The Japanese Journal of Educational Psychology
Online ISSN : 2186-3075
Print ISSN : 0021-5015
ISSN-L : 0021-5015
Volume 28, Issue 4
Displaying 1-16 of 16 articles from this issue
  • Ichio Mori, Osamu Kitagawa, Tsutomu Deno
    1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 265-274
    Published: December 30, 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The purpose of this study was to investigate the children's language development concerning the quantitative words on space. 16 words in pairs were chosen for this study: big-small, fat-thin, broad-narrow, long-short, far-near, high-low, thick-thin, deep-shallow.
    The examination was performed from the following two-points of view:
    (1) The quantitative words on space were the ones indicating relative-relationas mong the objects. T he younger children, however, used these words as the language denoting an object, and the older children could use them correctly as the language indicating relative relations. When the children's acquisition of language concerning the quantitative words on space was discussed, it was necessary to judge from whether the subjects could use words as a language indicating relative relations or not.
    (2) When the children talked about the height or length of any object, they often used the word big (okii in Japanese), the most fundamental in the quantitative words on space. It was expected that such a usage of it was closely related to the judgment of the volume of matter.
    To gain our purpose, three experiments were performed, and the subjects were preschool children of three different ages (4, 5 and 6 years old).
    The main results were as follows
    1. In regard to the eight pairs of the quantitative words on space, the percentages of the children being able to paint out the relative relations of objects by hearing the quantitative word on space and being able to express the relative relations of objects in the quantitative word on space became clear. The fundamental words big-small showed the highest ratio on both levels. The children had reached the level that they could point out the relative relations of objects by hearing the quantitative word on space sooner than the level expressing the relative relations of objects in the quantitative word on space.
    2. When the children who had used the quantitative words in terms of a language indicating relative relations were given the instruction in labeling the words denoting the objects, they could not use them as a language indicating relative relations, and went backward to the former stage of usage as the language denoting the objects. This tendency was quite pronounced in the younger children, especially the 4 year-old.
    3. Notwithstanding the volume of matter, the younger children evidently showed a tendency to regard the object having a greater vertical dimension(height) or a greater horizontal dimension (length) as an object of greater volume.
    4. The older children who had expressed big instead of high (takai in Japanese), had a stronger tendency to choose the object with a greater vertical dimension (height) than those who had been able to express high correctly as the object of greater volume. In the case of the horizontal dimension (length), exactly the same tendency was observed.
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  • Hirotsugu Yamauchi
    1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 275-283
    Published: December 30, 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The purposes of this investigation were to construct scales to measure achievement-related motives and to find out the factorial structure among achievement- relatedm otives measured by means of these scales. Two hundred and ninety-nineu niversitys tudents (213 males and 86 females). of an introductory Psychology course served as subjects. Subjects were asked to fill out 64 items to be answered “Yes” or “No”. These items were designed to assess the motive to achieve (Ms), the motive to avoid failure (M-f), and the motive to avoid success (M-s).
    In order to select items for each scale and to determine the weighted scores for alternative response, the method of optimal scaling was applied to the data of subjects'response pattern. This scaling was a quantification techique for categorical data and was to assign numerical values to alternatives. T he values were chosen so that the variance between subjects after scaling was maximum with respect to variance within subjects. Eight scales made of 5 items respectively were obtained. Four of these scales were related to Ms (HS Scale I measured an instrumental activity in achievement situation; HS Scale II measured a hope of success; HS Scale III measured a reductive attitude to achievement tension; HS Scale IV measured an excessive self-confidence). Two scales were related to M-f (FF Scale I measured a debilitating test anxiety; FF Scale II measured a facilitatingt est anxiety). The qther two scales were related to M-s (FS Scale I measured a fear of loss of affiliation; FS Seale II measured a denying attitude for attaining success). There was a significant sex difference on the mean score of HS Scale II, but no significant sex difference recorded on FS Scale I and FS Scale II.
    Four factors were extracted by the principal component analysis from the correlation coefficients among8scale values, and the factors were rotated to orthogonal simple stducture using the normalized varimax criterion. The extrfour acted bipolar factors accounted for 71% of the total variance. Factor I had positive high loading for FS Scale I and negative high loading for HS Scale IV. This factor could be defined as the human relation on achievementoriented situation. Factor II had positive high loading for HS Scale I and negative high loading for HS Scale III. It seemed appropriate to refer to this factor as the positive versus negative activity of achievement-oriented tendency with the motive to achieve. Factor III had positive high loading for FS Scale II and negative high loading for HS Scale II. This factor could be defirled as the positive versus negative attitude for attaining success. Factor IV had positive high loading for FF Scale II and negative high loading for FF Scale I. It seemed appropriate to refer to this factor as the positive versus negative direction of achievement-oriented tendency with the motive to avoid failure.
