The present study examined the effects of socio-economic status, quality and level of education on performance on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale 3rd Edition r.:w AIS-III). The study was conducted within the context of the present Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) W AIS-III standardisation process, cross-cultural psychometric research and the notion of test-wiseness. A South African sample (N = 68) comprising African first language (n = 40) and English first language (n = 28) participants, stratified for age (19 - 30 years), gender and educational attainment (Matric and Graduate) were utilised. Effects due to quality of education were determined by dividing the African language participants into those with private/model C schooling (n = 20) and those with DET schooling (n = 20). Effects due to level of education were determined by dividing the entire sample into those with Matric level education (n = 34) and those with Graduate level education (n = 34). Detailed demographic and socio-economic information were recorded for all participants, who completed the entire American version of the W AIS-III. Results revealed a highly significant positive correlation between high socio-economic status and W AIS-III Full Scale IQ. In addition the respective impact of the relatively poor quality of education and lower level of educational attainment on W AIS-III performance was substantial. These results were discussed in terms of their implications for cross-cultural research, the HSRC standardisation of the W AIS-III and the practical use of the W AIS-III in neuropsychological assessment.

Both experimental research (Robbertse,1952)and clinical observation (Kruger, 1972; van der Merwe,1978) have indicated that pupils with a Verbal IQ score 10 or more points lower than their non-Verbal IQ (termed a 'Type 1' discrepancy in the present research) on the New South African Group Test (NSAGT) show poorer academic achievement than their peers of similar ability. The present research investigates the relationship of general retention ability, as defined by Hakstian and Cattell (1978), to Type 1 discrepancies as well as to their academic correlates. One hundred and thirty-nine standard seven English-speaking boys were tested on the NSAGT and the Junior Aptitude Test (JAT) (of which tests 8 and 9 give an indication of general retention ability) and divided into a group with Type 1 discrepancies and two control groups. All three groups were matched on full-scale IQ. Comparison of these three groups, using the analysis of variance technique, showed that there was no significant difference between them in level of general retention ability or in academic performance (measured by average percentage in the final standard seven examination). While no significant difference was found between the three groups regarding the relationship of general retention ability to academic performance, in the Type 1 discrepancy group the relationship of rote memory (JAT test 8) to academic performance differed markedly from that of associative memory (JAT test 9) to academic performance. In the Type 1 discrepancy group rote memory was highly associated with academic performance, possibly indicating a compensatory strategy for the lower Verbal ability in this group, enabling it to achieve academically on par with the control groups, contrary to what would be expected on the basis of Robbertse's (1962) findings. In terms of Jensen's (1982) Level 1/Level 11 theory of intelligence, it appears from the present research that rote memory ability (JAT test 8) varies between being a Level 11 ability (in the Type 1 discrepancy group) to acting as a Level 1 ability in the two control groups. The present research questions Verwey and Wolmarans's (1980) description of both JAT tests 8 and 9 as simple measures of retention Test 9, in particular, appears to function consistently as a Level 11 ability.

In response to the growing demand for a test of cognitive ability for South African adults, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) adapted the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales, third edition (WAIS-III) for English-speaking South Africans. However, since the publication of the South African adaptation in 2001, there has been some concern whether some bias may not still be present in the measure. Consequently, this study aimed to qualitatively explore the item content of the South African adaptation of the WAIS-III in order to identify items that might still be potentially biased with specific reference to cultural and linguistic issues. The researcher employed purposive sampling, a non-probability technique, to select psychology professionals to act as expert reviewers. The sample consisted of 20 registered psychologists, psychology lecturers and psychology interns from the predominant culture and language groups of the Eastern and Western Cape. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected by means of a Bias Review Questionnaire which consisted of fixed-choice questions, as well as sections in which specific comments could be indicated. The questionnaire was distributed to 20 selected participants who were qualified to administer psychometric measures and were registered with the Health Professionals Council of South Africa (HPCSA). Qualitative data was analysed using Tesch’s model of thematic content analysis, and five main themes relating to potential bias were identified, namely: Culture, Language, Education, Socio-economic status, and Format. The qualitative data was re-submitted to the expert review group for approval and further comment. Quantitative data obtained from the Bias Review Questionnaire was analysed by obtaining frequency counts, which were converted to percentages, per subtest and aspect reviewed. The major findings of the study were as follows: 1. Cultural bias is evident in the South African adaptation of the WAIS-III. The differential meanings ascribed to concepts, terms, phrases and words by diverse cultures impact on test performance, as does familiarity with stimulus materials used in the measure. 2. Language bias was detected against groups with English as their second or third language owing to the unfamiliar, and sometimes archaic, terms and vocabulary used in the measure. The intended meanings of the translated items are unclear and confusing for test-takers. 3. South African test-takers have experienced vastly divergent educational opportunities which impact on intelligence test performance. The measure contains potential bias against individuals from disadvantaged educational backgrounds. 4. The content of the items is not relevant to test-takers from deprived socioeconomic backgrounds that have been unable to access good-quality education. 5. Format bias was found to exist with respect to the timed tests. Cultural groups who do not value speededness are disadvantaged by the structure and format of the measure. Based on the findings of this study, certain recommendations were made. These include: 1. Additional qualitative investigation of the WAIS-III , with a view to further adaptation in an effort to eradicate bias on cultural or linguistic grounds, and 2. Conducting further Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analyses and establishing construct equivalence across cultural and linguistic groups to promote this objective. Among the contributions believed to have been made by this study are the identification of potentially biased subtests and items on the grounds of culture and language, which will facilitate possible further revision and adaptation of the measure. Additionally, the variables that were considered important influencing factors of cognitive test performance have been documented and are accessible for future research that will supplement the present study.

