Previous research shows that synchronous text discussion through group support systems (GSS) can improve the exchange of information within teams, but this improved information exchange usually does ...not improve decisions because participants fail to process the new information they receive. This study examined one potential cause for this failure: Dual-task interference caused by the need to concurrently process new information from others while also contributing one's own information to the discussion. Although prior research argues that dual-task interference should be minimal, we found that it significantly reduced participants' information processing and led to lower decision quality. The effect sizes were large, suggesting that dual-task interference is one of a handful of major factors that exert the greatest influence on information processing and decision-making performance. We believe that these results call for an increased emphasis on and understanding of the cognitive underpinnings of GSS and virtual team decision making.
Developmental literature suggests that being liked by the peer group and having reciprocated friendships is commonly associated with positive outcomes, while being disliked or lacking reciprocated ...friends is associated with negative outcomes. Of additional importance are the behavioral characteristics of individuals with whom these close relationships are formed. Although infants and young children interact with peers, preschool may be the first opportunity for children to select peers on their own accord and these interactions may be less directly supervised by parents. Teacher ratings of social dominance, assertion, positive social skills, prosocial strategies of resource control, coercive strategies of resource control, and resource control were collected on 272 preschool aged children (3-6 years) in Lawrence, Kansas and New Haven, Connecticut. Additionally, the children completed a standard sociometric nomination procedure in which they identified classmates with whom they like to play as well as those with whom they do not like to play. Behavioral similarity of reciprocated and non-reciprocated friends was explored. Both variable-centered and person-centered methodological approaches were used. Results revealed that the concept of homophily is less developed in preschool populations and add to the body of developmental literature regarding homophily. Results are discussed in terms of resource control theory, equity theory, and developmental differences in the definition and function of children's friendships.
Business practitioners and academics have identified computer literacy proficiency and technology-based integration as crucial abilities for accounting and AIS graduates to possess. We provide ...justification that synchronous on-site computerized testing (SOCT) examinations are invaluable for student assessment with respect to various types of AIS-related course material and offer a more appropriate matching of assessment with curriculum content than traditional examination methods. Evidence is supplied describing how SOCT techniques have been successfully applied in evaluating particular cognitive skills and computer abilities of recent accounting and AIS students.
Individuals seldom have access to all relevant information, so when truly important decisions have to be made, a group is usually formed to assist with the decision. Group discussion enables ...participants to exchange information so that the group as a whole can access a larger pool of information. However, groups seldom exchange all available information that is important to the decision. Even when groups do exchange key information, groups members often discount or do not attend to information from others. Simply put, individual cognition often fails in group settings. Groupware processes were investigated to increase attention to information and integration of information, leading to improved decision quality. A lab experiment with a four-treatment design was conducted. A total of 188 undergraduates served as subjects and were asked to make a decision on a student admission task used in prior studies that required subjects to select one out of four candidates to admit to the university. In order to study the effects of different experimental manipulations on individuals, a groupware simulator was used. Each treatment used the same comments presented at the same time intervals, but the way in which the comments were presented was different. The first treatment (baseline) displayed all comments in one window. The second treatment (sender categorize) was designed to increase attention to the information by displaying information in four categories, one for each decision alternative. The remaining treatments were designed to increase both attention to and integration of information by requiring subjects to categorize each piece of information as it was received, either into a category for one of the four candidates (receiver categorize) or into one of those four plus a “not important” category (filter by importance). Groupware processes that provided categories for information and those that required the receiver of comments to categorize them improved attention to information and integration of information. This greater integration of information caused better decision quality. Interestingly, the more complex the process was, the less the information noise (i.e., incorrect and miscellaneous information). There were no difference in satisfaction among the treatments.
Successful transition and adjustment to school life is critical for a child's future success. To ease this transition a child needs to arrive equipped with the necessary skills for school. The extent ...of a child’s behavioural problems is one indicator of his or her level of adjustment and school readiness. A factor which is consistently associated with such behaviours is parenting practices. This study examined the role of maternal parenting behaviours on externalising and internalising behaviours displayed by children in their first year of schooling. As children living in low socioeconomic status (SES) families are at risk of both adverse parenting behaviours and childhood behavioural difficulties, the study focuses on a low SES cohort. Mothers (n = 197) reported parenting behaviours using the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ; Robinson, Mandelco, Olsen, & Hart, 2001). Teachers (n = 21) rated children on how frequently they engaged in fifteen behaviours. These behaviours were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis, eliciting two externalising behaviour factors (aggressive and defiant; hyperactive and inattentive) and one internalising behaviour factor. Bivariate analyses revealed that authoritarian parenting is associated with aggressive and defiant behaviours and that permissive parenting and maternal education is associated with hyperactive and inattentive behaviours. Only the latter result remains significant in the multivariate analysis. Finally, no relationships were found between parenting practices and child internalising behaviours. Parenting behaviours explained a small proportion of the variance in child externalising behaviours, highlighting the need to educate parents in effective parenting practices.
Socioeconomic inequalities in children’s skills and capabilities begin early in life and can have detrimental effects on future success in school. The present study examines the relationships between ...school readiness and sociodemographic inequalities using teacher reports of the Short Early Development Instrument in a disadvantaged urban area of Ireland. It specifically examines socioeconomic (SES) differences in skills within a low SES community in order to investigate the role of relative disadvantage on children’s development. Differences across multiple domains of school readiness are examined using Monte-Carlo permutation tests. The results show that child, family and environmental factors have an impact on children’s school readiness, with attendance in centre-based childcare having the most consistent relationship with readiness for school. In addition, the findings suggest that social class inequalities in children’s skills still exist within a disadvantaged community. These results are discussed in relation to future intervention programmes.
PDF
