People not only use social comparisons to evaluate their abilities, they also engage in dimensional comparisons, comparing their own achievement in different domains. Processes of dimensional comparison have contrasting effects on subject-specific self-concepts: downward dimensional comparisons result in higher self-concept in the…

The authors identified several specific problems with the measurement of achievement goals in the current literature and illustrated these problems, focusing primarily on A. J. Elliot and H. A. McGregor's (2001) Achievement Goal Questionnaire (AGQ). They attended to these problems by creating the AGQ-Revised and conducting a study that examined…

Empirical validity of nonoverlapping scores of original problem solving on a lenient solution-standard predictor was evidenced in college students by high correlations with corresponding scores on stringent solution-standard criterion tasks. Findings support the construct validity of conceptualizations of original problem solving based on…

Several issues about component validity are examined by using covariance modeling to test hypotheses about the relationships between components, aptitude, and achievement. Support was found for cognitive components to model individual differences in verbal aptitude, decompose test validity, and differentially predict achievement. (Author/GK)

Compared with data from civilian institutions, data from two graduating classes at the United States Military Academy showed extrordinary stability of independently calculated grade point averages from freshman to senior years and no decline in the validity of Scholastic Aptitude Tests and high school class rank as predictors of these GPAs over…

Results indicate that the SAT-V and SAT-M scores have sufficient validity for use in predicting how well the typical students would do during the course of their academic career and also in predicting students' relative level of achievement if they persist until graduation, especially if measured by achievement tests. (Author/BJG)

Refutes Mauger and Kolmodin's (1975) conclusion (see EJ 133 651) that their data does not support the author's (1968) conclusion that senior college grades are much less predictable from entrance information than freshman grades. States that their conclusion was not supported by their data and that the design of their study would allow no outcome…

Prospective teachers judged the creativity of eleventh grade students' modified essay compositions on the following subjects; mirrors; if the schools should close; or the new woman. Higher creativity ratings were associated with two factors: number of sentences, and number of novel ideas expressed. (Author/GDC)

College students using teacher's reputation or ability to select sections congregated in certain sections and rated instructors more favorably than classmates using other criteria, endangering previous teacher rating form validation studies which failed to randomize students to classes. (Author/BW)

Multidimensional scaling (MDS) and Pathfinder techniques for assessing changes in the structural representation of a knowledge domain were studied with relatedness ratings collected from 72 Spanish college students. Comparison of student and expert similarity measures indicate that MDS and graph theoretic approaches are valid techniques. (SLD)

The relative contribution of undergraduate grade point average (UGPA) and the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) to predicting academic performance in each of three years of law school was investigated. The LSAT makes its greatest contribution in early years and UGPA in later years. (Author/BW)

Three of Guilford's tests of divergent thinking were scored for ideational fluency and originality. The originality scores were reliable, but when the effects of ideational fluency were partialed out of the originality scores, all reliabilities showed substantial decrements; interest correlations dropped to zero or showed a substantial decrement.…

The average of student evaluations for each section of a computer programming course correlated positively with the average of student performance on a standardized final examination. A multisection method, with randomized assignment of instructors to conditions, was used and an unconfounded comparison between feedback and nonfeedback conditions…

The conversion model of formal reasoning was examined for its ability to predict the decisions made by college students when solving concrete and abstract syllogisms. Results supported the model's contentions that reasoner's decisions reflect natural language processes in the encoding of syllogistic premises, and follow rationally from…

This study was designed to validate subjects' classification of eleven attributions according to dimensions of locus, stability, controllability, predictability, and globality. Results indicated that subjects' dimensional assignment of five of Weiner's eight original attributions differed from Weiner's assignment. Differences existed in the…