The general purpose of this study was to do further research work with Dombrose and Slobin's Photo-Analysis Test, and to construct a comparable Photo-Analysis Test without some of the possible defects which produced the unexpected results for Dombrose and Slobin. Both tests were used for measuring impulse, ego, and superego sex differences, and Dombrose and Slobin's test was also used for comparing age group differences of both sexes, on their impulse, ego, and superego responses. This study was also expected to contribute to the psychological literature concerning the sex differences on the self-rating of conscience as a determinant of behavior, as well as sex differences on the relative strength of the impulse, ego, and superego variables. The test constructed for the present study had both male and female photographs of a broad age range, instead of male photographs only, as in Dombrose and Slobin's test. The photographs were tested for ambiguity, and the items were tested for impulse, ego, and superego content, in preliminary studies. A seven point self-rating scale was constructed according to the specifications of the literature. This scale was expected to measure conscience as a determinant of behavior, with the scores acting as an independent means of testing the test for validity. Both tests were converted into a single group test, so that the photographs could be projected on the screen by the use of a projector. The test was given to two introductory psychology classes at the University of British Columbia, of which forty-two females and fifty-five males, eighteen and nineteen years of age, remained for the statistical analysis. The subjects were expected to project impulse and superego pressures through the processes of perception, apperception, empathy, and identification. Fifty hypotheses were set up for testing the experimental results, and both the Chi-square and t tests were used for testing the hypotheses. Fifteen hypotheses, which affected Dombrose and Slobin's test only, only demanded the results to be in the predicted direction and position in order to be verified. The other hypotheses had to be supported at the .05 level of confidence in order to be verified. The results show that the test constructed for the present study is a useful instrument for measuring impulse and ego sex differences, but not superego sex differences. Dombrose and Slobin1s test was not able to differentiate in the predicted direction between the sexes on any of the critical variables. The results from Dombrose and Slobin's test on the male age group differences were no better than could be expected by chance alone. The two female age groups, that were compared, verified the hypotheses set up for the impulse and ego variables, but not those set up for the superego variable. Since only two female age groups were compared, no definite conclusions can be formulated for the impulse, ego, and superego variables. The male photographs elicited more impulse and fewer ego and superego responses, from both male and female subjects, than the female photographs, but the superego differences were not significant statistically. Only the females produced more impulse and fewer ego responses in response to Dombrose and Slobin's test than in response to the female photographs. The male response was not in the predicted direction on any of the critical variables, when the responses to Dombrose and Slobin's photographs and the female photographs were compared. Both tests differentiate fairly well among the male groups which had been grouped on the basis of their own self-rating of conscience as a determinant of behavior. Dombrose and Slobin's test, however, differentiated much better than the test constructed for the present study when similar female groups were compared, but the differences were in the predicted direction only on the impulse and ego variables. Both tests appear to be measuring different things in males and females, and the superego variable differentiates poorest of the three critical variables. These tests, however, do appear to be measuring more than overt behavior, and seem to be getting at underlying psychodynamics. In general, the test constructed for the present study seems to be an improvement over Dombrose and Slobin's test. The self-rating scale seems to be a valid instrument for measuring conscience as a determinant of behavior for both sexes. It is suggested that more research work be done with both the Photo-Analysis Test and the self-rating scale. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Historically, moral awareness and conscience have been considered matters for speculation by philosophers and moralists and it is difficult to find many studies that set out explicitly to gather empirical evidence concerning conscience. A few psychologists, however, have attempted to measure these phenomena. These studies can be criticized because the moral categories and questionnaire items used were derived by "armchair" methods rather than by empirical methods. This study was undertaken as an attempt to develop, empirically, a reliable set of conscience items. From these items a scale to measure conscience in children of the age range found in grade eight in Vancouver schools could be constructed. In order to develop a set of conscience items by empirical methods, two tasks were undertaken: 1. To obtain empirical data regarding behavioural situations illustrating instances of moral awareness and conscience. 