Reasoning on social dilemmas varying in emotional saliency: An adult developmental perspective.

Examined age-comparative evidence of social cognitive reasoning in adulthood, as mediated by the emotional saliency of tasks tapping postformal reasoning. Specifically, the tasks focused on the ability to resolve discrepant accounts of the same event sequence. It was assumed that less mature thinking may be more evident in reasoning contexts in which emotional factors play a major role. A postformal coding scheme was used to assess levels of reasoning in an interpersonal context. Tasks were administered to 60 Ss—20 adolescents (aged 14–16.5 yrs), 20 young adults (aged 20–25 yrs), and 20 mature adults (aged 30–46 yrs). Measures of formal operations, ego level, and verbal ability were also administered, including the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Sentence Completion Test. An interaction was found between age and degree of emotional saliency of the task for reasoning level. Specifically, adolescents performed less well on tasks higher in degree of emotional saliency. In addition, developmental differences in postformal reasoning as a function of age and ego level were found. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interfering and facilitating effects of test anxiety.

Performance on a conceptual task (embedded figures) varying in difficulty was related to levels of anxiety and intelligence. "The results… were interpreted as supporting the thesis that the effect of anxiety on performance, whether facilitating or interfering, is mediated primarily by defensive reactions to the anxiety… . [and] that the differential effects of anxiety upon performance may vary systematically depending upon both intelligence level and type of task and instructions." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of two screening tests (the Matrix Analogies Test—Short Form and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test) with the WISC-III.

This study examined the concurrent validity of two brief intelligence tests, the Matrix Analogies Test—Short Form (MAT; J. A. Naglieri, 1985) and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT; A. S. Kaufman & N. L. Kaufman, 1990), with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Third Edition (WISC-III; D. Wechsler, 1991) using a sample of 50 referred students who were attending a large urban school district. The MAT/WISC-III and K-BIT/WISC-III correlations were high and did not differ significantly in magnitude (rs?=?.67 and .78, respectively). Both screening tests tended to give scores that were significantly higher than the WISC-III Full Scale IQ. Administration time was under 10 min for both screening tests. The MAT and K-BIT appeared to be equally useful as screening tests when the WISC-III was the criterion measure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Gestalt theory of healthy aggression in beyond-control youth.

Administered 6 tests (e.g., the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised [WISC—R], the Embedded Figures Test) to 30 runaway/incorrigible 14–16 yr old females and 30 age-, race-, socioeconomic status (SES)-, and IQ-matched females to test the Gestalt theory of healthy aggression. Results indicate that runaway/incorrigibles have difficulty taking apart or analyzing a situation in order to formulate an appropriate response. It is suggested that the task of growing to maturity is twofold. First, the adolescent must sharpen the ego functions—the discriminating, structuring, organizing, analyzing abilities—so that the range of the self or the figure/background process becomes more complex, various, and mature. In addition, as adolescents break confluence with parents, they must establish a healthy oneness in a mature love relationship, a profession, and all aspects of living. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental cognitions of first practicum supervisees.

Investigated the influence of ego development (Loevinger, 1976) on in-session cognitions of supervisees at the same experience level. 27 first-practicum students completed the Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development (SCT; Loevinger & Wessler, 1970) and scored at 3 ego levels: self-aware, conscientious, and individualistic. They videotaped actual counseling sessions and then followed a standardized recall ("thinking aloud") procedure (Dole et al., 1982). Their retrospections were postcoded for content; Kruskal-Wallis tests were calculated to investigate differences by ego level. Results indicate no significant effects of ego level on the time, place, focus, locus, or orientation of the retrospections. Supervisees at higher ego levels, however, did report significantly fewer negative thoughts (mode) about their clients and themselves and tended to report more objective, neutral in-session processing. In accordance with developmental models of supervision, both experience level and ego level appeared to define stage of counselor development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial development and stressful life events among religious professionals.

