Magical Thinking, Causation and Prediction: Psycholinguistic Implications for Reading Skills in Disturbed Children

Operant magical thinking (belief that thought can significantly alter reality) and reading comprehension were examined in samples of Pupils 7 to 13 years old identified as either gifted, normal, or emotionally disturbed. Sixty-eight children were sampled in a school for gifted children, in a regular suburban elementary school, and in an in-patient residential treatment center. A reading miscue inventory was used to analyze oral reading comprehension skills. Children with lower levels of operant magical thinking scored higher in comprehension; those with higher levels of magical thinking scored lower in comprehension. Gifted children demonstrated less magical thinking and better reading comprehension; distrubed children showed more magical thinking and less adequate reading comprehension. Regardless of population, magical thinking was significantly related to reading comprehension processes. (Author/AA)