2. To construct, from these data, items describing these behavioural situations, to administer these items to a sample population and to test these items for reliability. The data were collected by presenting to 200 grade eight students a word list of categories evolved in a previous study. The subjects were asked to write statements, from their own experience, which would illustrate the meaning of each of these words. In this manner 5,440 statements were collected from which were evolved 247 items. These items were checked for understanding by presenting them to a sample drawn from the original population. Two scales were constructed from the original 247 items. Each of the scales was administered to 100 grade eight students and the results analysed. The analysis of the results consisted of testing the answers to the questionnaire items for significant differences in the way in which the subjects answered these items. A limitation of this thesis is that it excludes any reference to the areas of Lust and Sex. This exclusion was a condition set by the Vancouver School Board in granting permission to conduct the study in one of the schools. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that of the original 247 items, 229 items would lend themselves to a scale which would measure conscience in both boys and girls of the age range found in grade eight in Vancouver. While such a scale is outlined in the present study, the checking of its reliability and. validity is left for future study. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

More and more, accident studies conclude that accident-involved individuals can be identified by their personal characteristics and background. The problem of this study was to compare drivers who had incurred more than their share of accidents as opposed to drivers with relatively few accidents during a three year period of initial bus driving experience, using psychological tests and biographical data. Nine areas of biographical data and twenty-nine psychological test variables were analyzed from a group of seventy-three bus drivers. This psychological test battery, used at selection time, consisted of the Wonderlic Personnel Test, the American Transit Association Test, the Kuder Preference Record - Vocational, and a personality questionnaire. The top and bottom 20% of drivers in an accident distribution, involving all collisions, were established for comparison. Only four differences were significant dealing with the tests alone. It was found that the low accident bus driver has a higher intelligence factor, although most of the low accident group still fall in the lower average range of the general population. Minimum intelligence test scores were determined for selection purposes. The low accident driver has less interest in social service type of work and is not as strong in tolerance as the high accident driver. Dealing with the biographical data it was found that the low accident driver has been a resident in the city in which he is driving for a longer period of time, has had more previous commercial driving experience, has had fewer jobs in the past and has no recent work history of being in business for himself. Further indications, although lacking required statistical significance, are that the low accident driver tends to have more dependents, a better education, a better credit rating and is more likely to be a home owner. It was determined that the accident pattern forms early in service and that drivers with a record of repeated accidents in any one unit of time would repeat the accidents in another unit of time. It was suggested that a twelve month probationary period be in effect for all drivers. It was also suggested that a re-training program might be effective at the end of twelve months of service especially for those drivers having more than their share of accidents. An important result of this study was to point out the increasing importance of biographical data in determining characteristics of accident-involved bus drivers. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to explore some of the possibilities of a promising new culture-free, individual performance test of intelligence. This test, the Bhatia Patterns Test, was originally designed for a test battery that was used on Indian school children. The problem of this study was to determine if the Patterns Test had any value in a North American setting. One hundred and sixty-five pupils were tested with the Bhatia Patterns Test and the Porteus Maze Test. In addition, the I.Q. scores of the California Short Form Test of Mental Maturity, the scores of the Stanford Achievement Intermediate Battery (Form K) and the grade scores of the pupils were collected. More specifically, this study wished to ascertain whether there were any differences between sexes with the Patterns Test, whether the Patterns Test and the Maze Test correlated significantly, whether the Patterns Test was related to a standardized group achievement measure, and whether the Patterns Test was related to the pupils’ grade scores. One hundred and sixty-five school pupils were chosen at random from grades four, five and six from five Vancouver elementary schools. The subjects were given the Patterns Test and the Maze Test in a counterbalanced design to determine whether either of the tests had an effect upon each other. The counterbalanced design was analyzed by a two by two latin square. In addition, all the scores were correlated with each other to determine what relationships existed between the various measures. It was concluded that there were no sex differences among the scores of the subjects. The Bhatia Patterns Test and the Porteus Maze Test did not correlate significantly. The Patterns Test correlated higher with a standardized achievement test than did a group measure of intelligence. The Patterns Test did not correlate significantly with the pupils’ grade scores. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that positive transfer is a function of the degree of inter-list stimulus similarity, and the degree of learning of an initial list. More specifically, the following hypotheses, derived from E. J. Gibson's theory of verbal learning, were tested: 1. Positive transfer is a function of inter-list stimulus similarity. A decrease of inter-list stimulus similarity will result in a decrease in the amount of positive transfer. 