The classification behavior of male and female college students was compared with that of healthy, well-educated older males and females. On the whole, the results failed to confirm other published evidence maintaining that aging is marked by conceptual deficits or a regressed mode of cognitive functioning. (Author/CS)

Study of suicide notes involved deduction of 50 protocol sentences that reflected aspects of Shneidman's formulations with regard to suicide. Independent judges noted incidence of contents corresponding to protocol sentences in notes left by 60 adult suicides. Age, but not sex, was found to be critical discriminating variable on several specific…

The Education Participation Scale was administered to 611 students enrolled in adult education courses at one college in the U. S., and results were compared to results from a similar study in New Zealand. There was some variation in expressed reasons for participation between different sex-age groupings. (Author/AG)

Three studies examined the emergence of attention to gender categories in toddlers. Results suggested that 18-month-olds showed little attention to gender on a sequential touching task. The possibility that they could not discriminate the dolls used in the task by gender was ruled out. There was a sharp increase in attention to gender between 18…

Reports that form matching increased with age both in number of subjects with reliable preferences and in strength of preferences, but that at all ages form matches predominated. (Author/DR)

To determine whether infants can form face expression categories, groups of infants 18 to 24 weeks old, along with those 30 weeks old, were habituated by the infant control procedure to photographs of four different female faces, each with an identical expression (happiness or surprise). Results are discussed in terms of age and sex differences.…

The results of three experiments showed that: (1) children from 20 to 32 months of age are able to identify basic-level, conceptual, and complementary relationships; (2) objects are responded to more effectively than pictures; and (3) both perceptual and verbal-symbolic processes are important in matching and identifying stimuli. (JMB)

Compared parents and nonparents to examine differences in the use of gender stereotyping to classify children's toys, and differences according to children's ages. Findings for 206 toys suggest that while toys are gender stereotyped for all age groups, there is more flexibility in gender stereotyping of toys for infants and toddlers. (SLD)

Five experiments examined matching to sample procedures among preschoolers. Results indicated that children selected taxonomic comparisons more often than thematic comparisons, independent of age, gender, instructions, order of trial type, specificity of feedback, presence of unrelated third comparisons, and level of taxonomy. Instructions to…

Subjects were 72 first, third and fifth graders. Stimuli consisted of an initial set of 20 unrelated pictures, and a second set of 20 pictures which could be classified according to four superordinate categories. (MS)

A study investigated the effects of instruction on students' persuasive writing at two grade levels (third and fifth), and determined the categories and types of written persuasion used by students at four grade levels (3rd, 5th, 10th, and 12th). The first objective, determining instructional effects, was accomplished by specifically instructing…

Studied the enjoyment and comprehension of riddles and nonriddles by first, third, and fifth grade normal children. Also investigated the relationship of sex to the enjoyment of humor. (SDH)

The use by 254 Canadian children of the dimensions of gender, language/ethnicity, and body type as bases of categorization was examined. A developmental approach was taken to see whether a sequence exists in the relative predominance of these dimensions; to examine the relation between the salience of these dimensions and cognitive developmental…

Two studies assessed the ability of two groups of preschool children (ages two to four and three to five years, respectively) to label and categorize age groups on the basis of photographs and dolls representing the life span. Results indicated age and sex differences. (Author/CI)

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)