Affective assessment, self-concept, and the verbal learning styles of fifth-grade children

To investigate the relationship between a child's self-concept (Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale) and learning of affectively assessed verbal material, 134 5th-grade children (72 female and 62 male) learned paired associate nouns which they had prerated for likability. As predicted, both high self-concept girls and boys learned more effectively those nouns which they had assessed as "liked." This effect was less for the middle self-concept girls. Low self-concept girls and middle and low self-concept boys appeared to learn their "disliked" nouns faster. The only effect of an external reinforcement procedure was a decrement in total performance. Results suggest that learning along an affective dimension of meaningfulness can be influenced by personality-related variables such as self-concept. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).