On a Pedestal: effects of intellectual‐giftedness and some implications for programme planning

The popular notion that gifted children are immune from adjustment problems because of their high intelligence has relegated this research area to a secondary concern. In this study, self‐esteem, social isolation, locus of control, alienation and anxiety as indices of psychosocial adjustment were explored among the gifted and nongifted adolescents in three secondary schools. The findings suggest that some gifted adolescents are more susceptible than the nongifted to various dysphoric and adjustment crises. The author contends that preventive guidance is necessary to assist gifted adolescents in developing appropriate coping skills. The conclusions are brought together in a discussion of some implications for gifted programme planning.     

Visualisation and mathematical giftedness

Recent research findings are described which uncover the fact that visualisers are seriously under-represented amongst high mathematical achievers at senior high school level. Possible reasons for this phenomenon are discussed, and kinds of imagery which overcome some of the limitations of visual processing in mathematics are described.     

Depth psychology and giftedness: Bringing soul to the field of talent development and giftedness

While the field of gifted education has relied on educational, cognitive, counseling, behavioral, developmental, and social psychology, the domain of depth psychology offers special insights into giftedness, especially with regard to individuation. The notion of passion, or the thorn (J. S. Piirto, 1999, 2002), the incurable mad spot (F. C. Reynolds 1997, 2001), the acorn (J. Hillman, 1996, 1999), the daimon (C. G. Jung, 1965); the importance of integration through the arts and through dreams; the existence of the collective unconscious; the presence of archetypes; and the transcendent psyche—all have resonance with the binary etymological idea of “gift” as both blessing and poison. Depth psychology offers a way of understanding that is physical, psychological, and spiritual.     

Identifying and developing creative giftedness

To a large extent, creativity is a decision. Children as well as adults are creative, not by virtue of an innate ability, but by virtue of a set of decisions. In essence, they decide for creativity, rather than an innate set of abilities deciding whether they are creative. Thus, creative giftedness is not a fixed trait, but a decision‐making skill that can be developed. In this article, I present ten decisions people can make to decide for creativity. Included are teaching examples of these decisions as well as teaching activities to facilitate students' learning how to make these decisions.     

The construct of giftedness

In this article, I assert that giftedness is not a fact of nature or something that educators and psychologists have discovered. Instead, it is a socially constructed concept, something recently invented. I review the evolution of this construction and discuss some of the practical implications of the construct's application in education. Last, I speculate about some of the possible ways in which the construct may evolve in the future.     

The etiology of giftedness

Many theories of giftedness either explicitly or implicitly acknowledge the role of genetic influences; yet, empirical work has not been able to establish the impact that genes have specifically on gifted behavior. In contrast, a great deal of research has been targeted at understanding the etiology of individual differences in general and specific cognitive abilities across the entire range of ability and to a lesser extent, high cognitive ability. This paper attempts to outline what we know and what we don't know about the etiology of giftedness as operationally defined as high g. We review studies selected to represent a variety of approaches that each address a different question about genetics and giftedness. These studies include quantitative genetic research which estimate heritability, shared and nonshared family environment – at the high and low ends of intelligence – as well as the heritability of group differences for general cognitive ability and specific cognitive abilities. We discuss the molecular genetic methods and mechanisms contributing to cognitive ability and suggest how epigenetic factors may operate. Quantitative and molecular genetic studies that include endophenotypes representing intelligence at a level closer to the genotype, are also included. This last group of studies represent a relatively new area of work that builds on and extends the extensive groundwork established by classic quantitative genetic studies of behavior.     

Cultural concepts of giftedness

Different cultures have different conceptions of what it means to be gifted. But in identifying children as gifted, we often use only our own conception, ignoring the cultural context in which the children grew up. Such identification is inadequate and fails to do justice to the richness of the world's cultures. It also misses children who are gifted and may identify as gifted children those who are not.     

The exchangeability of brief intelligence tests for children with intellectual giftedness: Illuminating error variance components’ influence on IQs

This study examined the exchangeability of total scores (i.e., intelligent quotients [IQs]) from three brief intelligence tests. Tests were administered to 36 children with intellectual giftedness, scored live by one set of primary examiners and later scored by a secondary examiner. For each student, six IQs were calculated, and all 216 values were submitted to a generalizability theory analysis. Despite strong convergent validity and reliability evidence supporting brief IQs, the resulting dependability coefficient was only .80, which indicates relatively low exchangeability across tests and examiners. Although error variance components representing the effects of the examiner, examiner‐by‐examinee interaction, the examiner‐by‐test interaction, and the test contributed little to IQ variability, the component representing the test‐by‐examinee interaction contributed about one‐third of the variance in IQs. These findings hold implications for selecting and interpreting brief intelligence tests and general testing for intellectual giftedness.     

