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Definitions about giftedness and talent involving motivation as a significant variable either in the genesis of giftedness or in the development of intellectual talent are analyzed. An analysis on the influence of motivation in successful achievers, underachievers, as well as in the social emotional development of the gifted is presented. An update view of the goals achieved by Peru as a country, as well as the actual challenges that faces Peru in the development of giftedness and talent in multicultural and poverty conditions, at the conceptualization, identification, and program levels are presented. Moreover, an economic and viable project of advocacy on the development of giftedness in Peru within the regular educational system along Elementary, Secondary and College level is presented. Finally, conclusions and recommendations for the development of state policies in order to promote giftedness in Peru are presented. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

After a brief introduction the theoretical basis of the Munich High Ability Test-Battery (MHBT) will be outlined in the first part of the article. The MHBT has been developed in the framework of the Munich longitudinal study of giftedness and talent. The MHBT includes not only cognitive predictors measuring several dimensions and types of giftedness concerning intellectual, creative or social abilities etc., but also giftedness-relevant non-cognitive personality and social moderators measuring interests, motivations, learning emotions, self-concepts or family and school climate, educational style, quality of instruction, etc. The MHBT-instruments (different scales and dimensions) are described in greater detail. In the second part of the article, after dealing with the objectivity, the reliability, and the validity of the MHBT, the authors discuss the standardization procedure including the development of grade-based T-norms respectively as well as several talent-profiles, e.g. of gifted achievers vs. underachievers, intellectual, creative, social talents or linguistic, math, science talent profiles etc. Finally, examples of talent search for gifted programs and case studies on the basis of MHBT should illustrate multidimensional identification procedures. The MHBT fulfills the most relevant assessment tasks belonging to the gifted educational and counseling practice. The usefulness of the MHBT in the framework of giftedness research as well as of gifted program evaluation studies has also been proven in the last decade. Hence the MHBT offers many opportunities to assessing giftedness and talent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

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. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The six articles in this issue demonstrate how broad the field of giftedness research is today not only regarding the domains and constructs under investigation, but also with respect to the methodologies being implemented. The first contribution addresses deliberate practice and the development of expertise. They investigated elite and sub-elite soccer players between the ages of 9 and 18 in a retrospective cross-sectional design. The second contribution to this issue analyzes the relationships between components of leadership giftedness and multiple intelligence. The next article estimate the proportion of students who are underachieving using Rasch measurement models. The next contribution submitted examined how giftedness is defined by the Ndebele culture of Zimbabwe and what this culture acknowledges as the major attributes of giftedness. The last two articles in this issue are devoted to the topic of creativity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

This special issue focuses on current international research on giftedness. The authors of the volume are the leading researchers in their countries related to empirical research on giftedness. In these articles, the emphasis is on academic talent, which is the easiest type of giftedness to measure with empirical approaches. The majority of the articles deal with mathematical giftedness, which is the easiest talent to operationalize and compare in international comparative research. The countries represented in this volume include Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, the USA, and Australia. Some of the studies highlight national views on giftedness research and the others are comparative studies with datasets from several countries. The editors also note that further studies are needed to explore and evaluate the theories and practices in gifted education. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Some children may be intellectually gifted, and yet experience behavioral and academic difficulties. We examined 82 twice exceptional children (2e-ADHD), having an excellent General Ability Index (GAI) derived from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV (GAI ≥ 125), and a diagnosis of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). They accounted for 8.8% of a large sample of children with ADHD, which is twice as high as the proportion of intellectually gifted children in a typical population. This over-representation does not reflect a misdiagnosis of ADHD, as these children showed the typical features predicted on the grounds of data regarding the ADHD sample, including lower scores in working memory and processing speed measures, combined with the inclusion criteria for giftedness. Based on information concerning intellectually gifted children with either a Specific Learning Disorder (SLD) or typical development, we observed that these characteristics of intelligence are similar to those seen in SLD, but not in typical development, irrespective of whether 2e-ADHD children had a comorbid SLD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

