Date of Award

Spring 8-1-1980

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Department Not Listed

First Advisor

Kenneth P. Walker

Second Advisor

Karl B. Zucker

Third Advisor

John E. Carter

Abstract

This study investigated a six-variable model of the cognitive structure of psychometrically gifted adolescents. In this model, Concept Attainment and Problem Finding were the dependent variables, and IQ, Achievement Motivation, Anxiety, and Innovation were the independent variables. Previous research suggests that emotional or affective variables such as Achievement Motivation, Anxiety, and Innovation strongly influence the type of problem solving necessary in Piagetian formal operational thinking. Research also indicates that the formal operational stage is a necessary but insufficient condition for a type of cognitive process termed "Problem Finding." Thus, Problem Finding was suggested as a fifth stage of cognitive development. Subjects in this study were 82 high school seniors, 41 male and 41 female, from the Vigo County School Corporation, Terre Haute, Indiana. Each student was given a short form of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale as a screening device. This consists of the Arithmetic, Vocabulary, Block Design, and Picture Arrangement subtests. Only those scoring at or above IQ 110 were defined as psychometrically gifted and were permitted to complete the second phase of testing. During the second phase, the students were given tests of Concept Attainment and Problem Finding. The former is a logic task involving processes of elimination. It is used iv extensively in cognitive psychology. The latter is a task in which as many questions as possible are raised about 12 common objects in a 10-minute period. All students were individually tested. The major hypotheses were that Achievement, as measured by Jackson's Personality Research Form(AA), and Innovation, as measured by the Jackson Personality Inventory, would correlate positively with Concept Attainment and Problem Finding, respectively. It was also hypothesized that psychometric intelligence would correlate positively with Concept Attainment and negatively with Problem Finding, and that Anxiety, as measured by the Jackson Personality Inventory, would correlate negatively with both Concept Attainment and Problem Finding. All hypotheses were tested at the .05 level of significance. Canonical correlation analysis revealed generally low correlations among all the variables. The largest positive correlation was .29, between Achievement Motivation and Innovation. The largest negative correlation was -◊21, between Anxiety and Innovation. There was no significant canonical correlation between Concept Attainment and Problem Finding, as dependent variables, and psychometric intelligence, Achievement Motivation, Anxiety, and Innovation as independent variables in the model of cognitive structure herein proposed for bright adolescents. Ancillary analyses indicated that formal operational thought was not a necessary a priori condition for high problem finding ability. These analyses also indicated that, V while males averaged approximately 2.5 IQ points above females, the latter had higher average scores on both Concept Attainment and Problem Finding. The finding relative to Concept Attainment opposes the majority of studies. The results have educational implications in that they contradict many previous ideas concerning the level of logical and creative thinking in females relative to males. The results further indicate that at least 39 percent of the adolescents studied, while ranking well within the upper quartile, both academically and intellectually, did not perform at the logical level suggested by Piaget as available to 14- and 15-year olds.

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