The concept of contradiction in the study of cognitive development

In the psychology of cognitive development contradiction has been studied for two reasons. The first is that contradiction has been hypothesised to play a causal role in cognitive development. The second is that progress in children's understanding of contradiction exemplifies the development of their logical thinking. This thesis examines children's responses to contradiction from both these viewpoints. The thesis is divided into three parts. In Part 1 the hypothesis that ,contradiction plays a causal role in development is examined. Following a discussion of the literature (Chapter 1), the definitions of the terms used in the thesis are introduced (Chapter 2). In this chapter three different situations in which contradictions can be presented are distinguished. These are: 1) a contradiction between two internally represented beliefs, 2) a contra­ diction between an internally represented belief and an external source of information, and 3) a contradiction between two external sources of information. Part 1 of the thesis is concerned only with situations 1 and 2. In Chapter 3, Experiment 1 is described. In this experiment children aged from 5 to 11 years were presented with tasks exemplifying situation and situation 2 contradictions. The experiment found that children's reactions to contradiction varied according to the type of situation used to present the contradiction. The experimental findings also raised a problem with the situation 1 method of presenting a contradiction. Experiment 2 was therefore conducted with a small sample of 5 and 6 year old children as a methodological exercise to test the validity of this method of presenting contradictions to children (Chapter 4). It was concluded that this situation does not provide clear data on the children's reactions to contradiction because conclusions drawn from its use are highly dependant on the inferences made by the experimenter. In the third experiment,5, 7, 9 and 11 year old children were presented with contradiction using the situation 2 method of presentation (Chapter 5). From this experiment it was concluded that children are undisturbed by contradictions and simply assume that either their belief or the external source of information is incorrect. They consequently eliminate the contradiction. In Chapter 6 the evidence from the first three experiments is reviewed and integrated and it is concluded that there is no evidence to show that contradiction plays a causal role in cognitive development. In Part 2 of the thesis the understanding of contradiction as an examp1 e of log ica1 thinking is examined. Chapter 7 presents a review of the literature showing that there is some debate concerning the age at which children recognise and understand a contradiction in the situation 3 defined in Chapter 2 (a contradiction between two external sources of information). An experiment is then described (Chapter 8) in which 5 and 6 year old children were presented with a logical contradiction in a verbal form. It was found that 6 year old children could recognise the contradiction. This age is considerably lower than that found by several studies in the literature. One of these studies was then partially replicated (Chapter 9)with children of 5 to 11 years of age and it was found that children needed to be appreciably older than 6 years of age before recognising a contradiction. An apparent discrepancy between the findings of Experiment 5 and Experiment 4 therefore required explanation which is provided in Part 3 of the thesis. In Part 3 of the thesis the evidence from Parts 1 and 2 is integrated, and it is suggested that the use of the concept of "contradiction" to unify the situations used in experimentation, and the children's behaviours in these situations, is dysfunctional rather than functional. An alternative explanation is suggested, which is that two mechanisms are operating when the child reacts to a "contradiction". These are a test for consistency and a formal under­ standing of logic, including logical contradiction. The test for consistency is suggested to derive from the concept of identity and the formal understanding of logical contradiction from the development of formal operational thinking. Chapters 10 and 11 develop and illustrate these suggestions. It is finally proposed that the ideas presented in the final chapters provide one point of departure for future work in this area

Ethical Climate Type, Self-Efficacy, and Capacity to Deliver Ethical Outcomes in Public Sector Human Resource Management

