To investigate the role expectation based rules governing formal reasoning performance, a battery of group and individual aptitude measures and formal reasoning tests were administered to 17-year-olds. Individual differences in usage of these rules were clarified by establishing an overlap between an aptitude model and formal reasoning.…

Development of accuracy in self-perception and its relationship to variations in social context was investigated in elementary school pupils in Israel. Results indicated that, although academic self-concept decreases over the years in both middle and lower class children, its accuracy in reflecting teacher grades and scores increases. (Author/AEF)

The cognitive patterns of 58 "retarded" and 38 below-average readers were compared with controls, according to Luria's simultaneous and successive modes of information processing. Factor Analysis showed different cognitive patterns for disabled and nondisabled readers. Reading skills, rather than cognitive ability, were shown to be important.…

Eighty gifted children were administered divergent thinking and problem-solving tasks, as well as measures of tolerance for ambiguity, locus of control, and self-esteem. The four comparison groups varied in intelligence quotient and ideational fluency. Results emphasized the consistency among cognitive and affective dimensions of divergent or…

Four-year-olds attending traditional and Montessori preschools were compared on two memory tasks and on three social cognitive reasoning tasks. Although the Montessori students performed better on the recognition task, there were no other significant differences between the groups. Conclusions about the Montessori curriculum were made. (GDC)

Experiments on the cognitive and perceptual development of three- to seven-year-old Soviet children are described, especially the work of L. A. Venger, N. N. Poddyakov, and D. B. El'Konin. Visual-action and visual-image thinking are illustrated. (GDC)

Lev S. Vygotsky's concepts of social, egocentric, and inner speech are explained, and two of Vygotsky's basic arguments are reviewed: (1) that these forms of speech are dialogic; and (2) that cognitive functioning can be explained by its surrounding social foundations. (GDC)

Urie Bronfenbrenner has characterized Soviet education as collective, and Amerian education as individualistic. Bronfenbrenner's suggestion, made 10 years ago, that the United States should adopt some of the Soviet methods, is still valid today. (GDC)

Philosphical principles provide the context for the Soviets' psychological theory (in particular, the "zone of proximal development" concept); this theory then shapes psychoeducational practice. (GDC)

Soviet teaching experiments, based on the research of P. Ia. Galperin and of V. V. Davydov, are described, in which children are taught abstract concepts before they are provided with concrete examples. (GDC)

Observation of practices in V. V. Davydov's laboratory school suggests that students proceed from concrete example to abstract generalization--rather than from abstract to concrete, as Davydov has claimed. (GDC)

Concluding remarks are presented on the preceding six papers (see TM 505 449-505 454). Evidence of American interest in Soviet research is cited, and it is suggested that this Soviet research can contribute a great deal to the field of educational psychology. (GDC)

A treatment designed to familiarize third graders with memory support strategies was delivered by parents. Results showed a complex pattern of effects, with treated students and classes significantly outperforming controls. Stable class-level Aptitude X Treatment interactions were also found. (Author/GDC)

The hierarchical relationships between behaviors in the cognitive and affective domains that led to teachers' voluntary acceptance of Individually Guided Education were studied, using ordering theory. The results indicated that cognitive skills and attitudes were integrally related and built on each other, leading to mastery of the goal.…

This study compared the effects on learning from text of four contexts (topic sentences, headings, related sentences, unrelated sentences)--either generated by readers or provided in text. Tests included free recall, matching, and knowledge of passage structure. One result was that readers who generated topic sentences recalled the most.…