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Biomedical subjects

L Willerman

Publications and source records attributed to L Willerman.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1977

Sex differences in WAIS item performance.

Although the WAIS IQ scores of males and females differ only negligibly, significant sex differences do exist on many WAIS subtests. The purpose of the present investigation was to identify any WAIS items within these subtests that showed reliable sex differences. Within a cross-validation methodology that employed 521 adults (264 males; 257 females), 21 items were found to show reliable sex differences. A reanalysis by age groups provided similar results. The nature of the items was discussed, and an index of stereotyped sex-role experiences was proposed.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

The aptitude-achievement test distinction: a study of unrelated children reared together.

Unrelated children reared together (N = 156) in 71 different families included in the Texas Adoption Project were compared for similarities on intelligence and achievement tests. The purpose was to see if a distinction between the two types of tests based on their heritabilities could be sustained. Results indicated no substantial differences in correlations for the two types of tests, and hence little or no support for the notion of an aptitude-achievement distinction based on differential heritabilities.

Achievement↗
PubMed1976

Personality correlates of WAIS performance.

The relationships between two of Cattell's second-stratum factors, Cortertia and Temperamental Independence, and WAIS scores were investigated for 122 men and 127 women. For men, both Cortertia and Temperamental Independence were related significantly to WAIS scores. For women, Temperamental Independence, but not Cortertia, correlated significantly with WAIS scores. The variability in the degree of relationship between the individual subtests and the personality factors was noted, and the cross-lagged panel correlation methodology was suggested as a possible approach to investigate the causal connections between personality factors and abilities.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Resemblance in appearance and the equal environments assumption in twin studies of personality traits.

The equal environments hypothesis of twin methodology was examined for the variable of similarity of appearance as it affects the personality ratings of young twins. There were two separate samples, the first with 95 pairs of same-sex twins and the second with 111 pairs. The average age of the twins in both samples was 3-1/2 years. Mothers rated their twins on four personality traits and on confusability of appearance. Not surprisingly, identical twins were markedly more similar in appearance than fraternal twins. The effect of this inequality on the personality ratings of the two types of twins was examined by correlating ratings of similarity of appearance with the absolute difference on the four personality traits for each pair of twins. None of the correlations was significant for the identical twins, suggesting that greater resemblance in appearance in identical twins does not make them more similar in personality. Indeed, the data suggested a contrast effect in which identical twins who were easily mistaken in appearance tended to be rated as less similar in personality. Thus, although similarity of appearance may create unequal environments for the two types of twins, it does not appear to bias twin studies in the direction of inflated heritabilities, at least for rating studies of the personality of young twins.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1976

Nature-nurture and intelligence: the twin and adoption studies agree.

A large-scale adoption study is underway at the University of Texas where IQ test scores are available for over 1200 women who gave up their children for adoption immediately following delivery. The adopted children and their adoptive families are now being located and tested and, if current trends continue, complete data should eventually be available on over 400 families. About half of these families will contain two or more adopted children or both adopted and natural children. At present, data are available for 89 families. The results are consistent with twin data and support a genetic hypothesis. The biological mother-adopted child correlation is 0.37 whereas the adoptive mother-adopted child and adoptive father-adopted child correlations are only 0.22 and 0.04 respectively. There are 59 pairs of unrelated children reared together in this sample and the IQ correlation for these children is only 0.13.

Adoption↗
PubMed1976

Retention of learned temperature changes during problem solving.

In 2 studies (ns = 10, 9) college students were trained using biofeedback to lower or to raise finger temperature. Successful subjects were then asked to do distracting intellectual tasks, while simultaneously retaining the learned temperature changes. Results indicated that these changes could be maintained without detectable decreases in problem-solving efficiency in terms of either time or number of errors. These findings suggested that it might be possible for subjects to function efficiently outside the laboratory in their everyday activities while simultaneously exercising voluntary control over some autonomic processes.

Adult↗