The Children's Reactive Curiosity Scale

Abstract

The present study reports the description of and the normative data obtained with a scale of reactive curiosity (RC Scale) for use with Grade 4, 5, and 6 children. A 90-item RC Scale and a 10-item Lie Scale are described. The RC Scale's 2-wk. test-retest reliabilities ranged from .65 to .78 for the different sex by grade classifications. At all grade levels, girls scored higher than boys on the RC Scale. The lie scores yielded high test-retest reliabilities, and the intercorrelations between the RC Scale and the Lie Scale were not significant except for fifth grade girls (.20). Intercorrelations between scores on the RC Scale and IQs based on the California Test of Mental Maturity although low and positive were not significant. However, the RC scores of Grade 6 children were positively related to originality measures that were derived from a modified Unusual Uses Test.