Elaborative Thinking Research Articles

Elaboration and consequences of anchored estimates: An attitudinal perspective on numerical anchoring

In the standard numerical anchoring paradigm, the influence of externally provided anchors on judgment is typically explained as a result of elaborate thinking (i.e., confirmatory hypothesis testing that selectively activates anchor-consistent information in memory). In contrast, theories of attitude change suggest that the same judgments can result from relatively thoughtful or non-thoughtful processes, with more thoughtful processes resulting in judgments that last longer over time and better resist future attempts at change. Guided by an attitudinal approach to anchoring, four studies manipulated participants’ level of cognitive load to produce relatively high versus low levels of thinking. These studies show that, although anchoring can occur under both high and low thought conditions, anchoring based on a higher level of thinking involves greater use of judgment-relevant background knowledge, persists longer over time, is more resistant to subsequent attempts at social influence, and is less likely to result from direct numeric priming.

The conceptual underpinnings of giftedness: developmental and educational implications

This paper describes a developmental psychological approach to understanding giftedness. A theoretical model of exceptional expertise is used to frame our understanding of how gifted children's conceptual knowledge develops in a variety of domains and how the interplay of this conceptual knowledge with domain‐specific skills results in rich, elaborate thinking. This model provides a ‘design for development’ of giftedness in a variety of domains.

Book Review: Highlights of Creativity — 1: Elaborative Thinking

Book Review: Highlights of Creativity — 1: <i>Elaborative Thinking</i>

Cognitive elaboration: Basic research and clinical application

This article reviews two lines of research in social-clinical psychology demonstrating that a person's own elaborative thinking mediates cognitive, affective, and behavioral change. Research on attitude change has found that what kind of arguments a person generates in response to a message predicts whether subsequent attitudes and behavior will be more resistant or changed. When an unmotivated person generates no arguments, belief is based on cues such as therapist credibility. Analogue research supports the importance of argument strength over source credibility in promoting attitude and behavior change in therapy. Research on simulation has found that when a person imagines a scenario of how he or she might behave and why, expectancies about such behavior and its actual performance are increased. Analogue research supports the role of constructing scenarios in changing the behavior of persons with low self-esteem and of clients in counseling. A research agenda is provided for assessing cognitive elaboration as a mediator of long-term change in therapy, for evaluating various interventions which should promote it, and for matching interventions to the cognitive style of clients.

Creative Writing

The writer suggests that one can consider five modes of thinking; the non-creative or convergent modes which are defensive thinking and productive thinking and the creative or divergent modes which are adaptive thinking, elaborative thinking and developmental thinking. The author supports his argument with case studies of artistic, creative writing and gives details of a writing programme designed to identify these modes and consequently develop them.

Politics and Reasoning: Through the Eyes of Teachers and Children

The question of the "hidden curriculum" in the classroom has been the subject of much research. While this research has sometimes focused on the belief systems and value orientations of teachers it has seldom included evaluation of their political and social ideologies. In addition, the research literature has given inadequate attention to black teachers in black classrooms. In this essay Dr. Lightfoot evaluates the relationship between the levels of political consciousness of black teachers and the social and cognitive development in black children including reasoning, reflection,and elaborative thinking. She concludes that differences in political ideology are reflected in differences in educational philosophy and practice, and that both have a profound impact on the development of children.