The Development of Problem Solving in Young Children: A Critical Cognitive Skill. Annual Review of Psychology
R. Keen
10.1146/annurev.psych.031809.130730
Problem solving is a signature attribute of adult humans, but we need to understand how this develops in children. Tool use is proposed as an ideal way to study problem solving in children less than 3 years of age because overt manual action can reveal how the child plans to achieve a goal. Motor errors are as informative as successful actions. Research is reviewed on intentional actions, beginning with block play and progressing to picking up a spoon in different orientations, and finally retrieving objects with rakes and from inside tubes. Behavioral and kinematic measures of motor action are combined to show different facets of skill acquisition and mastery. We need to design environments that encourage and enhance problem solving from a young age. One goal of this review is to excite interest and spur new research on the beginnings of problem solving and its elaboration during development.
Working Memory: Theories, Models, and Controversies. Annual Review of Psychology
A. Baddeley
10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100422
I present an account of the origins and development of the multicomponent approach to working memory, making a distinction between the overall theoretical framework, which has remained relatively stable, and the attempts to build more specific models within this framework. I follow this with a brief discussion of alternative models and their relationship to the framework. I conclude with speculations on further developments and a comment on the value of attempting to apply models and theories beyond the laboratory studies on which they are typically based.
Pleasure to Play, Arousal to Stay: The Effect of Player Emotions on Digital Game Preferences and Playing Time
K. Poels, W. van den Hoogen, W. Ijsselsteijn, Y. de Kort
This study investigated how player emotions during game-play, measured through self-report and physiological recordings, predict playing time and game preferences. We distinguished between short-term (immediately after game-play) and long-term (after 3 weeks) playing time and game preferences. While pleasure was most predictive for short-term playing time and game preferences, arousal, particularly for game preferences, was most predictive on the longer term. This result was found through both self-report and physiological emotion measures. This study initiates theorizing about digital gaming as a hedonic consumer product and sketches future research endeavors of this topic.
A Review of Internet Pornography Use Research: Methodology and Content from the Past 10 Years
M. B. Short, L. Black, A. H. Smith, C.T. Wetterneck, D. E. Wells
Internet pornography (IP) use has increased over the past 10 years. The effects of IP use are widespread and are both negative (e.g., relationship and interpersonal distress) and positive (e.g., increases in sexual knowledge and attitudes toward sex). Given the possible negative effects of IP use, understanding the definition of IP, the types of IP used, and reasons for IP use is important. The present study reviews the methodology and content of available literature regarding IP use in nondeviant adult populations. The study seeks to determine how the studies defined IP, utilized validated measures of pornography use, examined variables related to IP, and addressed form and function of IP use. Overall, studies were inconsistent in their definitions of IP, measurement, and their assessment of the form and function of IP use. Discussion regarding how methodological differences between studies may impact the results and the ability to generalize findings is provided, and suggestions for future studies are offered.
Artifacts and Natural Kinds: Children's Judgments About Whether Objects Are Owned
K. R. Neary, J. W. Van de Vondervoort, O. Friedman
People's behavior in relation to objects depends on whether they are owned. But how do people judge whether objects are owned? We propose that people expect human-made objects (artifacts) to be more likely to be owned than naturally occurring objects (natural kinds), and we examine the development of these expectations in young children. Experiment 1 found that when shown pictures of familiar kinds of objects, 3-year-olds expected artifacts to be owned and inanimate natural kinds to be non-owned. In Experiments 2A and 2B, 3–6-year-olds likewise had different expectations about the ownership of unfamiliar artifacts and natural kinds. Children at all ages viewed unfamiliar natural kinds as non-owned, but children younger than 6 years of age only endorsed artifacts as owned at chance rates. In Experiment 3, children saw the same pictures but were also told whether objects were human-made. With this information provided, even 3-year-olds viewed unfamiliar artifacts as owned. Finally, in Experiment 4, 4- and 5-year-olds chose unfamiliar artifacts over natural kinds when judging which object in a pair belongs to a person, but not when judging which the person prefers. These experiments provide first evidence about how children judge whether objects are owned. In contrast to claims that children think about natural kinds as being similar to artifacts, the current findings reveal that children have differing expectations about whether they are owned.
