Geoffrey Maruyama

University of Minnesota Twin Cities | UMN · Department of Educational Psychology

This article examines the logic underlying different models for assessing the college readiness of high school students. It focuses on benchmark scores that purportedly identify students who are college ready and presents the challenges of using threshold scores from a single assessment instrument to represent readiness. As well as providing logica...

This article introduces the 16 articles appearing in the 2009 and 2010 volumes of Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy that were submitted in response to a call for papers on “The Social Psychology of the 2008 United States Presidential Election.” The papers touch a wide array of election topics, comparing the backgrounds and values of voter...

There are implications of several ideas by Kurt Lewin for addressing the challenges facing today's schools and school children. A Lewinian orientation to educational problems provides a very different view of schools from those that currently prevail. It focuses on social bases of difficulties and takes multiple perspectives. It views classes as dy...

This concluding article provides a framework for a social psychological analysis of intergroup conflict and conflict resolution. The framework highlights the individual and intergroup factors that shape the nature of perceptions of intergroup relations and group representations, and describes how these perceptions lead to cognitive, affective, and...

In early 2006, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), the society that produces Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (ASAP), charged a task force with examining the research on interrogations and drafting a statement for Council review. During the Council discussion of the proposed statement, President Shinn raised...

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the legality of race-based affirmative action at universities in 2003. Although the decisions affirmed the legality of considering race in college admissions decisions, their long-term effects are not entirely clear. They neither resolved conflicts nor solved problems affirmative action was intended to address, namel...

Preparing underrepresented students for college success though pre-collegiate partnership programs is one alternative to affirmative action programs. This article describes the Multicultural Excellence Program (MEP), a partnership program between an urban school district and 22 four-year higher education institutions. MEP, begun in 1987, targets 7t...

This article examines disparities based upon poverty and race/ethnicity. After framing the issues by looking at national, state, and local data, it illustrates ways that social scientists can be involved in shaping educational practices and policies, focusing on the types of skills that are useful and on ways of thinking about the types of collabor...

The Children and Adolescent Support and Self-Sufficiency (CAPSS) program serves pregnant and parenting adolescents eligible to attend an urban school district in the Midwest. It employs a Youth Development Framework promoting connections with caring adults. While pregnancy prevention has become a major initiative for schools, programming to help me...

This report contains three studies on diversity in college classrooms. Following a review of the historical background in the introduction, Part 1, "University Faculty Views about the Value of Diversity on Campus and in the Classroom," offers a discussion of various diversity issues, such as institutional and departmental values; effects on classro...

This paper examines research and theory in the area Kurt Lewin called action research. Action research is collaborative, driven by a partnership between theorist/researchers and practitioners. It focuses on both theoretical and practical implications of issues. When viewed in the context of other work by Lewin, action research is seen as focusing o...

Studies the effects of the stress of war on children to investigate whether war has disrupted the emotional adaption of Arab children; whether children from the different areas display different levels of emotional distress; and how variables such as gender, age, perception of control, and religiosity are related to their emotional development. The...

Meta-analytic methods are designed to bring order to diverse and complex literatures by summarizing and synthesizing the findings of empirical studies. This article examines how meta-analytic methods were applied to the literature relating cooperative, competitive, and individualistic goal structures to achievement. In this instance, meta-analytic...

One aspect of the increased cross-cultural contacts found in our global society has been rapid growth in the number of foreign students studying in the United States. The attitudes of these students toward the United States is of major importance, for these students are often future leaders of their countries. This study used a contact theory persp...

This article reports two major data collection efforts conducted during successive years. Study 1 examined the relationship between the school effectiveness variables identified in the Minnesota Educational Effectiveness Project (MEEP), and the attitudes and achievement of students in 31 MEEP schools. Study 2, which focused on 11 of the Study 1 sch...

Despite the perceived importance of time spent reading on reading growth, research supporting this notion is limited. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of time spent reading at school and at home on intermediate grade students' reading achievement. One hundred and ninety-five students in Grades 5 and 6 kept daily reading logs...

