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The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the learning environment on the emergence of gifted potential in preschool children. The primary research question focused on the nature of the learning environment that facilitates the emergence of these early indicators. Two preschool learning environments were examined: the traditional classroom and the constructivist classroom. In order to develop a more comprehensive response to the primary question, two subquestions were investigated which related to the nature and the observable developmental pattern of early signs of giftedness. Subjects included 21 three and four-year old children who participated in each of the two types of classrooms for a total of 12 weeks. Activities in the traditional classroom were more teacher-directed and highly structured, while those in the constructivist classroom were more child-directed and allowed for more independent learning. Nonparticipant observers noted the behaviors of each child who was involved in the classroom activities. The Brigance Preschool Screen and the Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement creativity measure were administered to each child for later assistance in discussing results. Recorded data were organized into levels of high, medium, and low under four broad categories: (a) cognitive development, (b) socioemotional development, (c) creativity, and (d) motivation. Results indicated that the constructivist classroom appeared to evoke a higher level of development in all four areas from the class as a whole. Individual subjects, however, exhibited a wide variety of behavioral profiles within these four areas. Test data yielded results similar to the evaluation of observed behaviors in terms of cognitive ability or readiness as measured by the Brigance Preschool Screen. Results from the TCAM, however, were not necessarily distributed in the same way as the behavioral evaluations. Findings from this study contribute to the ideas in the literature that behavioral identification is an effective way to evoke and observe the emergence of gifted potential. Although the study should be replicated with a larger group of similar students and/or a group of children with more diverse backgrounds and socioeconomic situations, findings from this study provide important implications for preschool teacher training, underachievement prevention, and programming for potentially gifted children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Resilience has recently become part of a shift in perspective in the psychology and education of children from high-risk environments. Many researchers point to the phenomenon of the resilient child and discuss the importance of identifying positive factors that lead to capacity and strength despite environmental traumas. Although there has always been much attention paid by the mental health field, as well as the media, education, and legal systems, to individuals who failed in life due to stressors, especially multiple stressors, in their environments, there has been limited research in identifying factors that promote certain individuals to succeed despite the odds. The purpose of this study was to explore and explain, through a case-study profile approach, the experiences of three self-determined, academically gifted, resilient individuals who overcame their stressed and negative environments to succeed in extraordinary ways. A particular focus of the study was to identify and isolate academic giftedness as a protective factor that has promoted resilience in such individuals and to highlight the importance of identifying academically gifted children who emerge from such environments, especially those that include economic disadvantage. The research undertaken for this project was of a qualitative nature, based upon the premise of emergent design. The investigation utilized an in-depth interview approach, and each case profile was developed in terms of family background, educational background and signs of giftedness, career success, environmental stressors, and protective factors. Conclusions of this study are that, especially to gifted individuals coming from multiple-stressor environments, school becomes a refuge and school success a necessary and self-validating experience. It is especially crucial to identify gifted children early when they come from such environments since that identification may be their single source of salvation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The effect of the mother's use of the term "gifted" was examined. Mothers who used gifted ("Users", n = 27), mothers who avoided using gifted ("Avoiders", n = 21), and their school aged children whom they identified as gifted were compared with mothers ("Comparison", n = 20) and their non-identified children using a structured interview and questionnaires. Mothers of gifted children believed giftedness ran in families and caused social problems. User mothers valued intelligence highly, placed less emphasis on hard work, were less satisfied with their child's school performance, and believed "gifted" described their children. Avoider mothers rated their child's school performance more positively and emphasized academic giftedness. When compared to Comparison children, Avoider children rated themselves as more scholastically competent on the Harter Self-Perception Profile for children while User children rated scholastic competence lower on the Importance Scale of that measure. Findings are discussed in relation to differences in the breadth of the mothers' conceptions of giftedness and use of "gifted", the belief that giftedness causes social problems, and the potential for misunderstanding between User mothers and children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Statement of problem. The number of studies investigating the emotional adjustment of gifted adolescents is sparse in relation to studies devoted to younger gifted children. Furthermore, incongruent findings have characterized the body of empirical evidence, thus, stimulating the debate and exploration of the association of maladjustment and giftedness. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to compare the self-perceptions of emotional adjustment of academically gifted and nongifted adolescents from both a global and multidimensional perspective. The intent of this global-multidimensional approach, in part, was to explore the saliency of specific dimensions of adjustment in gifted adolescents and to increase the accuracy of the measurement of emotional adjustment. Method. The sample included 112 academically gifted and nongifted adolescents in a public high school (grades 9-12). The study employed the Self-Report of Personality of the Behavior Assessment System for Children to compare the two groups on the global Emotional Symptoms Index and specific indexes of adjustment, including: Self-Esteem, Sense of Inadequacy, Depression, Anxiety, Social Stress, and Interpersonal Relations. Results. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that the self-perceptions of academically gifted adolescents differ significantly from their nongifted agemates' with regard to overall adjustment, self-esteem, sense of inadequacy, depression, and interpersonal relations. More specifically, the scores obtained by the academically gifted adolescents indicated that they judged themselves as better adjusted with regard to global functioning, as well as all of the aforementioned specific dimensions. The academically gifted and nongifted adolescents exhibited no significant difference in their reporting of anxiety and social stress. Conclusions. Findings suggest that academically gifted adolescents perceive themselves as well-adjusted when examined from both a global and multidimensional perspective. Current results, therefore, reflect the importance of refraining from perfunctorily associating maladjusted behaviors with giftedness when they are displayed by gifted adolescents. Consequently, behavioral manifestations of maladjustment in gifted adolescents should warrant attention. Finally, this research emphasizes the need for consideration of both global and specific dimensions of emotional functioning when attempting to identify and address the psychological and educational needs of gifted adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

The purpose of this study is to uncover the perceptions of an academically gifted African-American male undergraduate student attending an Historically Black College and University (HBCU) and the perceptions of an academically gifted African-American male undergraduate student attending a Traditional White Institution (TWI) concerning his relationship with the institution in the cultivation of his academic giftedness. Qualitative research methods were used to collect data for this study which included interviews, observations, and written documents. Phenomenology and grounded theory were selected as the guiding theoretical orientation and method implemented in the research design. Both case study participants were interviewed using a standardized open-ended interview instrument. Subsequent interviews were conducted with friends, instructors, and administrators the case study participants interacted with on their respective campuses. The purpose of the interviewing process was to obtain triangulated data which could be used to provide a holistic view of the perceptions regarding the institution's role in the cultivation of academic giftedness. Observations were conducted with both case study participants to view their engagements on and off their respective campuses. Written documents were solicited to provide a richer description of their academic experiences. Results of the study indicated that academic giftedness was thoroughly supported both within and outside of the university setting at the Historically Black College and University. Yet, academic giftedness at the Traditional White Institution was thoroughly supported only within the parameters of the university setting. These results were attributed to findings cited in the two emergent grounded theories. Due to the research oriented approach to education East Texas State University appeared to embrace, the student's academic giftedness was not thoroughly supported by the institution. Yet, the liberal arts approach maintained by Grambling State University provided support for the student's giftedness within and outside of the university environment. The findings in this study serve as a foundation for future investigations which should be developed and implemented in order to address the unique needs of the academically gifted African-American male undergraduate student. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Do visual artists see the world differently than non-artists do? If differences exist between artists and non-artists on measures of attention and object perception, do these differences suggest greater attentional flexibility in visual artists as compared to non-artists? The broadest goals of the current problem of research are to advance our understanding of visual selective attention, visual artistic expertise, and the development of visual artistic expertise. Specifically, the current work attempts to better characterize attentional flexibility and its apparent relation to artistic expertise. That is, what is attentional flexibility, and where in the time course of attentional processing can it be located (in visual artists and non-artists)? Selective attention to identity vs. similarity relations and to local vs. global relations was explored over a series of five experiments. These experiments were designed in order to examine: (1) more "automatic" and generally earlier selective attention as measured by same-different tasks, and (2) more "controlled" and generally later selective attention as measured by classification tasks. A variety of stimulus sets were utilized across these five experiments, such that Experiments 