PEER STATUS AND PERCEIVED CREATIVITY - ARE POPULAR CHILDREN VIEWED BYPEERS AND TEACHERS AS CREATIVE

This study involved 633 Grade 5 Chinese students in Hong Kong. Based o n peer nominations, students were divided into 5 status groups: averag e, popular, neglected, rejected, and controversial. The perception of students' degree of creativeness was obtained by peer nomination and b y teacher ratings. Results from 2-way analyses of variance showed sign ificant sex and group differences in peer-nominated creativity and gro up differences in teacher-rated creativity. Among students, boys were regarded by classmates as more creative than girls. Contrasts of the a verage group with the other groups were statistically significant exce pt with the rejected group. in regard to teacher-rated creativity, the differences between the average and the other groups were much less e xtensive, with only the popular group a little higher than the average group. Overall, peer status and perceived creativity were highly rela ted Students tended to make greater differentiation in judging creativ ity than did the teachers.