Learning styles of gifted adolescents with in-school versus out-of-school accomplishments in literature.

The learning styles of two groups of adolescents gifted in literature, one composed of subjects with high grade point averages in school in literature (n = 232) and one of subjects who had high scores on talented out-of-school accomplishments in literature (n = 192), were compared. Six of the 22 elements measured by the Learning Styles Inventory distinguished between the two groups. The out-of-school gifted group preferred to work with peers and felt comfortable learning in a variety of different ways. They tended to be less visual and more auditory learners and expressed a greater preference to learn by experiential or hands-on activities than the in-school gifted group. The implications for teaching and counseling gifted learners, differently defined, are discussed.

Trait and state anxiety in Israeli student athletes.

Examined trait anxiety in three groups of Israeli physical education students (N=251): competitors in individual sports, in team sports, and noncompetitors. The measure was the Spielberger, Gorsuch, and Lushene Trait Anxiety Scale (1970). Both groups of competitive athletes were lower in trait anxiety than noncompetitors. In addition, the two groups of competitive athletes were compared on State Anxiety as measured by the Spielberger scale and a physiological measure of heart rate. There were no differences in state anxiety among competitive athletes. Women competitive athletes were higher in trait, but not in state, anxiety. A high correlation was found between the psychometric and physiological measures of state anxiety.

Creative activity and sex-role identity in elementary school children.

The relationship of creative activity to sex-role identity was examined in boys (N = 80) and girls (N = 56), aged nine to twelve, of above average intelligence. Endorsement of personal characteristics that cut across sex stereotypes was associated with participation in a wide variety of creative activities. When analyzed by specific activity, the relationship with sex-role followed a consistent pattern for boys and girls combined: male activities such as sports with scores on the masculine scale, female activity such as dance or art with scores on the feminine scale, and sexually indeterminate activities such as drama or social leadership with scores on both scales.

Concrete and verbal reinforcement in creative thinking of disadvantaged cildren.

The effects of verbal and concrete reinforcement on creative thinking were investigated in disadvantaged Israeli seventh-graders (N = 90) in a baseline-treatment design. When compared to a no-incentive condition, both concrete (giving a piece of candy for each response) and verbal reinforcement (giving verbal praise to each response) raised the level of ideational fluency on the abbreviated Wallach and Kogan creativity battery by 114% and 61%, respectively. The high correlations between baseline and incentive creativity scores were interpreted as supporting either cognition or motivation but not exclusively the former as the source of individual differences in creative thinking among these disadvantaged children.

The effect of test content and context on the anxiety-intelligence relationship.

The effect of test content and context on the anxiety-intelligence relationship was investigated by group-administering an intelligence measure presumably free of anxiety provoking cues, comprehension of cartoons, and several conventional intelligence and achievement measures to 177 boys and girls in Grades 4-6 in greater Tel-Aviv. Since the humor comprehension intelligence measure was as negatively correlated with test anxiety as were the conventional measures, it was concluded that trait anxiety is not a sufficient explanation of the anxiety-intelligence relationship.

Personality characteristics of gifted Israeli children.

Two groups of Israeli boys and girls in Grades 4-8, one intellectually gifted with a mean WISC IQ of (N = 182) and one nongifted (N = 310), were compared on several indices of personal-social adjustment. As predicted, the gifted group showed more positive self-concept, more internal locus of control, a lower level of general anxiety, and a still lower level of test anxiety. The few results on self-concept, unfavorable to the older gifted children, were attributed to a shift in the attitudes of gifted and nongifted children toward each other as they enter adolescence and their abilities and interest patterns diverge. Gifted girls were as well adjusted as gifted boys and better adjusted than nongifted girls.

The effect of the Yom Kippur war on anxiety level in Israeli children.

Peacetime and wartime anxiety levels in fifth and sixth grade Israeli boys and girls (N = 85) were compared as a function of sex, socioeconomic status, degree of war related stress, and self-concept. The Sarason General Anxiety Scale and the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale had been administered to the children in May, 1973. The anxiety scale was readministered along with a war stress questionnaire during the Yom Kippur War in December, 1973. The general anxiety level of the children nearly doubled, with the children who reported the lowest peacetime anxiety levels reporting the highest wartime levels. Contrary to expectation, the rise in anxiety level was not related to personal war stress or to self-concept.