Differences in intelligence across thirty-one regions of China and their economic and demographic correlates

This study reports the differences in intelligence across thirty-one regions of the People's Republic of China. It was found that regional IQs were significantly associated with the percentage of Han in the population (r = .59), GDP per capita (r = .42), the percentage of those with higher education (r = .38, p < .05), and non-significantly with years of education (r = .32).     

Who discovered the Flynn effect? A review of early studies of the secular increase of intelligence

Flynn has been credited with having discovered the increase in IQs that has been reported in a number of countries during most of the twentieth century and that has come to be known as “the Flynn effect”. This paper documents and discusses a number of reports of increases in IQs that were published from 1936 onwards before the phenomenon was rediscovered by  and . These early reports showed that the Flynn effect is fully present in pre-school children, does not increase during the school age years, and is greater for non-verbal abilities than for verbal abilities.     

A Study of Some Factors Involved in Place Learning

Through the technique of Goodman's log linear method, longitudinal data are analyzed to clarify the relationship between depressive mood and illicit drug use among youths. A representative sample of adolescents (N = 8206) from New York State secondary schools was followed over one academic year. At one point in time, users of illicit drugs other than marihuana (multiple drug users) were significantly more depressed than either nonusers or users of marihuana only. Differing interactive relationships were found over time depending upon the drugs involved. Depressive mood was related to the onset of marihuana use among nonusers and to the termination of marihuana use among users. Depressive mood also predicted the use of other illicit drugs by marihuana users. While the beginning use of illicit drugs other than marihuana was positively associated with increased depressive mood, continued multiple drug use was related to reduced depressive mood.     

Visual Acuity Performance of Normal and Chronic Focal-Head Irradiated Monkeys

The study reported by Griffiths, Shantz, and Sigel (4) on children's understanding of relational terms in conservation tasks is used in a case study to illustrate a number of problematic practices in the use of psychological literature. A number of examples are given that reflect a negligent or clearly inaccurate reading of the Griffiths et al. report. Common errors made by authors in citing the published research of others are failure to examine closely the study's methodology, uncritical acceptance of authors' conclusions, and misinterpretation or confusion of the study's findings.     

Electroconvulsive Shock and the Learning of Visual Patterns

The influence of peer models on the modification of impulsive response styles among fourth and sixth grade boys and girls was experimentally investigated. Sociometrically chosen peers were trained to provide reflective verbal and behavioral cues in responding to a selected task. They later performed these skills in the presence of a peer observer. A comparison of posttest performance measures of peer observers with control subjects revealed significant increases in response latencies and decreases in error scores among children exposed to peer models.     

Construction of Circumplex Scales for the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems

We constructed a set of circumplex scales for the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP; Horowitz, Rosenberg, Baer, Ureno, & Villasenor, 1988). Initial scale construction used all 127 items from this instrument in two samples of university undergraduates (n = 197; n = 273). Cross-sample stability of item locations plotted against the first two principal components was high. A final set of eight 8-item circumplex scales was derived from the combined sample (n = 470) and cross-validated in a third university sample (n = 974). Finally, we examined the structural convergence of the IIP circumplex scales with an established measure of interpersonal dispositions, the Revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales (IAS-R; Wiggins, Trapnell, & Phillips, 1988). Although both circumplex instruments were derived independently, they shared a common Circular space. Implications of these results are discussed with reference to current research methods for the study of interpersonal behavior.     

Memory for Faces in Children with Autism

Previous research has established that children with Autistic Disorder have deficits in aspects of social cognition and in verbal memory, but research on social memory is limited. Twenty-four autistic boys aged 7 to 12 years and normal controls matched for verbal mental age were administered parallel social and nonsocial matching and memory tasks. Results showed that the children with autism were impaired relative to the normal children on the social (face) memory task only. Furthermore, of the four experimental tasks, the social memory task had the highest and most consistent correlations with measures of social development and adaptive skills. Whereas the normal children used the special status of faces to recall them more easily than objects, the children with autism showed equal recall of objects and faces.     

Sustained Attention and Unintentional Injury Among Preschool-Aged Children

This study examined vigilance in preschool-aged children and explored the relationship between vigilance and unintentional injury. There were 28 participating children, aged 4 and 5 years, who completed a computerized vigilance task for two 5-min sessions. The task generated measures of correct detections, false alarms, reaction time, and the signal detection indices of d ' and c. Primary caregivers completed daily injury phone journals for a 4-week period. Results indicated that age and signal probability affected vigilance. Older children made more correct detections, had greater perceptual sensitivity, and performed in patterns similar to adults. Performance was enhanced in the high signal probability condition. In addition, vigilance indicators of perceptual sensitivity and response bias were predictive of injury, while age was not. Specifically, children with lower perceptual sensitivity scores, and who were less responsive to the vigilance task, experienced more unintentional injures over the course of the study.