violence cause aggression

Abstract: Grant M1726 from the National Institute of Mental Health and Contract No. HSM 42-70-60 from the Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior.

On the relation between abilities, learning, and human performance.

Abstract: Describes the author's research efforts to link basic and applied psychology concepts in each of the following areas: aptitude measurement, learning and training, and human task performance. Several studies are described in detail to illustrate a number of broad issues, particularly the possibility

Toward a Taxonomy of Situations.

Abstract: MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 Behavior; *Behavioral Science Research; *Behavior Patterns; Classification; Environmental Criteria; Individual Differences; Multiple Regression Analysis; Performance Criteria; Personality Tests; *Predictor Variables; *Research Methodology; Situational Tests; Stimulus Behavior; *Taxonomy Criteria and methods for developing a taxonomy for dif2erent situational categories are presented. (CK)

Ingredients for a theory of instruction.

Abstract: THE term \"theory of instruction\" has been in widespread use for over a decade and during that time has acquired a fairly specific meaning. By consensus it denotes a body of theory concerned with optimizing the learning process; stated otherwise, the goal of a theory of instruction is to prescribe the most effective methods for acquiring new information, whether in the form of higher order concepts or rote facts. Although usage of the term is widespread, there is no agreement on the requirements for a theory of instruction. The literature provides an array of examples ranging from speculative accounts of how children should be taught in the classroom to formal mathematical models specifying precise branching procedures in computer-controlled instruction. Such diversity is healthy; to focus on only one approach would not be productive in the long run. I prefer to use the term theory of instruction to encompass both experimental and theoretical research, with the theoretical work ranging from general speculative accounts to specific quantitative models. The literature on instructional theory is growing at a rapid rate. So much so that, at this point, a significant contribution could be made by someone willing to write a book summarizing and evaluating work in the area. I am reminded here of Hilgard's (1948) book, Theories oj Learning; it played an 1 A briefer version of this article was presented as an invited address at the meetings of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, April 1972. This research was sponsored in part by National Science Foundation Grant No. NSF GJ-443X2 and by Office of Naval Research Contract No. N00014-67-A-0112-0054. 2 Requests for reprints should be sent to Richard C. Atkinson, Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305. 3 See, for example, Smallwood (1962), Carroll (1963), Hilgard (1964), Bruner (1966), Groen and Atkinson (1966), Crothers and Siippes (1967), Gagne (1970), Seidel and Hunter (1970), Pask and Scott (1971), and Atkinson and Paulson (1972). important role in the development of learning theory by effectively summarizing alternative approaches and placing them in perspective. A book of this type is needed now in the area of instruction. The present article provides an overview of one of the chapters that I would like to see included in such a book; a title for the chapter might be \"A Decision-Theoretic Analysis of Instruction.\" Basically, I consider here the factors that need to be examined in deriving optimal instructional strategies, and then I use this analysis to identify the key elements of a theory of instruction.

Improving manuscript evaluation procedures

Abstract: THE chronic discontent of both journal editors and contributors of articles with existing procedures for evaluating scientific papers is well documented. Convention program committees face a similar problem in selecting papers for presentation (McReynolds, 1971), although the published complaints usually focus exclusively on frustrations encountered in dealings with the journals. Rodman (1970), writing from the perspective of the journal editor, described the heavy responsibility of the "gatekeeper" role. In his term as editor of Social Problems, Rodman rejected about onefourth of the manuscripts received without passing them on to referees. Among those passed on to reviewers, if two referees read the same paper, they frequently disagreed on its merit. Moreover, when manuscripts were rejected, considerable time and energy were expended in "cooling out" the irate authors who questioned editorial judgment. The pressures generated for the editor are evident by Rodman's view of the job.

Obsolescence or lifelong education: A choice for the professional.

