Arousal, Stimulation Seeking, and Teaching-Style Preference
Keywords:
Teaching style, Physiological arousal, Stimulation, Sensation seeking, Teacher preferencesAbstract
Teaching-style preference was examined as a function of individual differences in physiological arousal and stimulation seeking. Twenty-nine school teachers were given the Sensation Seeking Scale, the Two-Flash Threshold (TFT) measure of trait arousal and a teacher questionnaire designed to measure teaching-style preference from a range of traditional (formal) to open (informal). A statistically significant correlation between the TFT and the teacher questionnaire indicated that teachers identified as low arousal tended to prefer a "traditional style" and those identified as high arousal tended to prefer an "open style" of teaching. Implications of the above findings are discussed.
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