In order to determine the magnitude and nature of relationships among selected measures of cognitive styles, abilities, and aptitudes, 24 tests were administered to 201 Navy recruits. The resultant data demonstrate that cognitive styles are relatively independent of abilities and aptitudes. Although styles were significantly related to abilities and aptitudes, the amount of shared variance was not large enough to be of practical importance. Abilities were significantly associated with aptitudes, having a considerable amount of variance in common. Three significant factors--technical apptitude, verbal ability, and problem-solving mode--were found to underlie much of the variability of cognitive characteristics. Educators should consider designing instructional strategies that take into account student differences in abilities, aptitudes, and cognitive styles; it seems likely that students would benefit by learning more readily, retaining information more easily, and retrieving information from memory with greater facility. (Author/CS)