This book describes the experience of over twenty-five years in educational psychology. The experience is told by its main authors and this makes of this text one of reference for the specialization in educational psychology of the Universidad Católica de Colombia.Likewise, this book opens the door to the 21st century with a new approach that recognizes and assimilates the vertical development of education, psychology and related disciplines. This takes back what has been learned and paves the way for the consolidation of a post-grade training proposal of high quality and relevance for the improvement of the quality of education within the country.

Four studies are reported in which a scale to assess the need for cognition (i.e., the tendency for an individual to engage in and enjoy thinking) was developed and validated. In Study 1 a pool of items was administered to groups known to differ in need for cognition. Members of a university faculty served as subjects in the high-need-for-cognition group, whereas assembly line workers served as subjects in the low-need-for-cognition group. The criteria of ambiguity, irrelevance, and internal consistency were used to select the items for subsequent studies. A factor analysis was performed on the selected items and yielded one major factor. In 'Study 2 the scale was administered to a more homogeneous population (400 undergraduates) to validate the factor structure obtained in Study 1 and to determine whether the scale tapped a construct distinct from test anxiety and cognitive style. The factor structure was replicated in Study 2, responses to the need for cognition scale were predictably and weakly related to cognitive style, and responses were unrelated,to test anxiety. In Study 3, 104 subjects completed need for cognition, social desirability, and dogmatism scales and indicated what their American College Test scores were. Results indicated that need for cognition was related weakly and negatively to being close minded, unrelated to social desirability, and positively correlated with general intelligence. Study 4 replicated the major findings of Study 3 and furnished evidence of thj predictive validity of the Need for Cognition Scale: Attitudes toward simple an complex versions of a cognitive task appeared indistinguishable until the subjects' need for cognition was considered. The theoretical utility of the construct and measure of need for cognition are discussed. Studies of cognition have tended to focus enjoy thinking. The notion of such a dispoon two issues: the nature of knowledge and sition emerged fairly early in the history of the character of the underlying processes personality and social psychology (e.g., Asch, that enable the acquisition and use of this 1952;Maslow, 1943; Murphy, 1947;Sarnoff knowledge (e.g., Blumenthal, 1977; Wyer & Katz, 1954) and was developed most el-& Carlston, 1979). In this study we proposed oquently in the experiments on the "need for to investigate a related phenomenon. We cognition" by Cohen, Stotland, and Wolfe sought to identify differences among indi-(1955) and by Cohen (1957).' viduals in their tendency to engage in and The "Need" for Cognition The research was supported by University Faculty. , Scholar Award A240. Cohen et al. (1955) described the need for We are indebted to Charlotte Lowell for her assis-cognition as "a need to structure relevant tance in the first study, John Mueller and Martin Hee-situations in meaningful, integrated ways. It sacker for their assistance in the second study, and Claudia French for her aid in the third and fourth studies. We also wish to thank William Robinson, Richard ' The Cohen, Stotland, and Wolfe (1955) and Cohen McCard, Robert ...

Most studies of social relationships in later life focus on the amount of social contact, not on individuals' perceptions of social isolation. However, loneliness is likely to be an important aspect of aging. A major limiting factor in studying loneliness has been the lack of a measure suitable for large-scale social surveys. This article describes a short loneliness scale developed specifically for use on a telephone survey. The scale has three items and a simplified set of response categories but appears to measure overall loneliness quite well. The authors also document the relationship between loneliness and several commonly used measures of objective social isolation. As expected, they find that objective and subjective isolation are related. However, the relationship is relatively modest, indicating that the quantitative and qualitative aspects of social relationships are distinct. This result suggests the importance of studying both dimensions of social relationships in the aging process.

As a social species, humans rely on a safe, secure social surround to survive and thrive. Perceptions of social isolation, or loneliness, increase vigilance for threat and heighten feelings of vulnerability while also raising the desire to reconnect. Implicit hypervigilance for social threat alters psychological processes that influence physiological functioning, diminish sleep quality, and increase morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this paper is to review the features and consequences of loneliness within a comprehensive theoretical framework that informs interventions to reduce loneliness. We review physical and mental health consequences of loneliness, mechanisms for its effects, and effectiveness of extant interventions. Features of a loneliness regulatory loop are employed to explain cognitive, behavioral, and physiological consequences of loneliness and to discuss interventions to reduce loneliness. Loneliness is not simply being alone. Interventions to reduce loneliness and its health consequences may need to take into account its attentional, confirmatory, and memorial biases as well as its social and behavioral effects.

Undergraduates expressed their attitudes about a product after being exposed to a magazme ad under conditions of either high or low product involvement. The ad contained either strong or weak arguments for the product and featured either prominent sports celebrities or average citizens as endorsers. The manipulation of argument quality had a greater impact on attitudes under high than low involvement, but the manipulation of product endorser had a greater impact under low than high involvement. These results are consistent with the view that there are two relatively distinct routes to persuasion.