ABSTRACT
The annals of differential psychology contain an immense collection of constructs and measures, any of which might be candidates for use in the study of individual differences in relation to performance in some specified situation of concern. Some of these constructs are based on substantial theory and research, others derive only from scattered empirical work in applied settings without connection to theory, and there is a vast array ranged between these two extremes. Valuable reviews of this catalogue and the theory and practice of working with it exist (see, e.g., Anastasi, 1958; Cronbach, 1984; Tyler, 1965). There have also been some heroic attempts at organizing the vast array of differential constructs, and the empirical relationships among them, into satisfying and useful taxonomic structures (see e.g., Cattell, 1957, 1971; Guilford, 1967; Royce & Powell, 1983). The correlational mapping of individual difference domains continues today because such maps prove useful as guides for more intensive experimental analysis of individual difference constructs and relations among them (see e.g., Snow, 1980a; Snow, Kyllonen & Marshalek, 1984). Of particular interest in this continuing work are correlational studies that bridge the traditional domains of differential psychology—that sketch potential connections between intellectual abilities, personality characteristics, cognitive style constructs, and even biological constructs, that may combine cognitive, conative and affective aspects of human performance (see e.g., the Messick and Federico chapters in this volume).
