Relatively recent federal education initiatives, such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB; 2001), have focused on school accountability for student achievement including achievement of traditionally at-risk populations, such as students in special education, students from low-income or high poverty areas, and students who speak English as a new second language. Additionally, these federal initiatives also mandate that all students take the same test measuring grade level standards despite research that has demonstrated that students from at-risk populations are sometimes at a disadvantage on high-stakes tests. Furthermore, initiatives such as NCLB are often at odds with other education initiatives such as IDEA, which states that students in special education should be tested at their respective level. Therefore, the current study proposed to examine the relationship between Cattell-Horn-Carroll cognitive abilities and performance on a state-wide high-stakes achievement test. There currently are no studies examining such a relationship. This study used Multivariate Regression Analysis, in order to investigate the relationship between CHC cognitive and achievement abilities and performance on a state-wide high-stakes achievement test, namely the ISTEP+, with 45 children who had been referred for a psychoeducational evaluation to determine special education eligibility and who had also taken the ISTEP+. No statistically significant result was found between the WJ-III-COG broad CHC abilities and performance on the English/Language Arts and Math performance of the ISTEP+. Furthermore, no statistically significant result was found between the WJ-III-ACH and Math performance on the ISTEP+. However, a statistically significant result was found between the WJ-III-ACH Passage Comprehension subtest and the English/Language Arts portion of the ISTEP+. The results indicated that students who had higher scores on the Passage Comprehension subtest also had higher scores on the English/Language Arts portion of the ISTEP+. The current study took a step forward in the area of the relationship between CHC and academic achievement, particularly state-mandated high-stakes testing given the dearth of research in this area. Given the data from the current study indicating a statistically significant relationship between Passage Comprehension and English/Language Arts from the ISTEP+, the current study has practical implications for school psychologists, especially when school psychologists are being asked to make predictions regarding a student’s academic achievement. Results of the current study might help elucidate reading problems and recommended interventions for those reading problems. / Department of Educational Psychology

abstract: This study investigated the link between the cognitive clusters from the Woodcock–Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Ability (WJ III COG) and Broad Math, Math Calculation Skills, and Math Reasoning clusters of the Woodcock–Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ III ACH) using data collected over seven years by a large elementary school district in the Southwest. The students in this study were all diagnosed with math learning disabilities. Multiple regression analyses were used to predict performance on the Broad Math, Math Calculation Skills, and Math Reasoning clusters from the WJ III ACH. Fluid Reasoning (Gf), Comprehension–Knowledge (Gc), Short–Term Memory (Gsm), and Long–term Retrieval (Glr) demonstrated strong relations with Broad Math and moderate relations with Math Calculation Skills. Auditory Processing (Ga) and Processing Speed (Gs) demonstrated moderate relations with Broad Math and Math Calculation Skills. Visual–Spatial Thinking (Gv) and Processing Speed (Gs) demonstrated moderate to strong relations with the mathematics clusters. The results indicate that the specific cognitive abilities of students with math learning disabilities may differ from their peers. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Educational Psychology 2011

We study the role of performance differences in a task requiring cognitive effort on in-group bias. We show that the in-group bias is strong in groups consisting of high-performing members, and it is weak in low-performing groups. This holds although high-performing subjects exhibit no in-group bias as members of minimal groups, whereas low-performing subjects strongly do. We also observe instances of low-performing subjects punishing the in-group favoritism of low-performing peers. The same does not occur in high-performing or minimal groups where subjects generally accept that decisions are in-group biased. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Career exploration and decision making can be a stressful experience, and is often accompanied by dysfunctional thinking regarding the world of work and one’s place in it. Individuals who are able to modify their negative career thoughts are more likely to navigate career exploration successfully. Factors which may influence a person’s ability to cope with dysfunctional thoughts include cognitive ability (IQ) and the inadequately explored construct of emotional intelligence (EI). Establishing the validity of EI by demonstrating its relationship to important outcomes is necessary. This study sought to determine the extent to which IQ and EI were associated with negative career thoughts and negative career thoughts change as a result of career exploration. This correlational study measured IQ using a standard measure and EI using an ability-based instrument. In addition, negative career thoughts were measured both before and after a career exploration program. One hundred ninety three unemployed adults between the ages of 25 and 60 participated in the study. Significant correlation relationships were found between IQ and aspects of negative career thoughts post program. Only one branch of the EI model, managing emotions, was seen to correlate significantly with all aspects of negative career thoughts, both before and after career exploration. No correlations were found between either IQ or EI with negative career thoughts change. Regression analysis indicated that IQ predicted overall negative career thoughts as well as decision-making confusion, but only after career exploration. Overall EI scores did not predict negative career thoughts. However, among the four branches of EI, managing emotions predicted negative career thoughts both before and after career exploration for all of global negative career thoughts, decision-making confusion, commitment anxiety, and external conflict. Neither IQ nor EI predicted negative career thoughts change. The results show that the ability to manage emotions is associated with reduced dysfunctional thinking both before and after career exploration, suggesting that EI managing may be a psychological resource that individuals use in coping with stress. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