There is a long-standing association between exceptional cognitive abilities of various sorts and neuropsychiatric illness, but it has historically largely been investigated in an exploratory and non-systematic way. One group in which this association has been investigated with more rigor is in subjects who have been identified as twice exceptional; an educational term describing subjects who are both gifted and diagnosed with a neuropsychiatric disorder. This term covers multiple conditions, but is of specific interest in particular in the study of autism spectrum disorder. Recent findings have led to the development of a hypothesis that a certain degree of the neurobiology associated with autism might even be advantageous for individuals and could lead to high giftedness, while becoming disadvantageous, once a certain threshold is surpassed. In this model, the same neurobiological mechanisms confer an increasing advantage up to a certain threshold, but become pathological past that point. Twice-exceptional individuals would be exactly at the inflection point, being highly gifted, but also symptomatic at the same time. Here, we review how existing neuroimaging literature on autism spectrum disorder can inform research on twice exceptionality specifically. We propose to study key neural networks with a robust implication in ASD to identify the neurobiology underlying twice-exceptionality. A better understanding of the neural mechanisms of twice exceptionality should help to better understand resilience and vulnerability to neurodevelopmental disorders and to further support affected individuals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Inclusive education is a reform aimed at educating all students in general classrooms, independent of diversity features such as special educational needs, giftedness, or migration. Its successful implementation requires teachers with professional knowledge about inclusive education, skills to address the diverse needs in the classroom, and positive beliefs toward inclusive education. Teachers are provided with professional development opportunities, but are these effective in improving their learning process and positively impacting students’ behavior? We conducted a meta-analysis to address this question. The screening of 12,050 search results revealed 342 eligible studies with more than 155,000 participants and 1123 effects from four outcome categories: teachers’ knowledge, skills, and beliefs and students’ behavior. We observed positive, though varying, effects on all four outcome categories: large effects on teachers' knowledge regarding inclusive education ( g = 0.93), moderate effects on teachers’ skills ( g = 0.49), small effects on teachers’ beliefs ( g = 0.23), and small-to-moderate effects on student behavior ( g = 0.37). We also examined factors that might explain the differences in the strength of training effects. The data suggest that long-term training with high practical relevance and active learning opportunities facilitates transfer to schools. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is an active process that assists students in managing their thoughts, behaviors, and emotions to navigate their learning experiences successfully. The study examined the differences in motivation and SRL between gifted and high achievers (GHAs) and typical achievers (TAs) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines by addressing the contribution of socioeconomic status (SES). A sample of 151 students in 11th and 12th grades from two high schools in Israel were divided into four study groups based on their general intelligence, school grades, and SES. Participants completed SRL and motivation questionnaires. The results indicated that among GHAs, all motivation measures were significantly higher than those of TAs, especially among students from low-SES environments. GHA students reported using more SRL strategies than TA students regarding organization, metacognition, time and learning environment, peer learning, and effort regulation. Students from low-SES environments reported using more organization strategies than those from high-SES environments, whereas TA students surpassed their GHA counterparts in critical thinking. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Objective: Throughout the years, several myths have arisen suggesting that children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders possess unusually high abilities in specific domains, depending on the disorder. On the other hand, special skills and talents in children with neurodevelopmental disorders are most commonly overshadowed by their difficulties and overlooked. The purpose of this systematic review is to examine the association between giftedness and neurodevelopmental disorders. Methods: The related articles published in PubMed, Google Scholar, PsycINFO, and Embase up to December 31, 2020, as well as their reference lists, were reviewed systematically. Results: A total of 6069 studies were scanned, and 32 of them (9904 subjects) were deemed eligible for this systematic review. Studies have supported associations between autism spectrum disorders and music ability. Contradictory results have been published regarding associations between giftedness, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and specific learning disorders. Diagnostic methods seemed to modify associations between giftedness and neurodevelopmental disorders. Conclusion: The dearth of the available evidence is prominent. More research is needed to investigate the field of dual exceptionality. Longitudinal studies are needed, addressing methodological challenges pertaining to variability in the definition of giftedness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Giftedness in the Finnish educational culture is seen as taboo, and it is easier to talk about talent development. We need to widen the concept in the ways that would address both excellence and ethics. The definition of transformational giftedness includes a beyond-the-self orientation and implies that the purpose of giftedness is to help to make the world a better place. This kind of definition might be the key in using the term “giftedness” in egalitarian and inclusive cultures like Finland. