In Sweden, special needs of high-ability individuals have received little attention. For this purpose, adult Swedes with superior general mental ability (GMA; N = 302), defined by an IQ score greater than 130 on tests of abstract reasoning, answered a questionnaire regarding their views of themselves and their giftedness. The participants also…

Ninety Swedish teenagers and adults with varying levels of formal education were interviewed about their own learning experiences and techniques. Subjects were then asked what they actually meant by learning. The concept was variously defined as: (1) an increase in knowledge (merely a synonym for the word learning); (2) memorizing; (3) an…

After reading a passage from a text which explained the deep and surface approaches to learning, ninety Swedish teenagers and adults with varying levels of formal education were asked to discuss their own learning in terms of this distinction. Surprisingly, sixty-one subjects considered both approaches applicable to their own learning. After…

Structural reading difficulty of argumentative prose (text with an underlying message or superordinate principle), is related to the reader's approach to reading and learning. Ninety Swedish teenagers and adults with varying levels of formal education, were divided into three groups, based on their own descriptions of reading and learning: deep…

Interview data on the learning experiences and techniques of 90 Swedish teenagers and adults were further analyzed to explore changes in views on learning reported by the subjects themselves, and differences between subjects with respect to age (range 15-73) and formal education (range 6-17 years). Some subjects equated knowledge with discrete…