Interactive Problem Solving Research Articles

Enhancing Instructions Using Interactive Multimedia Simulations

In this paper, simulations to enhance learning and retention in a course in Civil Engineering (Soil Mechanics) are presented. One type of simulation deals with the delivery of course con tent to better elucidate on selected basic concepts using interactive animations. Another type of simulation deals with the development of a vir tual laboratory in which the student can conduct laboratory tests and interpret the results as if they were in a real laboratory. Both of these types of simulations can be delivered on the Web or on portable storage media such as CD. The simula tions are integrated into an interactive multimedia courseware that contains interactive problem solving, electronic quizzes, a glossary, notation, a notepad, and computer program utilities in ad dition to the virtual laboratory and interactive animations of the selected topics. The simulations were developed using various royalty-free, com mercial software such as Authorware. Prelimi nary evaluations indicate that simulations can significantly enhance the presentation of some topics and improve learning and retention.

The challenge of treatment for clients with dismissing states of mind

Thirty-four clients with serious psychopathological disorders were videotaped solving interpersonal problems with significant others or with case managers. Differential reliance on dismissing states of mind was examined in relation to behavioral ratings of clients during the interactions, and in relation to changes in clients' and partners' reports of feelings. Clients who relied more on dismissing strategies showed greater rejection of significant others, but not of case managers, compared with clients who relied more on preoccupied strategies. The partners of dismissing clients reported greater sadness following problem-solving interactions than the partners of preoccupied clients. Clients who relied more on dismissing strategies spent less time on task when interacting with their case managers than clients who relied more on preoccupied strategies, and reported more confusion following these interactions. These findings suggest that treatment is likely to provide a particularly challenging context for adults with dismissing states of mind.

An innovative design and studio-based CS degree

The University of Queensland has recently established a new design-focused, studio-based computer science degree. The Bachelor of Information Environments degree augments the core courses from the University's standard CS degree with a stream of design courses and integrative studio-based projects undertaken every semester. The studio projects integrate and reinforce learning by requiring students to apply the knowledge and skills gained in other courses to open-ended real-world design projects. The studio model is based on the architectural studio and involves teamwork, collaborative learning, interactive problem solving, presentations and peer review. This paper describes the degree program, its curriculum and rationale, and reports on experiences in the first year of delivery.

Parent-adolescent conflict in teenagers with ADHD and ODD.

Eighty-seven male teens (ages 12-18 years) with ADHD/ODD and their parents were compared to 32 male teens and their parents in a community control (CC) group on mother, father, and teen ratings of parent-teen conflict and communication quality, parental self-reports of psychological adjustment, and direct observations of parent-teen problem-solving interactions during a neutral and conflict discussion. Parents and teens in the ADHD/ODD group rated themselves as having significantly more issues involving parent-teen conflict, more anger during these conflict discussions, and more negative communication generally, and used more aggressive conflict tactics with each other than did parents and teens in the CC group. During a neutral discussion, only the ADHD/ODD teens demonstrated more negative behavior. During the conflict discussion, however, the mothers, fathers, and teens in the ADHD/ODD group displayed more negative behavior, and the mothers and teens showed less positive behavior than did participants in the CC group. Differences in conflicts related to sex of parent were evident on only a few measures. Both mother and father self-rated hostility contributed to the level of mother-teen conflict whereas father self-rated hostility and anxiety contributed to father-teen conflict beyond the contribution made by level of teen ODD and ADHD symptoms. Results replicated past studies of mother-child interactions in ADHD/ODD children, extended these results to teens with these disorders, showed that greater conflict also occurs in father-teen interactions, and found that degree of parental hostility, but not ADHD symptoms, further contributed to levels of parent-teen conflict beyond the contribution made by severity of teen ADHD and ODD symptoms.

The Role of the Scholar-Practitioner in International Conflict Resolution

Can unofficial, academically based, third-party approaches contribute to the prevention and resolution of international and intercommunal conflicts? The article focuses on one such approach, interactive problem solving, which the author has applied primarily in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After describing the central tool of the approach, the problem-solving workshop, the article goes on to address the role of interactive problem solving and related approaches to the larger process of conflict resolution. In this context, it discusses the relationship of the microprocess of problem-solving workshops to the macroprocess of international conflict resolution; the relationship between official and unofficial diplomacy; the relationship between practice and scholarship in conflict resolution; the role of the university in the process; and the possibilities for institutionalizing this model of conflict resolution.