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Assessing giftedness is one of the inevitable processes in the identification of gifted schoolchildren which involves all the actors included in the direct contact with schoolchildren. Since the assessments are regarded as a subjective opinion of the assessor, our aim is to determine the level of certainty that we can take into account when assessing giftedness identification. In relation to that, the research is based on the validation of compliance in the giftedness assessments of schoolchildren by: teachers, parents, peers and schoolchildren’s self-assessment.The research was conducted on 115 schoolchildren aged 8 and 9 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The instruments for giftedness assessment were based on the theory of multiple intelligences. The instruments passed several validations, and their metric characteristics were determined. The content validity has been established, and it shows in a high-quality manner that the measuring instrument provides the possibility of appropriate measurement of multiple intelligences, while the reliability of the instrument is confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The positive correlation among the perceptions of teachers, schoolchildren, peers, and the self-assessment is confirmed by Pearson’s correlation analysis. The Kruskal–Wallis test, with the Dunn’s post-hoc test, indicates that there is a high congruence between the assessments of all four groups of assessors. The greatest agreement in assessments was found in musical intelligence, whereas the greatest differences in assessments were detected in the combination of parents with other assessors. The findings in this research will be used for creating a software for giftedness assessment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Revealing children’s abilities and talents in the context of digitalization is one of the urgent problems of modern psychology. The first signs of giftedness may appear early, already at the stage of preschool childhood, when its development largely depends on the conditions of the microenvironment, especially in the family. Digitalization processes set a new direction for the development of the system of family education and training of preschoolers, causing the emergence of both new opportunities and new risks in discovering children’s talents. This is a complex area of scientific research, which still remains little explored. The study was aimed at identifying the psychological characteristics of using digital devices (tablets/computers) as components of a family educational microenvironment for the development of older preschoolers with signs of general giftedness. In accordance with the conceptual provisions put forward by A.M. Matyushkin, giftedness was considered as a prerequisite for the development of a creative personality. The study involved 200 children of senior preschool age (M age = 6.7, SD = 0.307, including 49% boys, 51% girls) and their parents (mostly mothers-83%, fathers-17%). The method for diagnosing intellectual abilities (MEDIA) was used. Intellectual and creative activity as well as creative thinking of the children was studied during a diagnostic game lesson using structured observation and expert assessments. The parents of the preschoolers were surveyed using a specially designed questionnaire containing questions about the use of a tablet/computer (frequency, time, programs/ games) at home for the development their children as well as questions about their interests and hobbies. The use of diagnostic techniques made it possible to single out a group (N = 24) of children with signs of giftedness among the preschoolers as well as a group of their peers for subsequent comparative analysis (their intellectual and creative abilities were less pronounced). It was found that almost all the children with signs of giftedness (95.8%), like their peers, had experience of using a tablet/computer at home for developmental purposes. The frequency of using digital devices by the preschoolers with signs of giftedness was less than that of their peers. With the observed variety of developing computer programs/ games used, their total number was less in the group of the gifted preschoolers compared to the group of their peers. Partial correspondence of digital content to the interests and hobbies of the children was revealed. Most often, when choosing computer programs/games for them, their parents pursued the goal of preparing them for school. It was recognized as necessary to provide psychological assistance to the parents of the preschoolers in solving the issues of using digital devices to develop children’s abilities and talents. The results of the study can be used to develop practical recommendations based on an integrated approach to the disclosure of giftedness at the stage of preschool childhood, taking into account the digitalization of the family microenvironment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

This article investigates conceptions of giftedness amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. It adopts a qualitative case-study methodology involving 14 participants associated with a scholarship program aimed at developing the academic potential of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth from remote and disadvantaged communities. Using semistructured interviews and a grounded-theory analytical approach, a number of themes were identified. These included an egalitarian basis to the construct, an avoidance of the gifted label, an understanding of giftedness as having learned and innate dimensions as well as a relative view of giftedness. Associations with achievement motivation also were highlighted amongst participants suggesting that views of giftedness have been shifting away from traditional associations. Results further revealed a perception of giftedness linked more to leadership and progress than to previously identified associations with elitism, individualism, and broader Australian societal ideals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Research concerning beliefs about the malleability of personal characteristics has recently turned to a focus on heterogeneity, including the exploration of moderators of intervention effectiveness and construct-specificity of implicit beliefs. This