Abstract:

The aim of the study was examination of reliance on intuition and on rational thinking in in-service teachers and future teachers. Intuition and rational thinking was measured through Cognitive reflection test (CRT; item version; Frederick, 2005; Toplak, West, & Stanovich, 2013) as a performance task and through two self-reported scales – Rational-experiential inventory (REI; shorted version; Ballová Mikušková, Hanák, and Čavojová, 2015; Pacini and Epstein, 1999) and Type of intuition scale (TIntS; Pretz et al., 2014). Participants were 90 in-service teachers with various teaching specialisms (age: M=34.69, SD=9.55) and 275 future teachers – students of the Pedagogical faculty at The Constantine the Philosopher University (Nitra, Slovakia; age: M=20.20, SD=1.48). Participants were mostly first grade students with various teaching specialisms attending courses of general and ontogenetic psychology. In-service teachers and future teachers were compared in their thinking styles, cognitive reflection, and intuition. In-service teachers were significantly more successful in CRT (M=3.70, SD=1.66; for students M=1.95, SD=1.90), and they preferred more affective intuition (in TIntS is affective intuition defined as feeling of certainty) and rational thinking style in REI. In addition, students’ answers in CRT were significantly more intuitive than teachers’ answers. Results support our previous findings that preference for rationality has tendency to increase with increasing age (Ballová Mikušková, Hanák, Čavojová, 2015), and also U-shape model for development of intuition (Baylor, 2001).

Keywords:

Thinking style, rationality, intuition.