Within the framework of the theory of adult male psychosocial development outlined by D. J. Levinson et al (1978), the present study explored the relationship between ego identity, commitment age, and recent life change stress among 272 27–34 yr old Roman Catholic religious professional men. Instruments included the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale, and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. A religious life experience survey was developed to measure recent life-change stress. As predicted, Ss with higher levels of ego identity characterized recent life change less negatively; those with lower levels judged it to be more noxious. Commitment age was not related to the percentage of recent life changes characterized as negative or to ego identity level. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that ego identity contributed modestly but significantly to the percentage of recent life change characterized as negative. Findings indicate that a well-developed identity structure is both a stable frame of reference and a mediator of stressful life events, and that a poorly developed sense of identity is more closely related to Ss rating recent life change events as having a negative impact on their lives. (57 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methodological errors in the prediction of ability.

Claims that U. Neisser et al (see record 83-26553) failed to challenge repeated methodological errors in the prediction of intellectual ability in their APA Task Force Report on Intelligence. Two such errors, one related to monozygotic twins, and the other related to the absence of information on the actual Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score distributions in group studies, are discussed. To the extent that the task force did challenge such errors, they tended to sustain, however unintentionally, the hereditarian position. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-enhancing and self-defeating ego orientation: Relations with task and avoidance orientation, achievement, self-perceptions, and anxiety.

Recent research in motivation has identified 2 main goal orientations: task orientation and ego orientation. Two studies of 6th- and 8th-grade Norwegian students tested the prediction that there are different dimensions of ego orientation (self-defeating and self-enhancing), that they may be separated from other goal orientations, and that they relate differently to academic achievement, self-concept, self-efficacy, self-esteem, anxiety, and intrinsic motivation. Results from both studies supported the predictions. The correlation between self-defeating and self-enhancing ego orientation was small, and these constructs had different relations to other variables in the study. Self-defeating ego orientation was associated with high anxiety and was negatively related to achievement and self-perceptions. Self-enhancing ego orientation was positively related to achievement, self-perceptions, and intrinsic motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity of the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test.

The Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT) is a motor-free screening measure of intelligence that yields Verbal, Nonverbal, and Composite IQ estimates. To determine its concurrent validity, the K-BIT and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS—R) were administered as part of a neuropsychological examination to 200 clinical patients (aged 16–74 yrs). Correlations between the Verbal, Nonverbal, and Composite scales of the 2 measures were .83, .77, and .88, respectively. WAIS—R and K-BIT scores were also similar across age and educational levels, although mean K-BIT scores tended to be approximately 5 points higher than their WAIS—R counterparts. Differences between the 2 measures could not be attributed to psychomotor speed, expressive language, or manual dexterity. The K-BIT appears to be a promising screening measure of verbal, nonverbal, and general intellectual ability for use when time constraints preclude use of a longer measure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ego identity, social anxiety, social support, and self-concealment in lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals.

This study examined a model in which the relationship between social anxiety and two dimensions of ego identity (commitment and exploration) was expected to be mediated by social support and self-concealment for a sample of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals (N=347). Statistically significant paths were found from social anxiety to social support and self-concealment. Statistically significant paths were also found from social support to commitment, exploration, and self-concealment. There were no significant paths from social anxiety to commitment or exploration. Structural equation analyses and bootstrap procedures revealed support for the potential mediational role of social support in the association between social anxiety and the two dimensions of ego identity as well as in the link between social anxiety and self-concealment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in cognitive processes.

Studied the effects of verbal ability and sex on performance in a simultaneous matching task. The 537 undergraduates who participated were administered the verbal battery of the Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Test. Ss with high-verbal ability (high verbals) were much faster than Ss with low-verbal ability (low verbals) in making taxonomic category identity matches and homophone identity matches. Results suggest that verbal ability is related to the speed of retrieval from long-term memory. In addition, high verbals were faster in making physical identity word matches, suggesting that either lexicographically coded information stored in long-term memory is used in such a task or that verbal ability is also related to the speed of retrieval from short-term memory. As expected, males did not differ from females in the time they required to perform any of the matching tasks, although males made slightly more errors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictive validity of readiness tests for middle and lower socioeconomic status Anglo, Black, and Mexican American children.

