ANALOGICAL REASONING OF SUPERNORMAL AND NORMAL CHILDREN

This study compares supernormal children with normals, in order to establish criteria for the identification of analogical reasoning in supernormal children. There were three experiments in the study involving analogical reasoning with figures, with pictures of objects or words, and with numbers. The subjects were 1,950 3‐ to 14‐year‐old normal children divided into 12 age groups, and over 100 supernormal youngsters. Relatively difficult items were more useful than easy ones in identification, while the developmental levels of supernormal children not only surpassed those of normal children of the same age, but the supernormals were found to be superior in grasping the interrelationship of objects in bipartite situations. Identification of supernormal children through analysis both of their performance and also of processes and characteristics in experimental tasks is not only necessary but also feasible.