Academic Performance as a Function of Task Requirements and Cognitive Style

1968 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1017-1020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. Pohl ◽  
Lawrence A. Pervin

In a study of the relation between cognitive style and academic performance in 4 departments (Engineering, Natural Science, Social Science, Humanities) 150 Princeton upperclassmen completed the Schroder Paragraph Completion Test which was used to measure cognitive style. Scores on the PCT, together with scores on verbal and mathematical aptitude tests, were related to performance in each of the four departments. A relationship was found between the cognitively concrete style and good performance in Engineering, and the cognitively abstract style and performance in the Social Sciences and Humanities. There was no significant relationship between cognitive style and performance in the Natural Sciences. The data support the view that performance can best be understood as the result of an interaction between personality (cognitive style) and environment (task requirements).

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danny Rangel ◽  
Nelson Almeida

ABSTRACTSince its beginning, archaeology stands between the natural sciences and the social sciences and humanities. This shared position and the search for a greater understanding of its specific study objects, created the need among archaeology experts to resort to various methods (and technologies) originated from other disciplines. Similarly to other sciences, archaeology is an area permeable to experimentation and application of theoretical and practical exogenous concepts. This lead to the development of several specializations that unite archeology and other areas, such as Zooarchaeology. As happened throughout its history, academics are facing a time of change in the way the acquisition of knowledge is processed. The Digital Era of globalization is related to the shifting of paradigms and the growing need for unceasing adaptation; archeology is also affected by this reality. After a brief introduction to the humanities "digital paradigm" we review some of the main uses of the Internet as a support to research development in archeology, their main obstacles and tendencies.RESUMODesde a sua génese, a Arqueologia encontra-se entre as ciências naturais e as ciências sociais e humanísticas. Esta posição partilhada e a procura de uma maior compreensão dos seus objetos de estudo específicos, criou nos profissionais de Arqueologia uma necessidade de recorrerem a várias metodologias (e tecnologias) originárias de outras disciplinas. De forma similar a outras ciências, a Arqueologia é uma área permeável à experimentação e aplicação de conceitos teórico-práticos exógenos que levou, inclusive, à formação de diversas especialidades que unem a Arqueologia e outras áreas, como a Zooarqueologia. Como aconteceu ao longo da sua história, o meio académico está perante um momento de mudança na forma como se processa a aquisição de conhecimento. O fato de estarmos na Era Digital da globalização faz com que a adaptação do meio académico a esta realidade seja mais continuada, não sendo a Arqueologia alheia a esta transformação. Após uma breve introdução ao novo "paradigma digital" das humanidades, revemos alguns dos principais usos de tecnologias relacionadas com o uso da Internet no apoio à investigação em Arqueologia (e.g., bases de dados enriquecidas), e descrevemos algumas questões relacionadas com o uso de novas ferramentas e técnicas, seus principais obstáculos e tendências.


2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 771-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Entradas ◽  
Martin M. Bauer

Studies on scientists’ practices of public engagement have pointed to variations between disciplines. If variations at the individual level are reflected at the institutional level, then research institutes in Social Sciences (and Humanities) should perform higher in public engagement and be more involved in dialogue with the public. Using a nearly complete sample of research institutes in Portugal 2014 ( n = 234, 61% response rate), we investigate how public engagement varies in intensity, type of activities and target audiences across scientific areas. Three benchmark findings emerge. First, the Social Sciences and the Humanities profile differently in public engagement highlighting the importance of distinguishing between these two scientific areas often conflated in public engagement studies. Second, the Social Sciences overall perform more public engagement activities, but the Natural Sciences mobilise more effort for public engagement. Third, while the Social Sciences play a greater role in civic public engagement, the Natural Sciences are more likely to perform educational activities. Finally, this study shows that the overall size of research institutes, available public engagement funding and public engagement staffing make a difference in institutes’ public engagement.


2012 ◽  
Vol 67 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 38-42
Author(s):  
P. Messerli ◽  
L. Rey

Abstract. Time and again, discussions at the Institute of Geography in Bern regarding the choice of new faculty or debates about how to position ourselves scientifically have inspired us to re-examine our understanding of our discipline. The structural report, for example, which the Institute’s board of directors presented to faculty and university directors in 1994, describes our scientific self-conception as follows: "Geography is concerned with humankind’s physical-material environment. As such, it is an environmental science. The physical-material environment is analysed according to a dual perspective: as a condition and constraint of humankind and its cultural development; and as a product and result of economic, social, and political processes. This dual perspective requires that the natural sciences as well as the social sciences and humanities be employed to access geography’s object of study. The natural science branches of geography examine essential parts of the ecosystem and associated productive, endangering, and limiting factors and processes; these branches use the methodology of the natural sciences and base their research concepts on the systems theories of the natural sciences. The social science and humanistic branches of geography investigate the economically, politically, and socioculturally motivated principles governing our use of the environment, as well as the significance of the physical-material world in the social constitution of the spatial arrangement of society. These branches of geography use the methods of the social sciences and humanities, applying the theories of both in their research concepts." (Direktorium des Geographischen Instituts der Universität Bern 1994: 1)


