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)

A 20-item Stress Adjective Checklist was administered to 565 Canadian undergraduate psychology students and factor analyzed. Both the three-factor and two-factor solutions were replicable and interpretable, but the two-factor solution (stress and arousal) was chosen. Suggestions for further research and refinement of the scales are made.…

Canonical-redundancy analyses were computed across the Profile of Mood States and the Eight State Questionnaire on a sample of 289 college undergraduates in order to estimate the degree of measurement overlap of the two multidimensional mood-state instruments. (Author/BS)

This study supported the construct validity of a multidimensional measure of academic self-concept for community college students. Four subtests were assembled from the five factor subscales of the Dimensions of Self-Concept, Form H: Level of aspiration; Anxiety; Academic Interest and Satisfaction; Leadership and Initiative; and Identification…

The self-report and a modified informant version of the Psychopathology Instrument for Mentally Retarded Adults (PIMRA) was used to assess 160 mentally retarded adults. Significant relationships between PIMRA scores and age, sex, and level of retardation were found. (DB)

School psychologists are developing social skills training programs to enhance peer relations. Caution in selecting specific children for intervention and in choosing sociometric instruments for selecting children requiring social skills training, and a strengthening of the link between intervention goals and sociometric status are recommended.…

A method for ordering persons and items when all responses are ordinal was developed and applied to several sets of questionnaire data (from undergraduates) and one set of archeological data. The method provides a possible nonparametric treatment of data usually treated by more traditional psychometric methods. (SLD)

Explored the psychometric properties of the Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder to assess its internal consistency and factor structure. Administered the test to Vietnam veterans seeking help at Veteran Centers. Demonstrated high test-retest reliability, sensitivity of .93, specificity .89, and overall hit rate .90…