The incidence of autism spectrum disorders has increased dramatically over the past two decades, yet these disorders are still poorly understood. By considering the viewpoints of autistics themselves, together with evidence from the scientific literature, it becomes clear that autism spectrum disorders are not always the debilitating conditions…

Patterns of intellectual ability of Arab children aged 6 to 16 years were examined using the new Arab WISC-R. As in prior work, a distinct profile emerged: relative superiority in Verbal over Performance IQ's which diminished with age as a flat profile emerged in adolescence. An environmental explanation is offered. (Author/RD)

A study looked for age differences in the quality of responses to the Life Review Task (LRT), studied the LRT itself as a tool for exploring wisdom and intellectual functioning in adulthood, and considered personality characteristics and life experience as alternative predictors of response quality. Sixty-three West German women of different ages…

Zajonc and Bargh's (EJ 241 537) application of the confluence model to six national data sets is critiqued. Extreme differences in intelligence levels are predicted between nations, including substantial retardation for some populations. Moreover, the parameter values used do not allow mental growth functions which are consistent with previous…

According to confluence theory, a child is helped or hindered in intellectual development according to the average absolute intelligence (mental age) in the family when the child is born. An analysis of test scores, family information, and socioeconomic data of 36,000 college applicants in Colombia failed to support this theory. (Author/CP)

The extent to which schooling brings about change in the rank order of students along the hierarchies of intelligence is a pervasive sociological concern. Until quite recently the emerging consensus was that schooling is relatively ineffective in this regard and that intelligence is largely exogenous to the educational process. A study to…

Six Hong Kong preschoolers with Down syndrome who attended a center-based educational intervention program were assessed and matched on age, mental age (MA), and IQ. Three of the preschoolers also attended regular preschools two days per week. After a year, the children who also had attended regular preschool had higher MA and IQ. (Author/CR)

Adolescents, ages 11-12 and 13-14, were tested for maturity of judgment about stability-change situations and about time perspective. (CP)