This article describes the use of structured controversy as an educational strategy for helping students learn content and skills needed for dealing with difficult ethical situations that arise during the practice of nursing. Structured controversy, an innovative technique that encourages learners to deal with conflict constructively, is described,...

Reviews the books, Psychology and Personal Growth (3rd ed.) edited by Abe Arkoff (1988); and The Psychology of Adjustment and Well-Being by Stanley L. Brodsky (1988); and Contemporary Psychology and Effective Behavior (6th ed.) by James C. Coleman, Charles G. Morris, and Alan G. Glaros (1987). The three books reviewed here differ appreciably in how...

Causal modeling techniques were used to examine the relationships among three constructs: (a) a curriculum-based measurement and evaluation system, (b) structure of instruction, and (c) achievement. Measures of the three constructs were collected for 117 elementary-level resource room students. All three constructs were stable over time. Teachers'...

The effects of different levels of cooperation on cross-handicap interaction were Compared in two studies. In the first study 72 sixth-grade students were randomly assigned to three conditions (cooperative controversy, cooperative debate, and individualistic) stratifying for sex, ability level, and handicap. They participated in the study for 55 mi...

Data from a longitudinal study of school desegregation were used to examine the relation between normative social influence processes and academic achievement in order to test theoretical models of how school desegregation produces benefit. Subjects were white, Mexican-American, and black elementary school children who were measured once prior to a...

Studied longitudinal data from 138 White, 44 Mexican-American, and 26 Black elementary school children involved in a school desegregation program to examine the relationship between normative social influence processes and academic achievement and to test theoretical models of how school desegregation produces benefit. Ss were measured once prior t...

In consecutive quarters, two studies were conducted at a two-year vocational/technical college to determine how different goal structures within the learning environment could influence student expectations, achievement, and perceptions of the causes of learning outcomes. The first study investigated three goal structures (i.e., cooperative, indivi...

The future of meta-analysis is considered following an overview of its methodological procedures and the trends in their application to the psychotherapy outcome literature. Methodological issues, such as quality selection and the potential moderating effects of methods on outcomes, are addressed. Proposals for future meta-analysis reports are offe...

Hypothesized that the effects of cooperative experiences on cross-ethnic and cross-sex relationships would be strongest for structured class activities, next strongest for unstructured class activities in the broader school environment, and least strong for activities in students' homes. In Study 1, 74 6th graders were randomly assigned to 3 condit...

Hypothesized that the effects of cooperative experiences on cross-ethnic and cross-sex relationships would be strongest for structured class activities, next strongest for unstructured class activities in the broader school environment, and least strong for activities in students' homes. In Study 1, 74 6th graders were randomly assigned to 3 condit...

This chapter describes one way in which future research might increase our understanding of how goal-structuring interventions are related to basic classroom achievement and classroom social interaction processes in heterogeneous classrooms. It proposes a merging of nonexperimental data-analysis techniques with experimental or quasi-experimental tr...

This article presents a theoretical framework specifying the conditions under which physical proximity and interaction will lead to positive or negative relationships between (a) ethnically diverse individuals, (b) handicapped and nonhandicapped individuals, and (c) ethnically similar and nonhandicapped individuals. A review of literature supportin...

The impact of performance outcome, task difficulty, and level of test anxiety on attributional accounts for performance and achievement-related affect was explored. Subjects high and low in test anxiety (Sarason, 1972) worked on tasks of varying difficulty, evaluated their own performance, and then responded to two types of attribution items, inven...

Responds to criticisms by J. L. Cotton and M. S. Cook (see record 1982-26971-001) and R. P. McGlynn (see record 1982-26992-001) of conclusions reached by the present authors in an earlier article (Johnson et al; see record 1981-05387-001). The data are reexamined, and it is concluded that Cotton and Cook's emphasis on the importance of interacti...

