We examined a phenomenon related to hindsight bias, specifically, retrospective judgements about the foreseeability of an outcome. We predicted that negative, self-relevant outcomes would be judged as less foreseeable by the recipient of the outcome than by others, unlike either positive outcomes or outcomes that are not self-relevant. In the context of a "stock market decision-making game", the hypothetical stock selected by one of two players showed an extreme increase or decrease. As predicted, the player who received an extreme negative outcome reported that this outcome was less foreseeable than did the opponent and an observer, for whom the outcome was less self-relevant. For no other kind of outcome was there a difference between the recipient of an outcome, the opponent, and the observer. The findings have several implications, including the possibility that hindsight bias should be considered as a special case of retrospective foreseeability.

No abstract

The authors investigated the effectiveness of cooperative listening exercises in developing critical music-listening skills in nonmusic majors. Subjects were college freshmen and sophomores enrolled in Introduction to Western Music. Control-group subjects attended classes taught exclusively in lecture format. Two experimental groups participated in four 50-minute group-listening exercises. Experimental Group 2 engaged in five additional group-analysis exercises, comparing known and unfamiliar musical styles. The consistent use of cooperative-listening exercises proved to be more effective in developing subjects' critical listening skills than either lecture-demonstration or occasional group work. On final exams, Experimental Group 2 scored significantly better than the other groups on identifications of texture, compositional genre, and musical style. To be most effective, group work needs to be implemented on a regular basis — for both the introduction of new material and for its review or application. March 31, 2006 April 22, 2006

Many agree that educational systems should instill in students the value of lifelong learning (LLL), but few have suggested how to accomplish that or how to measure the effectiveness of those curricular initiatives. We developed a technique intended to strengthen students' beliefs about the value of LLL and piloted use of a recently developed scale to assess changes in commitment to LLL. Using a quasi-experimental procedure, we presented students with faculty members' career biographies describing their personal career paths, including how they learned from their experiences and how they had to adapt and adjust to changing circumstances. To assess beliefs about LLL, students completed Bath and Smith's Propensity for Lifelong Learning (PLLL) scale. We found that students who listened to career biographies had significantly stronger beliefs regarding the value of LLL than the students who were not exposed to the career biographies. We concluded that listening to career biographies strengthened commitment to LLL and that the PLLL scale is a useful outcome measure of this commitment. We discussed limitations and future directions of our method and measurement instrument.