Maria Elvira De Caroli

CREATIVE THINKING AND BIG FIVE FACTORS OF PERSONALITY MEASURED IN ITALIAN SCHOOLCHILDREN

This study examined the relations of creative thinking with Big Five factors of personality and the differences by sex and age on creativity. A sample of Italian schoolchildren (56 boys, 56 girls), between 8 to 10 years of age, completed the Test of Creative Thinking and the Big Five Questionnaire for Children. Analysis of results indicated that older children obtained significantly higher scores than the younger ones on Elaboration and Production of titles. Girls obtained significantly higher scores than boys on Originality and Elaboration. The results suggested a modest and negative relation of Flexibility with Conscientiousness and Production of titles with Emotional instability. These findings support the need to explore the connection between creativity and personality with developmental age by means of multiple tasks for evaluating creative thinking.

Italian and Swedish adolescents: differences and associations in subjective well-being and psychological well-being

Background One important aspect of subjective judgments about one’s well-being (i.e., subjective well-being: life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect) is that cultural features, such as, nationality seem to shape cognitive judgments about the “the ideal life.” In this comparative study we examined differences in subjective well-being and psychological well-being between Italian and Swedish adolescents and tested if the relationship between the three constructs of subjective well-being (i.e., satisfaction with life, positive affect, and negative affect) and psychological well-being was moderated by the adolescents’ nationality. Method Italian (n = 255) and Swedish (n = 277) adolescents answered to the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule, and Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being. Differences between samples were tested using a Multiple Analysis of Variance. We also conducted a multiple group analysis (Italy and Sweden) using Structural Equation Modelling to investigate the relationship between all three subjective well-being constructs and psychological well-being. Results Italian adolescents scored significantly higher in satisfaction with life than Swedish adolescents. Additionally, across countries, girls scored significantly higher in negative affect than boys. In both countries, all three constructs of subjective well-being were significantly associated to adolescents’ psychological well-being. Nevertheless, while the effect of the relationship between affect and psychological well-being was almost the same across countries, life satisfaction was more strongly related to psychological well-being among Swedish adolescents. Conclusions The present study shows that there are larger variations between these two cultures in the cognitive construct of subjective well-being than in the affective construct. Accordingly, associations between the cognitive component, not the affective component, of subjective well-being and psychological well-being differ between countries as well.

Creativity and School Education: Subjects Vs Professional Identity in a Sample of Teachers in Italy

The aim of this empirical study was to investigate the relevance of social climate in the classroom for improving creativity in secondary school students. We hypothesized the existence of a relationship between the Professional Identity of the teachers (or Professional Self), their social representations of pupils, their affective investment in the future (in terms of Possible Selves) and the relevance they attribute to Creativity. The results seem to confirm our hypothesis.

Luoi o lei? Un'indagine esplorativa sugli stereopiti di genere in un campione di studenti di Scienze della Formazione

Nel nostro contributo di ricerca abbiamo esplorato gli stereotipi di genere, relativi ai giocattoli, ai tratti socio-cognitivi e alle professioni, in un campione di 156 studenti della Facolta di Scienze della Formazione. Gli strumenti impiegati sono costituiti da tre gender choice, riferite alla scelta del giocattolo («Gender Toy Choice»), a quella dei tratti socio-cognitivi («Gender Trait Choice») e a quella delle professioni («Gender Job Choice»); si tratta di n. 101 diapositive (presentate in ordine casuale ma uguale per ciascun soggetto), divise in n. 32 per la «Gender Toy Choice», n. 36 per la «Gender Trait Choice» e n. 33 per la «Gender Job Choice» e due silhouette, raffiguranti un maschio ed una femmina, alle quali i soggetti devono attribuire, mediante la scelta «forzata», ciascun giocattolo, tratto e professione. L’analisi dei dati e stata effettuata raggruppando i risultati in tre sezioni: a) «Gender Toy Choice», b) «Gender Trait Choice» e c) «Gender Job Choice», indicando la «soglia di stereotipia» di ogni giocattolo, tratto e professione (stabilita in un range, condiviso da maschi e femmine, compreso tra il 70% e il 100%). a) Per la «Gender Toy Choice», il nostro campione mostra elevati livelli di stereotipia, associando al «genere» femminile oggetti ludici collegati, per lo piu, alla cura dell’aspetto fisico e al setting domestico, mentre al «genere» maschile quelli connessi alla guerra, alla tecnologia e alla locomozione. b) Per la «Gender Trait Choice», su 36 tratti, soltanto 4 superano la «soglia di stereotipia» (70%), cio che dimostra una maggiore «permeabilita» dei confini psicologici del «maschile» e del «femminile». Le caratteristiche che, per il nostro campione, rendono tipicamente differenti i due generi sembrano essersi ridotte e modificate: mentre il «genere» maschile e definito da pochi tratti comunque connotati negativamente, che rimandano ad uno stile relazionale caratterizzato dallo scontro fisico-verbale, il «genere» femminile sembra essere contraddistinto esclusivamente dalla «loquacita». c) Per la «Gender Job Choice», il nostro campione associa al «genere» maschile un repertorio occupazionale piu articolato (19 professioni), caratterizzato da attivita sia di tipo pratico-manuale, sia di alto profilo specialistico e culturale. Al «genere» femminile viene, invece, associato un numero abbastanza ridotto di attivita (7 professioni), espletabili, per lo piu, in ambito domestico-familiare. Sulla base di tali risultati appare opportuno riflettere sul ruolo che gli stereotipi di genere svolgono nel percorso formativo degli studenti (in particolar modo, di quelli che frequentano la Facolta di Scienze della Formazione), che dovrebbero essere messi in condizione (anche per la specificita delle professioni alle quali si preparano) di diventare consapevoli degli atteggiamenti stereotipici che contribuiscono a semantizzare la realta con cui ogni individuo entra in contatto.

Methods to Measure the Extent to which Teachers’ Points of View Influence Creativity and Factors of Creative Personality: A Study with Italian Pupils

The aim of the present research was to verify, in a sample of Italian pupils (aged 13-14) and their teachers, whether pupils’ divergent thinking and creative personality were affected by social attitudes expressed by teachers towards thought and creative personality. The Williams’ Test of Creative Thinking and Test of Creative Personality were used to explore creativity and creative personality in pupils; the Williams’ Scale of Assessment of creative performance and rating scales regarding definition and nature of creativity were employed for analyzing teachers’ social attitudes. The results showed that teachers of artistic subjects evaluated pupils as more divergent compared to teachers of foreign languages; teachers of maths and technology, compared to the others, assessed their pupils as less creative in personality. Social attitudes expressed by teachers seemed to affect curiosity and willingness of pupils to take risks. No relationship between social attitudes exhibited by teachers and pupils’ divergent thinking was found. In future research in different school environments and levels of age of pupils will be analyzed to further develop the topics of the present study.