Teachers’ Beliefs of Creative Children

Teachers’ beliefs about characteristics of creative children do not always align with how creative children actually behave. Understanding these misaligned beliefs—defined as misconceptions—is important because teachers’ misconceptions can undermine efforts to foster children's creative development. This study aimed to identify teachers’ beliefs about the characteristics of creative children with an emphasis on their misconceptions about characteristics as either indicative or contraindicative of creative children. We analyzed responses of 136 teachers to 29 characteristics, indicating or contraindicating creative children, on Gough's (1979). Creative Personality Scale using the Rating Scale Model. Results revealed that teachers tended to have more misconceptions about characteristics contraindicative of creative children than characteristics indicative of creative children while teachers were able to accurately recognize certain characteristics when compared with explicit theories of creativity. In both the indicative and contraindicative characteristics, misconceptions appeared to increase if characteristics were desirable in the classroom. Teachers’ misconceptions may conceal creative potential in children who do not manage their undesirable characteristics in constructive ways. Findings provide practical implications to aid teachers and teacher educators in correcting misconceptions about the characteristics of creative children.     

心理健康的测量:自尊量表和情感量表的比较

对两个西方常用的心理健康测量工具:Rosenberg的《自尊量表》和Bradburn的《正性情感量表和负性情感量表》进行心理测量学指标的比较。被试取自北京市三所高校的一至三年级大学生,共1142人。两个分研究的结果均表明:《自尊量表》的各项心理测量学指标都好于《正性情感量表和负性情感量表》。作为心理健康的测量工具,《自尊量表》在多数情况下比《正性情感量表和负性情感量表》更有效。     

Integrating Individual and Family Systems Psychotherapy to Treat Borderline Personality Disorder

This paper focuses on two areas. The first is the framework for psychotherapy integration used by Unified Therapy, a psychotherapy approach that is an integration of psychodynamic, cognitive–behavioral, and family systems therapy. The second is the use of this treatment paradigm in the psychotherapy of adults with borderline personality disorder. The theory posits that continuing and recurrent interpersonal behavior patterns within the patient's family of origin serve as behavioral triggers to typical acting-out behaviors. Therapy is geared toward planning strategies to alter these destructive patterns. A case example is presented to demonstrate the use of the therapy's theories and techniques.