Comparing the Effectiveness of Psychological Empowerment and Critical Thinking Training on Enhancing Cognitive Flexibility, Cognitive Creativity, and Emotional Creativity in Students

Document Type : Scientific Articles

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.

10.22111/jeps.2026.52872.6060

Abstract

In today’s world, fostering cognitive and emotional skills in education is essential, particularly abilities such as cognitive creativity, emotional creativity, and cognitive flexibility, which play a significant role in students’ adaptation and academic success. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of psychological empowerment and critical thinking training on these skills. The research employed a quasi-experimental design with a pretest–posttest and control group. The statistical population consisted of female lower-secondary students in Semnan during the 2023–2024 academic year, from whom 45 students were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. Research instruments included the Cognitive Flexibility Inventory by Dennis and Vander Wal (2010), the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (1992), and the Averill Emotional Creativity Scale (1992). The experimental groups received eight sessions of psychological empowerment and ten sessions of critical thinking training, respectively, while the control group received no intervention. Data were analyzed using multivariate covariance analysis and repeated-measures ANOVA. The findings indicated that both interventions significantly improved cognitive creativity, emotional creativity, and cognitive flexibility in the posttest and follow-up phases compared to the control group. The effect of time also showed significant improvement in scores. Moreover, no significant difference was observed between the effectiveness levels of the two approaches, as the 95% confidence interval for mean differences included zero. These results suggest that both methods can serve as effective strategies for enhancing adolescents’ cognitive and emotional skills.

Keywords

Journal of Educational Psychology Studies
Volume 23, Issue 63
November 2026
Pages 131-103

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