Abstract
The role that personal epistemology plays in intellectual development, learning, and education has been investigated for several decades in the USA (see Hofer & Pintrich, 1997, 2002) and has recently been pursued in other cultural environments. Research suggests that epistemological understanding has important implications for learning: for example, beliefs about the nature of knowledge may influence strategy use, comprehension, cognitive processing, and conceptual change learning. However, the primary constructs regarding students’ conceptions of knowledge and knowing were all developed with US college students, and the initial research on which most models are based was conducted with white males at an elite institution in the 1950s and 1960s (Perry, 1970). Furthermore, measurement of epistemic beliefs has typically been formulated and validated in the USA and then applied in other cultures by translating existing instruments and presuming similar factor structures. In recent years, however, research on epistemic beliefs and development has been expanding in its comprehensiveness, particularly in regard to research in multiple cultures, providing potential challenges and possible expansion of existing models. In this introductory chapter, I will provide a brief overview of personal epistemology from multiple paradigms (Hofer, 2004b), review examples of research conducted across cultures, and suggest implications of a more culturally informed personal epistemology both for multicultural education and for future research.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baxter Magolda, M. B. (1992). Knowing and reasoning in college: Gender-related patterns in students’ intellectual development. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
Baxter Magolda, M. B. (2001). Making their own way: Narratives for transforming higher education to promote self-development. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Baxter Magolda, M. B. (2004). Evolution of a constructivist conceptualization of epistemological reflection. Educational Psychologist, 39, 31–42.
Belenky, M. F., Clinchy, B. M., Goldberger, N. R., & Tarule, J. M. (1986). Women’s ways of knowing: The development of self, voice and mind. New York: Basic Books.
Bendixen, L. D., & Rule, D. C. (2004). An integrative approach to personal epistemology: A guiding model. Educational Psychologist, 39, 69–80.
Braten, I., & Stromso, H. I. (2006). Constructing meaning from multiple information sources as a function of personal epistemology: The role of text-processing strategies. Information Design Journal, 14(1), 56–67.
Braten, I., Stromso, H. I., & Samuelstuen, M. S. (2005). The relationship between internet-specific epistemological beliefs and learning within internet technologies. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 33(2), 141–171.
Bromme, R. (2003). Thinking and knowing about knowledge: A plea for and critical remarks on psychological research programs on epistemological beliefs. In M. H. G. Hoffman, J. Lenhard, & F. Seeger (Eds.), Activity and sign: Grounding mathematics education (pp. 1–11). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer.
Brownlee, J. (2003). Changes in primary school teachers’ beliefs about knowing: A longitudinal study. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 31, 87–98.
Brownlee, J. M. (2001). Knowing and learning in teacher education: A theoretical framework of core and peripheral epistemological beliefs. Asia Pacific Journal of Teacher Education and Development, 4, 167–190.
Brownlee, J., & Berthelsen, D. (2006). Personal epistemology and relational pedagogy in early childhood teacher education programs. Early Years, 26, 17–29.
Brownlee, J., Purdie, N., & Boulton, L. G. (2001). Changing epistemological beliefs in pre-service teacher education students. Teaching in Higher Education, 6, 247–268.
Buehl, M. M., & Alexander, P. A. (2005). Motivation and performance differences in students’ domain-specific epistemological belief profiles. American Educational Research Journal, 42, 697–726.
Buehl, M. M., Alexander, P. A., & Murphy, P. K. (2002). Beliefs about schooled knowledge: Domain specific or domain general? Contemporary Educational Psychology, 27, 415–449.
Burr, J. E., & Hofer, B. K. (2002). Personal epistemology and theory of mind: Deciphering young children’s beliefs about knowledge and knowing. New Ideas in Psychology, 20, 199–224.
Cano, F. (2005). Epistemological beliefs and approaches to learning: Their change through secondary school and their influence on academic performance. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 203–221.
Chai, C. S., Khine, M. S., & Teo, T. (2006). Epistemological beliefs on teaching and learning: A survey among pre-service teachers in Singapore. Educational Media International, 43, 285–298.
