DECIDING WHERE KNOWLEDGE COMES FROM DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU LOOK

The purpose of this investigation was to replicate the findings of K. E. Stanovich and A. E. Cunningham (1993) concerning the antecedents of declarative knowledge, using different measures of general ability an d TV exposure. In addition, the authors were interested in the relatio nship between epistemological knowledge and these measures. Ninety-sev en introductory psychology students participated. Results showed that measures of both general ability and TV exposure exhibited a stronger relationship to declarative knowledge than that found by K.E. Stanovic h and A. E. Cunningham. These differences in results concerning TV exp osure were explained by suggesting the possibility that watching educa tional TV increases literacy whereas watching noneducational TV may ac tually limit it. The epistemological beliefs of simple and certain kno wledge were statistically related to composites of knowledge, ability, and both types of exposure.