Erwin
M. Segal,
Research
Interests
Erwin Segal has been conducting
research in several areas, all of which focus on issues of complex cognition,
or higher mental processes. These include:
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Narrative comprehension and production.
I have a theory that attempts to describe the mental processes and actions
that underlie how people process, understand and 'get into' stories that
they read or witness. In this area of research I usually use "real" narrative
texts for my materials, such as a short story by O Henry. The texts may
be modified in certain ways before being given to people to read and answer
questions about. I also do non-experimental empirical work analyzing the
language and structure of narratives written for other purposes.
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Problem solving. I study some
factors that seem to help people understand how to solve different kinds
of complex logical and causal problems. Research participants are given
problems to solve under different conditions.
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Scientific theory. I am very
interested in doing theoretical research on concepts that underlie psychological
theory, and the relations between theory in psychology and other sciences.
This research has yet to evolve into empirical studies, but I remain optimistic
that it may soon do so.
I believe that quality performance
in these areas of cognition is a skill that one can develop. One of my
interests is to develop intervention strategies that will improve the quality
of performance in these important areas of cognition.
Office: 361 Park Hall
Phone: 645-3650 x 361
e-mail: segal@acsu.buffalo.edu
Home Page: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~segal/