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  • Tatsuo Ujiie
    1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 284-292
    Published: December 30, 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The development of the resistance to temptation was examned in relation to some controlling strategies; verbal self-instructiqn (VSI) and distraction strategies. In experiment I, seventy-two children of 4, 6, ahd 8 years of age were observed in resistance to temptation situation, and the degree of the spontaneous employment of these strategies was measured and analyzed in relation to the resistance to temptation scores. Results:(1) VSI was not observed in any age groups, and it was assumed that VSI was not effective in 4 and 6-year-old in spontaneous level.(2) The 6 and 8-year-old children turned their eyes away from the toys more than the 4years old. But, only in the 6 years old, the attention termnation strategy (ATS) correlated significantly with the resistance to temptation scores. And it was assumed that the difference between 4 and 6-yearo1d children was attributable to the capacity in using ATS spontaneously.
    In experiment II, one hundred ad twenty 4 and 6-year-old children were instructed to use either VSI or ATS. Results: (1) There was a significant interaction between age and treatment. That is, ATS was effective only in 4 years old and VSI in 6 years old.(2) 4-year-old children's resistance to temptation scores in the ATS condition did not differ significantly from the scores in both the ATS and Control conditions of the 6 years old.
    From these results, it was concluded;(1) unlike Hartig & Kanfer's (1973) findings, the most effective controlling strategy, VSI, could not be acquired until the latter half of the 6th year;(2) ATS, the more primitive ad probably the first effective controlling strategy could not be acquired before the mddle of the 4th year, and (3) VSI was not effective in the 4 years old.
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  • Kazuko Abe
    1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 293-302
    Published: December 30, 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of self-instruction on children's resistance to temptation. It was expected that task relevant self-instruction would be effective for self-control, and verbal control would vary from overt to covert: i. e. the covert self-instruction would become as effective as the overt. The task-relevant instruction especially meant the reward-oriented or temptation-inhibiting instruction. Furthermore, the children who were trained to self-instruct would be expected to resist the later test situation.
    The purpose of the experiment I was to examine the effects of overt or covert self-instruction on resistance to temptation. Sixty-nine children, from 3 to 6 years of age, were asked to perform the repetitive task facing temptation. They were given task -facilitating self-instruction by the experimenter, and instructed to verbalize when they felt like looking at the temptation. O group was instructed to verbalize overtly and C group covertly; OC group was first overtly and then covertly. I group was given task-irrelevant self-instruction as N group was not. A 5×2 factorial design, with types of self-instruction and the strength of temptation,(more attracte or less attractive) were used.
    The results clearly showed that task-facilitating self-instruction was significantly effective for children's resistance to temptation. That is, the task-relevant self-instruction inhibited to respond to the temptation reduced the time to deviate from the task, and facilitated the child's attention to the task.
    In the experiment II, the effects of overt self-instruction with different contents were examined. Furthermore, the generality of the ability of resistance to temptation was examined.
    Forty children, aged from 3 years 4 months to 5 years 1 month, were asked to verbalize self-instruction overtly, facing temptation. Four types of self-instruction were used, task-facilitating (TF group), temptation-inhibiting (TI group), reward-oriented (RO group) and irrelevant one (I group). N group Was not given any self-instructions. A 5×2 factorial desing, that varied the contents of self-instruction and the strength of the temptation was used. The procedure was almost the same as in, exp. I. Compared to the I group and N group, the subjects given task-relevant self-instruction showed greater resistance to the temptation significantly. And in experiment II, the results showed the tendency that irrelevant self-instruction was also effective for self-control.
    Although the statistical significance was not found between relevant and irrelevant self-instruction, these findings suggested that task-relevant self-instructions were more effective for resistance to temptation.
    These findings further suggested that there were two types of strategy for self-control in resistance to temptation: facilitate the subjectis attention to the task, and inhibit attention to the temptation.
    In the later test situation, the subjects who were given task-relevant self-instruction significantly reduced the time to deviate, but the relation between Exp. II and the test situation of each subject was low.
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  • A comparison of sentence completion test responses between older and younger groups
    Yoshiko Shimonaka
    1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 303-309
    Published: December 30, 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of the aged, comparing the aged group and the young group especially in connection with age and sex differences. As material to be analysed, the responses of the sentence completion test were utilized. Subjects were 199 community aged as the older group and 224 university students as the younger group.
