THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THINKING STYLES AND LEVEL OF EXTERNALITY: A STUDY Of TURKISH FEMALE PRESCHOOL STUDENT TEACHERS

Abstract

The relationship between thinking styles and level of externality is examined in this study in which 108 female preschool student teachers at Marmara University participated. The participants responded to the Thinking Style Inventory (TSI; Sternberg & Wagner, 1992) based on Sternberg's theory of mental self-government and Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale (RIELS; Rotter, 1966). The results revealed a close correspondence between thinking styles and level of externality. The findings showed that level of externality is negatively associated with legislative, judicial, hierarchic, global, and liberal thinking styles. The implications are discussed in detail.

The Relationship among Autonomy, Thinking Styles and Language Learning Strategy Use in Iranian EFL Learners

“…As Zhang and Sternberg (2006) stated, this results matches with the stereotypical characteristics of males since they tend to focus on the big picture than details. In addition, this finding supports the results of the study conducted on Turkish samples (Palut, 2008) which presents that Turkish male undergraduate students share the stereotypical characteristics stated by Zhang and Sternberg (2006). On the other hand, there were no significant difference between females and males in terms of local thinking.…”

Organisational commitments and teaching styles among academics in mainland China

“…The validity of Sternberg's theory has been supported in many studies (Palut, 2008), and studies using the TSTI have yielded rich findings. For example, in school settings, Sternberg and Grigorenko (1995) found that American teachers' teaching styles tended to match the stylistic ideology of their schools.…”

The developing field of intellectual styles: Four recent endeavours

“…Zhang (2008c) also found that Type I thinking styles were related to Hong Kong university students' ability to deal with negative emotions (e.g., depression, frustration, and anger) and to the enhancement of positive emotions (e.g., attraction and happiness). Upon studying female preschool student teachers in Turkey, Palut (2008) concluded that all five Type I thinking styles (i.e., legislative, judicial, global, hierarchical, and liberal styles) were negatively associated with levels of externality. Finally, Zhang's (2009) study of mainland Chinese university students suggested that in general, Type I styles were negatively related to anxiety, whereas the conservative style (a Type II style) was positively related to anxiety.…”