Results of a statistical study of language in 30 infants suggest that two acquisition styles (nominal/pronominal and referential/expressive) are developing in parallel. Only for children heavily emphasizing one strategy can a distinctive style be determined. Results at 20 months were only partially predictive of performance at 28 months. (MSE)

Described a 50-item, self-administered neuropsychological screening test with test results correlating with three reference measures for three participant groupings--Normals (N=22), Psychiatric Patients (N=21) and Neurological Patients (N=14). Results suggested that neuropsychological self-description can correlate with performance measures that…

Constructed three new scales (neurotic, psychotic, and maladjustment overlap scales) to test the hypothesis that overlapping items of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory scales measure factors common to the criterion groups associated with the scales. Results support the hypothesis and the validity of the three new scales. (WAS)

Three paired-associate learning studies were designed to test the hypothesis that individual differences in learning speed are determined by the types of elaborative strategies used by learners during acquisition. Slow learners generate fewer elaborators and produce less effective elaborators, even when using the same strategy as fast learners.…

Describes the development of the Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL), an instrument to measure beliefs potentially important as reasons for not committing suicide. Factor analyses indicated six primary reasons for living. The RFL was given to Seattle shoppers (N=197) and psychiatric inpatients (N=195) and differentiated suicidal from nonsuicidal…

Explores particulars that may partially account for the remedial influence on development of interactions between infants and caregivers. Videotaped interactions between 20 prematurely born toddlers and their mothers were described in terms of dyadic joint attention to features of the environment. (Author/RH)

Field-dependent and independent subjects sorted geometric and verbal material according to category exemplars, forcing active learning, and then recalled the category locations. Field-independent individuals generally performed better on learning and memory tasks with a more active approach. Active versus passive learning styles are discussed.…

Reports two studies in which 12- to 13-year-old girls, half of whom were premenarcheal and half postmenarcheal, responded to pictures of infants. Concurrent assessments of interest in motherhood, cognitive sophistication about the relationship between menarche and childbearing, attitudes toward menarche, and sex-role self-image did not…

Compared segmentation in students (N=541) who read well while spelling poorly with that of good readers/spellers and poor readers/spellers. Irrespective of reading skill, the poor spellers showed difficulty in phonemic segmentation. Spelling error patterns of the two groups of poor spellers were similar and this was linked to their segmentation…

Considered personality variables related to postdivorce adjustment using a sample of 58 females and 31 males. Found persons with the best adjustment scored significantly higher on dominance/assertiveness, self-assurance, intelligence, creativity/imagination, social boldness, liberalism, self-sufficiency, ego strength and tranquility. (Author/JAC)

Subjects scaled 48 positive and 32 negative assertion vignettes according to similarity of difficulty to determine how people cognitively present complex social situations. Analyses indicated each dimension could be described according to major component(s) that contributed to it and dimensions varied in importance as a function of assertion…

Studied whether good memory, attributed to the psychopathic personality, also appears in juvenile offenders and whether such memory was long- or short-term. Compared Digit Span scores against Verbal IQ scores. Found Digit Span scores surpassed Verbal IQ scores. Effect was nonsignificantly more pronounced among more violent offenders. (JAC)

Guidelines are offered for teachers facing a class of students with wide differences in ability. (JD)

Adults' geometric analogy solution was investigated as a function of systematic variations in the information structure of items. Latency data from verification of true and false items were recorded. A model incorporating assumptions about the form of item representation, working memory factors, and processing components and strategies was…

The research review revealed that neither deception nor gullibility affects individual differences in acceptance, that subjects accurately recognize the triviality and actual accuracy of Barnum feedback, and that bogus feedback may persuade subjects to alter their self-evaluations slightly. The acceptance phenomenon manifests subjects' rationality…