Self‐esteem and different forms of thinking in seven and nine year olds

Abstract

This paper reports a longitudinal study that explored the relationship between children’s thinking and self‐esteem. The level of self‐esteem can serve as a powerful motivational force. Because positive self‐evaluations are emotionally pleasurable, we are generally motivated to act in ways that enable us to feel good about ourselves. Self‐esteem takes the form of a need to enhance, protect, repair or defend the self, and has a significant influence on children behavior and school success. The theoretical basis of the research of thinking is the conception of triarchic theory of human intelligence of R. J. Sternberg. The aims of the study are: to determine the level of analytical thinking and creative thinking of seven‐year‐old, eight‐year‐old and nine‐year‐old children; to explore a discrepancy between children’s thinking at different ages; to determine the level of academic and global self‐esteem of seven‐year‐old, eight‐year‐old and nine‐year‐old children; and to analyze the relations between the level of analytical and creative thinking and pupil’s academic and global self‐esteem. This study was carried out on a group of seven‐year‐old, eight‐year‐old and nine‐year‐old children selected at random from urban schools.

Keywords:

• Analytical thinking
• Creative thinking
• Early education
• Intelligence
• Self‐esteem

Acknowledgement

This research work was financed by Komitet Badań Naukowych in 2003–2006 as research project 2H01F05724, ‘Creativity, Self‐Image, and Child’s Auto‐Creative Disposition’.

Notes

1. For the statistical interpretation of output, the test author refers to the sten scale. It is worth noting that it is an interval scale characterized by a normal distribution, comprising 10 units. The range of standard deviation for each sten—from 1 to 10— is 0.5, and the arithmetic mean falls between the fifth and the sixth sten. Thus, the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh sten equal the results within one standard deviation from the mean. In the DMI test, Matczak (2001) suggests the following categorization of results: 1 sten, very low; 2 and 3 sten, low; 4–7 sten, average; 8 and 9 sten, high; 10 sten, very high.