The Balance of Power: Interpersonal Consequences of Differential Power and Expectancies

The cognitive and behavioral effects of perceived power and expected partner competence were examined in a task-oriented dyadic interaction. Specifically, the authors manipulated the effects of power and expectancy on social information processing during and subsequent to a dyadic problem-solving interaction. In addition, dispositional power orientation was measured. Results indicated that perceiver power led to self-enhancement and derogation of the target and both perceiver and target awareness of perceiver power moderated the effects of interpersonal expectancies. Furthermore, there are important differences between situational power and dispositional dominance orientation. These results advance current models of power and suggest the pervasiveness of power effects in our interactions with others.

Expressed emotion and attributions in the relatives of bipolar patients: An analysis of problem-solving interactions.

Expressed emotion and attributions in the relatives of bipolar patients: An analysis of problem-solving interactions.

The health agency training program: continuing education courses in biostatistics and epidemiology.

The authors describe the development and evaluation of a continuing education program in biostatistics and epidemiology. Short courses were presented to public health and mental health professionals using teaching strategies that included lecture, discussion, practice-oriented examples, and interactive problem-solving. A total of 1723 health professionals attended one or more of the 120 courses presented from 1992 to 1996 in seven US states. Most course participants were female: the highest education level for 40% was a bachelor's degree, while 42% had advanced degrees. Approximately 66% of participants signed up for continuing education credits. The program represents a successful partnership between an academic institution and health agencies in a seven-state region.

Preschoolers' Classroom Activities and Interactions with Peers and Teachers

The present study was designed to investigate whether or not preschool children's classroom activities and interactions vary according to the power structure of their relationships. We examined the frequencies of children's play and problem-solving activities, and management, collaboration, and assistance interactions in these activities as a function of children's relationships with their teachers and peers. We had two expectations: 1) Preschool children would engage in problem-solving activities with their teachers, who are inherently more powerful; but they would engage in play activities with their peers with whom they share power. 2) Teacher–child interactions would involve primarily management and assistance but child-peer interactions would involve collaborations. We observed 55 children during their free-activity, noting partners, and narrating the actions and utterances of all the participants in writing during the observations. Our analyses were based on the coding of narratives, and they revealed that the power structure of children's relationships plays a role in their activities and interactions. We found that children's problem-solving occurred with both teachers and peers. Play activities occurred overwhelmingly with peers. Management and assistance took place mostly in teacher–child interaction, but collaboration occurred primarily with peers. These findings support the developmental theory that adults and peers contribute to children's development and education through different kinds of activities and interactions.

Expressed emotion and attributions in the relatives of bipolar patients: an analysis of problem-solving interactions.

Among the relatives of schizophrenic and depressed patients, high expressed emotion (EE) attitudes are associated with "controllability attributions" about the causes of patients' symptoms and problem behaviors. However, previous studies have judged EE attitudes and causal attributions from the same assessment measure, the Camberwell Family Interview (CFI; C. E. Vaughn & J. P. Leff, 1976). The authors examined causal attributions among relatives of 47 bipolar patients, as spontaneously expressed to patients in family problem-solving interactions during a postillness period. Relatives rated high EE during the patients' acute episode (based on the CFI) were more likely than relatives rated low EE to spontaneously attribute patients' symptoms and negative behaviors to personal and controllable factors during the postillness interactional assessment. Thus, the EE-attribution linkage extends to the relatives of bipolar patients evaluated during a family interaction task.

Regulation of negative affect during mother-child problem-solving interactions: adolescent depressive status and family processes.

