This paper discusses applications of intelligence tests in schools, considering Binet's original warnings that his tests were primarily useful for identifying students needing intervention and inappropriate for classifying normal students. American applications of Binet's work for ranking are seen as stages of shifting from remedial to custodial…

Tested a two-step infant preventive intervention model. Subjects were 147 multiproblem mothers and their infants. Data partially supported the model. Additional analyses explored factors associated with individual differences in delivery of services and response to treatment. (RH)

Tested model proposing that importance of work for individual depends on individual's perception of possibilities for attainment of personal salient work values through working. Responses from 1,872 high school students, 348 university students, and 344 adults to measures on importance of 20 work values, perceptions of their attainment…

An extension of the multidimensional Rasch model for learning and change is presented that permits theories of processes and knowledge structures to be incorporated into the item response model. The extension resolves basic problems in measuring change and permits adaptive testing. The method is illustrated in a study of mathematical problem…

This essay discusses the evaluation of the relationship between the nervous system and emotion regulation, introducing vagal tone as a measurable organismic variable that contributes to individual and developmental differences in the expression and regulation of emotion. (MDM)

Presents a conceptual framework for understanding individual and group differences. Identifies biological, societal, and intrapsychic origins of difference. Discusses valuation of differences as a source of social status and power, and the psychological uses of differences by individuals. Suggests applications of the model in social work practice…

Notes that psychologists' interest in behavioral development concerns individual differences in behavior. Explores complexities of genetic and environmental determination of development, and of canalization. Intelligence is considered as an example of the canalization of human behavior. (BC)

Maintains that (1) research questions must address intra- and extraorganism contextual relations and must be multidisciplinary in scope; (2) research must be sensitive to contextual variability and individual differences; and (3) scholars must develop empirically generative models linking the development of human beings with changing contexts. (BC)

College honors programs provide an especially promising context in which to promote reflective judgment by challenging and expanding students' intellectual horizons. However, faculty must carefully assess the different levels of cognitive development among their students, cultivate the skills of reflective judgment accordingly, and understand that…

Examines two models of educational theory developed by Franz Fischer. One model defines education as a categorical reflection on the difference between a presupposed versus scientifically-explicable world, while the other grounds moral education on awareness of demands of the other person. Applies the models to the problem of otherness. (CMK)

The Lawrence Township (Indianapolis, Indiana) school district has shifted from a traditional approach to programming for gifted and talented students to a talent development approach, creating a K-12 Talent Recognition and Development Program (TRAD). The program focuses on four talent areas: academic, visual/performing arts, technical/vocational,…

Presents French-speaking researchers' contribution to differential developmental psychology. Traces methodological and theoretical transformations necessary for understanding individual differences within a general theory of cognitive development. Provides overview of pluralistic and multidimensional model of cognitive functioning/development…

Emphasizes the benefits of cooperation between researchers in developing a comprehensive model of cognitive development that considers the constraints of human brain structures and the interplay of general laws of development and individual differences in developmental pathways within the context of social and cultural environments. (Author)

Discuess how sexuality is determined by multiple influences, including sociocutural factors. Presents a new paradigm that analyzes categories of human sexual behavior. A model of sexual orientation is presented that is based on multiplicity and examines overlapping identities and statuses of culture, age, race, ethnicity, class, and disability.…

Analyzed 1.5- and 2.5-year-olds' problem solving and learning. Found that changes in toddlers' strategies could be assessed reliably on a trial-by-trial basis, that changes followed the basic form predicted by the overlapping waves model, and that analyses could reveal information about the qualitative and quantitative aspects of their learning.…