A review of literature on Piagetian cognitive functioning generally noted lower levels of functioning for elderly subjects than for comparison groups of adults. Several possible interpretations for these age differences were offered. The effects of certain demographic variables on performance were also reviewed and inconsistent results were noted.…

Three age groups were read the same short story. Their responses to interpretive questions were taken as texts and analyzed for age-distinctive word usage. Characteristic forms of talk were found, and age-specific patterns of interpretive thinking were derived from the forms. In general, 10 year olds saw a plot, adolescents a plight, and adults a…

Comments on the study reported by Feldman and others in this issue. Suggests that, in the study, subjects' word frequencies might be the result of subjects' familiarity with the words rather than the words' narrative role and that there is uncertainty in inferring interpretive patterns of subjects from word frequencies. (BC)

Replies to the commentary by Olson and Salter on an article by Feldman and others, both reported in this issue. Maintains that the evidence does not support Olson's and Salter's conjecture that the source of age-distinctive lexical differences reported in the Feldman study is a simple function of word frequency. (BC)

Concepts about and evaluations of the unequal distribution of personal possessions were examined in Americans and Israelis of various ages ranging from kindergarten to 50-year-old adults. A number of developmental and cultural differences are discussed, and the general pattern of results is interpreted as reflecting different experiential…

The notion that elderly adults respond more slowly than younger adults in order to ensure accuracy was investigated. The Matching Familiar Figures Test was administered to 10 males and 10 females from each of the following age groups: 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70-79 years old. (Author/SS)

This article briefly describes hypotheses that account for adult-age differences in cautiousness; reviews findings from eight cross-sectional studies; and draws implications for future research. (MS)

Formal and familiar materials were used to test Piagetian classification and formal operational abilities in two groups of educated adults: one group aged 30-38 and the other aged 57-82 years. Subjects did not show mastery of the tasks. Results suggest a new model of cognitive lifespan development. (Author/MS)

The purpose of this study was to examine sex differences of young, middle aged and older adults in creative problem solving and preference for complexity of visual figures and to explore the part that degree of sex role identification might play in this relationship. (Author/MS)

Two successive recall tasks and eight ability measures were presented to women of five age groups to investigate the changing relation between performance and ability measures at various stages of the learning process during adulthood. (MS)

Age correlated differences in locus of control orientation were examined for 306 persons aged 13 to 90 in three areas of activity: intellectual, social and physical. The Locus of Control Inventory for Three Achievement Domains was administered. (MS)

Investigates the validity of a semiprojective measure of "engagement" with respect to the differential effects of family size. Engagement style refers to the perception one has of oneself as either doing (agent) or being done to (patient). Subjects were 51 male college students ranging in age from 18 to 26 years. (SS)

Examination of the way in which children conceive the development of animals shows that there are parallels among concepts of development with those of the periods of concrete operations and formal operations. The conception of development seems to advance further in the subsequent period of dialectical thought. (MS)

Examined U-shaped development of graphic symbolization in children and in nonartist and artist adults. Found that drawing scores of adult artists did not differ from those of youngest children and artist adolescents, with a developmental sequence in acquisition of the ability to construct referential connections underlying visual metaphors.…