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In the scientific literature, there is ambiguity in the distinction between the concepts of giftedness and talent. This paper examines several common definitions of these two terms, with particular emphasis on the models proposed by Renzulli (1979) and Cohn (1981). Our critique of these two models leads to a clear differentiation between giftedness and talent: the former is associated with domains of abilities which foster and explain exceptional performance in varied fields of activities, that is, talents. Thus, one can be gifted without necessarily being talented (as with the case of underachievers), but not vice versa. Several factors which can act as catalysts for the actualization of giftedness in specific talents are discussed, particularly motivation and environmental quality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The basic premise of this article is that the child prodigy is a distinct form of giftedness which must be understood on its own terms. In contrast with the child of great general ability, the prodigy tends to have a more focused, specialized, and domain-specific form of giftedness. Studies of prodigies have contributed to changing theories about the nature of giftedness (e.g., from single to multiple) and will likely continue to do so. Along with the related phenomenon of savant syndrome, the prodigy points to a set of complex relationships between psychometric intelligence in the traditional sense and expression of talent within specific domains like music or mathematics. Based in part on findings from studies of prodigies, it is likely that there are important roles for both general and specific abilities in most forms of giftedness and that they represent two distinct evolutionary trends to maximize the likelihood of human survival. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

People of exceptionally high ability remain an extremely important source of cultural innovation and renewal. By "high ability," we mean exceptional human abilities referred to by terms like giftedness, talent, creativity, genius, child prodigies, innovation, and wisdom. Extracognitive facets play an essential role in the development and expression of exceptional achievement. Extracognitive facets are those that go beyond cognition. In other words, they concern those facets of intelligence that are not captured by many traditional accounts of giftedness or expertise. These include various feelings (e.g., feeling of beauty), temperament, and institutional and cultural influences critical to developing high ability. The history of psychology has at least two long-established research traditions that aim to study extracognitive facets in high ability: the study of personality traits associated with high ability (the so-called personality trait approach1 in the psychology of giftedness and creativity) and the investigation of social factors facilitating the development of human talents. We review them briefly here to allow readers to situate our book with regard to these traditions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The relationship of creativity with high-level abilities varies from domain to domain. And just as creative skills often contribute to high-level performances, accomplishment can result from processes and capacities other than creativity. Creativity depends on originality; that is the only facet of creativity on which everyone agrees. Accomplishment and achievement, on the other hand, may reflect other problem-solving skills besides creative problem solving, including some that are more convergent than divergent. Accomplishment also involves persistence, Zeitgeist, and luck, as well as talent. In the remainder of this chapter I focus on creativity, keeping in mind what was just proposed about creativity sometimes being involved in accomplishment, and sometimes interacting with other kinds of abilities, but also recognizing that sometimes creativity is merely potential and unrelated to accomplishment and achievement. This view is consistent with several definitions of giftedness wherein creativity is one aspect of giftedness, and contributes to gifted-level performances, but at the same time can be separated from it. In this chapter I focus even further and explore the extracognitive bases of creativity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

After several years of observations, interviews, and reviews of literature, the authors have developed six profiles of gifted and talented children and youth. These profiles help educators and parents to look closely at the feelings, behaviors, and needs of the gifted and talented. Also, tips on identification of each profile are included as well as information on facilitating the gifted and talented in the school and home. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Our most famous resources for the future of our society are human resources. We made an important commitment of scientific talent and financial support about 25 years ago to enhancing the developmental potential of the retarded among us. The progress in this area has been gratifying. A concomitant commitment has not been made to understanding the developmental potential of the gifted among us. The time is past due for that commitment. It is important to draw out the developmental issues related to the gifted and the talented in such a way as to frame productive scientific questions. The model presented in this essay has been used to frame such a set of questions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This reprinted article originally appeared in Gifted Child Quarterly, 44(3), 196-207. The literature focusing on mentorships and underachieving gifted young men is almost nonexistent. To address this need, the researchers examined the mentorship experiences of three students who characterized various aspects of giftedness and underachievement in males. The findings of the study revealed a single core category with three attendant subcategories. The