Executive function (EF) skills are the attention-regulation skills that make it possible to sustain attention, keep goals and information in mind, refrain from responding immediately, resist distraction, tolerate frustration, consider the consequences of different behaviors, reflect on past experiences, and plan for the future. As EF research…

Young children's relationships with teachers predict social and academic success. This study examines contributions of child temperament (shyness, effortful control) and gender to teacher-child relationship quality both directly and indirectly through the frequency of teacher-child interactions in the classroom. Using an NICHD SECCYD sample of 819…

Reports on a study of the effects of culture, gender, and age on interpersonal distance, body orientation, and touch among 381 same-sex and mixed-sex dyads in 7 nations. Finds that more touch was observed among Italian and Greek dyads than among English, French, and Dutch dyads. (CFR)

To determine if personality characteristics reflect influences of culture, while sex differences remain similar across cultures, 100 Indonesian and 100 American college students completed the Cattell Clinical Analysis Questionnaire, in the appropriate language. An analysis of the results showed that females in both cultures were higher than males…

Rigidity, as it relates to aging, refers to motor/cognitive, personality/perceptual, and psychomotor functioning. To investigate the relationship of rigidity to intelligence and educational level in younger and older adults, and of rigidity to age and sex, 48 young adults (25 male, 23 female), with a mean age of 23, and 45 older adults (21 male,…

Discusses results of a study of computer programers which assessed the emotional and social needs met by their interaction with computers, programers, and nonprogrammers. Since a significant portion of respondents expressed preference for computer interaction, an examination of needs fulfilled by computer interaction is presented, and societal…

Administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory to 91 male alcoholics after detoxification. Results indicated that the Psychopathic Deviant and Paranoia scales declined with age, while the Responsibility scale increased with age. (JAC)

Career interests and self-efficacy (using J. L. Holland's realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional types for both) and the big five personality dimensions (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) were used to predict college students' career exploration behaviors approximately 18…

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are subjective experiences at the threshold of death which can include strong positive affect, dissociation from the physical body, and paranormal/transcendental phenomena. Empirical investigation of NDEs has typically relied upon retrospective reports and personality studies of individuals who have come close to…

This study investigated whether significant group, gender, and grade differences existed in the learning style preferences of high school students with learning disabilities (n=53) and gifted students (n=64). Findings indicated significant group differences in preferences for light, design, and kinesthetic modality, as well as for motivation,…

Adolescent determination of behavior can be viewed as the result of perceived locus of control. To investigate adolescent perceptions of control in terms of age, loci of control (internal or external), situations (community and home), and direction of control (from or over the environment), 909 adolescents (345 males, 564 females), aged 11-19,…

A study of 30 female and 18 male talented high school students found significant differences on the High School Personality Questionnaire on the factors of submissiveness and tough-mindedness. Talented males also differed from comparison males. There were no differences between talented females and comparison females. (Author/DB)

Administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and the Problem Solving Inventory to 20 Black and 32 White inmates. Recidivists scored significantly higher on the impulsive scale of the Problem Solving Inventory. Demonstrated the utility of the MMPI and the PSI in discriminating between nonviolent and violent criminals. (Author/JAC)

Comparison of 51 artists and 51 nonartists in India found three personality factors (introversion, independence, and tender-mindedness) which, related to working style and creative production of artists, could best differentiate artists from nonartists. These could be predicted from seven other personality factors. (DB)

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…