The role of local and distal landmarks in the development of object location memory
J. Bullens, I. Klugkist, A. Postma
To locate objects in the environment, animals and humans use visual and nonvisual information. We were interested in children's ability to relocate an object on the basis of self-motion and local and distal color cues for orientation. Five- to 9-year-old children were tested on an object location memory task in which, between presentation and test, the availability of local and distal cues was manipulated. Additionally, participants' viewpoint could be changed. We used a Bayesian model selection approach to compare our hypotheses. We found that, to remain oriented in space, 5-year-olds benefit from visual information in general, 7-year-olds benefit from visual cues when a viewpoint change takes place, and 9-year-olds do not benefit from the availability of visual cues for orientation but rely on self-movement cues instead. Results are discussed in terms of the adaptive combination model (Newcombe & Huttenlocher, 2006). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)
The intergenerational transmission of parenting: Introduction to the special section
J. Belsky, R. Conger, D.M. Capaldi
Long-standing interest in the intergenerational transmission of parenting has stimulated work focused on child maltreatment, harsh parenting, and warm–supportive rearing. In addition to documenting significant, even if modest, continuity in parenting across generations, research in this area has addressed questions of mediation and moderation. This special section extends work in this general area, with 2 studies further chronicling intergenerational transmission and 3 further illuminating mechanisms through which parenting in 1 generation is repeated in a subsequent generation. Lacking, however, is high-quality work highlighting the conditions under which parenting is not transmitted across generations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Naive theories of intelligence and the role of processing fluency in perceived comprehension
D.B. Miele, D.C. Molden
Previous research overwhelmingly suggests that feelings of ease people experience while processing information lead them to infer that their comprehension is high, whereas feelings of difficulty lead them to infer that their comprehension is low. However, the inferences people draw from their experiences of processing fluency should also vary in accordance with their naive theories about why new information might be easy or difficult to process. Five experiments that involved reading novel texts showed that participants who view intelligence as a fixed attribute, and who tend to interpret experiences of processing difficulty as an indication that they are reaching the limits of their ability, reported lower levels of comprehension as fluency decreased. In contrast, participants who view intelligence as a malleable attribute that develops through effort, and who do not tend to interpret experiences of processing difficulty as pertaining to some innate ability, did not report lower levels of comprehension as fluency decreased. In fact, when these participants were particularly likely to view effort as leading to increased mastery, decreases in fluency led them to report higher levels of comprehension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
On the History and Future Study of Personality and Its Disorders
T. Millon
10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032511-143113
The study of personality differences can be traced back to the early speculations of ancient societies, such as India, China, Babylonia, Greece, and Rome. Though a few clinicians, notably Hippocrates, stressed the importance of careful and systematic observation, hoping thereby to shift the focus of attention to natural rather than animistic events, it was not until centuries later that semiscientific approaches began to take hold, e.g., phrenology. In the past century, descriptive psychiatrists of note began to pose "typologies," e.g., Kraepelin and Schneider, and several insightful psychoanalysts, e.g., Freud, Abraham, and Reich, articulated the developmental roots of "character" variations. Official classification systems, e.g., the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the International Classification of Diseases, have become the guiding arbiter of late-twentieth-century proposals. No less significant currently is the work of empirically oriented inductivists, e.g., Livesley and Widiger, and theoretically oriented deductivists, e.g., Kernberg and Millon.
CCTV 'dialogue' = speaking + listening: A case analysis of a prestigious CCTV talk show series Dialogue
Y. Hong
This article discusses the findings of a case study of a talk show in the Dialogueseries, produced and screened by China Central Television. On the surface, the talk show is much more sophisticated in form and presentation, more inclusive in terms of topics and speakers and more enthusiastic about generating dialogue than past talk shows on Chinese television. However, through a textual analysis of aspects of the talk show ranging from formal characteristics, to its content, to its narrative structure, the case study finds that, under the camouflage of greater sophistication, the ‘dialogue' staged by the talk show is a deceptive game as it is a reinvented one-way passage of messages from the center to the periphery, from the speakers to the listeners, from the instructors to the pupils and then to the pupils of the pupils. On the basis of the analysis, there is insufficient evidence to substantiate claims that Chinese television, represented by the Dialogueseries, is liberalized or democratized as a viewer-friendly participatory mass medium.
