Two studies were conducted to attempt to evaluate the selection procedures used in Hadassah Medical School. The predictors assessed were the Israeli high school matriculation examinations, a general aptitude test, an interview and a semi-projective test designed to assess personality pathology. In the first study 145 students of the 1975 and 1976 cohorts were assessed, the criteria being a combination of peer evaluations, evaluation of supervisors and academic record. Results showed the matriculation average score to be the only effective predictor for all criteria. In the second study 155 students of the 1979, 1980 and 1981 cohorts were assessed, the criteria being evaluation of supervising doctors, BSc grades and grades during the clinical period. Results again indicated that the matriculation test is the most effective predictor. In this study, however, the other variables added to the prediction of criteria based on clinical evaluations. The results were discussed, raising several possible explanations for the relatively high validity of the matriculation scores. It was suggested the matriculation scores capture personality dimensions, such as motivation and adjustment to the learning environment, which are important factors for success in medical training.

In this study of people ranging from six to over sixty-five years of age, a high frequency of animistic responses was found in all ages examined. While a significant age effect was noted in the ability to categorize animate objects accurately, animistic responding was generally unrelated to logical classification ability or to analytic cognitive style. For eleven- to thirteen-year-olds, however, a significant relationship between animism and both cognitive style and classification ability existed. An interpretation of the results which found high levels of animistic thinking beyond adolescence does not support Piagetian theory. Rather, adults may respond animistically because of emotional attachments which they have formed to a certain meaningful physical objects.

Basing the prediction of student performance in medical school on intellective-cognitive abilities alone has proved to be more pertinent to academic achievement than to clinical practice. A major obstacle to the development of adequate measures has been the elusive nature of requirements for successful clinical performance. The present study aimed at defining the relevant variables through an analysis of the concept of the medical student held by supervising doctors. With the aid of a methodology derived from cognitive-social psychology, the components of how training doctors of a large medical school evaluate their students were first explicated in structured interviews. In a second phase of the research, 18 supervisors in five major clinical departments rated their student-supervisees on 15 obtained traits. Findings of trait correlations with an overall evaluation, as well as Guttman's 'Smallest Space Analysis' (1968), indicated a clear priority of cognitive-motivational traits in supervisors' judgements and reduced relevance of personal and interpersonal variables. Certain inconsistencies between avowed ideology of medical training and actual supervising practice could be detected.