Abstract: DOCUMENT RESUME AC 012 568 Dubin, Samuel S. Obsolescence or Lifelong Education: A Choice for the Professional. 72 35p.; For publication in the American Psychologist, May 1972 Samuel S. Dubin, Department of Planning Studies, 1 Shields Bldg., The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Penn. 16802 MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 Adult Counseling; *Adult Learning; Bibliographies; *Continuous Learning; Educational Technology; Evaluation Needs; External Degree Progels; *Human Services; Leadership Training; Aotivati *Professional Continuing Education; Professional Personnel; *Psychological Services; Psychologists; Research Needs; Residential Programs; Self Evaluation; Skill Obsolescence; Technical Reports Life-long education, in which the learning process is continuous and unbroken, for the professional is discussed from the standpoint of obsolescence, its symptoms and causes, and present efforts to cope with it. The concept of half-life is used to describe a professional's competence, and it is stated that the two factors that are most prominent in hastening professionalrpbsol scence are the rate of change and the addition of new dataC d owledge. Two examples of coping with teacher obsolescence, in Japan and Great Britain, are briefly described: 'It is believed that psychologists possess specific skills by which they can contribute to continuing education and, at the same time they may benefit by new employment opportunities in this field. These skills relate to: motivation, adult learning, measuring and assessing professional competence, the development and use of educational technology, counseling adults (mid-career change and interpersonal competence, external degree programs, and post-graduate residential programs for professionals), research in continuing education (learning, adult development, communications, and organizational behavior), innovative human service programs, group behavior and laboratory practice in group leadership, individual behavior, the psychology of learning, and learning theory. Four major national priorities for continuing education to which psychologists can make significant contributions are: program planning, leadership development, research development and high-priority items (child development, disadvantaged minorities, urban development, population explosion, alcohol and drug abuse, delinquency, violence, improved delivery of human services, and worker training). (DB)

The rights of the subject in social research: An analysis in terms of relative power and legitimacy.

Abstract: T HE increasing use of social research in American society and its increasing rele­ vance to public policy and social decisions have engendered widespread concerns about the ethical implications of such research activities. Briefly, these concerns are of two kinds: (a) con, cerns relating to the processes of social research, which are exemplified best by the issue of invasion of privacy and its various ramifications; and (b) concerns relating to the products of social research, which focus largely on the fear that social research may provide tools for controlling and manipulating human behavior and, more specifically, that these tools may be used by some segments of the society at the expense of others. Along with many social scientists, I share the conviction that hoth the process and the products of social research-both the attempt to ask syste­ matic and analytic questions about human behavior and social institu tions, and the answers provided by these attempts-are potentially liberating forces in our society. Social research, in my admittedly biased view, can and does contribule 10 enhancing the freedom of choice of the individual and 10 ex­ paDding the range of choices available to him. Yet,

What sort of measurement is psychophysical measurement

Abstract: THE thesis of this article has both a negative and a positive aspect. The negative one holds that psychophysical measurement is not of a character closely analogous to either fundamental or derived physical measurement. Whatever loudness may be, I endeavor to establish that it probably is not a measure much like mass or energy or density. In brief, the reason is that psychophysical measures do not exhibit any fixed relation to physical measures and most likely not to one another when examined over individuals. This is reflected in the absence of any structure to the units of psychophysical measures. The positive thesis is that man—and any other organism—is, among other things, a measuring device, in function not unlike a spring balance or a voltmeter, which is capable of transforming many kinds of physical attributes into a common measure in the central nervous system. According to this view, the task of psychophysics is to unravel the nature of that device. The difficulty in doing so stems from several facts: as compared with manmade, special-purpose devices, higher organisms are both complex and flexible measuring devices; their overall behavior does not clearly suggest the nature of the receding of signals; some responses depend on peculiar nonlinear processing of the sensory information; and each individual within a species is calibrated somewhat differently. To flesh out and make this view reasonably clear, we must know something of physical measurement and of psychophysics. Since the details of the nature of physical measurement, especially the abstract theory, are probably not very familiar