Applied P. G. Zimbardo's (1970) deindividuation model to the study of prosocial behavior by asking 177 4–13 yr old Halloween trick-or-treaters in groups of 2–5 Ss to donate candy to hospitalized children under 3 conditions. The designation of personal responsibility for the amount donated was manipulated as follows: no child identified as responsib...

Investigated whether people attribute the same personality-trait characteristics to culturally desirable others as they attribute to themselves. 66 undergraduates were exposed to slides depicting facial photographs of college-aged females whose physical attractiveness was systematically varied (high, average, low). They were asked to rate both them...

College students high and low in test anxiety attributed their performance on each of four examinations in a course to ability, test difficulty, preparation, and luck. Individuals high and low in test anxiety typically evidence systematic predispositions to account for their achievement-related behavior in different terms. The present research subs...

Used causal modeling techniques to examine the relationships among social class, ability, educational achievement, and self-esteem for 4 samples of children born in the years 1961–1964. 715 predominately White, urban Ss were involved. Self-esteem was measured through the Self-Esteem Inventory, ability through the WISC, and achievement through the S...

Midseason and postseason measures (Group Atmosphere Scale) taken from 149 female collegiate basketball players provided information about their perception of team cohesion, personal and team success, and attributions for their own and their team's performance. First, it was hypothesized that Ss from highly cohesive teams would show more consistency...

Three experiments examined the impact of race and facial attractiveness upon evaluations received by essay writers. From one perspective, distinct stereotypes for race and attractiveness each should be reflected in any evaluations. From a second perspective, when outgroup members possess a favorable attribute, such as attractiveness, ingroup member...

Describes how causal modeling techniques can be improved through the use of maximum-likelihood analysis of structural equations. Within the context of scholastic achievement, the logic of applying this approach to causal modeling studies is presented, and the advantages of such an approach are elaborated. As a demonstration, a computer program call...

Confirmatory maximum likelihood factor analysis techniques were applied to a path analysis model proposed by Lewis and St. John (1974). The reanalysis disconfirms the original conclusion that acceptance by white peers beneficially affects the scholastic achievement of black children. Present results are consistent with other recent studies; achieve...

Results of a questionnaire study with 207 college students show that Ss attributed their own performance and the performance of the average student to ability, test difficulty, preparation, and luck. Consistent with the self-serving bias hypothesis, successful Ss perceived internal factors as more important causes and unsuccessful Ss perceived exte...

The most accepted theoretical model for explaining how school desegregation produces academic benefits for minority children assumes that (a) school desegregation generates intergroup and interracial contact which (b) enables the achievement related values possessed by white children to be transmitted to minority students, which in turn (c) facilit...

The most consistently used scoring system for the rod-and-frame task has been the total (or average) number of degrees in error from the true vertical, regardless of the initial or final directions of the rod and frame. Since a logical case can be made for at least four alternative scoring systems, a thorough comparison of all five systems seemed a...

The relationship between speaking rate and attitude change was investigated in 2 field experiments with 449 Ss. Manipulations of speech rate were crossed with (a) credibility of the speaker and (b) complexity of the spoken message. Results suggest that speech rate functions as a general cue that augments credibility; rapid speech enhances persuasio...

The interaction of siblings within the home may require later-born children--those with less power than their older siblings--to develop more effective interpersonal skills. If so, their popularity should be appreciably affected; they should be better liked. To test this line of reasoning, the relationship between ordinal position of a child and hi...

Two exploratory studies, using a role-playing format, demonstrated that preferences for forms of equity are sensitive to context effects. Context effects attributable to variations in residual stimuli appear to influence the importance of comparisons with the co-worker and to make salient either the input or outcome portion of one's own equity rati...

ost American colleges and universities have held that all students benefit when campuses reflect a broad range of intellectual and social perspectives, and that attracting a diverse student population is an important part of establishing an environment that broadens stu- dents' perspectives. Yet certain individuals and groups have challenged the us...