Colin Cooper

A secular decline in the strength of Spearman's g in Japan.

It has been found in the United States and in Scotland that the subtests of the WISC-R and WAIS-R are more highly intercorrelated among low-intelligence groups than among high. The value of the intercorrelations is a measure of the strength of Spearman’s g, and hence Spearman’s g is apparently stronger among populations with low intelligence. Since intelligence has been increasing over time, it should follow that the strength of g has shown a corresponding decline. Evidence from the standardization samples of the WISC and WISC-R in Japan shows that this is the case.

A secular decline in Spearman's g in France

Abstract A hypothesis originally advanced by Spearman stating that inter-correlations between intelligence tests are lower among high ability populations than among low has recently been confirmed. The hypothesis yields the prediction that the increases that have taken place in intelligence during the last half century in a number of countries should be accompanied by a decrease in test intercorrelations. The prediction was tested on the French standardisation samples of the WISC and WISC-R and confirmed. Further analysis showed that the decline only occurred in verbal-performance subtest intercorrelations, and not between verbal or performance subtests.

Reaction times and intelligence

A total of 205-nine-year-olds were tested on reaction times providing 12 reaction time (RT) parameters consisting of: movement times, decision times in simple, choice, and odd-man-out tasks, variabilities, and also on a number of intelligence tests measuring the major primary abilities. Virtually all the reaction time parameters were significantly correlated with psychometric intelligence at a magnitude of around 0.2 Factor analysis showed the existence of a general factor on which reaction time and psychometric tests were correlated. In addition, there were four primary factors of psychometric intelligence, movement time, reaction time, and the odd-man-out task. Broad similarities, and some differences, were found between the present results and those of a similar study by Buckhalt and Jensen (1989).

The factorial equivalence of state anxiety—negative affect and state extraversion—positive affect

Abstract This study sought to determine whether measures of positive and negative affect were essentially identical to state Extraversion and state Anxiety. A chain- P factor analysis of mood items revealed three clear factors. One was loaded by negative affect and state Anxiety items, another by positive affect and state Extraversion items, and a third by those negative affect and state Anxiety items that bore on ill temper or aggression. It was concluded that the constructs of positive and negative affect were structurally equivalent to state Extraversion and state Anxiety.

Predicting susceptibility to short-term stress with the defence mechanism test

Abstract The defence mechanism test (DMT) has been of considerable value in identifying individuals who are likely to show badly impaired judgement in times of sudden stress, yet it is little known outside Scandinavia. The DMT is described in this paper and its rationale fully discussed. There follows a critical review of studies in which DMT scores are related to performance in diverse (non-clinical) applied settings, the outcomes of which are generally most encouraging. A number of theoretical and practical problems are discussed, and suggestions are made for future research.

Pregenital Fixation and Perceptual Distortions to Conflict-Laden Material

Three standard questionnaire measures of oral and anal fixation were administered to 142 students. On the basis of their scores 26 students were selected and shown tachistoscopic exposures of pictures designed to activate oral or anal conflicts. Five subjects in each group had extremely high scores on the corresponding measure of fixation, five had extremely low scores, and 16 had intermediate scores. It was hypothesised that individuals who were fixated at one or other of the psychosexual stages would show stereotyped perceptual distortions to repeated dim exposures of the corresponding picture. Highly fixated subjects showed significantly more deviant responses than did subjects who showed low levels of fixation at the same stage. A form of Q-factor analysis indicated that subjects who were fixated at the oral sadistic or anal stages showed different patterns of perceptual distortions to the anal picture than those who were not fixated. These results were interpreted as supporting the link between defenses against anal eroticism and the anal character.