This dissertation consists of two studies examining the utility and distinctiveness of learning agility in the workplace. The first study examines the nomological networks of two proprietary measures of learning agility in sample of 832 individuals. The learning agility simulation is designed to be an objective measure of learning agility ability. The learning agility indicator is a self-report measure designed to measure the preference towards learning agile behaviors. The results of study one indicate two different nomological networks for the learning agility simulation and the learning agility indicator. Specifically, the learning agility simulation was related to cognitive personality variables (i.e., tolerance for ambiguity and cognitive flexibility) and cognitive ability, and the learning agility indicator was more strongly related to personality variables. The second study explores the work-related outcomes associated with the learning agility simulation, and the incremental validity of the learning agility simulation over traditional predictors of performance (i.e., Big Five personality variables, cognitive ability). The second study was performed with a sample of early career employees with supervisor rated performance/potential measures in a sample of 89 paired responses. The results of study two indicated that the learning agility simulation was significantly related to two areas of employee potential (learning from experience and speed-to-competence) and provided incremental validity over traditional predictors of performance/potential for these areas of performance.

Ett aktuellt debattämne på den politiska agendan är de ökade samhällsklyftorna som till stor del beror på inkomstskillnader i den svenska befolkningen. Det har visat sig finnas svårigheter för människor att ta beslut på en allt mer komplex finansmarknad med många attribut, som ställer högre krav på människors finansiella kunskapsförmåga för att kunna hantera sin egen privatekonomi. Människor med lägre finansiell kunskapsnivå har till stor del uteslutits och detta har varit mer tydligt för samhällsgrupper med sämre sociala och ekonomiska förhållanden. Tidigare forskning har visat att personer med utländsk bakgrund är en samhällsgrupp som denna problematik berör. Genom en kvalitativ fallstudie, med en socialkonstruktivistisk ansats, i form av fokusgruppsintervjuer med personer med utländsk bakgrund, ämnar denna studie bidra med ökad förståelse för hur denna samhällsgrupp ser på och tänker kring finansiella beslut på finansmarknaden. Studiens teoretiska referensram är baserad på tidigare forskning om personer med utländsk bakgrund, kognitiv förmåga, diskriminering samt forskningsfältet ”financial literacy”. Resultatet visade på att det fanns ett behov av ”financial literacy” bland informanterna, då många ansåg att den befintliga informationen som finns på finansmarknaden var svårtolkad och sätter allt högre krav på människans kognitiva förmåga. Det framgick även att många informanter ur den valda samhällsgruppen i studien “personer med utländskbakgrund” valde att avstå från att investera på finansmarknaden på grund av den risk som är associerad med finansiella investeringar. / A current topic of debate on the political agenda are the increased social gaps, which are largely due to income differences within the Swedish population. There have been difficulties for people to make financial decisions in an increasingly complex financial market with many attributes, which places higher demands on people's financial knowledge to manage their own personal finances. People with lower financial knowledge have largely been excluded and this has been more evident for social groups with poorer social and economic conditions. Previous research has shown that people with a foreign background are a social group affected by this problem. Through a qualitative case study, with a socialconstructivist approach, based on focus group interviews with people from foreign background, this study aims to contribute to greater understanding of how this group of people views and thinks about financial decisions in the financial market. This study's theoretical frame of reference is based on past research about people with foreign backgrounds, cognitive ability, discrimination and the research field of “financial literacy”. The results showed that there was a need for financial literacy among the informants, as many considered that the existing information available in the financial market was difficult to interpret and has higher demands on humans cognitive ability. It was also found that many informants from the chosen social group in this study “people with foreign backgrounds” chose to draw back from investing in the financial market because of the risk associated with financial investments.

