Argues that a well-articulated theory of instruction provides a guide for the evaluation of computer-assisted instructional systems by helping to define the criteria. Individual differences, responsive environment, criterion-referenced education, and cognitive psychology are discussed in reference to adaptive education. Thirteen references are…

The attitudes of cognitively complex subjects were not more likely to polarize after thought. No differences between complex and noncomplex subjects were obtained with the original set, and with the replication set noncomplex subjects were more likely to polarize. Results suggest limitations on the generality of polarization. (Author)

Explores the relationship between a child's decoding ability and his mother's encoding ability. Subjects were 20 middle class preschoolers between 61-71 months of age and their mothers. (MP)

Presents a brief overview of research and developments in the study of formal operations thought since 1972 along with some speculations concerning future research directions. (Author/MP)

Analyzed the extent to which children's design activities followed the same pattern or differed, based on observations of a group of six-year olds over time. Found that all children in the sample demonstrated the ability to perceive, image, and model, which is a key to designing, and that teachers can intervene to promote children's designing…

Explored whether and how understanding of biological explanation changes with development. Found that adults and children similarly distinguished between biology and psychology and about specific processes underlying biological change. Children's attributions of intention to biological organs or body parts did not differ from those of adults.…

Individual differences in retention, with an emphasis on their relationship with learning speed and other cognitive factors, were studied in 685 military recruits. In all of the forgetting conditions, the fastest learners remembered more and relearned faster. Results support the existence of individual differences in retention. (SLD)

A development study involving 498 supervisors and a series of validity studies involving 531 adults identified primary dimensions, psychometric characteristics, and construct validation evidence for internal ability, internal propensity, and external propensity as domain-specific measures of feedback. Theoretical and practical extensions of the…

Provides a basis from which to critically examine contemporary identity research, by offering a definition of identity, a constructive criticism of the subject approach, and an empirical approach to studying sense of identity. The empirical approach is based on conceptually sound ideas and leads to important questions about identity modes and the…

A theory of personality is proposed to reconcile paradoxical findings on the invariance of personality and the variability of behavior across situations. Individuals are assumed to differ in the accessibility of cognitive-affective mediating units and the organizations of the interactions of these units and situations. (SLD)

A modal model of information processing was defined, and nine tasks that could be completed by persons with mental retardation were developed to operationalize the model. Results showed that individual differences in higher mental processes are highly dependent on basic cognitive abilities and can be predicted from them. (Author/JDD)

Twenty-two college students from each of three different epistemological groups--dualistic, multiplistic, and relativistic--completed both a syllogism and ink blot problem-solving task. Findings indicated that the three epistemological groups reliably differed in how they mentally organized the ink blot stimuli but not the syllogism problems.…

Administered a battery of psychometric ability tests to 211 undergraduates and 622 other adults ranging in age from 43 to 78. Findings were consistent with the view that speed of information processing can be an important correlate of individual differences in rates of intellectual aging and a performance-specific confound that distorts estimates…

In experimental time estimation research, it has consistently been found that the more a person is engaged in some kind of demanding cognitive activity within a given period of time, the more experienced duration of this time interval decreases. However, the role of individual differences has been largely ignored in this field of research. In a…