John Eliot

The Developmental Approach

The psychological study of human development is primarily the concern of those who assume age-related differences to be important both in terms of when they occur and how they present themselves behaviorally. Typically, the developmental psychologist studies individual differences by presenting subjects with specific tasks or problems, and by examining their responses in terms of hypothesized stages or age-related changes. Individual differences, however, are not the primary concern of developmentalists: their major efforts are usually directed to the study of inter-individual differences, with chronological age as the important variable, or some other variable that correlates with age (e.g., grades in school). When individual differences are studied, they are usually interpreted in terms of the achievement or acquisition of universal patterns of behavior, and models—especially models of intellectual development—are most often advanced to account for changes in terms of stage characteristics of knowing.

GENDER-RELATED DIFFERENCES IN SPATIAL ABILITY AND THE K FACTOR OF GENERAL SPATIAL ABILITY IN A POPULATION OF ACADEMICALLY TALENTED STUDENTS

Abstract Spatial ability is an area of cognitive functioning in which evidence of gender-related differences in performance tends to emerge relatively often. Previous research has found, however, that different types of spatial tasks differ in their amounts of gender-sensitivity. Mental rotation tasks, for instance, have often shown large gender-related differences in favour of males, whereas there are small differences or advantages for females on visual memory tasks. Therefore, the present study examined the profile of differences across a wide array of types of spatial tasks. Two forms of a spatial test battery containing 14 types of items each were administered to academically talented middle and high school students. Factor analysis yielded a strong general factor (termed “ k factor”) underlying performance in both forms. The gender-sensitivity of the item types depended to a considerable extent on the loadings of the subtests on the k factor. When the k factor was partialled out of the variances of the tests, gender-related differences on the various types of items were reduced, often to insignificance, and some tests that had initially exhibited little gender-related variance showed advantages for females. Mental rotation and visualization of perspectives, however, consistently showed substantial gender-related variance beyond the variation explained by the k factor.

Relationships between Activities and Sex-Related Differences in Performance on Spatial Tests

53 female and 45 male undergraduates were administered the Spatial Antecedents Questionnaire (Activities, Academic Courses, Self-assessments, and Environmental Mapping subscales), the Spatial Dimensionality Test (Embedded Figures, Card Rotations, Paper Folding, Surface Development, Horizontal/Vertical Rotations, and Cube Perspective subtests), and Paivios 1979 Revised-Individual Differences Questionnaire. Scores from the Academic Courses and Self-assessment scales accounted for the most variability in spatial performance. Visual Processing style correlated with performance on spatial tests for men, but not for women. Different patterns of activities and experiences correlated with spatial test performance for men and women.

Classification of figural spatial tests.

A classification of figural spatial tests was derived from sorting more than 300 tests according to perceived similarity of behaviors required for task solution. Task categories were then ordered in terms of information about their stimulus demand and task complexity from factorial research.

Handedness and spatial ability: Differential patterns of relationships

The purpose of this exploratory study was to add to our understanding of hemispheric specialisation by examining the relationships between functional laterality (as measured by handedness, eyedness, earedness, and footedness) and spatial tests. A total of 55 males and 170 females were tested for laterality preferences and spatial test performance using a range of six spatial tests. There was a statistically significant relationship between each of the laterality measures employed, with handedness and footedness demonstrating the most robust association. Multiple regression analyses highlighted that once potential confounds were statistically controlled (age, sex, and other types of functional laterality), 3‐D rotation/visualisation and speeded visual exploration task performance showed small, but significant, relations with a tendency towards left‐handedness over right‐handedness in total and secondary (two‐handed) scale scores. Flexibility of closure performance was associated with a tendency towards left‐handedness in the total and one‐handed scale scores. Spatial location memory was the lone spatial ability relating with a tendency towards right‐handedness. Overall, these findings offer new insights into the interplay of handedness with alternative measures of laterality as well as with spatial abilities.

Relationships between experiences, processing style, and sex-related differences in performance on spatial tests.

53 female and 45 male undergraduates were administered the Spatial Antecedents Questionnaire (Activities, Academic Courses, Self-assessments, and Environmental Mapping subscales), the Spatial Dimensionality Test (Embedded Figures, Card Rotations, Paper Folding, Surface Development, Horizontal/Vertical Rotations, and Cube Perspectives subtests), and Revised-Individual Differences Questionnaire of Paivio. Scores from the Academic Courses and Self-assessment scales accounted for the most variability in spatial performance. Visual processing style correlated with performance on spatial tests for men, but not for women. Different patterns of activities and experiences correlated with spatial test performance for men and women.

A further investigation of children's understanding of recursive thinking

Abstract Forty children of different ages responded individually to cartoon drawings in one of two orders of presentation. Either they verbally described cartoons presented successfully or they selected from a cartoon display the one corresponding to a spoken description. A significant interaction between age, method of presentation, and type of thinking was found. Differences between these findings and results from previous research are discussed in terms of differences in linguistic complexity across methods of presentation.

Factor Structure of Shortened Children's Embedded Figures Test for Different Age Groups

240 children, 24 of each sex in Grades K to 4, were administered the entire Childrens Embedded Figures Test, regardless of the failure rule. Factor loadings for items from a shortened version of the test were examined for a randomly divided sample, a sample divided by sex, a sample divided in two grade groupings, and an undivided total population. Stable factors were found for the total sample and when the sample was divided by sex. Analysis indicated that the factor analysis of the shortened form was consistent with previous analyses using the total scale.

Convergent and Discriminant Validities of Two Sets of Measures of Spatial Orientation and Visualization

Responses from high school sophomores to the Eliot-Price and the Guilford-Zimmerman tests of spatial orientation and visualization were evaluated in terms of the multitrait-multimethod matrix technique. The Eliot-Price tests were found to meet all criteria for convergent and discriminant validity. However, the Guilford-Zimmerman tests did not meet one of the criteria for discriminant validity. The Eliot-Price tests appeared to be more nearly precise measures of spatial orientation and visualization.

CASE'S DEVELOPMENTAL MODEL AND CHILDREN'S DRAWINGS

109 children in four age groups were administered two memory measures designed by Case in 1985, the Beery Visual Motor Integration Test and five drawing tasks from Dennis. Scores on working memory were correlated positively with age; childrens drawings corresponded to Cases four developmental substages; and a direct relationship was found between the childrens drawings and their performance on the psychometric measure of visuomotor integration. These findings are interpreted as evidence that important developmental changes in childrens drawing can reliably illuminate changes in intellectual development.