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Domain-Generality and Domain-Specificity in Personal Epistemology Research: Philosophical and Empirical Reflections in the Development of a Theoretical Framework

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Abstract

This review synthesizes and critically examines 19 empirical studies that have addressed the domain-specificity/domain-generality issue in personal epistemology. We present an overview of traditional and more contemporary epistemological stances from philosophical perspectives to offer another basis from which to examine this issue. Explicit examples of academic domains are described and epistemological comparisons are made based on our synthesized definition. Given the epistemological similarities and differences across domains that we identified from empirical and philosophical considerations, we propose that beliefs are both domain general and domain specific. Accordingly, we present a theoretical framework of personal epistemology that incorporates both positions and hypothesize how the belief systems might interact in terms of the development of personal epistemology and relations to various facets of cognition, motivation, and achievement. The article ends with a discussion of educational implications.

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Notes

  1. In the TIDE framework, for simplicity, rather than depicting domain-specific beliefs as a series of long rectangular shapes presented in a multilayered fashion, they are depicted as individual boxes side-by-side that can be construed as one large rectangular shape divided into subsections. Our intention is not to suggest that one set of domain-specific beliefs develops before another or only during a specific time period.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

    Krista R. Muis & Lisa D. Bendixen

  2. Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany

    Florian C. Haerle

  3. Department of Educational Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Box 453003, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89154-3003, USA

    Krista R. Muis

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  1. Krista R. Muis
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  2. Lisa D. Bendixen
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  3. Florian C. Haerle
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Correspondence to Krista R. Muis.

 

 

Table 1 Appendix: Summary of Empirical Studies Reviewed
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Muis, K.R., Bendixen, L.D. & Haerle, F.C. Domain-Generality and Domain-Specificity in Personal Epistemology Research: Philosophical and Empirical Reflections in the Development of a Theoretical Framework. Educ Psychol Rev 18, 3–54 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-006-9003-6

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