Mobile communication and strong network ties: Shrinking or expanding spheres of public discourse?
S.W. Campbell, N. Kwak
This study tests theoretical propositions that intensive mobile communication in small networks of like-minded strong ties hinders open dialogue with others. Using multi-wave panel data from a representative sample of adults in the US, the study found that reported levels of open dialogue decreased slightly with mobile-mediated political discussion in small and like-minded strong-tie networks. Interestingly, a more pronounced positive effect was found for mobile-mediated discussion in larger networks of like-minded close ties. In this case, open dialogue was facilitated by mobile-mediated discussion, revealing potential for mobile communication among close personal ties to expand spheres of public discourse and deliberation. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are offered in the discussion.
Managing public outrage: Power, scandal, and new media in contemporary Russia
F. Toepfl
Over the past three decades, scholars studying the phenomenon of political scandal have mostly based their works on the premise that scandals can only occur in liberal democracies. Contradictory to this assumption, however, some of the most heavily discussed phenomena in contemporary semi-authoritarian Russia are scandals emanating from the new, vibrant sphere of social media thriving on a largely unfiltered internet. How are these ‘internet scandals' impacting politics in the semi-authoritarian political environment? To address this and related questions, I juxtapose two case studies of police corruption scandals that erupted in the social media sphere in 2009/2010. Drawing on the findings, I argue that Russia's ruling elites are presently very much capable of managing these outbursts of public outrage. Mainly with the help of the powerful state-controlled television, public anger is very swiftly redirected towards lower-level authorities and foreign, supposedly hostile powers.
Discipline and Change: How Technologies and Organizational Routines Interact in New Practice Creation
J. Labatut, F. Aggeri, N. Girard
In this paper we study the development and implementation of a technology over a long period of time, with a particular focus on how its disciplinary effects interplay with and change organizational routines and actors' capacities, thus producing new patterns of action. To identify these processes of change and emergence of practices, we propose a combinative theoretical analysis at the interface between institutional and practice-based approaches. Drawing on a rich ethnographic case study, we show how the fact of considering technologies as the combination of three dimensions (technical substrate, managerial philosophy and organizational model) furthers our understanding of institutional change and the creation of new practices. In particular, we examine the internal dynamics between the three dimensions of these technologies and the duality of organizational routines (their ostensive and performative aspects). This enables us to reintroduce practices and agency analysis into an institutional approach to technological change, and to put social history, designers' assumptions and disciplinary effects of technologies back into the analysis of the micro-dynamics of routine changes. We identify several factors which partially explain divergent technological trajectories concerning institutionalization and emerging structures in two different settings.
Cross-Level Dynamics between Changing Organizations and Career Patterns of Reduced-Load Professionals
J.B. Litrico, M.B. Lee, E.E. Kossek
Integrating research on careers, flexible work arrangements, and open systems views of organizational change, we investigate how evolution in the broader organizational context interacts with professional career trajectories over time. Interviews were conducted six years apart (1997 and 2003) with 17 major employers in North America and 36 managers and professionals in those firms who were working on a reduced-load basis by choice in 1997. Overall, we found that career patterns are impacted by the dynamic combination of individual-level and contextual factors. Specifically, while changes in core business/client base, internal structure changes, and industry turbulence were associated with higher proportions of returns to full-time work, financial threat was associated with lower levels of return to full-time work. We identified four cross-level dynamics (co-optation, synergy, decoupling, and tug of war) that capture different patterns of interaction between individual work arrangement trajectories and larger trends occurring at the organizational or industry level.
