Private self-consciousness (PSC) refers to the dispositional tendency to be attentive to the private, covert aspects of oneself. Studies were conducted to investigate whether there are motivational underpinnings for individual differences in level of PSC. Four separate studies were conducted at three different institutions. Study 1 (N=59) results…

While attributions have traditionally been viewed as social cognition variables, some researchers have proposed that individual differences exist in attributional patterns and that these patterns are differentially related to and predictive of various behaviors. A study was conducted to examine the question of attribution style as a trait-like…

Infants' exploration of their environment has been considered by Piaget and others to provide a vehicle for cognitive development. Little research, however, has examined in detail what infants actually do while exploring or how exploratory behavior is related to other aspects of cognitive functioning. The present investigation was designed to…

Research on women in atypical occupations has generally focused on highly educated women and has neglected to compare atypically employed women to equally educated women in sex-typical occupations. Since the median American worker has only 13.6 years of schooling, the lack of research on the personality characteristics of noncollege-degreed women…

While research has examined both life satisfaction and intellectual functioning of older adults, the relationship between these two dimensions has been investigated very little. A study was conducted to explore continuity in intellectual functioning over time in advanced old age, continuity in life satisfaction during the same period, the…

While past research has documented the independent effects of individual difference characteristics and contextual information on perceptions of leadership, it has not investigated the simultaneous effects. This study explored the interactive effects of these factors under the hypothesis that dispositional characteristics should be more strongly…

Previous research has concluded that no reliable individual differences have been demonstrated in goal-setting studies, probably because the goals were assigned rather than set by the individuals. This study examined individual's self-set goals, certainty, and task performance of two work periods in a group setting as a function of Type A behavior…

The source of employee recruitment has been related to numerous important work outcomes (e.g., turnover, performance), but reasons for this relationship are not known. To test the viability of two possible explanations for recruiting source effects, i.e., employee level of realistic expectation, or individual differences, information was gathered…

Two processing abilities used to solve spatial problems are examined: (1) the analog ability of structural visualization; and (2) the non-analog ability of verbal analytic reasoning. The distinction is based on an evaluation of information processing theory and a review of process-oriented studies of individual differences. Criteria are presented…

Recent research in persuasion shows that while message recipients often use little cognitive effort when assessing message validity, they may instead rely on a heuristic processing strategy. This study used a priming-like paradigm to manipulate the reliability that subjects apply to the heuristic "message length implies message strength." Subjects…

This final report reviews the main theoretical and empirical developments concerning components of individual differences in human intelligence. The report is divided into three main sections. The first briefly reviews alternative approaches to understanding the nature of intelligence. The second provides the proposed componential metatheory, a…

When preschool children were given a choice of activities, they spent significantly more time working with puzzles/brissle blocks than they did working at a computer. Sex and age differences were not statistically significant. Wide individual differences in the "holding power" of both the computer and puzzles/brissle blocks were found.…

A critical review of Jensen's book which contains a reprint of the original controversial 1969 "Harvard Educational Review" article, 5 related articles by Jensen, and a bibliography of related articles. (EH)

The possibility that significant differences exist between college student subgroups, as measured by the Omnibus Personality Inventory (OPI), was tested with 99 university students and was supported. Intellectual disposition variables consistently yielded significant differences among subgroups. (Author)

Three studies explored some of the dimensions of the present crisis facing the Catholic church. A scale was developed to assess the liberal-conservative nature of this conflict. Liberal religious attitudes were associated with degree and amount of liberal religious education and with achievement, motivation, and intelligence within a liberal…