18 research outputs found
Psychological characteristics of children with visual impairments: learning, memory and imagery
The performance of children (and sometimes
adults) with visual impairments (VI) on a range of tasks that
reflect learning, memory and mental imagery is considered in
this article. Sometimes the evidence suggests that there are
impairments in performance in comparison with typically developing
children with vision and sometimes some advantages
emerge. The authorās aim is to describe some of her own and othersā
findings and explore what they tell us about the cognitive
characteristics of such children, so that progress with practical
interventions can be advanced through understanding. The article
starts by focusing on social-cognitive development and in
particular considers the potential benefits of language in that
development. This is followed by a review of some studies of
learning and memory performance which provide a coherent
picture of development without vision and finally ends with a
consideration of spatial mental imagery
The Williams Scale of Attitude toward Paganism: development and application among British Pagans
This article builds on the tradition of attitudinal measures of religiosity established by Leslie Francis and colleagues with the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity (and reflected in the Sahin-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Islam, the Katz-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Judaism, and the Santosh-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Hinduism) by introducing a new measure to assess the attitudinal disposition of Pagans. A battery of items was completed by 75 members of a Pagan Summer Camp. These items were reduced to produce a 21-item scale that measured aspects of Paganism concerned with: the God/Goddess, worshipping, prayer, and coven. The scale recorded an alpha coefficient of 0.93. Construct validity of the Williams Scale of Attitude toward Paganism was demonstrated by the clear association with measures of participation in private rituals