An attempt was made to examine authoritarian and non-authoritarian scales of social attitudes and their reversals as a function of: (1) content consistency; (2) acquiescence; and (3) a tendency to use extreme categories of response. The study questioned whether Adorno's fascism (F), dogmatism (D), ethnocentrism (E), and anti-Semitism (A-S) scales…

Under a mastery learning system students can take successive parallel tests with study interspersed between tests until they demonstrate a minimal level of competency. For most students, such procedures increase final performance, yet some may experience repeated subjective failure. Self-worth theory predicts that repeated failure in the face of…

Racial attitude questions from national surveys such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are being used to show that progress has been made toward interracial harmony in this country. However, there is reason to worry about conclusions from such measures, because they may indicate only progress on learning the socially…

The influence of question format on item responses is examined using split ballot techniques and sex-role stereotypes in a junior college sample. Two formats were used: direct, in which questions asked only about women, and comparative, in which items explicitly compared women with men. Significant differences by format occurred on seven out of…

Detailed item analysis results for a form of the Scholastic Aptitude Test were examined for evidence of sex differences in test speededness. The conclusions were: (1) there was no evidence of appreciable differences in rate-of-work on any section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test; (2) there was some evidence that low-scoring females on the…

The purpose of this study was to design a prototype written test of cognitive development based on the model of Piaget. Although the results were not consistent with Piaget's theory, test development was only partially successful. Specifically, validation of the scales was excellent or poor depending on the perspective. Analysis of the item…

The study was an evaluation of chemically treated answer sheets as part of a system of Computer Managed Instruction. The performance of a group of students using chemically treated answer sheets was compared with that of a group using optically scannable sheets in terms of time to complete course material and errors on an end-of-course test. The…

Problems in measuring the attitudes of whites toward blacks have included: (1) Lack of contemporary content in existing measures; (2) Difficulty of determining scale validity; and, (3) The strong social reinforcement for being "tolerant" toward blacks making the assessment of "true" racial attitudes more difficult. The…

The development of an objective diagnostic scale to measure atypical behavior is discussed. The Atypical Response Scale (ARS) is a structured projective test consisting of 17 items, each weighted 1, 2, or 3, that were tested for convergence and reliability. ARS may be individually or group administered in 10-15 minutes; hand scoring requires 90…

The resistance of the Personal Orientation Inventory to deliberate attempts to fake in a positive direction was investigated for samples of Spanish- speaking Nicaraguan students and industrial workers. Results were consistent with findings from American samples, particularly the consistently lower existentiality scores. (Author/JKS)

Rebuts an article that claimed to overthrow the authors' 1969 findings. It is demonstrated that the original study concerned syntactic organization and that interpretation of it as bearing on comprehension is largely unjustified. Comments on their prior work in light of new developments in child language are included. (EJS)

A discussion of the influences of impulsivity on test performance is presented, along with suggested procedures for ascertaining more accurately the cognitive abilities of impulsive children. (Author)

This study compared 38 Hispanic and 28 Anglo college students with respect to the amount of time allocated to items on a reasoning test administered by microcomputer. Results suggested that a time constraint may penalize Hispanic examinees. The applicability of computerized testing for studying test-taking strategy problems is illustrated.…

Three rating scales--with all positive or all negative wording, or a mixture of both--were administered to 522 children in grades four through six. The results indicated that it was difficult for students to indicate agreement by disagreeing with a negative statement. This affected test validity. Author/GDC)

Responses of 483 Anglo and 328 Mexican American male and female university sophomore students to Jourard's Self Disclosure Questionnaire were greatly affected by examiner gender, ethnicity--Anglo or Mexican American--and style of administration--nondirective, directive, or neutral. Effects were compounded when respondents were of different gender…