influence of a significant adult on a a young person was the dominant category. Several related subcategories reinforced the importance of the mentor: mentors' open-minded and nonjudgmental characteristics, consistent and personalized social/emotional support and advocacy; and strength and interest-based strategies for intervention to reverse underachievement. These results underscore the critical effectiveness of mentorships on underachievement, regardless of age, environment, and socioeconomic background. Implications of the findings are presented that highlight the successful features of the mentor-protégé relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The contribution of metacognition to the better understanding of giftedness is explored in the context of the "triarchic" of intelligence and its subtheory of insight proposed by Sternberg and his colleagues at Yale University, and in relation to research into the interaction between availability and flexibility of cognitive style on one hand, and metacognitive knowledge and skill on the other. Support is offered for the importance of interactions among the elements (meta-components, performance components, and knowledge-acquisition components) of the triarchic theory to better explain giftedness. Finally, rather than regarding a theory of giftedness to be a subtheory of one of intelligence, might there be merit in considering the opposite order? (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Creativity is an important facet of giftedness. Creativity is, however, very difficult to define and measure. Divergent thinking tests are often used, though of course they really just estimate the potential for creative thought. In the past few years, the technologies for the assessment and enhancement of divergent thinking have changed dramatically. This article reviews the most recent research on divergent thinking. Several new assessment techniques are reviewed, including those using either lenient or stringent solution standards, those relying on ideational pools (examinees' total output of ideas), and those involving qualitative aspects of ideation. Recent research showing moderately high predictive validity coefficients is also reviewed. The role played by evaluation and valuation in the divergent thinking process is outlined, as is the role of problem definition and problem identification. Special considerations for the creativity of gifted children are noted throughout the article, and specific directions for future research on the divergent thinking of gifted children are presented in the conclusion. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The extensive research of our team that has involved 76 scholars around the world reveals common psychological traits, as well as family, educational, and cultural conditions of more than 200 men (historically recognized as highly eminent) born between the 14th and 20th centuries, such as Mozart, Newton, and Lincoln. Our research combines psychology and "Cliometrics," the quantitative study of history, after Clio, the muse of history. The criterion of eminence employed (the number of words written about each man in biographical dictionaries and encyclopedias) proved technically reliable; but the ratings of traits and conditions are no doubt distorted to some extent by the accidents of what history and biography have recorded as well as the subjectivity involved in making the ratings. Our research proves little by itself; but since it corroborates recent studies on eminent living Americans (Arieti, 1976; Goertzel, Goertzel, & Goertzel, 1978; Passow, 1979; Stein & Heinze, 1964; Taylor & Barren, 1963; Taylor & Getzels, 1975) and accomplished, prize-winning adolescents in science and the arts (Walberg, 1969, 1971), it helps to maintain some balance both in research and policy between the need for minimal educational competencies and the desire to produce in our generations great men and women comparable to those of past centuries, through child-rearing and education practices and the provision of social and cultural opportunities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Two nonintellective variables, representing the imaginational (M) and the emotional (E) dimensions of mental life, and one broadly intellective variable (T) have been identified as characteristic of giftedness. A cross-sectional comparison showed no age trend when groups of gifted children (as young as age 9) and adolescents are compared with gifted adults. The broadly intellective variable T showed bimodal distribution creating two subsamples, one with T scores lower than 5, and one with T scores of 5 or more. This did not affect the M and E mean scores of the two subsamples of gifted adolescents. The three variables, E, M, and T are viewed here as critical contributors to the creative power and productivity of gifted people. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Aspergers' Syndrome is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communication and by repetitive patterns of behaviors or interests. It is observed in some gifted children. The author proposes that gifted children with Aspergers' Syndrome may not be identified because their unusual behaviors may be wrongly attributed to either their giftedness or to a learning disability. The article discusses ways in which Aspergers' Syndrome might be missed in gifted children and proposes guidelines for differentiating characteristics of giftedness from characteristics of Aspergers' Syndrome. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This article describes an important, yet largely neglected, kind of giftedness, namely, wisdom. First, the article discusses how giftedness is identified currently. Second, the article is an alternative view based on a balance theory of wisdom. The theory is described, and it is shown why the theory offers a useful way of of conceptualizing wisdom. Finally, the article concludes that, given the state of the world, we should have a strong incentive to identify and develop wisdom as a form of giftedness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This chapter attempts to capture the nature of giftedness and talent by briefly tracing key studies, programs, and developments in the field. The author begins by defining the terms, using the U.S. Office of Education definition: Gifted and talented children are those identified by professionally qualified persons who, by virtue of outstanding abilities, are capable of high performance. These are children who require differentiated educational programs and/or services beyond those normally provided by the regular school program in order to realize their contribution to self and society. (p. IX) They then tackle such questions as what is giftedness? Who is gifted? Who is talented? How are giftedness and talent manifested? (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