The Next Generation: Technology Adoption and Integration Through Internal Competition in New Product
A. Taylor
This paper examines the impact of internal competition that occurs when new technology challenges the technology in a firm's existing products. New-technology development projects are traditionally judged by market success—and most fail. If we examine their impact on existing-technology product development, a different interpretation arises. Drawing on the literature on the influence of social factors on interfirm search and adoption of new technologies, this study argues that similar processes occur intrafirm. Evidence from a field study on new-technology product development in high-technology firms shows that internal competition influences existing-technology product development groups to integrate the new technology into the next generation of their own products. The reason is twofold. First, these groups shift their search toward the new technology and allocate resources to gain a deeper understanding of it. Second, access to internal information and the mobility of workers across project boundaries benefit the existing-technology groups. The findings provide a model of innovation that illustrates an endogenous process of internal competition. This often political and contentious process can have a strong influence on technology adoption and integration.
Towards an integrated framework for managing the process of innovation
L. Tao, D. Robert, R. Phaal
10.1111/j.1467-9310.2009.00575.x
Innovation has become a major driving force for business growth and success. However, successful and sustained innovation represents challenges rooted in technological uncertainties, ambiguous market signals and embryonic competitive structures. Notably, in the management of innovation, many challenges still remain in both theory and practice, which demand improved managerial approaches. In this context, the development of a practical and explicit management framework for the process of innovation could be beneficial. This research sets out to develop the concept of ‘Innovation Readiness Levels' (IRL), an explicit model for managing the process of incremental innovation. Basically, IRL is a framework depicting the development of an innovation over its lifecycle. Within the emerging framework proposed in this paper, five key aspects that determine the effective implementation of innovation are identified. The lifecycle of innovation is then divided into six phases, and for each phase, associated assessment aspects and criteria are identified. By providing better monitoring and control, IRL is intended to help implement innovation over the lifecycle more effectively. It is also expected to apply as a management tool, for which guidance of use is suggested.
Analysis of the interdisciplinary nature of library and information science
Prebor G
Library and information science (LIS) is highly interdisciplinary by nature and is affected by the incessant evolution of technologies. A recent study surveying research trends in the years 2002—6 at various information science departments worldwide has found that a clear trend was identified in Masters theses and doctoral dissertations of social aspects of information moving into the spotlight. The study found that only a third of the research that was tagged on the ProQuest Digital Dissertations database under either or both ‘Library Science' and ‘Information Science' was actually conducted at LIS departments. The current study aims to examine the remaining two thirds of these papers, conducted in non-LIS departments. This will contribute toward our understanding of the field and its future development. The research findings indicate that there is a relatively clear division of research topics between the studies conducted in various information studies departments and those conducted in other departments that study information. The main difference found is the opposite foci of LIS and non-LIS studies. While LIS scholars focus on the information user, other fields, headed by business administration, computer science, education and communication, focus on the system, on information technology, the information industry and the management of information.
Scholarly research in LIS open access electronic journals: A bibliometric study
Bhaskar M
Using 17 fully open access electronic journals published uninterruptedly during 2000–2004 in the field of Library and Information Science the present study investigated the trend of LIS Open Access e-journals' literature by analysing articles, authors, institutions, countries, subjects, & references. Quantitative content analysis was carried out on the data, data were analysed in order to project literature growth, authorship pattern, gender pattern, cited references pattern and related bibliometric phenomena. The analysis indicates that there were as many as 1636 articles published during 2000–2004 with an average increment of 23.75 articles per year. The authorship pattern indicates that team research has not been very common in LIS OA publishing and male authors were keener than female authors. Authors from academic institutions were paid more interest in OA publishing and most of them were from developed nations. The subject coverage of these OA e-journals was very vast and almost all facets of information and library science were covered in these articles. There were 90.10% of articles of these e-journals contained references and on an average an article contained 24 references. Of these, 38.53% of references were hyperlinked and 87.35% of hyperlinked references were live during investigation. The analysis of data clearly indicates that OA e-journals in LIS are rapidly establishing themselves as a most viable media for scholarly communication.
Library and Information Science research areas: A content analysis of articles from the top 10 journals 2007–8
Aharony N
The current study seeks to describe and analyze journal research publications in the top 10 Library and Information Science journals from 2007–8. The paper presents a statistical descriptive analysis of authorship patterns (geographical distribution and affiliation) and keywords. Furthermore, it displays a thorough content analysis of keywords and abstracts extracted from 10 leading Information Science journals in 2007–8, using Zins' (2007) classification scheme of Information Science. The main results suggest the tendency of authors towards collaboration in authorship. North American and European authors – from the core discipline of Librarianship and Information Science – can be considered as leaders in the top 10 LIS journals. Furthermore, there are three major cores of research in these journals: information technology, methodology and social information science. It is important that LIS researchers, professionals, teachers and students be keenly aware of the updated main spheres of research in top leading LIS journals.
