Underachievement and Creativity: Are Gifted Underachievers Highly Creative?

This literature review synthesizes the available literature that suggests that the underachievement of gifted students may be tied to their inherent and unrecognized creativity. Apparently, many gifted students are underachievers and up to 30% of high school dropouts may be highly gifted. Beginning with the belief that these gifted underachievers may be highly creative, this article first reviews the view that creativity can be a gift, much like intelligence. It then reviews the typical characteristics of gifted underachievers and the similar characteristics of creative underachievers. Finally, it reviews the studies and theories that have shown that once underachievers are placed in an environment that fosters their needs, with motivation, mentors, understanding, freedom, and responsibility, they can become highly productive. Classrooms across the nation are facing ever-increasing pressure to educate every child, especially with the No Child Left Behind (2007) Act. There is a demand for those children who might normally “fall through the cracks” to receive closer attention and potentially greater accommodations than were previously required.     

The Relationship Between Creativity and Behavior Problems Among Underachieving Elementary and High School Students

Understanding the role creative potential may play in the underachievement of some students could help schools and parents understand underachievers. This study examined whether there is a relationship between creativity and behavior problems among underachievers. Forty-one elementary and 89 high school students and 4 teachers in Korea participated in this study. The principal study involved comparing all of the students' scores on the 3 measures of creative potential (Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking-Figural [TTCT], Runco Ideational Behavior Scale [RIBS], and Scales for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students-Revised Edition [SRBCSS-R]), with their scores on a measure of behavior problems reported by their teachers. The results indicated that, among underachievers, there is a relationship between behavioral problems and students' scores on the 3 measures of creative potential. An understanding of these students and their behavior will help us promote creative students' academic and lifelong success in classrooms.     

Creativity and Confucianism Among American and Korean Educators

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in creative styles and Confucian ideas between Koreans and Americans and to examine the relationship between creativity and Confucianism. A total number of 579 educators (227 American and 352 Korean) participated in this study. Eastern-Western Perspective Scale was used to measure participants’ level of Confucianism and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking-Figural was used to measure participants’ level of creative potential. The results indicate that Koreans have strikingly more Confucian ideals than Americans, whereas Americans have more creative strengths and are more adaptively creative than Koreans. The results also indicate higher levels of Confucianism relate to lower levels of creativity. The Confucian elements that show negative relationships with creativity are suppression of expression, gender inequality, gender role expectations, and filial piety.     

Memory markers: How consumers recall the duration of experiences

In the present article, we propose a three-stage memory marker model of memory for experience. The human mind generates and encodes “memory markers” of specific episodes, stores them in memory, and after a temporal delay retrieves these markers to reconstruct the experience and make relevant judgments. Rich experiences characterized by vivid stimuli seem to pass by quickly, yet feel longer when recalled after a period of time because the number of retrieved memory markers is large. We also examine situations in which key predictions of the memory marker model can be moderated. A field study and five laboratory experiments were conducted to test various aspects of the memory marker model and provide process support.     

Why do we resolve marital conflicts the way we do? Self‐construals,marital conflict resolution strategies,and marital satisfaction in Japan and South Korea

In this article, the research targeted middle‐aged wives who had been reported to be most dissatisfied with their marriage lives in the entire sex/generation groups in Japan and South Korea. As an exploratory study, the relationships between self‐construals (subjective, objective, and autonomous selves) and marital conflict resolution strategies (avoiding, dominating, yielding, and integrating) and those between the strategies and marital satisfaction were investigated. The model across the variables (taking the obliging and dominating strategies only) was constructed as well. Several important findings were revealed. First, subjective self and autonomous self were strongly and positively correlated and stronger in South Korea. Second, the Japanese had out‐of‐speculation relationships between self‐construals and marital resolution strategies. Third, the positive associations of integrating/obliging and marital satisfaction and the negative association of avoiding and marital satisfaction were validated in Japan and South Korea.     

The Creativity Crisis: The Decrease in Creative Thinking Scores on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking

The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) was developed in 1966 and renormed five times: in 1974, 1984, 1990, 1998, and 2008. The total sample for all six normative samples included 272,599 kindergarten through 12th grade students and adults. Analysis of the normative data showed that creative thinking scores remained static or decreased, starting at sixth grade. Results also indicated that since 1990, even as IQ scores have risen, creative thinking scores have significantly decreased. The decrease for kindergartners through third graders was the most significant.     

Meaning-Making Coping Among Cancer Patients in Sweden and South Korea: A Comparative Perspective

Journal of Religion and Health - The present study compared meaning-making coping among cancer patients in Sweden and South Korea, with a focus on the sociocultural context. Semi-structured...     

Cultural differences in perceived social norms and social anxiety

Cultural considerations in social anxiety are a rarely investigated topic although it seems likely that differences between countries in social norms may relate to the extent of social anxiety. The present study investigated individuals' personal and perceived cultural norms and their relation to social anxiety and fear of blushing. A total of 909 participants from eight countries completed vignettes describing social situations and evaluated the social acceptability of the behavior of the main actor both from their own, personal perspective as well as from a cultural viewpoint. Personal and cultural norms showed somewhat different patterns in comparison between types of countries (individualistic/collectivistic). According to reported cultural norms, collectivistic countries were more accepting toward socially reticent and withdrawn behaviors than was the case in individualistic countries. In contrast, there was no difference between individualistic and collectivistic countries on individuals' personal perspectives regarding socially withdrawn behavior. Collectivistic countries also reported greater levels of social anxiety and more fear of blushing than individualistic countries. Significant positive relations occurred between the extent to which attention-avoiding behaviors are accepted in a culture and the level of social anxiety or fear of blushing symptoms. These results provide initial evidence that social anxiety may be related to different cultural norms across countries.