Based on S. Chaffee and J. McLeod's coorientation model of communication, this paper addresses the question of individual and cognitive versus social and communicational comparisons in order to further elaborate the theory behind the coorientation model. The paper argues that, in a situation which includes two individuals and a topic, both…

A study was made to investigate the hypothesis that the ability to determine, on a map, where one is located and in which direction one is headed, requires an understanding of the ways in which views change from different locations and orientations. Approximately 200 kindergarten through second-grade children were first tested individually for…

Argumentation courses, which emphasize the theories of argumentation, and debate courses, which teach competitive debate, can effectively teach critical thinking, training students to see situations from a variety of perspectives and then to evaluate those perspectives for their relative merit. William G. Perry maps out nine stages by which…

When handled well, description can give poetry and prose a quality of immediacy and accessibility by creating a dramatic context in which the writer's ideas and feelings can be shared by the reader. The use of perception stimulation can aid the student in producing effective images that lead to this dramatic context. To begin this learning…

In order to determine whether egocentrism can be conceptualized as a unitary construct, 100 children (51 four-year-olds, 37 five-year-olds, and 12 six-year-olds) were administered a visual/spatial perspective task, a cognitive/communicative task, and an affective task. All tasks were designed to measure different facets of egocentrism. The 50…

This paper describes a simulation experience to help people understand the feelings of the elderly through a program conducted by the Jewish Center for Aged in Chesterfield, MO. The four-hour program is divided into four sections: (1) a true-false test is given to assess participants' concepts of the aged; (2) inhibitors are applied to limit…

The effects of self-oriented and other-oriented questions on moral reasoning scores for two moral dilemmas involving stealing and school cheating were investigated. The reasoning scores of elementary school-aged children increased on other-oriented questions by the fifth grade. Females' scores showed consistent reasoning on self-oriented and…

A total of 123 upper-level and graduate students in journalism completed a questionnaire on beliefs about newspaper work. Most of the students were in advanced writing and editing courses, while 32 were in magazine courses. Questions in the survey dealt with beliefs related to James Grunig's theory of information systems. Factor analysis suggested…

This paper describes a one-year longitudinal follow up study of the long term effects of role taking training procedures (in which children assumed a number of perspectives) on children's social and cognitive behaviors. Longitudinal and cross-sectional age effects were also analyzed. In an earlier study the effect of two types of role-taking…

The Exploring Together Outdoors Program is an Australian program that integrates family therapy interventions with adventure therapy, providing an opportunity for mother/child dyads that have conflictual relationships to develop more positive connections. This paper focuses on a group of four mothers and their four daughters who participated in 2…

This research paper was undertaken with three goals in mind: (1) to explore the perceptions of teachers regarding their principals' leadership styles; (2) to analyze the perceptions of principals themselves regarding their own leadership styles; and (3) to compare teachers' perceptions with those of the principals to discover discrepancies between…

Intervention to enhance Interpersonal Cognitive Problem Solving (ICPS) skills has been shown to significantly reduce observable negative, impulsive and inhibited behaviors and increase positive qualities in young, low socioeconomic status (SES) children. An ICPS model for older children was implemented with 202 low SES fifth graders to test…

A study was made of the effects of role perspective and gender on the moral judgments of children. Because they represent a transitional period in cognitive development from heteronomy to autonomy, a total of 25 male and 38 female third-grade students of approximately 9 years of age were selected for participation. The effect of perspective taking…

Social cognition of adults, unlike children's social understanding, has rarely been addressed from a developmental viewpoint. To extend the developmental perspective to the study of adults' social cognitive skills in relation to other mental and social skills, 52 college students were compared in role taking performance and nonsocial cognitive…

As yet there is no comprehensive, systematic, demonstrably effective program for maximizing empathetic communication behaviors. What is needed are theories, concepts, and methods that would provide for such learning. One avenue of approach is to search for models and metaphors that would allow for an encompassing comprehension of empathy and…