No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) test is used extensively across a wide variety of settings in South Africa, however more appropriate local normative data has yet to be established. The CPM is internationally recognised as a culture-fair test of nonverbal intelligence, designed for use with children between the ages of 5½ and 11½. This pilot study thus sought to establish normative data for this instrument for a population of Xhosa-speaking Primary School children in the peri-urban township area in the Grahamstown region. The booklet version of the test was used and it was administered in group format and according to an alternate method of test administration (using Xhosa instructions) developed by Vass in 1992. The final normative sample consisted of 197 male and 182 female Xhosa-speaking children in Grades Two to Seven (N=379). The results showed (1) a significant effect of age on test scores, where scores increased with age as expected; (2) a consistent tendency for males to outperform females was also noted, however small sample sizes precluded any categorical claims to this effect; (3) no significant effect of education on test scores was observed and finally; (4) and finally, it appeared that the norms generated for this study revealed a tendency to be lower than those obtained by Raven, Court and Raven (1990) during the standardisation of this instrument in the United Kingdom and America. The study concluded that (1) there is an urgent need for more appropriate South African normative data for this test; and (2) that when assessing African children from disadvantaged backgrounds, further research into the effects of cultural and socio-economic factors and gender on non-verbal intelligence (and on performance on this test in particular) is required.

Career exploration and decision making can be a stressful experience, and is often accompanied by dysfunctional thinking regarding the world of work and one’s place in it. Individuals who are able to modify their negative career thoughts are more likely to navigate career exploration successfully. Factors which may influence a person’s ability to cope with dysfunctional thoughts include cognitive ability (IQ) and the inadequately explored construct of emotional intelligence (EI). Establishing the validity of EI by demonstrating its relationship to important outcomes is necessary. This study sought to determine the extent to which IQ and EI were associated with negative career thoughts and negative career thoughts change as a result of career exploration. This correlational study measured IQ using a standard measure and EI using an ability-based instrument. In addition, negative career thoughts were measured both before and after a career exploration program. One hundred ninety three unemployed adults between the ages of 25 and 60 participated in the study. Significant correlation relationships were found between IQ and aspects of negative career thoughts post program. Only one branch of the EI model, managing emotions, was seen to correlate significantly with all aspects of negative career thoughts, both before and after career exploration. No correlations were found between either IQ or EI with negative career thoughts change. Regression analysis indicated that IQ predicted overall negative career thoughts as well as decision-making confusion, but only after career exploration. Overall EI scores did not predict negative career thoughts. However, among the four branches of EI, managing emotions predicted negative career thoughts both before and after career exploration for all of global negative career thoughts, decision-making confusion, commitment anxiety, and external conflict. Neither IQ nor EI predicted negative career thoughts change. The results show that the ability to manage emotions is associated with reduced dysfunctional thinking both before and after career exploration, suggesting that EI managing may be a psychological resource that individuals use in coping with stress. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Some text in Zulu / Psychology of Education / M. Ed.

Prior research (Shuttleworth-Edwards et al., 2004) presented preliminary normative data for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – III (WAIS-III) for Southern Africa, stratified according to gender (female vs. male), language (black African vs. white English), level of education (matric/12+ years of education vs. Graduate/15+ years of education) and quality of education (disadvantaged – Department of Education and Training vs. advantaged - Private/Model C). IQ scores for black African language and white English Southern Africans were comparable with the United States of America (USA) standardization when level and quality of education were equitable. (‘White English’ is the term used to denote those of European descent whose first language is English). A limitation of the research was the lack of control for language for most of the black groups and particularly in the Private/Model C Graduate group, where sixty percent of the participants originated from Zimbabwe. These represented a particularly elite group whose education was equitable to that of the white participants throughout their education (i.e. at primary, secondary and tertiary level). In order to rectify the lack of homogeneity of language, all non- Xhosa first language participants were excluded from the black sample and sixteen additional Xhosa first language participants were tested on the WAIS-III. Data analyses found no significant differences between the original and new groups, except in the comparison between Mixed African language Private/Model C Graduates and the Xhosa first language Private/Model C Graduate/15+ years of education, where there was a lowering of WAIS-III subtest, index and IQ scores in the newly constituted group. This lowering in test performance is explained in that the new Xhosa first language 15+ years of education group was a less advantaged group than the original Mixed African Language Private/Model C Graduate group, as the new group generally had less advantaged primary school education and had generally studied less at a tertiary level. Overall, these results demonstrate an incremental increase in WAIS-III test performance for sample groups on a continuum of quality of education from least to most advantaged education. This was true for both verbal and non-verbal subtests.

Arising out of a need, expressed by Clinical Psychologists in the Grahamstown region, for the fair assessment of secondary School African pupils, norms for the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) were established. Two methods of presentation were used, the first using the original instructions of John Raven translated into the students' first language of Xhosa, hence-forth referred to as the Alternate sample. The second method of presenting the instructions was adapted, to include the use of visual aids and active participation in the instruction phase of the test, hence-forth referred to as the Normative sample. In addition to the establishment of norms, the two methods of test presentation were investigated to see if the method of presentation had an effect on the results of the Raven's SPM. The population was drawn from the three African Secondary Schools in the Grahamstown municipality. The total population consisted of 3 232 students. Classes were randomly sampled across the three schools, with the average age of the Normative sample being 19.3 years. The sample consisted of 812 pupils, 711 in the Normative sample and 101 in the Alternate Sample. The following results and conclusions arose from the study: 1) Norms generated were considerably lower than previously established norms in similar studies. 2) t-Test results indicated that the method of test presentation on the Raven's SPM is important when assessing students that may be regarded as 'disadvantaged'. 3) Respondents scored significantly higher when the method of presenting the instructions ensured a greater understanding of the task demanded of the respondents. 4) The analyses of covariance indicate that male subjects score significantly higher than female subjects, and that there is a significant difference between the ages and educational standard, on the scores of the Raven's SPM. 5) The differences found contradict previous findings using the test, and question the cultural fairness of the test.