This editorial suggests how the approaches of differential psychology and information processing psychology should be combined to study intelligence. Methods reviewed include factor analysis, componential analysis, and computer simulation. Guidelines for the specification of subtheories of intelligence, as well as future theories and methods for…

This article discusses the innovative minority. Gifted students differ from the average students. There are those who argue that the differences are a matter merely of quantitative degree reference studies of IQ scores, or SAT scores, which are clearly quantitative scales, and point out that gifted students appear at the top level of these scales…

Major reasons for the continuing divergency of opinion as regards the nature and meaning of intelligence are examined. An appraisal of intelligence as a relative concept is proposed which advocates the necessity of specifying the reference systems to which a statement about intelligence refers. (EH)

Research psychologist Howard Gardner susggests that there are at least seven intelligences and that competence in these intelligences varies. The biological and cultural bases of this theory is explored. Implications for teachers are offered. (DF)

Analysis of the mental factors of seventh grade students indicates that numerical facility and perceptual speed are a single factor at this age level and that no purely verbal factor exists. Seven clearly differentiated factors are found for males and five for females. (Author/WY)

The entire thesis of "The Bell Curve" disintegrates due to biased use of data, misrepresentations, and logical inconsistencies. Five basic flaws are: inferring causality from correlation, use of dubious racial categories, contradictory arguments concerning the immutability of cognitive ability and the relative contributions of heredity…

This paper summarizes empirical findings of research on a theory of general mental ability, based on laboratory studies of the relationship between measurements of individual differences on conventional psychometric tests and in speed and efficiency of information processes. The paper covers characteristics of "g" (general mental ability),…

To assess the effects of individual attentional focus differences on measures of mental skills, distractibility was studied for 272 first- and second-year college undergraduates through a speeded visual search task and tests of mental and verbal ability. Results suggest that perceptual/attentional factors are an important aspect of measured…

The vocabulary and block design short forms of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition were administered to 63 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), 69 children with reading difficulties (RD), and 68 children with comorbid ADHD and RD. No significant differences were found. (Contains references.)…

A study examined the frequency and cognitive correlates of enlarged head circumference in 63 children with autism (ages 4-14). Macrocephaly occurred at a significantly higher frequency. Children with discrepantly high nonverbal abilities had a mean standardized head circumference that was more than 1 standard deviation greater than the reference…

In this study, children (ages 7-12) of average intelligence who had learning disabilities (LD) (n=29) and typical children (n=30) were individually tested in a task that investigated the development of proportional structures of thought. In addition, mathematical knowledge was assessed on the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement-Revised (WJTA-R).…

Compares the performances on psychometric and Piagetian measures of intelligence at school entry of children of different ethnic groups living within a dominant Western-type culture. In general, few significant differences between the ethnic groups are found. (Author/AM)

Arthur Jensen has argued that genetic differences in abstract reasoning ability, not cultural bias in the test item, are the causes of differences in standardized test performance between American Blacks and Whites. He used a study by Frank McGurk to support his argument. McGurk's study used test items judged most cultural or least cultural. These…

Three experiments were conducted with 91 male and 91 female university students to assess sex differences in performance on speeded matching tests and theory on same-different judgments. Results are interpreted via the dual-process hypothesis of same-difference judgments with sex differences explained in terms of serial comparison processes rather…