An examination of Canadian information professionals' involvement in the provision of business information synthesis and analysis services
Patterson L, Martzoukou K
The present study investigated the processes information professionals, working in a business environment, follow to meet business clients' information needs and particularly their involvement in information synthesis and analysis practices. A combination of qualitative and quantitative data was collected via a survey of 98 information professionals across North America and follow-up interviews with eight Canadian information professionals. It was found that there is an increasing need for value-added services, which incorporate synthesis and analysis but the level of information professionals' involvement differs depending on a range of factors such as clients' needs and attitudes, information professionals' knowledge of the subject area and their length of time working in a particular organization. Information synthesis and analysis in a business context is mostly a collaborative process and principles of analysis are required throughout the entire cycle of information seeking. For the effective transition of information professionals to information synthesists and analysts more effective support may be required to develop a set of essential skills and knowledge.
Editorial process in scientific journals: analysis and modeling
Mryglod O, Holovatchm Y; Mryglod I
The editorial handling of articles in scientific journals as a human activity process is considered. Using recently proposed approaches of human dynamics theory we examine the probability distributions of random variables reflecting the temporal characteristics of studied processes. The first part of this article contains our results of analysis of the real data about articles published in scientific journals. The second part is devoted to modeling of time-series connected with editorial work. The purpose of our study is to present new object that can be studied in terms of human dynamics theory and to corroborate the scientometrical application of the results obtained.
Knowledge of information behaviour and its relevance to the design of people-centred information products and services
Hepworth M
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is first to highlight some of the social phenomena that are driving the design of people-centred information solutions; second, to develop a broad ontology of information behaviour research that serves to identify factors that should be taken into account when designing such solutions. Finally, the author illustrates how this knowledge is being applied in the design of people-centred inclusive information products and services.
Design/methodology/approach – The author draws on the information behaviour literature to highlight key drivers and to develop and illustrate the ontological framework. The significance of this framework is then demonstrated by providing examples of how this knowledge has been applied in the design of people-centred inclusive information products and services.
Research limitations/implications – This is a conceptual paper and based on the informed, subjective analysis of previous research. However, relating theory to practice does provide an indication of the validity of this conception of one's knowledge of information behaviour to people-centred design.
Originality/value – The paper helps to provide an overview of information behaviour research, the nature of the domain and the levels of abstraction. The article also makes a direct link between the theoretical world of information behaviour research and the empirical world of people-centred design. Hence, it also presents a case for the importance of the body of knowledge that people in information science refer to as information behaviour.
Profiling information behaviour of nursing students: part 1: quantitative findings
Stokes P, Urquhart Ch
Purpose – The aim of this paper is to profile the information seeking behaviour of nursing students, according to learning style, personality and self-efficacy in information literacy. Such profiles should help students to reflect on their information seeking, and should help librarians in designing information literacy programmes that are targeted to student needs.
Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire using existing validated scales for learning styles, personality, and information literacy self-efficacy was developed. The information seeking portion was based on an information behaviour model with core processes (opening, orientation and consolidation) and corresponding micro-processes. The questionnaire was administered to nursing students (n=261, response rate 74 per cent, 194/261) at one UK university.
Findings – Neither information literacy self-efficacy, nor learning style on their own appeared to change as students progressed. There is a significant association between learning style and self-efficacy. There appears to be some associations between personality and learning style, and between personality, learning style and preferred information seeking processes. Odds ratios analyses were used to help in preliminary development of profiles. Students with a higher degree of confidence about their information literacy are more likely to: think about their search; work out strategies; and build and adapt their searches. Deep learners take a broad, exploratory approach to searching and score highest for the openness personality trait; whilst strategic learners think about their search, adapt as they progress and score highest for conscientiousness and emotional stability. Surface learners do less planning. Additionally, personality traits (which are essentially stable over time) are positively or negatively associated with various aspects of information seeking.