Patterns of giftedness: A triarchic analysis

This article presents an analysis of patterns of giftedness based on the triarchic theory of intelligence. The analysis distinguishes among seven different patterns of giftedness, each involving a different combination of analytical, creative, and practical abilities. The seven patterns are the Analyzer, the Creator, the Practitioner, the Analytical Creator, the Analytical Practitioner, the Creative Practitioner, and the Consummate Balancer. Examples are given of each pattern and the strengths and weaknesses of each pattern are discussed.     

Ndebele culture of Zimbabwe's views of giftedness

This study explored Ndebele culture of Zimbabwe's views of giftedness. Using questionnaire narratives, data were collected from thirty Zimbabwean teachers and lecturers of Ndebele cultural background. The study established that Ndebele culture views giftedness as an unusually outstanding ability blessed in an individual from birth, which manifests in extraordinary performances and expertise including creativity and inspirational power. The hallmarks of Ndebele culture's views of giftedness are achieving exceptionally outstanding success, creativity, ability to solve problems and inspirational power. Indigenous views warrant attention since contemporary psychology now recognizes multiple views of giftedness. The study therefore recommends considering the implications of indigenous views in planning and implementing broad‐based culturally sensitive gifted programs in Zimbabwe.     

The Finnish public discussion of giftedness and gifted children

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of research in which the Finnish public discussion of giftedness and gifted children, and conceptions of giftedness and gifted children presented in it, were examined. The research was conducted by analyzing articles from the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat and the teachers’ periodical Opettaja, using the content analysis method. The results show that giftedness is seen as multidimensional, and both intrapersonal and environmental contributions are recognized as essential in talent development. The conceptions of gifted children were quite diverse, and gifted children’s possible problems were frequently discussed. Moreover, misunderstandings were revealed as well as areas that have not been adequately addressed.     

Conceptions of giftedness and expertise put to the empirical test

Recent handbooks of giftedness or expertise propose a plethora of conceptions on the development of excellent performance but, to our knowledge, there are no comparative studies that provide empirical evidence of their validity to guide researchers and practitioners in their adoption of a particular conception. This study sought to close that gap by conducting an empirical comparison of the major approaches to giftedness and expertise currently in use: the IQ model, the performance model, the moderator model, and the systemic model. The four models were tested in a longitudinal study with a sample of N = 350 German students attending university preparatory schools; 25% of the sample had been assigned to special classes for the gifted. The construct and predictive validity of the four models were tested by means of structural equation modeling. Theoretical considerations along with our results indicated a differentiation among the models whereby some could only predict while others could also explain the emergence of excellent performance and thereby yield valuable information for the design of interventions. The empirical comparison of the approaches showed that they were unequally suited for the two challenges. For prediction purposes, the performance approach proved best while, for explanations, the moderator and systemic approaches were the most promising candidates. Even so, the latter did demonstrate conceptual and/or methodological problems. The IQ approach was superseded by the other approaches on both prediction and explanation. Implications and limitations of the findings are discussed.     

A lamp for Diogenes: Leadership giftedness and moral education

Science education for the gifted should be modeled upon the professional scientist's approach to solving problems.     

So-called giftedness and teacher education: issues of equity and inclusion

The education of students identified as ‘gifted’ has had a highly problematic history, having been judged as conceptually confused, socially and ethnically discriminatory, and educationally exclusive. Despite this, it is argued that contemporary research and scholarship critiquing the concepts of giftedness and gifted education programmes may provide a base for teacher education and development generally, rather than only for those interested in giftedness. It has particular potential for altering teachers’ thinking about students’ ability. Such research has emphasised the developmental nature of intelligence, its multidimensional character and the sociopolitical role of the concept of ability in school systems. It is argued that the appropriate use of this research could contribute to a more equitable and inclusive model for teachers’ thinking and for practice in schooling. Five implications for teacher development are discussed.     

Myth and Reality: A review of empirical studies on giftedness

In this review all empirically based articles published in the years 1997 and 1998 in five acclaimed journals in the field of research of high ability and talent will be compared. For this purpose several questions will be taken into consideration, including the problems of the identification procedures used, the predominating research questions and the quality of the methodological standards. The results show that it is difficult to compare the studies due to the various procedures used to identify giftedness. In contrast, regarding the thematic orientation of the research studies themselves, the existence of a virulent problem in gifted research could be confirmed. The methodological standards adhered to in the studies give rise to troubling thoughts, possibly the most worrisome outcome being that the integration of a control group occurred in less than one-quarter of the studies. A definitive result of the study is the confirmation that gifted research is conducted within the framework of a fragmented research community where studies are performed under various methodological viewpoints, which are often unsatisfactory. The appearance of approximately one new publication per day is accompanied by the dangers of a metamorphosis of quality into pure quantity and the loss of any sort of conceptual overview. The aim of this article is, therefore, to determine whether these suspicions can be substantiated specifically regarding theoretical and methodological aspects of empirical studies in giftedness research.