Reported are the procedures, results, and conclusions of a study to determine the effects of available instances on the relationship of memory abilities to performance in a concept learning task. Subjects were 60 undergraduates from introductory educational psychology courses. Tests of six memory abilities were administered to subjects prior to…

This report analyzes the nonverbal performance of 100 children (3 1/2-4 1/2 year old) on tasks of discontinuous quantity. The children are part of a larger group of subjects participating in a longitudinal study of educational and social programs for disadvantaged children currently being conducted by the Educational Testing Service. The purposes…

This study explores three areas of learning hierarchies: (1) the condition for learning in accordance with learning hierarchies; (2) the use of hierarchies in the diagnosis and learning of prerequisite intellectual skills; and (3) the conditions of learning and retention of principles. There were seven studies undertaken using elementary and…

The procedures by which children from lower and middle class backgrounds attempt to obtain rewarding outcomes from each other were observed under semicontrolled conditions. Ten male and 9 female dyads, each composed of 1 middle class and 1 lower class preschool child, were required to complete 12 simple block puzzles in which each was given some…

Rapid technological change makes it necessary to train and retrain personnel as man-machine systems and associated jobs are altered. Because of the continuing rise in required skill levels, the demand for high aptitude, highly trained manpower outruns the supply while it is hard to use lower aptitude men. Recent advances in training technology…

The relationship between ratings of leadership effectiveness and conflict resolution methods was investigated within a large midwestern manufacturing firm. Hypotheses based on Blake and Mouton's managerial grid were tested and were not supported within these data. Results indicated that grid placement was a poor predictor of either perceived…

This study investigated the social behavior patterns of children who worked on a cooperative task. Several ways of increasing interdependence were explored, and the effects of such methods on task performance were determined. Seventy six same-sex triads of fourth and fifth graders were asked to cooperate in making a block-picture on a round board.…

The multivariate effect of task sequence, memory support, and state anxiety was investigated using a nonverbal concept acquisition task. Ninety-five Indian college students were randomly assigned to four treatment conditions resulting from the task sequences of 1) easy-to-hard and 2) hard-to-easy and from memory support versus nonmemory support.…

An experiment was carried out on perceived difficulty of a simple attention task. Seven complex stimulus matrices were used, consisting of different numbers of pairs of consonants. The subjects' task was to search for targets determined by the experimenter one by one. Search time was measured as performance criterion. Perceived difficulty of the…

This report examines inhibition in help-seeking for male subjects. Using a male and female experimenter, the study examined the following five variables: (1) sex of helper; (2) sex role appropriateness of task; (3) anticipated future audience interaction; (4) sex role ideology of subject; and (5) self esteem of subject. The report concluded that,…

This study attempted to investigate the effects of school experience on visual perception tests involving line figures and forms. There were two experiments in this study. Experiment 1 examined the independent and interactive influences of school experience and chronological age in kindergarten children. Experiment 2 compared the effects of…

Children's short-term memory was studied under two experimental conditions: one in which recall was expected to be facilitated because of the provision of a study period, and one in which a distracting task was imposed that was expected to interfere with recall. Forty subjects at each of two age levels, 7 and 11 years, were tested in a…

As children grow older they show an increasing preference for classifying objects on the basis of shape rather than color. To clarify the nature of this "dimension preference," children of ages 3 1/2 to 6 1/2 years were given a method of triads test of dimension preferences, followed (after a week's delay) by a component selection task. The most…

The papers in this collection present a description of, and the results of, research in Work Unit REALISTIC. In addition to the first paper which is an overview, the three papers are: "Psychometric Determination of Relationships Among Literacy Skills and Job Proficiency,""Reading Ability, Readability, and Readership: Identifying…

A test of aircraft recognition accuracy and decision speed compared the performance of single observers and four-man crews. The test used miniaturized simulations of aircraft which were moved at scaled speeds, altitudes, and distances. The validity of the simulation was evaluated and judged by comparing the results of the test with results…