The following hypotheses were tested and confirmed: (1) highly competent females achieve less when their partners are less competent males than when their partners are less competent females, while highly competent males achieve equally well in either case; (2) less competent males and females achieve more when their partners are highly competent…

A sample of scientists and engineers participated in a study designed to assess moderating influences of facets of perceived cohesiveness and collaborative problem-solving on the task characteristics-individual performance relationship between task difficulty and individual performance. (Author)

Two groups of mentally retarded children (MA: 4 to 8 years) were pretrained using two different methods. It was predicted that shift performance of the two groups trained to use different strategies would resemble those of two different developmental levels. (MP)

The effects of a social model on first- and second-grade children's persistence in problem solving were studied using a wire-puzzle task. Both duration of effort and success of the model significantly affected children's persistence,compared with that of a control group. (Author/RD)

A battery of problem solving and divergent thinking tasks was administered to 91 fifth graders to identify a factor that could be labeled problem solving and be distinct from divergent thinking. In several factor analyses, three factors consistently emerged: fluency, problem solving, and academic achievement. (Author/RD)

A theory is proposed of the processes which enable a subject to learn while solving a problem. One subject's protocol--including 224 steps and taking 90 minutes--is described. Adequacy of the mechanisms is guaranteed by a computer simulation of the processes in an adaptive production system. (Author/GDC)

Three studies of elementary school children's problem-solving procedures in intentional discrimination tasks are reported. Subjects were children selected from kindergarten and grades 2, 3, and 6. (Author/MP)

Investigates the effect of various strategy-modeling techniques on the performance of both young children and elderly adults on the 20 Question Task. (Author/MP)

Reports the results of a series of experimental studies and a sociodemographic survey designed to determine the relative influence of age and educational experience in the development of cognitive skills as manifested in formal, psychological experiments. (CM)

Tenth graders solved mathematical problems assisted by varying amounts of help from their teacher. Significant differences occurred between students receiving aid and the unaided control group. Partial assistance resulted in better immediate performance, but this difference was less observable three weeks later. (Author/GDC)

Performance and persistence on the Concealed Figures Test and the Embedded Figures Test decreased: (1) after short-duration failure when subjects were falsely led to attribute failure to task difficulty; and (2) after long-duration failure when subjects were falsely led to attribute failure to lack of ability. (CP)