The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and 20 tests from the French Kit were administered to over 100 undergraduates. Analyses revealed ten factors: verbal comprehension, visualization, memory span, syllogistic reasoning, general reasoning, induction, mechanical knowledge, number facility, spatial orientation, and associative memory.…

The dispositional motivation of individuals to engage in information processing was studied through an instrument, the Need for Closure Scale (NFCS) (A. Kruglanski and others, 1996), developed to measure differences in the need for structure and closure. One goal of the two studies reported was to address criticisms related to the dimensionality…

Developed instrument to assess cognitive stress of graduate students and investigated instruments' reliability and factor structure using data from 305 graduate students in education, public health, and psychology at 3 colleges and universities. Internal consistency reliability was considered acceptable and factor analysis of 31 items resulted in…

Comparison of the correlates of two spatial ability tests that used the same item type but different test design principles (cognitive design versus psychometric design) indicated differences in the factorial complexity of the two tests. For the sample of 209 undergraduates, the impact of verbal abilities was substantially reduced by applying the…

The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) is designed to measure masculinity and femininity independently. It is based on the dualistic, as opposed to the bipolar, nature of masculinity and femininity. The development of measures for sex role research has relied on empirical techniques; item selection has been based on respondents' stereotyped conceptions…

This study examined whether a timesharing factor can be identified when a number of competing tasks are presented in the midst of a range of single tests designed to sample a broad range of psychological dimensions. A battery of single and competing tasks was presented to 126 subjects. (Author/LMO)

This study continued the research on analogy problem-solving on psychometric tests pursued by I. I. Bejar, R. Chaffin, and S. Embretson (1991). Characteristics of a semantic taxonomy and a cognitively and empirically motivated intensional/pragmatic (I/P) dichotomy were explored. There were two research questions: (1) Could the results of Bejar et…

Multidimensional scaling based on similarity ratings was compared with the semantic differential technique (SDT) in a follow-up study. Previous studies had indicated a fairly close agreement between the results of the SDT and multidimensional scaling which the present study partly corroborated in one experiment for color slides of urban/suburban…

The hierarchical and radex models of ability organization are shown to be parallel. Both suggest a complexity continuum for cognitive performance tasks which, in the radex model, corresponds to the general-to-specific dimension in factor analyses. The bases for this continuum indicate its importance for theories of intelligence. (Author/RD)

This investigation provided empirical data and addressed theoretical issues regarding the Educational Set Scale (ESS) and theory. An expanded model is proposed and directions for future research are suggested. (Author/GK)

Confirmatory factor analysis of responses from 991 undergraduates showed that a four-factor structure (Affect, Cognitive Competence, Value, and Difficulty) provided the best fit for males and females as the factor structure of the Survey of Attitudes toward Statistics, developed for this study to measure students' attitudes about statistics. (SLD)

Cognitive holding power is defined as a characteristic of the learning setting that presses students into different kinds of cognitive activity. Development of an instrument to measure cognitive holding power and studies of the instrument's reliability with over 1,500 Australian technical college students are reported. (SLD)

When William G. Perry (1968) developed his scheme of nine stages of cognitive development, most of which are experienced during the college years, he did not attempt to quantify it. Subsequently, T. D. Erwin (1983) constructed a scale that attempted to quantify the Perry scheme. His findings supported the overall conception of student development…

The Self-Regulated Learning Inventory was developed to help researchers and teachers understand the concept of self-regulated learning and to provide a tool for identifying behaviors students need for academic success. Version One of the instrument contained 71 items representing the factors of metacognition, learning strategies, motivation,…

This study investigated the nature of field independence by exploring the structure underlying responses to Forms A and B of a multiple-choice measure of field-independence, the Finding Embedded Figures Test (FEFT). Subjects included 302 students (52.7% male) enrolled in mathematics courses at a university in the southern United States. Students…