Metamemory, memory performance, and causal attributions in gifted and average children.
Fifth and seventh graders who had been teacher-selected as high- or average-achieving were tested on the Kognitiver Fähigkeits Test, a standardized test of intellectual abilities for German children. Children who met preestablished criteria as gifted or average were then tested on measures of metacognitive knowledge, attributional beliefs, and performance on a sort recall task. Results indicated ability-related differences in metamemory and sort recall performances. Responses to the attributional questionnaires also varied systematically according to ability: gifted children were more likely to attribute their academic successes to high ability than were average children, who showed a stronger belief in the importance of effort in determining task outcomes. Causal modeling analyses illustrated the strength of metacognitive knowledge as a performance predictor on the memory task, especially for average children. Results are discussed in terms of the value of metacognitive theory in understanding individual performance differences.
Kurtz
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BE
Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research, Munich, West Germany.
Weinert
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D000124:Achievement; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002672:Child, Gifted / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D009042:Motivation; D002666:Psychology, Child