Three topics in factor analysis are covered: a) a reliability coefficient for assessing the quality of a maximum likelihood factor analysis, b) an application of three-mode factor analysis to serial learning data, showing variations in learning curves over stages of learning and individuals, and c) the use of personal probability functions to…

Two ways of teaching a course in adolescent development and learning were compared. Sections of normal size were taught as usual, while large sections had instruction augmented with televised illustrations. With the exception of these illustrations, resources were the same for both classes and included a programed text. Results on two types of…

After a brief discussion of the physiological effects of drugs on the human body, seven distinctive features of drug usage in the United States since the start of World War II are noted, and initiation into drug usage is described. The notion of a distinct personality type of addicts is not favored since terms used to characterize the type are not…

This profile of significant research findings comprises a framework for analyzing and synthesizing information on the cognitive development of children. The variables used to systematize the literature search were: perception; motor development; language; conceptual activity; and learning, memory, and problem solving. The findings are arranged…

The subjective magnitude estimation (SME) procedure was used to obtain estimates of relative word frequency from two adult groups (15 lexicographers, 13 other adults) for 60 words ranging widely in objective frequency. Lexicographers rendered more reliable estimates, and their averaged data correlated more highly with objective log frequency than…

This study is an attempt to identify one source of individual differences in the extent to which readers learn from text and the means for accommodating it. Eighty college students were administered a series of aptitude tests and randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups. The subjects then received six passages, each passage followed by a…

Two distinct anxiety factors, labeled trait anxiety and state anxiety, were identified. The trait anxiety factor was interpreted as measuring stable individual differences while the state anxiety factor defined a transitory state of the organism that varied over time. A trait-state conception of anxiety was then proposed that specified the…

Research on Trait by Treatment Interaction must become more coordinated. It should include systematic programs by individual investigators as well as those among investigators. Important factors to consider are (1) developing a clearer definition of traits which will include availability and preference as well as aptitude and ability in both the…

This study attempted to answer the following three questions: 1) Do students of grades four through seven perform equally well on both syncretistic understanding and logical thinking? 2) Do boys perform as well as girls on these two types of thinking? 3) Do students whose parents have a higher educational level perform as well as students whose…

The instructional model (IM) that is the basis of this evaluation resulted from the merger of two major Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) projects--the Primary Education Project (PEP) and the Individually Prescribed Instruction (IPI) project. This paper examines the Center's publications relative to the problem of evaluation of such…

Eleven studies made between 1958 and 1960 gathered information about the conditions under which children seek out television and under which TV has an effect on them. This book describes these studies and reports and interprets their results. In the first few chapters, some of the changes TV has made in the child's world are described, and…

Three quantitative measures which assess instructional material in terms of the rationale of adapting are reported. The first index is termed the consequence ratio, which evaluates diagnostic items in terms of how effectively time is used. The second measure, termed predictive validity, evaluates the accuracy of diagnostic test predictions. The…

The High School Characteristics Index (HSCI) is an instrument designed to measure environmental press. Measurement characteristics of the HSCI used to measure differences among the responses of individuals are contrasted with those obtained for the HSCI used to measure differences among aggregate group responses. (Author)

The authors administered the Isolation Symptomatology Questionnaire to persons living in Antarctica who were either well or maladjusted to their environment. Eliminating those items not discriminating between the two groups, the authors constructed a new isolation scale. (SE)

New residents in University halls hoped for more help from housing staff than they got and some formed negative impressions of staff before they moved in. Satisfiers stemmed from variables intrinsic to dorm life and dissatisfiers stemmed from extrinsic variables. (Author)