Administered the Metropolitan Readiness Tests, Slosson Intelligence Test, Slosson Oral Reading Test, Clymer-Barrett Prereading Battery, and Language and Concepts subtests of the Tests of Basic Experiences to 411 Anglo, Black, and Mexican-American first-grade children from middle and lower socioeconomic status (SES) homes. Criterion variables consisted of measures of intelligence at 2nd grade and achievement at 2nd and 4th grades. 77% of the correlations were statistically significant for the total sample. However, important differences existed between the 3 racial-ethnic groups and 2 social classes. The readiness tests tended to be most valid for Anglos and least valid for Blacks. Within each racial-ethnic group, the tests tended to be more valid for middle than for lower SES Ss. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and flexible remembering: Contributions of conceptual span, fluid intelligence, and frontal functioning.

Aging attenuates the capacity to adaptively and flexibly use episodic memory at different levels of specificity. Older and younger adults were tested on a picture recognition task that required them to make episodic memory decisions at an item-specific (verbatim) versus category-based (gist-based) level on randomly intermixed trials. Specificity modulation was assessed using a measure of the likelihood that participants retrieved verbatim information in order to reject test items that were categorically related to studied items under item-specific recognition instructions (recollection rejection). We found that this measure positively correlated with conceptual span (an index of short-term semantic memory) and with level of fluid intelligence in older and younger adults. However, when we simultaneously considered each of four possible contributors (age, conceptual span, fluid intelligence, and frontal function), the only significant predictor of recollection rejection was the composite fluid intelligence measure (assessed by the Culture Fair Intelligence Test [Cattell & Cattell, 1960] and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised Block Design subtest [Wechsler, 1981]). These findings suggest that interventions that facilitate adaptive specificity modulation in episodic memory may enhance the flexibility of thinking, and vice versa, in both older and younger adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual complexity and preferred coping strategies in anticipation of temporally predictable and unpredictable threat.

Conceptualized the coping strategies of vigilance and avoidance as information search patterns, which were viewed from an information-processing perspective. Conceptual complexity (measured here by the Paragraph Completion Test) was examined as a mediator of response to environmental stress. The major issues of interest were whether (1) the choice of a vigilant or avoidant coping strategy would be related to individual differences in conceptual complexity level, (2) differences in complexity level would be related to patterns of physiological arousal and subjective anxiety, and (3) the cognitive performance of conceptually complex and simple Ss would be differentially affected by variations in environmental threats. 120 female undergraduates served as Ss. Contrary to expectation, the results indicate that when anticipating a temporally unpredictable shock, conceptually simple Ss were more vigilant (behaviorally and cognitively) and reported more subjective anxiety than conceptually complex Ss. Results also indicate that the conceptually complex Ss exhibited higher levels of skin conductance overall than the conceptually simple Ss. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Praise, involvement, and intrinsic motivation.

In this experiment, we examined the relation between content of praise, type of involvement, and intrinsic motivation. College students were introduced to a hidden-figure task in either an ego-involving (i.e., testlike) or task-involving (i.e., gamelike) manner and then received either ability-focused, effort-focused, or no praise for their performance. As predicted, task involvement increased intrinsic motivation relative to ego involvement, and ability praise increased intrinsic motivation relative to effort praise or no praise. Furthermore, praise and involvement interacted so that subjects who received effort praise were relatively more intrinsically motivated under task-involving than ego-involving conditions, whereas those who received ability praise were relatively more motivated under ego-involving than task-involving conditions. Also, the higher levels of intrinsic motivation were accompanied by a choice of higher level of challenge and better performance at a related but more complex task. Finally, a significant Sex?×?Praise interaction was found, reflecting that women tended to display more intrinsic motivation in the no-praise condition than in the two praise conditions, whereas men showed the reverse pattern. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test anxiety and intellectual performance.