Chan, K., & Elliott, R. G. (2002). Exploratory study of Hong Kong teacher education students’ epistemological beliefs: Cultural perspectives and implications on beliefs research. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 27, 392–414.
Chan, K., & Elliott, R. G. (2004). Epistemological beliefs across cultures: Critique and analysis of beliefs structure studies. Educational Psychology, 24, 123–142.
Chandler, M. J., Hallett, D., & Sokol, B. W. (2002). Competing claims about competing knowledge claims. In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing (pp. 145–168). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Clarebout, G., Elen, J., Luyten, L., & Bamps, H. (2001). Assessing epistemological beliefs: Schommer’s questionnaire revisited. Educational Research and Evaluation, 7(1), 53–77.
Clinchy, B. M. (2002). Revisiting women’s ways of knowing. Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing (pp. 63–87).
De Corte, E., Eynde, O. T., & Verschaffel, L. (2002). “Knowing what to believe”: The relevance of students’ mathematical beliefs for mathematics education. In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing (pp. 297–320). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Elen, J., & Clarebout, G. (2001). An invasion in the classroom: Influence of an ill-structured innovation on instructional and epistemological beliefs. Learning Environments Research, 4, 87–105.
Estes, D., Chandler, M., Horvath, K. J., & Backus, D. W. (2003). American and British college students’ epistemological beliefs about research on psychological and biological development. Applied Developmental Psychology, 23, 625–642.
Gill, M. G., Ashton, P. T., & Algina, J. (2004). Changing preservice teachers’ epistemological beliefs about teaching and learning in mathematics: An intervention study. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 29, 164–185.
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Gottlieb, E. (2007). Learning how to believe: Epistemic development in cultural context. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 16(1), 5–35.
Hammer, D., & Elby, A. (2002). On the form of a personal epistemology. In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing (pp. 169–190). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2006). Toward a psychological science for a cultural species. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 251–269.
Hofer, B. K. (2000). Dimensionality and disciplinary differences in personal epistemology. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 378–405.
Hofer, B. K. (2001). Personal epistemology research: Implications for learning and instruction. Educational Psychology Review, 13(4), 353–382.
Hofer, B. K. (2004a). Epistemological understanding as a metacognitive process: Thinking aloud during online searching. Educational Psychologist, 39(1), 43–55.
Hofer, B. K. (2004b). Introduction: Paradigmatic approaches to personal epistemology. Educational Psychologist, 39, 1–3.
Hofer, B. K. (2005). The legacy and the challenge: Paul Pintrich’s contributions to personal epistemology research. Educational Psychologist, 40, 95–105.
Hofer, B. K. (2006). Beliefs about knowledge and knowing: Domain specificity and generality. Educational Psychology Review, 18, 67–76.
Hofer, B. K. (April, 2007). Learning strategies and epistemic beliefs: Cultural influences in Japan and the US. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association. Chicago.
Hofer, B. K., & Pintrich, P. R. (1997). The development of epistemological theories: Beliefs about knowledge and knowing and their relation to learning. Review of Educational Research, 67, 88–140.
Hofer, B. K., & Pintrich, P. R. (Eds.). (2002). Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Jehng, J. -C. J., Johnson, S. D., & Anderson, R. C. (1993). Schooling and students’ epistemological beliefs about learning. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 18, 23–25.
Karabenick, S. A., & Moosa, S. (2005). Culture and personal epistemology: US and middle eastern students’ beliefs about scientific knowledge and knowing. Social Psychology of Education, 8, 375–393.
Kardash, C. M., & Howell, K. L. (2000). Effects of epistemological beliefs and topic-specific beliefs on undergraduates’ cognitive and strategic processing of dual-positional text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92, 524–535.
King, P. M., & Kitchener, K. S. (1994). Developing reflective judgment: Understanding and promoting intellectual growth and critical thinking in adolescents and adults. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Kitchener, K. S. (1983). Cognition, metacognition, and epistemic cognition. Human Development, 26, 222–232.
