Correlates of Selected Test-Wiseness Skills

GLORIA M. BORRELLO
BRUCE THOMPSON

University of New Orleans

The study investigated personality and aptitude cor-
relates of selected test-wiseness skills. The subjects in
the study were 162 students enrolled in a freshman
course in a large public university in the southern United
States. Test-wiseness skills were measured using a meas-
ure of the individual's ability to utilize deductive reason-
ing and item cues to correctly answer items. Personality
factors were measured using the Myers-Briggs Type In-
dicator and aptitude was measured using the American
College Test. Statistically significant relationships were
found between the predictor variables and test-wiseness
scores. Overall, the results suggest that cognitive vari-
ables have substantially more power to predict test-
wiseness scores than do personality variables, and that
most of the predictive power of personality variables is
also subsumed within the cognitive variables investi-
gated in the study.

MEASURES OF COGNITIVE ACHIEVEMENT
and aptitude serve so many selective purposes of our
society that tests have become the "gatekeepers to
educational and occupational opportunities" ( Haney,
1980 , p. 2). For years, the American public acquiesced
to these uses of test results, but more recently "truth in
testing" movements have come into prominence and
their adherents have begun seeking to have legislative
controls placed on standardized testing. Despite the
myriad conflicts surrounding the testing issue, however,
the emphasis on psychological and educational testing,
which first became entrenched in America during World
War I, continues today. Attesting to this phenomenon,
Gifford and Fluitt ( 1980 ) surveyed secondary schools
nationwide and determined that as many as one out of
four public schools, one out of three Catholic schools,
and as many as one out of two independent schools were
involved in test-taking skills programs. The existence of
mandates in public schools requiring classroom teachers
to design tests that will prepare students for standardized
testing situations also attests to the prominence of testing
in our nation's schools.

Thorndike ( 1951 ) first conceptualized "test wiseness"
as a variable that can affect test scores. Thorndike viewed
test wiseness as a general and lasting characteristic of
the individual and a prominent source of score variance
on cognitive tests second in its influence only to in-
dividual cognitive ability. More specifically, Millman,
Bishop, and Ebel ( 1965 , p. 707) defined test wiseness as
the "subject's capacity to utilize the characteristics and
formats of the test and/or the test taking situation to
receive a high score. Test wiseness is logically indepen-
dent of the examinee's knowledge of the subject matter
for which the items are supposedly measures."

Test wiseness has been found to be intraindividually
stable both in studies involving students in grades five
through eleven ( Crehan, Koehler, & Slakter, 1974) and
in studies involving college students ( Gibb, 1964).
However, research suggests that instructional interven-
tions can effectively improve test-wiseness skills that
otherwise would remain stable ( Fueyo, 1977; Wahlstrom
& Boersman, 1968). The present study was con-
ducted to acquire further insight regarding these impor-
tant and apparently teachable skills.

The study's hypotheses were deductively derived from
the major and the minor premise of a syllogism. The
major premise of the study was that cognitive abilities
are associated with certain personality variables. Rela-
tionships between personality factors and ability have
been reported in a number of studies. Ayres and Rohr ( 1972 ) summarized several studies and reported that
both quality point averages and grades in particular
courses in college were positively related to certain per-
sonality variables. Similarly, Kiker ( 1975 ) found that
certain personality dimensions of the learner are con-

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