Research limitations/implications – The sample size limits the extent of statistical analyses and possible generalizations. The planned qualitative research may help in confirmation of the information seeking profiles.
Originality/value – The research extends existing research evidence on the impact of personality and learning style on student information behaviour by including an information literacy scale and information seeking micro-processes.
Real performance: Ordinary people and the problem of acting in constructed documentaries
S.Lacey, R. McElroy
This essay takes as its starting point the recent phenomenon of constructed documentaries, which require participants to act as if in a historical time or place that is not their own. Noting that there is little critical consensus about, though much interest in, what kind of acting is undertaken, the essay explores some of the problems and issues that arise, drawing on an essay written by the actor/director Michael Kirby (From Acting to Non-Acting). Kirby's methodology is applied to two BBC Cymru Wales constructed documentaries, The Coal House (2007) and Coal House at War (2008). It is argued that acting in such programmes is not a fixed state; rather, participants move along an acting/non-acting continuum, which frequently requires them to hold two time frames of their real, contemporary world and their reconstructed world in tension. The analysis is informed by research with audiences of both series.
Representations of Apartheid and Resistance in Documentary Film
C. Moyer-Duncan
10.1111/j.1478-0542.2012.00830.x
Although there has been a surge of interest in South African cinema studies since the end of apartheid, relatively little has been written on documentary film and apartheid era resistance. During the apartheid era, documentary film was used to capture both the atrocities of apartheid and resistance to it. These films not only created a historical record of events in South Africa, but they also became important political tools in mobilizing support against the apartheid regime. In the post-apartheid era, the anti-apartheid movement remains a popular theme in documentary film, serving as a site for reflecting on and reclaiming history. This article provides an overview of apartheid and resistance in documentary films produced both during and after apartheid, and suggests how these films can broaden our understanding of South African history and be used as guideposts for addressing some of the challenges that face South Africa today.
On Ethics and Documentary: A Real and Actual Truth
G.C. Butchart
10.1111/j.1468-2885.2006.00279.x
This article brings recent psychoanalytic theory to bear on contemporary moral opinion about ethical practice in documentary film and video. A critical distinction is made between ethics and morals, and Alain Badiou's (1993/2001) philosophical conception of an ethic of truths is used to challenge the restrictions put upon documentary. It is argued that visual perception remains the truth of any documentary, and three modes are proposed according to which an ethic of disclosing this truth may be practiced with a view to overcome the obstacles of morality-based ethical systems.
Documentary at a Crossroads: Reality TV and the Hybridization of Small-Screen Documentary
J. Mast:
10.1111/j.1751-9020.2009.00242.x
Today, as tendencies of popularization and hybridization have fundamentally redefined conventional notions of (small) screen documentary, the genre (re-)emerges as a particularly appealing topic of scholarly research. This article elaborates some of the main strands of the multifaceted debate about these ongoing developments, thereby focusing on the ‘reality TV' phenomenon, which is probably the most notable, yet also most controversial embodiment of the shifting that takes place. Discussing key positions regarding the problem of labeling and definition, questions of documentary values, and ethical issues, it is argued that a comprehensive, nuanced approach based on profound conceptualizations as well as empirical research into production and reception contexts are invaluable in making an astute assessment of the popular hybrid documentary.
Editing strategies in television news documentaries
R.J. Schaefer
10.1111/j.1460-2466.1997.tb02726.x
This study describes the editing techniques used in four renowned television news documentaries that aired between 1954 and 1982. It is informed by Peirce's theories of signs, and realist and symbolic film theory, as well as some of the understandings common to broadcast journalists. The analysis attempts to bridge subdisciplinary boundaries to advance an accessible vocabulary for discussing journalistic representational strategies. The prevalence of continuity and thematic editing styles, special transitional effects, audio track synchronization, and differing cutting rates was quantitatively analyzed and linked to classic film realism and montage strategies. The quantitative findings and a comparative case study analysis of the structural nuances of each documentary illustrate the variety of representational strategies used by network journalists. These findings are discussed in light of analysts' assertions that televised reports have become increasingly journalist centered.