The recent popularity of Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory corresponds with current efforts to move away from the use of standardized measures of achievement and ability to more authentic assessment techniques, including portfolio and performance-based assessment. Gardner and his colleagues have strongly encouraged the application of MI theory to performance-based assessment. This study investigates the reliability and validity of a battery of instruments based on MI theory, including teacher checklists and performance-based assessment activities. The purpose in developing the instruments was the identification of talent in culturally diverse and/or low income kindergarten and first grade students. Results suggest acceptable evidence of reliability but raise questions about the validity of the assessments. This study has implications for both future research efforts and the application of MI-based, performance measures to the assessment and identification of talent. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This position paper is a call for efforts to increase connections between studies of giftedness and mainstream psychological and educational research. Most mainstream researchers have paid scant attention to the literature on giftedness and have ignored the field's journals. However, Studies of giftedness have contributed to mainstream theory and may play some special roles in theory development. Strategies for overcoming barriers to further integration with mainstream research are proposed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This article presents a pentagonal implicit theory of giftedness and a set of data testing the theory. The exposition is divided into five parts. First, we discuss what an implicit theory is and why such theories are important. Second, we describe the pentagonal theory, specifying five conditions claimed to be individually necessary and jointly sufficient for a person to be labeled as gifted. These conditions help us understand not only why some people are labeled as gifted but also why some others are not. Third, we consider the relation of the pentagonal theory to explicit theories of giftedness. Fourth, we present data supporting the theory. Finally, we discuss some implications of the pentagonal theory for gifted education. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This reprinted article originally appeared in Gifted Child Quarterly, 37(4), 155-160. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1994-19557-001.) Compared a national sample of gifted underachievers and gifted high achievers on a number of characteristics. Giftedness was measured as a composite score at or above the 95th percentile on the ACT. Underachievement was defined as reporting a high school GPA of <=2.25 (on a 4.00 scale), and high achievement was defined as reporting a GPA of >=3.75 (on a 4.00 scale). Ss were 30,604 high school juniors and seniors: 257 gifted underachievers and 30,347 gifted high achievers. The underachievers generally had lower scores on the ACT and less extensive out-of-class accomplishments. Over 90% of the underachievers were Caucasian males. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

In comparison to most research approaches and theoretical traditions in other fields of psychology, educational-psychological approaches to these concepts have been related more closely to practice in a wide variety of educational settings in and out of schools. For example, topics of research in the areas of motivation and cognition have been concerned with learning and achievement, and the language used has tended to be familiar to educators and teachers. Educational psychologists integrated new concepts and methods from other fields of psychology into their research as a way to more fully address issues of practice. Thus, when psychometric approaches relying on quantitative measures became dominant in the area of intelligence research, many investigators in the field of educational psychology began to conceptualize and measure variables using psychometric approaches. Statistical tools were adopted to measure talent (giftedness), as well as cognitive factors based on traditional intelligence tests. As a consequence, research efforts focused on interindividual differences. This line of research however, did not address intraindividual development, nor information about the relations between the variables under consideration (Krapp, 1999; Medved, Midi, & Ainley, 2002; Murphy & Alexander, 2000). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This chapter provides a historical background on counseling for the gifted, including defining giftedness and the identification of gifted students. Other areas addressed are differential needs, family issues, counseling for gifted students, and special concerns. Programs and services can be developed, but none can or will address all the myriad aspects of the life and times of students with exceptional gifts. In the end, the attitude of significant others will bridge the gap in determining the quality and impact of any intervention with gifted students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)