This paper reports the results of a study of two-year college faculty relative to Functional Potential (FP), a personality variable forming the core of a model of the person, which describes the degree to which a person is able to tolerate ambiguity, delay gratification, exhibit adaptive flexibility, demonstrate goal directedness, relate to self…

This paper discusses issues in psychological testing and the design of courses in psychological assessment for students in clinical and counseling psychology. Prior to discussing the teaching of such courses, consideration is given to the role of assessment in an overall framework of clinical practice. Following this, topics such as the…

Describing the processes that characterize children's thinking at successive stages of development, Jean Piaget's theories provide guidelines for the study of the intellectual development of children. These conference proceedings relate Piagetian theory to the helping professions. Through the use of panel discussion, symposia, test demonstrations,…

A two-stage adaptive test and a conventional peaked test were constructed and administered on a time-shared computer system to students in undergraduate psychology courses. (The two-stage adaptive test consisted of a routing test followed by one of a series of measurement tests.) Comparison of the score distributions showed that the two-stage test…

In a training situation, the standard procedures for predicting performance entail long delays between the request for a predictive instrument and its delivery. Methods were developed for constructing psychological prediction instruments at the time of the request, rather than waiting for the maturation of the criterion data. The two synthetic…

This study was designed to assess the conceptual structure of the Task of Public Education Opinionnaire (TPE). Since the development of the instrument, several psychometric techniques have been formulated. Two of those methods, image component and alpha factor analysis, were applied to the items of the TPE after the correlation matrices were…

Research to date on adaptive (sequential, branched, individualized, tailored, programmed, response-contingent) ability testing is reviewed and summarized, following a brief review of problems inherent in conventional individual and group approaches to ability measurement. Research reviewed includes empirical, simulation and theoretical studies of…

The mathematical and philosophical origins of "analogy" are described and their influence on the thinking of intelligence theorists is traced. Theories of intelligence and cognition bearing on analogical reasoning are examined, specifically those of Spearman, Thorndike, Guilford and Piaget. The analogy test item is shown to be a paradigm…

A subject by item matrix of test responses is shown to be a useful heuristic in criterion referenced and norm referenced test analysis, and in the teaching of measurement. The pattern of responses within the matrix provides indications of item interactions, weak deceptors, and conventional test statistics. The strong visual analogy between the…

A scaling technique known as the Method of Reciprocal Averages has been in use since the early 1930's. This technique yields a set of item response weights for a psychological inventory which maximizes the internal consistency of the inventory for a group of subjects. Although the technique has been used for many years, its mathematical…

The psychometric reliability of a factor, defined as its generalizability across samples drawn from the same population of tests, is considered as a necessary precondition for the scientific meaningfulness of factor analytic results. A solution to the problem of generalizability is illustrated empirically on data from a set of tests designed to…

Most of the research summarized in the report centers around cross sectional differences among representatives of different belief or personality systems. Some of the developmental determinants of different belief systems are discussed, and some of the results of two studies aimed specifically at this question are presented. All work carried out…

DIVERGENT THINKING TESTS, WHICH MEASURE THE ABILITY TO PRODUCE DIVERSE RESPONSES TO PROBLEMS THAT HAVE NO SINGLE ANSWER, AND CONVENTIONAL TESTS OF CONVERGENT THINKING WERE COMPARED TO DETERMINE IF THE TWO TYPES OF TESTS REPRESENTED MORE THAN ONE DOMAIN OF PSYCHOLOGICAL APTITUDE. ALL STUDENTS IN A GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY COURSE WERE TESTED, AND COMPLETE…

A commentary is made on each of five symposium papers on the unification of cognitive process theory and differential psychology. Future research directions are reviewed within a new theoretical framework as to the process nature of aptitudes and general intelligence. Future psychometric directions and educational implications are discussed. (RD)

Presents the foundation of a communicator style construct which is stipulated to include communication variables which reflect the "way one verbally and paraverbally interacts to signal how literal meaning should be taken, interpreted, filtered, or understood." (MH)