High school students were administered 2 anxiety scales, the Test Anxiety Scale and a Need for Achievement scale. Scores on these tests were related to scores on the School and College Ability Test (SCAT). Test anxiety was found to be negatively correlated with SCAT scores. The negative correlations obtained tended to be larger for female than for male Ss. The Need for Achievement scale showed only a slight tendency to correlate negatively with SCAT scores. The results were interpreted as being consistent with the conception of anxiety as an interfering nonintellectual influence on intellectual performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Symptom and dynamic cues in the implosive treatment of test anxiety.

Divided 61 test-anxious college males, matched for IQ and level of test anxiety, into 5 treatment groups: (a) a symptom group given implosive therapy based on cues related symptomatically to test anxiety, (b) a dynamic group imploded with cues based on the assumed dynamics of test anxiety, (c) a general anxiety group imploded with a set of general anxiety cues assumed minimally related to test anxiety, (d) a placebo group which imagined scenes based on neutral cues, and (e) a no-treatment group. Following 3 sessions of treatment presented via tape recorders, Groups a and b improved significantly on Wonderlic intelligence scores, GPA, and reported level of anxiety on final exams, but not on the Alpert-Haber Test Anxiety Scale. Group c reported significant decreases in general anxiety as measured by Wolpe's Fear Inventory. Results support a general learning theory consonant with implosive therapy that conceives of test anxiety as being a combination of anxiety attached to both symptom and dynamic cues, and indicate that implosive therapy can be a rapid means of reducing test anxiety. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathy and violent crime.

Examined the relations between psychopathy, violence, and impulsiveness of criminal behavior within a White prisoner sample of 76 Ss, using level of intelligence as a moderator variable. Prisoners were given the MMPI, the California Psychological Inventory, the Wide Range Achievement Test, and the IPAT Culture Free Intelligence Test (Scale 2). Unlike most prior research, psychopathy was found to be predictive of violence but only for less intelligent criminals; about 90% of this group had committed a violent crime compared to 58% for the remainder of the sample. Similarly, the psychopaths with limited intelligence evidenced the greatest impulsivity in the commission of their crimes relative to bright psychopaths or nonpsychopathic criminals at either level of intelligence. The implications of the findings for the importance of moderating cognitive variables in personality predictions are discussed. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in reaction to failure: Mode of coping with anxiety and interference proneness.

The study begins with the proposition that the individual's mode of coping with anxiety and his ability to resist and overcome the interference of anxiety in cognitive functioning are important determinants of performance under stress. It was decided to employ output or speed of performance as a measure of changes in motivation, and errors as a measure of interference. A suitable instrument that combined both measures was at hand in the Minnesota Clerical Test (MCT; Andrew & Paterson, 1946). This is a test of speed and accuracy which involves the scanning of pairs of numbers and of names and the detection of minor differences between the members of a pair. Subjects (65 student nurses) were divided into goal oriented and ego oriented groups and subdivided into high and low interference prone groups. Various aspects of performance on a cognitive task preceding and following failure in a situation in which they were motivated to succeed were compared. The results supported the hypotheses (a) that the goal oriented subjects increase output significantly following failure, whereas the ego oriented subjects do not, and (b) that the high interference prone subjects make more errors after failure than before, whereas the low interference prone subjects do not. Some of the implications of these results for the general problem of individual differences in performance under stress were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ego development in college.

Administered the Sentence Completion Test for ego development to several cohorts of students between 1971 and 1979 at a technological institute (Tech) and between 1974 and 1979 at a predominantly liberal arts university (MU). Ego level tended to rise slightly except among females at MU, for whom there was a slight but consistent loss. This particular finding challenges one assumption of a widely accepted version of Piagetian theory (i.e., that stage development is irreversible). Females tended to enter MU slightly ahead of males in ego level but left at the same level. Contrary to expectation, males and females appeared to gain more at Tech than at MU; the difference was significant only for females. (54 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)