Despite recent suggestions that depression can be conceptualized as a disorder of affect regulation, relatively little research has focused on affect regulation skills in depressed individuals. This paper investigated whether depressed adolescents (N = 25) differ from nondepressed adolescents (N = 25) on two indices of affect regulation (i.e., duration of negative affective states and reciprocity of maternal negative affect) as well as whether these indices are related to microsocial family interactional processes. Analyses revealed that depressed teens differed from their nondepressed peers with regard to duration of negative affective states but not in their likelihood of reciprocating negative affect. Additionally, indices of adolescent affect regulation were related to family interactional processes. Duration of depressive affect was positively associated with maternal display of facilitative behavior contingent on adolescent depressive behavior. Duration of aggressive behavior was inversely related to maternal problem-solving responses to aggressive behavior. Finally, adolescent reciprocity of maternal depressive and aggressive behaviors was strongly associated with mothers' reciprocity of adolescents' negative affective behavior.

Sequential interactions in the marital communication of depressed men and women.

Despite studies showing patterns of sequential interaction between depressed wives and their husbands, no published research has contrasted sequential interactions of depressed husbands and their wives. This study compared problem-solving interactions of 49 couples with a depressed husband, 41 with a depressed wife, and 50 normal controls. Interactions were coded using the Marital Interaction Coding System. Although no clear patterns of sequential interaction distinguished couples with a depressed wife from normal control couples, results suggested a unique pattern of interaction between depressed husbands and their spouses, whereby positive communications from the husband resulted in decreased positivity and increased negativity from their wives. Given the importance of positivity for promoting effective problem solving, this pattern appears to have important implications for couples' long-term marital satisfaction and husbands' mood regulation.

Factor analysis of the English version of the Kategoriensystem für Partnerschaftliche Interaktion [Interaction Coding System

The Kategoriensystem für Partnerschaftliche Interaktion (KPI), or Interaction Coding System, is an observational coding system used to study behaviors occurring during dyadic interactions. The KPI offers several summary categories (e.g. positive, negative, neutral) to facilitate data analysis, but empirical evidence supporting these rationally derived groupings is lacking. Reported here are the results of a factor analysis of data obtained from 121 spouses or other close relatives of patients with anxiety disorders who participated in dyadic problem-solving interactions with the patients. A three-factor solution accounting for 50% of the variance emerged. The factors were Negativity, Problem-Solving Focus and Emotional Engagement. Confidence in the reliability of the first two factors is bolstered by their similarity to factors detected in prior research on a different coding system, the Marital Interaction Coding System.

An execution scheme for interactive problem-solving in concurrent constraint logic programming languages

Van Emden’s incremental queries address the inadequacy of current Prolog-style querying mechanism in most logic programming systems for interactive problem-solving. In the context of constraint logic programming, incremental queries involve adding new constraints or deleting old ones from a query after a solution is found. This paper presents an implementation scheme IQ of incremental queries in Constraint Pandora, which defines a class of non-deterministic concurrent constraint logic programming languages. We use Van Hentenryck and Le Provost’s scheme (VHLP-scheme hereafter), a re-execution approach, as a starting point. Re-execution is costly in concurrent languages, in which process creation and inter-process communications are common operations. The main idea of IQ is that the basic trail unwinding operation used in backtracking is more efficient than re-execution in reaching an execution context along a recorded execution path. We modify the conventional trail-unwinding operation in such a way that constraints are used actively to prune the search space. Analysis shows that the IQ-scheme is at least as efficient as the VHLP-scheme in sequential systems and is much more efficient in concurrent systems. We show the feasibility of our proposal by incorporating the IQ-scheme into IFD-Constraint Pandora, an instance of Constraint Pandora supporting interval and finite domain constraint solving. Our preliminary results agree with that of theoretical analysis.

Interactive problem solving as a metaphor for international conflict resolution: Lessons for the policy process.

Interactive problem solving is an unofficial, third-party approach to conflict resolution, which brings together politically influential representatives of conflicting parties for direct interaction in problem-solving workshops. Experiences from this microprocess are used here as a metaphor for the macroprocesses of negotiation and diplomacy. The use of interactive problem solving as a metaphor for the larger process of conflict resolution implies that the conflicting parties have a shared problem in their relationship, which needs to be solved by addressing the underlying causes and dynamics of the conflict in an interactive process. Within this framework, the article describes the ultimate goal of negotiation as transforming the relationship between the parties via an agreement that addresses the fundamental needs and fears of both on a basis of reciprocity. It then discusses four components of the larger process of conflict resolution--identification and analysis of the problem, joint shaping of ideas ...