2. Less positive transfer will occur to a second list if practice of an initial list is continued after discrimination has been established among the stimulus items. The effect of the interaction between inter-list stimulus similarity and the degree of initial list learning was also assessed. Since the status of Gibson's theory did not enable the deduction of a hypothesis, the null hypothesis was tested. Sixty subjects learned an initial list of eleven stimulus forms paired with nonsense syllables of zero associative value. The subjects were required to learn each syllable so that they could spell it when the appropriate form was presented. Learning was by the method of right associates, and material was presented at the rate of two seconds per item, with a six second interval between trials. Thirty of the subjects learned this list to a criterion of one perfect recitation, and the other thirty subjects learned it to a criterion of five consecutive perfect recitations. When the criterion had been reached, the subjects were given a ten minute interval in which-to rate a series of thirty jokes. The subjects were then assigned to three groups. Each group consisted of ten subjects who had learned the initial list to a criterion of one perfect recitation, and ten who had learned it to five consecutive perfect recitations. As a transfer task, each group received a different list of paired associates, whose stimulus members were of either medium, low or zero similarity to those of the initial list. Each group learned this task to a criterion of one perfect recitation. Th8 main findings and conclusions of the study were as follows: 1. Positive transfer is a function of the degree of inter-list stimulus similarity. Significantly less transfer occurs to a list of zero similarity than to a list of medium similarity or to one of low similarity. There is no significant difference between the amount of transfer to a list of medium similarity and the amount of transfer to one of low similarity. This indicates that the relationship between positive transfer and inter-list stimulus similarity is indirect, whereas Gibson's theory indicates that the relationship should be linear. 2. Increasing the degree of initial list learning from one perfect recitation to five consecutive perfect recitations does not significantly decrease the amount of positive transfer. This was considered to be an inadequate test of Gibson's hypothesis, because the criterion of one perfect recitation did not allow discrimination to be established among the items. 3. There is no interaction between inter-list stimulus similarity and the degree of initial list learning. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to investigate certain psychometric procedures, and to ascertain their value in relation to the problems of selection and prediction for clerical and mechanical trades in the service. The tests selected were the Otis S-A (which were also marked for twenty minute performance as well as the standard thirty), the Wonderlic Personnel R Test, the SRA Primary Mental Abilities Test, the Detroit Mechanical Aptitude Test and the Detroit Clerical Aptitude Test. Included in the study were the marks obtained on a service-administered Classification Test - the Navy "G". The samples that were used were New Entry Trainees in the Canadian Navy who were about to take courses either as Writers (clerical trade) or Stokers (mechanical trade). The criterion used to evaluate the tests was the course marks obtained by the Stokers and Writers on their final examination. The tests were analyzed individually for types of distribution and amount of dispersion or variability. All the tests and subtests were correlated with the criterion to obtain validity coefficients. Similarly all the tests and subtests were correlated with the Otis, and intercorrelations were worked out for all the intelligence and classification tests. Multiple correlations of prediction were also calculated. The tests of the Primary Mental Abilities Test were intercorrelated for independence of "factors". The validity correlations found were low but were considered to have practical significance. The lowness of the correlations was probably due to the restrictions placed on the sample by the effects of enlistment qualifications. It was found that the twelve minute intelligence test, the Wonderlic, was apparently as good a measure of prediction as the thirty minute Otis. In the Primary Mental Abilities Test, the Number Test, proved to be the best measure of prediction of any test or subtest for Stokers, and with the Reasoning Test was predictive of success in the Stokers' course. It also was the only test of the PMA which showed any possibilities for prediction with the Writers. The Detroit Clerical Aptitude Test proved to be the best measure of all for predicting success with Writers. As for Stokers, the Mechanical Aptitude Test, while not as good as the Clerical Aptitude for Writers, appeared to be useful if used in conjunction with an intelligence test. In fact, multiple correlations were worked out with the criterion and the Otis thirty minute, the Number test of the PMA and either the Detroit Mechanical or Clerical Aptitude Test, depending on whether the multiple was for Stokers or Writers. The coefficients ware .41 and .47 for Stokers and Writers respectively. Certain of the tests and subtests were found to be unsatisfactory on the basis that they did not distribute their scores in accordance with the normal curve and, in some instances, proved to be too difficult for the group. The Navy "G" Test was found to be unsatisfactory for the purposes of prediction, and the Space Test of the PMA was too difficult. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

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