Twelve- and 18-year-olds learned a list of paired associates; experimental subjects were instructed in mnemonics, while controls simply learned the pairings. When subjects were presented a list of Latin nouns and their translations to learn, spontaneous transfer of the mnemonic strategy occurred only among 18-year-olds. (Author/GDC)

An interactionism framework was used to examine relations between children's affective characteristics, intellectual ability, and personality in different perceived school environments. Over 500 12-year-old Australian children were studied and possible linear, curvilinear, and interaction associations among the variables were investigated.…

This study investigated the hypothesis that prerequisite skills in a seriation learning hierarchy mediate positive transfer for superordinate skills. In addition, the effect of instructional conditions involving modeling combined with variations in feedback on skill acquisition at different levels in the seriation sequence was examined.…

Reactions of students with four achievement styles based on combinations of the Achievement via Conformance and the Achievement via Independence scales of the California Psychological Inventory to small group learning experiences are explored as a function of group composition, achievement styles, and the demands of different tasks over time.…

In scoring multiple-choice tests, a score of 1 is given to right answers, 0 to unanswered questions, and some negative score to wrong answers. This paper discusses the relation of this negative score to the assumption made about the partial knowledge with the subjects may have. (Author/GDC)

This study illustrates a process for selecting a preferred model in the validation of hierarchical learning scales. The test performance of 100 8-to 11-year-old children on subtraction tasks involving variations in borrowing are examined. Goodman's response scaling technique is illustrated. (Author/GDC)

The relationships between teacher and student sex and sex role orientations and student ratings of course and instructor were studied. Androgynous teachers received higher evaluations than masculine or feminine counterparts. A teacher sex with student sex interaction was found as was a teacher sex with teacher sex role interaction. (Author/GDC)

Eighth-grade scores for 140 females and 115 males on three cognitive tests and the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales were used to predict mathematics grades 1-3 years later. In addition to mathematics achievement, significant relationships were confirmed for spatial visualization and confidence in learning mathematics. (Author/GDC)

The racial preferences and identifications of White children in both a White monoracial and a multiracial setting were examined, using a doll selection procedure. A majority of the children preferred White over comparable Black dolls. However, more Black doll selections were made in multiracial than in monoracial schools. (Author/GDC)

The effects of affective and cognitive variables, and of socioeconomic status, on academic ability were studied using 171 Israeli seventh-grade boys. Some effects were noted for affective variables, reading comprehension, and socioeconomic status. (GDC)

Faced with a problem in which the probability of obtaining the correct answer was 70 percent, 2 of 23 kindergartners and 18 of 19 second graders generated an appropriate strategy. When the probability of a chance correct response was reduced to .45, 23 of 35 kindergartners generated an appropriate strategy. (Author/GDC)

White and Gagne's method (EJ 180 555) for formatively evaluating learning hierarchies does not require participants to be taught the content prior to testing them for their knowledge of the skills in the hierarchy. By simply determining the percentage of students achieving each skill, the researcher obtains approximately the same information.…

The middle years of life have been neglected by educational psychology. There is a need for more, better, and better-understood psychological data so that learning can be enhanced in this age group. This issue of "Contemporary Educational Psychology" addresses five relevant questions about adult learning. (Author/RD)

Descriptions of cognitive development are determined by the metamodel on which theories and data are based. The associative and information processing approaches have generated much of the research on adult learning and memory. A contextual approach, emphasizing perceiving, comprehending, and remembering, is emerging in the present historical…

Evidence on the impact of noncognitive factors on the cognitive performance of young and older adults is reviewed. Cohort-associated modifiers, motive states, task and measurement factors, and environmental effects are related and account for age differences in cognitive performance. Areas of research pertinent to educational psychologists are…