This study identified a sample of children with specific learning disabilities according to Public Law 94-142 criteria. The primary purpose of the study was to examine whether sample member's intravariability of WISC-R subtest scaled scores was related to their reading achievement gain. A second purpose was to determine if any relationship existed between intelligence and reading achievement gain. Eighty-four Resource placed elementary students composed the study sample. They ranged from six to eleven years of age, and were primarily male caucasian. Since 1989, each sample member had been administered the WISC-R once; and , each sample member had been administered the WJTEA-R twice, with at least 12 months separating the two administrations . Results identified no relationship between WSIC-R subtest scaled score scatter and reading achievment gain on the WJTEA-R. A positive correlation was identified be tween intelligence level and academic gains in reading. Important ancillary correlations of significance identified for all subjects included a negative relationship be tween the variable Age and the variables Intelligence , Academic gain, and the WISC-R FD factor . When intelligence was held to within average parameters significant correlations were identified between the variable Achievement and the variables Age and Time (negative), and with the WISC-R FD and VC factors (positive) . Multiple regression analyses indicated the FD factor best able to predict academic gain for this group. It is probable, that in the identification of learning disabled students, that the identification of processing disorders (as with previously sought patterns) is not viable. It may be that the only key characteristics are intellectual level and severe discrepancy.

No description available.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka eventuella skillnader i grundläggande kognitiva förmågor mellan högpresterande idrottare och amatörer. I denna kvantitativa tvärsnittsstudie samlades datan in från deltagare som rekryterades från ett idrottsgymnasium, en elitklubb och ett antal från personliga kontakter via ett bekvämlighetsurval. 39 deltagare deltog i studien i åldrarna 15-39, 21 högpresterande idrottare (M= 20.48, SD= 5.77) och 18 amatörer (M= 19.44, SD= 4.79). De grundläggande kognitiva förmågorna mättes med fyra kognitiva test: Trail Making Test, The Sustained Attention to Response Task, The Semantic And Phonemic Fluency Test och Digit Symbol Substitution Test. Dessa valdes ut för att mäta uppmärksamhet, bearbetningshastighet och exekutiva funktioner. Resultatet visade en statistisk signifikant skillnad mellan högpresterande idrottare och amatörer i den grundläggande kognitiva förmågan bearbetningshastighet där gruppen av högpresterande idrottare nådde högre värden i mätningarna. Inga signifikanta skillnader uppdagades i de grundläggande kognitiva förmågorna uppmärksamhet och exekutiva funktioner. Studiens resultat indikerar på att framtida forskning bör ta hänsyn till typ av idrott hos atleten i en urvalsprocess för en tydligare jämförelse. Frågan kring skillnader i grundläggande kognitiva förmågor är mer komplex än en uppdelning mellan högpresterande idrottare och amatörer. / The purpose of this study was to investigate possible differences in basic cognitive ability between high-performing and amateur athletes. In this quantitative cross-sectional study the data was collected from participants that were recruited from a highschool, an elite club and through personal contacts. 39 Participants participated in the study ages 15-39, 21 high-performing athletes (M= 20.48, SD= 5.77) and 18 amateur athletes (M=19.44, SD= 4.79). The basic cognitive abilities were measured with four tests: Trail Making Test, The Sustained Attention to Response Task, The Semantic And Phonemic Fluency Test and Digit Symbol Substitution Test. These were selected to measure attention, processing speed, and executive functions. The results showed a statistically significant difference between high-performing athletes and amateur athletes in the basic cognitive ability processing speed where the high-performing athletes showed a higher processing speed than amateur athletes. No significant differences were detected in the basic cognitive abilities of attention and executive functions. The results of the study indicate that future research should take into consideration the type of sport the athlete is involved in for a selection process with a clearer comparison. The differences in basic cognitive abilities is more complex than the comparison between high-performing and amateur athletes.

Abstract The purpose of this master thesis is to conduct a Qualitative analysis on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on Telus International, a leading provider of customer service and business process outsourcing solutions using the deductive approach to collect the data. Through interviews with key respondents at the company and a review of relevant literature, this study aims to understand the ways in which artificial intelligence is being used at Telus International in the decision making process and the effects it has on the organisation. The findings of this study suggest that AI has had a positive impact on Telus International, providing the organisation with increased efficiency and productivity. However, the implementation of artificial intelligence has also raised concerns about potential job loss and the need for employees to adapt to new technologies. This study highlights the need for organisations to carefully consider the potential impacts of AI and to provide support for employees during the transition. Paper Type: Master Thesis Research Paper