The educational significance of wrong answers on multiple choice tests was investigated in over 4,000 subjects, aged 7 to 20. Gorham's Proverbs Test--which requires the interpretation of a proverb sentence--was administered and repeated five months later. Four questions were addressed: (1) what can the pattern of answer choice, across age, using…

This study investigated the quantitative and qualitative differences in the responses of children aged four, six, and eight to four kinds of questions; cognitive memory, convergent, divergent, and evaluative. The subjects, 48 boys and girls, were from advantaged homes and had attended, or were attending, nursery school. Each subject was shown a…

This study investigated developmental differences in the use of the common features abstraction strategy and the exemplar learning strategy for concept acquisition. Subjects were 30 second graders and 30 fifth graders. The concepts to be learned were two categories of artificial animals which differed on five dimensions. Each dimension had three…

This paper discusses research exploring the performance factors involved in studies which test for formal operations. It is suggested that several previous studies dealing with formal operations confound performance and competence in determining the extent of subjects' formal operations schemata. Factors which might account for performance…

This paper reviews studies in which scores on Piagetian tests of logical thought were correlated with IQ, mental age (MA) and chronological age (CA), and examines the possible effects of the size of the age range and mean age of subjects on these correlations. The data included 44 groups of subjects obtained from 36 studies in which Piagetian and…

In order to investigate developmental changes in multiple classification, a matrix task was administered to 80 kindergarten first, second, and third grade children. Correct solution of the incomplete matrices, comprised of three pictures in a row and three pictures in a column meeting at a blank intersection, required identification and…

This volume is intended for use in college courses that combine educational psychology with child and adolescent psychology or human development. Section I, an introductory chapter presents selective groups of readings in the field of child developmental theory. Sections II through X each deal with one of the explanations of behavior that have…

This study examined variables related to problem-solving approaches of young children, using the theoretical framework provided by Zigler and his collaborators in their work on outerdirectedness. Four aspects of outerdirectedness were examined: developmental trends, effects of different types of reinforcement, effects of task difficulty, and pride…

Investigation of the extent to which various factors were associated with observed developmental gains in developmentally-delayed young children (N=83) revealed that potential predictors of overall child progress included test score derivatives, number of assessments and home visits, mother's age, child's age at initial testing, and medical risk…

Investigated the relationship between the development of formal operations and the formation of ego identity in adolescence. Obtained significant positive correlations between combinatorial ability and degree of identity, suggesting that high identity may facilitate the application of combinatorial operations. Found some gender differences in task…

Examines the implications of temporal separation for children's developmental differences in inferences drawn about an individual's characteristics after observing multiple instances of that individual's behavior. Also tests two competing hypotheses about how young children process information separated in time. (HOD)

Using cross classifiable pictures, this study assessed taxonomic and thematic clustering in free recall in 240 children, ages seven and ten. The effects of both free and constrained test conditions and developmental, ethnic, and socioeconomic differences, were examined. (BS)

Discusses the concept of egocentrism and its relation to cognitive development. Describes the major stages of egocentrism: sensori-motor, preoperational, concrete operational, and adolescent egocentrism. Focuses on research support for the theory of adolescent egocentrism. Discusses educational implications. (RC)

Examines the changes that occur from ages 5 to 11 in question/answer sequences of Dutch children. Function, content, form of questions, and listener response are analyzed. (EKN)

Examined the impact of 2 environmental factors--social class and family risk levels--and 2 biological factors--intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and medical risk--on the cognitive and motor development of 175 preterm infants. Family risk, early medical risk, and the interaction of family risk and IVH were found to be significant predictors of…