    1) Concerning the family images, positive and neutral responses were frequently observed among the older group as positive or negative responses were more prominent among the younger group.
    2) Concerning the images of their friends, the expression of positive responses was more prominent among the younger group, but on the other hand, the older group showed neutral responses more frequently.
    3) As to the aging process, both groups showed increase in negative responses without consideration to age or sex differences. Concerning the body images, younger females showed more positive responses such as health and older females showed more negative responses than older males.
    4) As to their self-images, the older group expressed positive responses concerning their self-perceptions in their past and present life, but the younger group expressed more negative responses. However, as to their future self-images, many of the older group had negative responses, while most of the younger group showed positive and future-oriented responses.
    5) With regard to existence, older females gave more negative responses. Concerning death, about half of both groups expressed more objective responses. Those showing acceptance of death were more frequently observed in the older group.
    6) Concerning the pleasures of life, most of the older group found pleasure in associations with their families and being healthy. The younger group showed pleasure in the achievement of social or personal objectives. Attitudes toward the aged was positive in both groups.
    Age differences were discussed from the standpoint of state of ego development, and sex differences were discussed from the standpoint of social values and sex roles.
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  • Danny D. Steinberg, Jun Yamada
    1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 310-318
    Published: December 30, 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This research attempts to determine the natural ability of children in learning to write. It is especially concerned with determining the earliest age at which children might benefit from reading instruction.
    The subjects were 95 Japanese nursery school girls (40) and boys (55) grouped according to age from 2 to 6 years. They were given 5 hiragana figures (ka, su, hi, me, ru) and 5 Roman figures (B, H, O, S and W-all capitals) to trace and to copy in two sizes, small (2 1/2cm×21/2cm) and large (5cm×5cm). For tracing, dotted lines formed the component strokes and the entire figure while a single entire figure was presented for copying into a blank space.
    The test period extended over two weeks, 5 days a week, with the test period on each day lasting less than 20 minutes. In the first week, the subjects traced figures. On each test day, the 2 and 3 year olds were given l hiragana and l Roman figure in both the small and large sizes to trace, while the 4, 5and 6 year olds were given 2 hiragana figures and 2 Roman figures in the two sizes. In the second week, the subjects copied the same figure they had been given to trace. Two judges independently rated the 5th day's subject responses on both the tracing and copying task. The judges rated the quality of each figure on a 5 point scale, where l indicated unidentifiable and 5 indicated near adult. The correlation between the judges' responses was +.85 for the tracing task and +.91 for the copying task.
    The results from analyses of variance show that Age, Sex Task and Size each has a significant main effect and that all significantly interact with one another in various ways. The only variable which showed no effect was type of writing, i. e., there was no significant difference in quality between the hiragana and the Roman figures.
    In general, there was steady progress for both sexes. The mean for the 2 year old group=1.85, for the 3 year olds=2.22, for the 4 year olds=3.40, for the 5 year olds=4.09 and for the 6 year olds= 4.57. The greatest and most important gain occurred between ages 3 and 4 years. The females did significantly better than the males, especially at the older ages. Such a finding is in agreement with other writing research, where boys may sometimes equal the performance of girls but they never exceed them.
    Surprisingly, the smaller size figures received higher scores than the larger size ones in both types of task. This finding challenges the generally held assumption that larger figures are easier to form. Possibly, the larger figures require more control, e. g., it seems more, difficult to draw a long straight line or a long curved line than a short one. With regard to type of task, the results, not unsurprisingly, show performance on the tracing task to be better.
    Because at 2 years of age the children's writing was largely unidentifiable, and by 4 years it was quite identifiable, it is concluded that the critical age for children learning to write is 3 years. Thus, it appears that writing instruction would benefit 3 year olds and perhaps 2 year olds as well.
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  • [in Japanese], [in Japanese]
    1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 319-323
    Published: December 30, 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
  • [in Japanese]
    1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 324-327
    Published: December 30, 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
  • [in Japanese], [in Japanese]
    1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 328-331
    Published: December 30, 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
  • [in Japanese]
    1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 332-335
    Published: December 30, 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
  • [in Japanese], [in Japanese]
    1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 336-340
    Published: December 30, 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • [in Japanese]
    1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 341-345
    Published: December 30, 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
  • [in Japanese]
    1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 346-350
    Published: December 30, 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • 1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 360-
    Published: 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
  • 1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 360a-
    Published: 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
  • 1980 Volume 28 Issue 4 Pages 360b-
    Published: 1980
    Released on J-STAGE: February 19, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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