Effects of quantity and quality of home proximal processes on Dutch, Surinamese-Dutch and Turkish-Dutch pre-schoolers’ cognitive development

This study examines the effects of mother–child literacy and problem solving interactions on 3–4-year-old children's cognitive development in a sample of Dutch middle-class, Dutch lower-class, Surinamese and Turkish immigrant families (n=130). Following the bioecological model of Bronfenbrenner and Ceci, mother–child book reading and problem solving interactions are viewed as proximal processes actualizing genetic cognitive potential. Interactions are studied from a quantitative perspective, based on questionnaire data, concerning frequency of exposure to these interactions, and a qualitative perspective, based on observational data, concerning affective quality and cognitive content. The study was designed as a 1 year longitudinal study. It was found that effects of mother–child interactions on cognitive development differed across the groups, controlling for earlier cognitive competence and family's SES. The findings are interpreted within the frame of the bioecological model and the behavioral genetic research paradigm. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The structure of expressed emotion: A three-construct representation.

Confirmatory factor analysis was used to explore a 3-factor model of expressed emotion (Criticism, Emotional Overinvolvement, and Positivity) in a sample of 104 outpatients with agoraphobia or obsessive-compulsive disorder and 104 relatives of these patients. Multiple methods of measurement included the Camberwell Family Interview, observation of verbal and nonverbal behaviors during patient-relative problem-solving interactions, and ratings of relatives' behavior made by patients and by relatives. The convergent validity of the 3 individual constructs was demonstrated through single-factor models fitted to Criticism, Positivity, and Emotional Overinvolvement measures. A 3-factor model was then estimated and determined to provide adequate fit to the data, thus demonstrating the distinctiveness of the constructs. Criticism and Positivity were strongly and negatively correlated, whereas Emotional Overinvolvement bore little relationship to the other 2 factors.

The effectiveness of a parenting skills program for parents of middle school students in small communities.

This study provides evidence of the effectiveness of behaviorally based parenting skills classes provided by carefully trained and supervised group leaders who were not mental health clinicians. A program for parents of at-risk middle school students was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial in 8 small Oregon communities. Parents (N = 303) were randomly assigned to immediate treatment or a wait-list condition. Data were analyzed using latent growth modeling. Participation in the program led to significant improvements in problem-solving interactions as indicated by parent reports and a Taped Situations Test. Parents' over-reactivity and laxness toward their children's behavior were reduced and their feelings toward their children improved significantly as a function of treatment. Parent-reported child antisocial behavior was also reduced.

Three Models of Conflict Resolution: Effects on Intergroup Expectancies and Attitudes

Gordon Allport (1960) once noted that there are many different approaches to conflict resolution, but that few empirical studies have been conducted to examine their effectiveness. This experiment was designed to evaluate the distributive bargaining, integrative bargaining, and interactive problem solving models of conflict resolution, using intergroup expectancies and attitudes as dependent measures. Jewish and Arab students were paired into mixed‐ethnicity dyads to discuss the Israeli‐Palestinian dispute about Jerusalem according to one of the three models. It was hypothesized that dyad members using the interactive problem solving model would become the least pessimistic about the conflict, and would show the greatest positive change in their attitudes toward members of the other ethnic group. The results support these predictions, and help to make up for the paucity of research on the assessment of conflict resolution strategies.

Rumor Rest Stops on the Information Highway Transmission Patterns in a Computer-Mediated Rumor Chain

Classic simulation studies of rumor transmission chains often have been characterized as lacking mundane realism. The present study spawned new insights on the basis of an analysis of the structure and composition of a naturalistic rumor chain that surfaced on the information highway. Content analyses of the individual messages during a 6-day period revealed distinctive patterns in both content and level of individual participation. In general, the results were consistent with the idea of rumormongering as a collective, problem-solving interaction that is sustained by a combination of anxiety, uncertainty, and credulity. The study extends the literature on temporal patterns in group computer-mediated communication (CMC) by showing that in a naturalistic setting, group development patterns of a CMC group were similar to those reported in the face-to-face (FtF) group literature.