moving beyond a mean-level approach can provide insight into the differential types of implicit beliefs endorsed by individuals. In the current study, we used data from 163 pre-service teachers to explore heterogeneity in beliefs about intelligence and giftedness. Analyses from survey data suggest both concordance (dual-incremental, dual-neutral, and dual-entity) and discordance (entity-giftedness, incremental-intelligence) in beliefs. Responses to a pictorial prompt also revealed belief heterogeneity regarding the participants' conceptual beliefs about how academic giftedness and intelligence relate. Findings suggest that pre-service teachers endorse fairly construct-specific implicit beliefs about giftedness and intelligence, consistent with prior research among academically talented adolescents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Dąbrowski’s theory of positive disintegration has been associated with the psychology of giftedness for four decades, and Sal Mendaglio has significantly contributed to the thoughtful understanding of the theory throughout those 40 years. In this interview, Mendaglio discusses the relationship between the theory of positive disintegration and the psychology of giftedness. Mendaglio addresses potential misunderstanding of the theory as well as the concept of overexcitabilities. He clarifies that Dąbrowski’s theory is not a theory of giftedness; however, the theory as well as Dąbrowski’s concept of intelligence contributed to Mendaglio’s understanding of the psychology of giftedness. Mendaglio cautions against the oversimplification of overexcitabilities and the tools with which the construct has been measured. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The concept of giftedness has historically been shaped by theories of IQ, creativity, and expertise (including early conceptions of metacognition). These theories focus within the mind of the individual learner. Social, emotional, and motivational qualities of giftedness were treated as add-ons, not part of the core construct. This created misalignment with the social construction of knowledge—a position widely supported in gifted education practice. Newer, broader conceptions of metacognitive, self-regulated, and self-regulated learning processes have garnered interest. However, because these theories borrowed language from each other and earlier theories, assigning new meanings to old constructs, confusion arose about how to distinguish each of these three theories from each other or apply them to instruction. This article distinguishes among metacognition, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning, relating each to notions of giftedness, highlighting implications for practice, and especially highlighting self-regulated learning as a valuable contributor to understanding giftedness and designing instruction in gifted education. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

This study investigated middle school students’ beliefs about intelligence and differences in the development of intelligence across ages, beliefs about giftedness and the development of giftedness, and how beliefs about intelligence and giftedness were related. A total of 52 eighth graders from two regular classes ( n = 36) and one gifted class ( n = 16) at a public school in the U.S. Midwest completed a survey and a vignettes task. Results revealed that participants associated intelligence with school and non-school intelligence, knowledge and learning, smartness, and motivation. They associated academic giftedness with intelligence, motivation, school achievement, and high ability. Participants were more certain young children could grow intelligence. Most participants endorsed incremental views of intelligence and giftedness. This was more evident in students holding an incremental belief about intelligence, and in non-gifted students. Gifted participants and those holding an incremental belief about intelligence placed more value on motivation and learning. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The article describes the historical stages of exploring the concept of “giftedness” which reflect principally different understandings of this term, but nowadays are considered as the alternatives. The 1st stage: during the Medieval Period, the term “giftedness” is introduced for the first time ever and it explains the ability of a man to create (the God has given the gift). The 2nd stage: during the Renaissance period, the emergence of the wage labour puts an issue of assessing the presence and the height of abilities. The dependence of the product on the giftedness as high/low abilities is postulated. The 3rd stage: in the philosophy of the Modern Period, in the framework of dialectics, the concept of the process is developed and the levels of cognition as the main, generic ability of a human are defined, therefore the giftedness as an issue is missing. The 4th stage: beginning from the middle of the 19th century, due to the split in the philosophical directions and the demands of the psychometric paradigm, giftedness is reduced to the height of intellect and, subsequently, to the height of any abilities. The 5th stage: the emergence of the theory of giftedness based on the advanced methodology introduced to psychology by Vygotsky. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The purpose of this study is to explore how a Florida administrative law judge (ALJ) adjudicated the giftedness of one student who was found ineligible to be enrolled in a gifted education program. Specifically, we explore the discourse in an ALJ’s final order to uncover how an ALJ navigates through conflict and deconstructs the conflicting expert opinions and special education state statute on the definition of giftedness and then constructs giftedness from these sources to arrive at the final decision. Utilizing qualitative discourse analysis, we explore what this construction can tell us about the interpretation of the nature of giftedness and what counts as data. Findings in this case suggest that the ALJ gives more weight to experience and expertise. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)