Some empirical parameters of formal thinking.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Formal operational thought, as defined by Piaget, is a key developmental stage.
• Previous research suggests around 50% of adolescents reach this stage.
• Creative thinking abilities are also crucial for cognitive development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess formal thinking and creative thinking in undergraduates.
• To compare undergraduate performance on formal tasks with established norms.
• To investigate the relationship between formal operations and creative thinking.

Main Methods:

• Administered five formal thinking tasks to 65 undergraduates.
• Utilized verbal and figural sections of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.
• Analyzed data for formal operational levels and intercorrelations between tasks.

Main Results:

• A significant majority of students exceeded the 50% benchmark for formal operational thought on three tasks.
• Low intercorrelations among formal tasks indicated a lack of a unified formal operations factor.
• Males outperformed females on formal tasks, potentially due to social roles and problem context.

Conclusions:

• Existing Piagetian norms for formal tasks may be better suited for cognitively advanced groups.
• The findings challenge the concept of a singular formal operations factor.
• Social and contextual factors likely influence gender differences in formal task performance.