2008-09 Erlbaum Winners' Abstracts
Don’t Be so Hard on Yourself:
Self-Compassion Facilitates
Creative Originality Among
Self-Judgmental Individuals
Darya L. Zabelina, North Dakota State University
Graduate Winner
Faculty Sponsor: Michael D. Robinson, PhD
Self-compassion is a multi-faceted
state of potential utility in alleviating
the self-critical tendencies that may
undermine creative expression
among certain individuals. In the
present study, 86 undergraduates
were randomly assigned to control
or self-compassion conditions,
following which creative originality
was assessed by a version of the
Torrance Test of Creative Thinking
(TTCT). In both conditions,
participants wrote about a
negative experience from the past,
but individuals assigned to the
self-compassion condition were
additionally asked to view this
experience from a compassionate
and kind perspective. Consequently
self-judgmental individuals
displayed less creative originality
in the control condition, but were
equally as creative in the selfcompassion
condition. Results are
discussed in the context of theories
of creativity, self-compassion, and
relevant individual diff erences.
Age Is More Than A Number: Effect
of Preschool Children’s Numerical
Capabilities on Estimations of Age
Nina Gold, Colby College (ME)
Undergraduate Winner
Faculty Sponsor: Mary Arterberry, PhD
To address the relationship between
preschoolers’ numeracy capabilities
and their perception of strangers’
ages, 44 children, between three and
five-years-old, completed
two numeracy tasks and two age
judgment tasks. Both numeracy
tasks assessed understanding of
the sequential nature of numbers.
In the absolute age task, children
estimated a person’s numerical
age. In the relative age task, they
compared which of two people
was older. Children made more
accurate relative judgments than
absolute judgments. A positive
correlation between both numeracy
tasks and the absolute age task was
also found. Th ese fi ndings suggest
that preschoolers have a qualitative
understanding of others’ ages, but
have not developed the numerical
capabilities to express their
knowledge in the form of a number.