A personality construct, preference for course difficulty, was related to test anxiety in a sample of 62 graduate students. Path analysis indicated that trait anxiety directly affects test anxiety and that preference for course difficulty affects test anxiety. The preference for course structure construct was validated. (LMO)

Forty-eight mentally retarded adults completed a semi-projective sentence completion task designed to identify major categories of self-representation. Identified domains (including work, social conformity and dependency, eventfulness/boredom, and interpersonal relations) are poorly represented on widely used global self-concept measures, and the…

Using data from personality adjustment questionnaires, 15 regular class children were compared to their gifted program siblings and to a group placed in gifted programs along with their siblings. Results suggested that the subgroup perceived by parents as less gifted than their siblings may be more prone to personality adjustment problems.…

Raymond B. Cattell's research has produced many conceptual, methodological, measurement, and data analysis tools for identifying and studying interindividual differences and similarities in intraindividual change patterns. Additional Cattell contributions to lifespan developmental research include personality and ability concepts and their…

University students representing two levels of teaching experience were compared while interacting with one of two child conferates displaying distractible behavior. Each adult completed the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey. Results suggested that experienced teachers took a more "task oriented" approach providing more instruction…

This study examines the factor structure of response to the masculinity-femininity (MF) scale of the Comrey Personality Scales for males and females. The use of confirmatory factor analysis for testing hierarchical factor structures and factorial invariance is illustrated. The findings argue that MF is a multifaceted, hierarchical construct.…

Based on research which has followed the behavioral development of 133 subjects from infancy to early adulthood, discusses incidence of behavior disorders, defines the concept of temperament, and briefly discusses findings. Remarks on the usefulness of the "goodness of fit" concept for tracing developmental sequences. (GC)

This study investigated: (1) the relationship between academic achievement and student-faculty personality congruence in terms of field dependence; and (2) field dependence predictability by age, sex, and cumulative grade point average. The Group Embedded Figures Test identified the field dependence levels of 386 community college student and…

The purpose of this paper is to bring together various elements that portray the complex conceptuality of cultural identity within technological society. It engages in a theoretical inquiry into the questions of how the wide-ranging uses young people are now making of new information and communication technologies and global media may possess the…

Measures of normal variations in personality, called "psychological type," are frequently used in education (e.g., to identify learning styles) and counseling (e.g., in career counseling). However, the most frequently used measure of types has been criticized on various psychometric grounds. The present study investigated the…

The growing concern for the development of teenagers has brought up issues regarding the role of the family system in shaping the personality traits of children. Alfred Adler (1870-1937), an Austrian psychiatrist who introduced the psychological/therapeutic model, "Individual Psychology," highlighted the importance of birth order…

This report discusses the outcomes of a study that examined a hypothesis about the acquisition of behavioral inhibitions offered by Hans Eysenck, which suggests that what is often described as morality or conscience is acquired through conditioning experiences to which individuals respond differently according to their temperament-based…

Investigates the impact of interpersonal relationships on decision-making success in small groups using a business simulation game as a research vehicle. The study concludes that group decision making may be unfavorably affected by personality conflicts. (Author/JJD)

Identity is the complex way a person identifies with, and is identified by, his environment. Multiple identities result from the many ways a person has been successfully identified. Identities coexist; sometimes the dominance of one over others becomes evident, and a vertical structure of identities arises. (CS)