Kitchener, R. (2002). Folk epistemology: An Introduction. New Ideas in Psychology, 20, 89–105.
Kuhn, D. (1991). The skills of argument. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kuhn, D. (2000). Metacognitive development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9, 178–181.
Kuhn, D., & Weinstock, M. (2002). What is epistemological thinking and why does it matter? In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing (pp. 121–144). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Kuhn, D., Cheney, R., & Weinstock, M. (2000). The development of epistemological understanding. Cognitive Development, 15, 309–328.
Li, J. (2003). US and Chinese cultural beliefs about learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 258–267.
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224–253.
Mason, L. (2000). Role of anomalous data and epistemological beliefs in middle school students’ theory change about controversial topics. European Journal of Psychology of Education, XV, 329–346.
Mason, L. (2001). Responses to anomalous data on controversial topics and theory change. Learning and Instruction, 11, 453–483.
Mason, L. (2003a). High school students’ beliefs about maths, mathematical problem solving, and their achievement in maths: A cross-sectional study. Educational Psychology, 23(1), 73–85.
Mason, L. (2003b). Personal epistemologies and intentional conceptual change. In G. M. Sinatra & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Intentional conceptual change (pp. 199–236). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Mason, L., & Boscolo, P. (2004). Role of epistemological understanding and interest in interpreting a controversy and in topic-specific belief change. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 29, 103–128.
Mason, L., & Scrivani, L. (2004). Enhancing students’ mathematical beliefs: An intervention study. Learning and Instruction, 14, 153–176.
Moore, W. S. (2002). Understanding learning in a postmodern world: Reconsidering the Perry scheme of intellectual and ethical development. In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing (pp. 17–36). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Muis, K. R., Bendiyen, L. D., and Haerle, F. C. (2006). Domain gearality and domain specificity in personal epistemological research: Philosophical and empirical reflection in the development of a theoretical model. Educational Psychology Review, 18, 3–54.
Norenzayan, A., & Heine, S. J. (2005). Psychological universals: What are they and how can we know? Psychological Bulletin, 131, 763–784.
Peng, H., Tsai, C. -C., & Wu, Y. -T. (2006). University students’ self-efficacy and their attitudes toward the Internet: The role of students’ perceptions of the Internet. Educational Studies, 32(1), 73–86.
Perry, W. G. (1970). Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years: A scheme. New York: Holt (Rinehart & Winston).
Pirtilla-Backman, A. -M., & Kajanne, A. (2001). The development of implicit epistemologies during early and middle adulthood. Journal of Adult Development, 8, 81–97.
Qian, G. (2000). Relationship between epistemological beliefs and conceptual change learning. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 16, 59–74.
Qian, G., & Alvermann, D. (1995). Role of epistemological beliefs and learned helplessness in secondary school students’ learning science concepts from text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 87(2), 282–292.
Qian, G., & Pan, J. (2002). A comparison of epistemological beliefs and learning from science text between American and Chinese high school students. In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing (pp. 365–385). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Raviv, A., Bar-tal, D., Raviv, A., Biran, B., & Sela, Z. (2003). Teachers’ epistemic authority: Perceptions of students and teachers. Social Psychology of Education, 6, 17–42.
Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rozendaal, J. S., de Brabander, C. J., & Minnaert, A. (August, 2001). Boundaries and dimensionality of epistemological beliefs. Paper presented at the 9th Conference of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction. Fribourg, Switzerland.
Schommer, M. (1990). Effects of beliefs about the nature of knowledge on comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 498–504.
Schommer, M., & Dunnell, P. A. (1994). A comparison of epistemological beliefs between gifted and non-gifted high school students. Roeper Press, 16(3), 207–210.
Schommer, M., Crouse, A., & Rhodes, N. (1992). Epistemological beliefs and mathematical text comprehension: Believing it is simple does not make it so. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 435–443.
Schraw, G., & Olafson, L. (2002). Teachers’ epistemological world views and educational practices. Issues in education: Contributions from Educational Psychology, 8, 99–148.
