AERA Thursday: Beyond Cognitivism: Where Are We Now?

Division C-Learning and Instruction, Section 6 - Cognitive, Social, and Motivational Processes.

Scheduled Time:Thu,
Apr 14 - 12:25pm - 1:55pm Building/Room: Le Centre
Sheraton Montreal / Salle de Bal Est

Abstract:

Cognitive revolution brought psychology to a new era and has had a profound
impact on how we view the workings of mind. However, what is the role of motivation
and emotion in our thinking? How social contexts and processes shape the way
we feel, think, and learn? How to optimize student learning conditions by creating
an intellectually engaging environment? These questions cannot be adequately
answered if we treat mind as merely a computational or symbol manipulation
device. In this interactive symposium, five leading scholars from cognitive,
educational, and developmental psychology share their perspectives on the issue,
followed by an open, dynamic give-and-take.

- David
Yun Dai, ddai@uamail.albany.edu,
SUNY–Albany, Chair

A
Dispositional View of Thinkng that Integrates Cognition, Emotion, and Motivation by David
N. Perkins

• how can we bring together themes like emotion, cognitivism, and motivation


• dispositions: inclinations, passions, etc.


• mindfulness, entity, etc -- not what they're capable of but what they lean
  towards


• difference between encountering a leaf blowing across the road while driving,
  and a ball rolling across the road -- not a big cognitive difference, but
  one of attention


• 3 perspectives: sensitivity (perception), inclination (caring, commitment,
  concern), and ability (proceeding, pulling off, etc.)


• not isolated subcomponents, but complicated dimensions of mind


• Dewey's "Habits of Mind" (inclinations)


• Narrow cognitivsm tends to be ability-centric ([testable] performance on
  demand) -this is what classrooms tend to demand)


• finding 1: performance in the tasks we use has more to do with the inclination
  and emotion, and less to do with ability


• finding 2: conventional ability measures don't capture this


• it is hasty ot suggest that abilty failings are the principle bottlenecks


• sensitivity (picking up on the fly particular events)


• deep sensitivity can happen even in contrast to your own mindset (you notice
  things even when you don't want to) (Fahrenheit 911 had unfair jabs on
  Bush -even though we enjoyed them.

A
Social Cognitive Perspective on Integrative Understanding of Intellectual
Functioning by Barry
J. Zimmerman City University of NY

• emotional reactions can be tracked in real time and linked to motivations,


• Self-regulatory cycle:
  
  
  
  • Performance Phase (self control: self instruction, imagery,
    attention focusing, attention focusing, task strategies; Self observation:
    metacognitive monitoring, self-recording) ->
  
  
  • Forethought Phase (task analysis: goal setting, strategic
    planning; self motivation beliefs: self efficacy, task interest/value,
    goal or intention) ->
  
  
  • Self-Reflection Phase (self-judgmental: self-evaluation, causal
    attribution; Self reaction: self-satisfaction affect, adaptive/defensive)
    ->
  
  
  
  


• expert and novice microstudies done

Good news and Bad news: A
Multi-Dimensional, Social Cognitive Approach to Academic Development by
*Pat
Alexander (U of Maryland)

• does the problem of itegration advance our understanding?


• comes from focus on human learning; developing competence and emerging
  expertise; knowledge interests and strategic processing; academic domains
  (schools)


• cognition, motivatoin, and emotion are just the tip of the iceberg: attributes
  of learner are just one dimension in integration
  
  
  
  • complexity: (what)
  
  
  • ecology (where)
  
  
  • learner characteristics (who)
  
  
  • time (when)
  
  
  
  


• complexity: acquired habits, spontaeous habits, concepts, scientific concepts


• ecology: learning never happens in a vacuum: (sociocultural system) (we
  live nested lives -- david says))


• Learner characteristics: transformational, a change poccurs in the individual
  and in a collection of individuals (groups)


• Time (most difficult for Pat) -- learning is a temporal event, once you
  revisit an event the river is never the same, so you experience it in a different
  way  -- never duplicate, just approximate


• Pat: We need an ontological shift in schools -- from achievement to learning,
  but I'm not sure the public can handle it.


• good news: we're discussing these things across lines


• bad news: the ism are alive (I am a cognitivst) -- we aren't as clear as
  we pretend to be.


• good news: movement away from one-dimensional models


• bad news: specter of futlity in fully articulating the nature of human
  learning (no one knows it all, even though we are pushed to pretend it)


• good news: advancements in measurements and statistics


• bad news: still not advanced enough to measure learning


• good news: emerging possibilities


• bad news: disappearing certainties


• Leon Lederman (1995) quote: we need to live with uncertainty

A
Situative View of Motivation, Emotion, and Cognition by *James
G. Greene

• ontological shift for him was in locating cognitive events


• The Orca controversy: are they dolphins or whales? A 5th grade class debates


• how do we account for 11 year olds getting so motivated in this?


• much of the research on motivation is already there: engagement, agency,
  positioning and positional identity (D Holland),


• how do these things inform our analyses?


• a disposition that responds to the affordances that our students find in
  classrooms.

Dynamic
Skill Development and Integration of Motivation, Emotion, and Cognition by
*Kurt
Fischer

• 2 central phenomena: circular reactions (epistemic motivation), and affective
  splitting (evaluation of bias)


• emotion theory: emotions are functional organizers of activity and development,
  biologically-based, and socially shaped


• emotion: fear


• action tendency: emotion of anger transforms action and thought (face studies)


• emotions organize (bias, constrain) behavior


• different people follow different pathways (webs) shapeed by emotion for
  motivation


• video games are good at creating circular reactions; educators are not.


• computer models are video games for professors)


• neural networks require repeated experiences to build pathways (drill)


• repeated reconstruction (build, dismantle, build, dismantle -- scalloped
  pattern) (Gee's got this too)


• we typically do tasks that do not require our full capabilities


• affective splitting (i;m nice; you're mean)


• Vygotsky : always a range of abilities


• positive bias = strong sign of mental health


• biologically-based, but socially