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 35-61
Author(s):  
Andrea Eckersley ◽  
Cameron Duff

This article explores the links between habit, fashion and subjectification to extend analysis of the clothed body beyond the semiotic frames that have tended to dominate discussions of fashion across the social sciences and humanities. Our goal is to explain how fashion’s diverse materialities participate in the modulations of subjectivity, affecting bodies in diverse encounters between matter, signs and practices. We develop our analysis by way of Gilles Deleuze’s discussion of encounters, habit and memory. Our principal contention is that fashion may usefully be theorised in terms of specific habits of coordination by which affects, memories, sensations and desires are transmitted between bodies in varied spatial, temporal, material and affective encounters. Following the work of John Protevi, we argue that such coordination expresses a distinctive mode of subjectification according to the specific encounters immanent to it. We ground this discussion in detailed analysis of the work of Melbourne artist Fiona Abicare. Abicare’s installation and performance-based practice invokes the affective and habitual aspects of fashion as each is instantiated in encounters between bodies. Abicare’s attention to the habits and memories of the clothed body alludes to the varied practices of subjectification by which diverse subjects of fashion emerge.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quan-Hoang Vuong

Valian rightly made a case for better recognition of women in science during the Nobel week in October 2018 (Valian, 2018). However, it seems most published views about gender inequality in Nature focused on the West. This correspondence shifts the focus to women in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in a low- and middle-income country (LMIC).


Dreyfus argues that there is a basic methodological difference between the natural sciences and the social sciences, a difference that derives from the different goals and practices of each. He goes on to argue that being a realist about natural entities is compatible with pluralism or, as he calls it, “plural realism.” If intelligibility is always grounded in our practices, Dreyfus points out, then there is no point of view from which one can ask about or provide an answer to the one true nature of ultimate reality. But that is consistent with believing that the natural sciences can still reveal the way the world is independent of our theories and practices.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Mohamed Amine Brahimi ◽  
Houssem Ben Lazreg

The advent of the 1990s marked, among other things, the restructuring of the Muslim world in its relation to Islam. This new context has proved to be extremely favorable to the emergence of scholars who define themselves as reformists or modernists. They have dedicated themselves to reform in Islam based on the values of peace, human rights, and secular governance. One can find an example of this approach in the works of renowned intellectuals such as Farid Esack, Mohamed Talbi, or Mohamed Arkoun, to name a few. However, the question of Islamic reform has been debated during the 19th and 20th centuries. This article aims to comprehend the historical evolution of contemporary reformist thinkers in the scientific field. The literature surrounding these intellectuals is based primarily on content analysis. These approaches share a type of reading that focuses on the interaction and codetermination of religious interpretations rather than on the relationships and social dynamics that constitute them. Despite these contributions, it seems vital to question this contemporary thinking differently: what influence does the context of post-Islamism have on the emergence of this intellectual trend? What connections does it have with the social sciences and humanities? How did it evolve historically? In this context, the researchers will analyze co-citations in representative samples to illustrate the theoretical framework in which these intellectuals are located, and its evolution. Using selected cases, this process will help us to both underline the empowerment of contemporary Islamic thought and the formation of a real corpus of works seeking to reform Islam.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Beatriz Marín-Aguilera

Archaeologists, like many other scholars in the Social Sciences and Humanities, are particularly concerned with the study of past and present subalterns. Yet the very concept of ‘the subaltern’ is elusive and rarely theorized in archaeological literature, or it is only mentioned in passing. This article engages with the work of Gramsci and Patricia Hill Collins to map a more comprehensive definition of subalternity, and to develop a methodology to chart the different ways in which subalternity is manifested and reproduced.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. xxix-xxx

This bibliography records publications on Africa of interest to students of Africa, principally in the social and environmental sciences, development studies, humanities and arts. Some items from the medical, biological and natural sciences are included. The criterion used is potential relevance to a reader from a social sciences/arts background. The whole continent and associated islands are covered, with selective coverage of the diaspora. This volume aims to cover material published in 2019 together with items from earlier years not previously listed. The editor is always very glad to hear of any items omitted so that they may be included in future volumes. He would be particularly pleased to receive notification of new periodicals, print or online. African government publications and works of creative literature are not normally listed.


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