Mental abilities and school achievement: A test of a mediation hypothesis

This study analyzes the interplay of four cognitive abilities - reasoning, divergent thinking, mental speed, and short-term memory - and their impact on academic achievement in school in a sample of adolescents in grades seven to 10 (N = 1135). Based on information processing approaches to intelligence, we tested a mediation hypothesis, which states that the complex cognitive abilities of reasoning and divergent thinking mediate the influence of the basic cognitive abilities of mental speed and short-term memory on achievement. We administered a comprehensive test battery and analyzed the data through structural equation modeling while controlling for the cluster structure of the data. Our findings support the notion that mental speed and short-term memory, as ability factors reflecting basic cognitive processes, exert an indirect influence on academic achievement by affecting reasoning and divergent thinking (total indirect effects: β = .22 and .24, respectively). Short-term memory also directly affects achievement (β = .22).     

初析麦氏类型与考试成绩和学习成绩的关系

本文介绍了麦氏类型理论在美国学生的智力类考试成绩以及学生在校学习成绩的相关性研究中的成果．对麦氏理论在该领域中的几个经典发现进行了讨论和诠释。本文还分析了不同麦氏维度(极性)的学习特征,并介绍了相应的教学建议。最后,本文结合中国的现状,从麦氏理论的角度,对中国学生的学习环境进行了评价,并提出了几点建议。     

三品到九品 承前与启后——荀悦性三品论阐微

人性问题是荀悦整个思想体系的理论基石和核心问题之一,他是性三品论的坚定拥护者,更是一位承前启后、富有创见的理论家。荀悦提出了"兼取"的理论,认为在性与情的应合互动关系中,还存在一种"兼取"的状态;他还创造性地提出了"性之九品"的主张,把人之三品更细化为九品,将汉代的性三品论又向前推进了一步。荀悦的学说为后世学者提供了可资借鉴的思想素材和研究框架。     

Identification Problems in Personality Psychology

This paper discusses and illustrates identification problems in personality psychology. The measures used by psychologists to infer traits are based on behaviors, broadly defined. These behaviors are produced from multiple traits interacting with incentives in situations. In general, measures are determined by these multiple traits and do not identify any particular trait unless incentives and other traits are controlled for. Using two data sets, we show, that substantial portions of the variance in achievement test scores and grades, which are often used as measures of cognition, are explained by personality variables.