ASSESSING THINKING STYLES IN THE THEORY OF MENTAL SELF-GOVERNMENT - AHONG-KONG VALIDITY STUDY

The purpose of this study was to examine the appropriateness in a non- Western context of the Thinking Styles Inventory and Sternberg's under lying theory of mental self-government. The way to achieve this goal w as through analyzing data collected from 88 Hong Kong postsecondary st udents. The results indicated that the scales were reasonably reliable , and factor analysis of the scales was fairly encouraging. The discre pancy found in the number of dimensions of thinking between the curren t study and what underlies the inventory may represent the participant s being 'tested' in their second language. The theory's underlying ass umptions that thinking styles are socialized and that developmental ch anges in stylistic preference should show significant effects of age a nd college class were supported by group differences in certain thinki ng styles on such variables as sex, college major, subject area taught , age, and college class.