Individual Differences and Formal Operational Performance of College Students

F ormal thought appears to be related to success in mathematics at the early college level (Carpenter, in press). However, several studies have indicated that high percentages of college students fail to manifest formal operational performance on the appropriate tasks (e.g., Adi, 1978; Chiapetta, 1976; Lawson, Nordland, & DeVito, 1975). To provide a possible explanation for such a failure, the relationship between formal operational...