Reviews the current theories concerning individual differences in cognitive functioning. While some argue that heredity places a genetic cap on intellectual development, others emphasize the dynamic interrelationship between cultural and environmental factors. Concludes that intelligence is more complex than the heredity advocates allow. (MJP)

Most of the chapters in this book grew out of the Conference on the Academic Performance of Minority Children held at Cornell University in 1982. Six hypotheses about minority school achievement are presented. After a general introduction by Ulric Neisser, John Ogbu describes the effects of caste and argues that black school children are preparing…

A synthesis of literature on the Mexican Americans of Texas and the Southwest provides an overview of the general research findings. The volume is intended as a resource for teachers and others who work with Mexican American children. Part 1 is a concise history of the population. Part II presents a synthesis of current literature on the social…

Swedish longitudinal studies of twins support Scarr-Salapatek's explanation of nature-nurture influences on intelligence. This model predicts more genetic variance in test results for advantaged than disadvantaged groups. Jensen's work, however, suggests equal amounts of variance among different social classes. (Author/CP)

IN THE LONGITUDINAL BERKELEY GROWTH STUDY, SUBJECTS WERE TESTED AT 16, 18, 21, AND 26 YEARS ON THE WECHSLER-BELLEVUE, AND AT 36 YEARS ON THE WECHSLER ADULT INTELLIGENCE SCALE, WHICH CONTAIN BOTH VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL SUBSCALES. THE MOST CONSISTENT INCREASES IN MEAN SCORES OVER THE PERIOD WERE IN INFORMATION, VOCABULARY, AND COMPREHENSION. DIGIT…

Four models are developed to provide a conceptual basis for a curvilinear relation between intelligence and an individual's influence over group members. The models deal with influence and percentile placement in intelligence, comprehension by potential followers, vulnerability to rival intellects, and correlation between mean group IQ and the…

This author reviews published data and presents new data relevant to the Spearman hypothesis concerning racial differences on cognitive tests. He concludes that across-the-board difference between SES groups occurs primarily on the general factor, and that there are major determinants of race differences independent of the general factor.…

The author responds to criticisms made by Jensen pertaining to tests of the Spearman hypothesis. The near-zero correlation between Blacks and low socio-economic status Whites is neither an artifact of methodology nor a sampling fluke. Low and high SES White differences are highly correlated with general factor loadings. (LMO)

Presents a rather obtuse and apologetic defense of "The Bell Curve," claiming that the authors have been wrongfully accused of racist tendencies while admitting the many examples in the book that support the claim. Maintains that the book objectively examines important issues of class, intelligence, and social stratification. (MJP)

Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used to test first- and second-order factor models on cognitive abilities and their invariance across male and female samples. Subjects were a stratified random sample of 234 male and 225 female 15-year-old students in Singapore attending Secondary 3 (the equivalent of grade 9). Four first-order factors were found…

Psychologists and a few sociologists have provided the academic respectability for the political rationale that the American body politic's civil rights indigestion needs a resurrected, separate but equal diet. Today, it is intellectually respectable to question the genetic equality of whites and blacks, to assert the cognitive incapacities of…

This study is one of a series on cognitive behavior related to lingual types among Navaho children. The present work has aimed at gaining additional descriptive data regarding the effects of lingual types (compound bilinguals, Egnlish-speaking monolinguals, and Navaho-speaking monolinguals) on school achievement as measured by the Metropolitan…

Results of seventh-grade students taking Scholastic Aptitude Test indicate that, by age 13, a large sex difference in mathematical reasoning ability exists; among students scoring greater than 700, boys outnumbered girls 13 to 1. Hypothesized factors thought to influence the difference (such as course taking, attitudes) were not supported by data…

Differences in learning processes were studied in more versus less intellectually able undergraduate students. Thirty subjects were selected to represent a wide range of general and mathematical reasoning abilities, based on the following test scores: Necessary Arithmetic Operations and Vocabulary Test V2 from the Educational Testing Service ETS…

This final report reviews the second phase of a life-span study of boys with fragile X syndrome (FSX), the most common known inherited cause of mental retardation. Males with the syndrome are more severely affected than females and in males, delays are usually evident in all the developmental domains, although cognitive and communication skills…