Creativity Development of High-Achieving Students

Few studies on creativity have focused on creativity development in various grade levels for high-achieving students. The purpose of this study was to explore the developmental trajectories of creative ability for high-achieving students. The participants constituted a national representative sample of 982 male (N = 506) and female (484) students from grades 1 to 10 in five governorates in Oman (Muscat, South-Al Batinah, South- Al Sharqia, Dhofar, and Al Dhakilia). The students completed two subtests of the Profile of Creative Abilities (PCA), a measure of creative potential, namely drawings and categories. There was an evidence of a developmental trend of creativity across grade levels. The Multi-variate analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed that the main effect of grade was statistically significant for the drawings subtest. Also, the main effect of gender was also statistically significant for the drawings subtest. The main effect of interaction (gender X grade) was not significant. Overall, females’ creative performance was significantly better than males’ in the Creativity Index score. The results of the study are discussed in the light of existing literature about developmental trends and gender differences in creative thinking.     

Testing a Burnout Model Based on Affective-motivational Factors among EFL Teachers

The purpose of the present study was to explore English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher’s motivations for teaching and testing a model of burnout based on motivations and emotions using structural equation modeling (SEM). For this purpose, a total number of 326 Iranian EFL teachers in different language institutes completed the related scales. Results of the study showed that altruistic and intrinsic factors are the main motivations of EFL teachers. Results of SEM indicated that both motivations and emotions predicted different dimensions of burnout. However, emotions had a stronger effect on burnout dimensions than motivational factors. Finally, the pedagogical implications were discussed based on the results of the study.     

Optimal Item Calibration for Computerized Achievement Tests

Item calibration is a technique to estimate characteristics of questions (called items) for achievement tests. In computerized tests, item calibration is an important tool for maintaining, updating and developing new items for an item bank. To efficiently sample examinees with specific ability levels for this calibration, we use optimal design theory assuming that the probability to answer correctly follows an item response model. Locally optimal unrestricted designs have usually a few design points for ability. In practice, it is hard to sample examinees from a population with these specific ability levels due to unavailability or limited availability of examinees. To counter this problem, we use the concept of optimal restricted designs and show that this concept naturally fits to item calibration. We prove an equivalence theorem needed to verify optimality of a design. Locally optimal restricted designs provide intervals of ability levels for optimal calibration of an item. When assuming a two-parameter logistic model, several scenarios with D-optimal restricted designs are presented for calibration of a single item and simultaneous calibration of several items. These scenarios show that the naive way to sample examinees around unrestricted design points is not optimal.

     

A Qualitative Assessment of the Sex Education Needs of Married Iranian Women

Despite a comprehensive reproductive health program there is little sex education available in Iran. In this article we present results of a study conducted to identify content area for a proposed sex education program for married Iranian women. Twenty-one married female clients (23–45 years) and 18 reproductive health providers, recruited from urban health clinics in Tehran using non-probability sampling, participated in four focus group discussions. Sexual health information needs related to reproductive tract and sexually transmitted infections, “acceptability” of certain sexual practices such as oral and anal intercourse, and the sexual response cycles and physiology of men and women. Women’s sexual concerns related to communication, incompatibility of sexual interests and desire, and their ability to maintain a strong marriage. Two themes cut across women’s responses to all questions: modesty and maintaining a strong marriage. Results contributed to the design of a sex education program that addressed the specific information needs and concerns of Iranian women.     

When learning is not enough: A process model of expatriate adjustment as cultural cognitive dissonance reduction

Although considerable organizational research exists on the topic of expatriate adjustment and early departure, little has focused on the actual psychological processes causing change in adjustment outcomes. Specifically, researchers have not focused on cognitive dissonance that arises from adopting or condoning culturally expected behaviors that are inconsistent with the expatriate’s own values or attitudes. We propose that dissonance experiences and the methods used for dissonance reduction influence expatriates’ adjustment outcomes and, in turn, their tendency for early departure. We further specify key situational and individual difference constructs that regulate these causal relationships. Along with a greater understanding of cross-cultural adjustment, the current model suggests new directions for expatriate research and management.     

Brief crisis group psychotherapy versus the initial sessions of long-term group psychotherapy: An exploratory comparison

An attempt was made to specify the therapist behaviors characteristic of the brief crisis group (BCG) approach, to assess how patients experience BCG on dimensions of session impact and group climat, and to describe the changes possible from BCG on measures of outcome by contrasting this modality with the initial sessions of traditional long-term therapy groups in a preexperimental design. Data obtained from four eight-session BCGs and three beginning long-term groups (LTG) were used for analyses. Patients were administered the Session Evaluation (SEQ) and Group Climate (GCQ) Questionnaires at the end of each group session. Two judges sat in on each session and coded the types of therapist interventions using the Therapist Behavior Categories (TBC) system. Aspects of self-esteem and symptomatology were assessed as indices of change over the 8-week period in a pre-post fashion. Therapists in BCG evidenced a distinct pattern of interventions during midpoint group sessions (sessions 3–6), placing a greater emphasis on challenging patient perceptions and providing information than their LTG counterparts. The therapists' use of self as an issue in BCG increased as termination approached and apparently served a more limited function than in LTG. Patients in BCG reported a more rapid development of a working group and experienced greater session benefit. Patients in BCG also reported lower levels of conflict and avoidance and a greater decrease in these resistance behaviors. As expected, BCG patients reported substantially greater improvement on most outcome dimensions at the end of the 8-week period. Results are considered as clarifying the approach to and impact of BCG psychotherapy.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 15th Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, Lake Louise, Alberta, June 19–23, 1984.     

American women missionaries in the Gulf: Agents for cultural change

Arabia has figured in Western imagination from a very early time, but seldom in neutral terms. For reasons not thoroughly understood, the Arab role in Western thinking has fluctuated between hope and menace, love and hate. While nineteenth‐century Europe saw in Arabia a romantic adventure — an illustration of the Victorian era — nineteenth‐century America viewed it differently. It saw an alternation between the images of the supposedly fanatical Islam that at one time overran the Christian world and a deprived contemporary society in need of Christian aid. Plainly, Western images of Arabia have been more changeable than the conditions of Arab life. Perhaps one reason for this love/hate, menace/hope attitude lies in the fact that Islamic civilization has been the great alternative to Christendom. Being so different and also so distant, Arabia seemed like a cultural incognito, a place where Americans could start their intercultural experience. Nothing would bring them a step closer to their goal than missionary work.     

Suicide trends in Australia, 1901-1985: an analysis of sex differentials

This paper analyzes trends in the male-female suicide ratio in Australia, using data for the period 1901-1985. The main finding of the paper is that modernization, as measured by an index composed of the female participation rate in the labor force and the urbanization rate, is positively related to the male-female suicide ratio. This is contrary to an earlier finding by Stack and Danigelis (1985), who reported an inverse relationship between these two variables. This finding is shown to be due to the fact that no correction was made for trend. When the data series are corrected for trend, a significant positive relationship is found between modernization and the male-female suicide ratio in Australia. Another finding of the paper is that the female suicide rate in Australia has been falling significantly since the mid-1960s. This is also at variance with Stack and Danigelis's hypothesis that as modernization proceeds, the female suicide rate rises. We discuss reasons for this in the Australian context.