The purpose of this study was to investigate word-transformation ability in college freshmen. The random sample included 37 students on probation. Tests for 3-letter, 4-letter, and 5-letter words which had only one possible transformation were constructed. There were 24 items in each category. The results indicate that it is easier to transform 3-letter words than 4-letter words which in turn are easier to transform than 5-letter words. The mean differences and correlations among these categories are significant (p = .01). The ability to transform words of various lengths is not several separate abilities, but one.
GuilfordJ. P.The nature of human intelligence. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
3.
GuilfordJ. P.MerrifieldP. R.ChristensenP. R.FrickJ. W.Some new symbolic factors of cognition and convergent production. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 1961, 21, 515–541.
4.
PetersenH.GuilfordJ. P.HoepfnerR.MerrifieldP. R.Determination of “structure-of-intellect” abilities involved in ninth-grade algebra and general mathematics. Report of the Psychological Laboratory of the University of Southern California, 1963, No. 31.
