Scholastic achievement of extension and regular college students.

In a course on personnel management, the learning achieved in a class of 39 day students was compared with that of a class of 39 evening students. Each class was given both a pretest and an identical posttest for each of two units of the course content. The pretest means of the day students did not differ significantly from the posttest means of the evening students; and the posttest means of the evening students differed from a chance score by less than an amount significant at the 5 per cent level of confidence. "In view of the obtained results, a question was raised about the advisability of granting college credit for work performed in evening off-campus extension courses." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Erratum: Relative Importance of Applicant Sex, Attractiveness, and Scholastic Standing in Evaluation of Job Applicant Resumes.

Reports an error in the original article by author's name (Journal of Applied Psychology. Vol 60(1) Feb 1975, 39-43). On page 41, there were several typographical errors in Table 2. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1975-12628-001.) 30 college students and 30 professional interviewers rated and ranked bogus resumes on suitability for a managerial position. Applicant sex, physical attractiveness, and scholastic standing were systematically varied in the resumes. A 2 * 2 * 2 * 3 repeated measures analysis of variance on the ratings yielded 4 significant main effects (p     

Some perspectives on "the attenuation paradox in test theory."

Clarification is given of the "paradox" posed by Loevinger (see 29: 3299), i.e., "validity" (the product-moment r of test score with the common factor of test items) decreases upon the increase beyond a certain point of item intercorrelations in a test whose items are of equal difficulty. Four points are made: (1) the "region of paradox" is reduced using a curvilinear r rather than the usual product-moment "validity"; (2) the paradox's incidence in aptitude and achievement tests is not as great as is frequently believed; (3) over-all "validity" for a group is inferior to the test's discriminating power for a specified decision problem for a specific examinee; and (4) the conception that "… for optimum results the percentage of correct answers to each item should equal the percentage of examinees to be selected" is correct only if the latter percentage is 50. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparative study of aptitude patterns in unskilled and skilled psychomotor performances.

"A cross-sectional and longitudinal comparison was made of abilities involved at early and late stages of proficiency on a variety of complex psychomotor tasks… [by]… giving extended practice on seven different tasks to the same Ss who also received a battery of reference tests [from factor analyses]… . Factors were defined by the reference tests, and the resulting loadings of these in different stages of practice in the psychomotor tasks were examined. The results confirm and extend previous findings… which indicate considerable, but systematic, changes in the patterns of abilities contributing to proficiency on complex tasks as training continues and proficiency increases." 18 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interaction of Learner Aptitudes with Question Pacing in Learning from Prose.

In an experiment designed to explore the interaction of individual differences with question pacing in learning from written materials, 93 subjects were administered aptitude tests representing verbal comprehension and associative memory abilities. They were then randomly assigned to one of three treatments in which questions were placed after each page or every four pages, or were omitted from a prose passage. Posttest analysis of relevant and incidental retention showed that relevant retention increased with question insertion; however, no between-group differences were found in incidental retention. Multiple regression analysis of Aptitude × Treatment interactions showed that the combination of aptitude measures interacted significantly with treatment conditions for incidental retention. No interaction was obtained, however, for relevant retention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity and factor analyses of naval air training predictor and criterion measurers.

"The most substantial relationships existed between tests of academic aptitude and grades in the pre-flight phase of training. Tests of spatial and perceptual abilities correlated highest with final basic and advanced flight grades. Four significant factors derived by factor analysis were: perceptual, academic potential, comprehension of relationships, and applied spatial relations [these factors, however, accounted for only 51 percent of the total variance]. Although the inclusion of criterion variables did not reveal any new factors, it did aid considerably in defining those factors found." 15 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation of scholastic aptitude to socioeconomic status and to a rural-to-urban continuum.

The study was an attempt to identify factors that might bias performance on a college aptitude test. For a group of 100 southern white college freshmen, three measures were collected: ACE Psychological Examination scores, scores on a socioeconomic status scale, and scores on a residence history scale. No significant correlation was found between scholastic aptitude and socio-economic status. A significant low (.245-.308) correlation was found between residence history and scholastic aptitude, students with more urban backgrounds tending to earn higher scholastic aptitude scores. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Traité de psychologie appliquée, Livre Troisième. L'Utilisation des aptitudes, orientation et sélection professionnelles.

Reviews the book Traité de psychologie appliquée, Livre Troisième. L'Utilisation des aptitudes, orientation et sélection professionnelles by H. Piéron, M. Reuchlin, R. Bize, C. Béssy-Chauffard, S. Pacaud, P. Rennes (see record 1955-04213-000). This 415-page book is volume three in a projected seven-volume work on applied psychology being brought out under the editorship of H. Piéron. In the opening chapter of the work, the editor of the series calls attention to the importance of becoming professional regarding the utilization of aptitudes and the scope of his appeal is nationwide. The other four chapters in the first part deal successively with surveys regarding current knowledge of different kinds of aptitude, the criteria in terms of which prediction regarding vocational success can be made, the varying demands of different trades and occupations on human resources, and different modes and degrees of adaptation made by the individual upon entering a profession. The four chapters of part two are subsumed under the general heading of professional selection. This work represents a survey of the variety of ways in which psychological methods-testing, factor analysis, job analysis, etc. have been used in connection with different aspects of the complex personnel problem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of successful and unsuccessful students in the medical school at the University of Minnesota.

Test performance of 215 passing medical students was compared with that of 29 drop-outs because of scholastic failure. Mean score differences were computed for 9 measures, including high school rank, 2 honor-point ratio (grade) measures, ACE, Coop English Test, Medical College Admission Test, Minn. Medical Aptitude Test, SVIB, MMPI. Successful students make significantly higher pre-med course grades, Minn. Medical Aptitude Test scores, ACE scores, and lower scores on the L-scale of the MMPI. The other variable yielded only uncertain or no differentiation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive sex differences and mathematics and science achievement.

Comments on the original article "Sex Differences in Intrinsic Aptitude for Mathematics and Science?: A Critical Review," by E. S. Spelke (see record 2005-15840-001). Spelke considered "three claims that cognitive sex differences account for the differential representation of men and women in high-level careers in mathematics and science." The focus of this comment is on the claim regarding gender differences in mean levels of cognitive abilities. Spelke claimed (p. 954) that "most investigators of sex differences have concluded that males and females have equal cognitive ability, with somewhat different profiles." There are two major components to this comment. The first is mainly theoretical, and the second is both theoretical and empirical. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)