Schraw, G., Bendixen, L. D., & Dunkle, M. E. (2002). Development and evaluation of the Epistemic Belief Inventory (EBI). In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing (pp. 261–275). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Schreiber, J., & Al-Ghalib, S. (April, 2007). Beliefs and cognitive processing: An examination of American and Saudi Arabian undergraduates. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association, Chicago.
Stevenson, H. W., Chen, C., & Lee, S. -Y. (1993). Mathematics achievement of Chinese, Japanese, and American children: Ten years later. Science, 259 (January 1), 53–58.
Thomas, R. M. (2001). Folk psychologies across cultures. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Tillema, H., & Orland-Barak, L. (2006). Constructing knowledge in professional conversations: The role of beliefs on knowledge and knowing. Learning and Instruction, 16, 592–608.
Triandis, H. (2001). Individualism and collectivism: Past, present, and future. In D. Matsumoto (Ed.), Handbook of cultural psychology (pp. 35–50). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tsai, C. -C. (2000). Relationships between student scientific epistemological beliefs and perceptions of constructivist learning environments. Educational Research, 42, 193–205.
Tsai, C. -C. (2004). Beyond cognitive and metacognitive tools: The use of the Internet as an “epistemological” tool for instruction. British Journal of Educational Technology, 35, 525–536.
Tsai, C. -C. (2005). Developing a multi-dimensional instrument for assessing students’ epistemological views toward science. International Journal of Science Education, 27, 1621–1638.
Tsai, C. C. (1998). An analysis of scientific epistemological beliefs and learning orientations of Taiwanese eighth graders. Science Education, 82(4), 473–489.
Tsai, C. C. (1999a). Content analysis of Taiwanese 14 year olds’ information processing operations shown in cognitive structures following physics instruction. Research in Science and Technological Education, 17(2), 125–138.
Tsai, C. C. (1999b). “Laboratory exercises help me memorize the scientific truths”: A study of eighth graders’ scientific epistemological views and learning in laboratory activities. Science Education, 83(6), 654–674.
Tweed, R. G., & Lehman, D. R. (2002). Learning considered within a cultural context: Confucian and Socratic approaches. American Psychologist, 57, 89–99.
Wainryb, C., Shaw, L. A., Langley, M., Cottam, K., & Lewis, R. (2004). Children’s thinking about diversity of belief and in the early school years: Judgments of relativism, tolerance, and disagreeing persons. Child Development, 75, 687–703.
Weinstock, M., Neuman, Y., & Glassner, A. (2006). Identification of informal reasoning fallacies as a function of epistemological level, grade level, and cognitive ability. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 327–341.
Wellman, H. M., Cross, D., & Watson, J. (2001). Meta-analysis of theory-of-mind development: The truth about false belief. Child Development, 72, 655–684.
Wildenger, L., Hofer, B. K., & Burr, J. E. (in press). Epistemological development in very young knowers. In L. D. Bendixen & F. C. Haerle (Eds.), Personal epistemology in pre-K to 12 education: Theory, research and educational implications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wood, P., & Kardash, C. (2002). Critical elements in the design and analysis of studies of epistemology. In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing (pp. 231–260). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Wood, P., Kitchener, K. S., & Jensen, L. (2002). Considerations in the design and evaluation of a paper-and-pencil measure of epistemic cognition. In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Wu, Y. -T., & Tsai, C. -C. (2005). Information commitments: Evaluative standards and information searching strategies in web-based learning environments. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 21, 374–385.
Youn, I. (2000). The cultural specificty of epistemological beliefs about learning. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 3, 87–105.
Zhang, L. -F. (1999). A comparison of U.S. and Chinese university students’ cognitive development: The cross-cultural applicability of Perry’s theory. Journal of Psychology, 133, 425–439.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer Science + Business Media B.V
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hofer, B.K. (2008). Personal Epistemology and Culture. In: Khine, M.S. (eds) Knowing, Knowledge and Beliefs. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6596-5_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6596-5_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-6595-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-6596-5
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)