Background � In recent years, ethical behaviour within public sector workplaces has been of increasing interest. One way to describe the ethical characteristics of workplace environments is the multidimensional construct ethical climate. Workplaces may be divided into different types of ethical climate environment on the basis of similarity of profile across climate dimensions. Purpose � The purpose of the study is to examine how different types of public sector ethical climate environment affect both human resource practitioner (HRP) perceived capacity to act and their self-efficacy when faced with ethical dilemmas. Design/methodology/approach � Two hundred and seventy six public sector HRPs were classified as working in one of five types of ethical climate using the typology of Shacklock, Manning and Hort (2011). Each practitioner was presented with 15 hypothetical scenarios. Each scenario contained an ethical dilemma, and each required some degree of non-compliance by the HRP to produce an ethical outcome. For each scenario, the HRPs were asked to judge: perceived realism of the scenario in their organisation; degree of self-efficacy they would have in achieving an ethical outcome; and level of non-compliance to the scenario from three perspectives (a) the ideal response, (b) their own response, and (c) the �typical� HRP response. Findings � Significant differences were found between HRPs operating in the different ethical climate environment types for (a) perceived realism of the scenarios, (b) the level of HRP non-compliance judged to be typical, and (c) the level of self-efficacy respondents judged they would have in achieving an ethical outcome were they to be confronted with the dilemma. Conclusions � The findings of this study support the notion that different types of ethical climate in organisations will affect both HRP�s self efficacy and their capacity to deliver ethical outcomes when faced with ethical dilemmas

Assessing Group Efficacy: Comparing Three Methods of Measurement

Two hundred eighty-two undergraduate students (94 groups) participated in a laboratory study designed to compare three methods of assessing group efficacy: an aggregate of self-efficacy perceptions, an aggregate of individual perceptions of group efficacy, and a consensual approach. Findings indicate that the three methods of measuring group efficacy do not differ in their capacity to discriminate high and moderate task-difficulty conditions nor do they differ in terms of their consistency, the magnitude of their relationship with goals, or the degree to which they are affected by performance. Findings suggest that any of the three methods can be applied when studying the effects of group efficacy, at least for tasks with low interdependence

Doing hard labour: gendered emotional labour in academic management

This paper explores, from the authors\u27 experiences, emotional labour as gendered experience in the area of university management in Australia. University work (teaching and research) clearly involves high levels of emotional labour. Commitment, passion and curiosity in the self and created in others are keys to developing and transmitting knowledge. But what of the managerial roles within universities? To explore the gendered nature of managerial work in the university context, the authors related to each other three critical incidents associated with their work as senior managers. These narratives were explored to determine themes within our experiences. Some of the new forms of emotional labour found in our critical incidents suggest a need for further research and theorising. For example, our stories revealed a common theme of high levels of self-monitoring. We found that high levels of self-monitoring in this context entail endless self-questioning of how we might be doing the job, at least doubling the work requirements, time and energy invested. This self-monitoring often leads to self-punishment and selfdeprecation and the conduct of \u27repair work\u27 when perceiving that one has behaved \u27badly\u27. We found it also led to self-justification and deficits in credits or the let offs given for perceived transgressions. Other similar experiences are explored in the paper. We conclude by analysing these experiences as a part of the identity construction of women as managers and raise the inherent contradiction that this identity formation presents. A final discussion of our methodology raises issues of self-disclosure and authenticity and concludes by noting that many of the issues we have raised remain unresolved but are deeply embedded in our everyday experiences as women managers in academia

Assessing group efficacy: comparing three methods of measurement

Two hundred eighty-two undergraduate students (94 groups) participated in a laboratory study designed to compare three methods of assessing group efficacy: an aggregate of self-efficacy perceptions, an aggregate of individual perceptions of group efficacy, and a consensual approach. Findings indicate that the three methods of measuring group efficacy do not differ in their capacity to discriminate high and moderate task-difficulty conditions nor do they differ in terms of their consistency, the magnitude of their relationship with goals, or the degree to which they are affected by performance. Findings suggest that any of the three methods can be applied when studying the effects of group efficacy, at least for tasks with low interdependence

Managing older worker exit and re-entry practices: A 'revolving door'?

This paper reports findings from an Australian study about the post-employment experiences of older persons who had left the full-time workforce (either voluntarily or involuntarily). It examines their perceptions about seeking re-employment in terms of