Miller Analogies Test Performance as Related to Age,Sex,and Academic Field

Abstract

A factorial design was used to relate MAT scores to the age, sex, and academic field of 192 applicants to graduate school in psychology and education. The results showed significant differences (P < .01) in test performance as a function of age and field, but not of sex. The education students scored significantly lower than the psychology students (means of 48.2 and 58.4, respectively), and the youngest and oldest groups (median ages of 23 and 41) performed equally well, whereas the middle group (median age of 30) scored significantly lower than the other two. It was suggested that the surprisingly good performance of the oldest group may be due to selectivity in terms of intelligence and general competence, i.e., that only especially effective and self-confident individuals are willing to embark on a graduate career near or after the age of 40.

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