STYLES OF THINKING, ABILITIES, AND ACADEMIC-PERFORMANCE

This study was designed to investigate the role of thinking styles in academic performance. Participants were 199 gifted students enrolled i n the Yale Summer School Program. Their abilities were evaluated by th e Sternberg Triarchic Abilities Test; their academic performance was j udged by independent raters blind to the conditions of the study; and their thinking styles were measured by two converging self-report ques tionnaires. The results of the study show that after controlling for l evels of abilities, styles of thinking significantly contribute to pre diction of academic performance. Moreover equally able thinkers of dif ferent styles tend to do better in different assessment settings.