1 and 3 employed hue-form triads and tetrads, Experiments 2 and 5 employed hierarchical geometric forms, and Experiment 4 employed hierarchical letter stimuli. Forty upper-level student art majors and forty upper-level psychology majors at the University of Louisville participated in each of the experiments within the current study. In agreement with previous work, findings indicate that visual artists do indeed demonstrate greater flexibility of attention when measures of later attentional processing are considered. However, few differences between visual artists and non-artists are revealed by measures of earlier, more automatic selective attention. Findings are discussed in terms of a detailed comparison of this variety of measures of selective attention and object perception, and also in terms of the importance of describing stimulus properties, the task at hand, and the developmental level and/or level of expertise of the observer. Implications for models of selective attention, the development of selective attention, and the development and identification of expertise and giftedness are also described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

This letter briefly describes the history of creativity research, the relationship between IQ and creativity (and by implication, giftedness and creativity), and the role of creativity in gifted education. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Differences between the self-perceptions of 62 gifted high school freshmen and 162 nongifted peers were assessed regarding intimacy with family and peers, social support, family responsibilities, self-esteem, depression, and risk-taking behavior. Gifted students perceived themselves as being more intimate with friends, assuming fewer family responsibilities, and taking more risks (both sports- and danger-related risks). Gifted students and their teachers were also administered the Perceptions about Giftedness Scale. Gifted students reported feeling the same as, or better than, their peers about their academic and social skills, and their teachers closely agreed. However, the teachers rated the gifted students as being less happy than the students rated themselves. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Examines the psychological types as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) of students admitted to a public, residential, magnet high school for academically talented and gifted juniors and seniors. These students are compared to two groups of gifted adolescents and two groups of traditional high school students. The magnet school students are significantly like the gifted students and significantly unlike the traditional students. Gifted students seem to have a particular MBTI type distribution. Discussion focused on the implications of this finding to the education of the magnet school students and other gifted students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Investigated the transition from formal to post-formal reasoning in gifted adolescents and tested a cognitive developmental model of giftedness. The participants were 40 gifted 12th graders (aged 16.8–18.4 yrs). They completed paper-and-pencil tasks that assessed formal operational reasoning and post-formal reasoning. Participants were individually interviewed for 1 of the post-formal measures. Individual performance and verbal and full-scale Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) IQ scores were made available for all of the participants. Principal components analyses revealed 4 meaningful factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.00. These factors collectively accounted for 78% of the variance and were for the most part consistent with the proposed model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Examined strategic variability and variability–performance relations in 85 intellectually gifted and 81 non-gifted children (mean age 9.3 yrs) who received 5 trials on an organizational memory task. Children were presented with different sets of categorizable words on each trial and were asked to remember the words for later recall. Four strategies were coded on each trial: sorting at study, rehearsal, category naming, and clustering at recall. Strategic variability was assessed in terms of fluctuation in the use of single strategies over trials, use of different combinations of multiple strategies over trials, and trial-by-trial switches in strategy use. In general, gifted children showed lower levels of variability (or high levels of stability) in strategy use and higher levels of recall than non-gifted children. In addition, stability in strategy use was consistently associated with relatively high levels of recall for gifted but not non-gifted children. These findings confirm and extend research on non-strategic elementary cognitive tasks showing that cognitive stability is a prominent characteristic of gifted cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Focuses on intellectual giftedness, its description, and the nurture of such gifts and talents in the elementary and secondary school setting. Social context and diversity and psychological characteristics of gifted children are highlighted. The article concludes with future directions for research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Studied the intellectual abilities, creativity, motivation, and other personal features of gifted 1st graders as part of the Moscow Longitudinal Study of Giftedness. Human subjects: 60 normal school-age children (1st graders) (gifted) (experimental group). 60 normal school-age children (1st graders) (control group). Ss were administered a battery of psychological tests at the beginning of the study and as 2nd graders and 3rd graders. Differences in cognitive and personal development (1) between gifted and nongifted Ss and (2) among average, high, and extremely gifted Ss were examined. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Females are still underrepresented in mathematics and the sciences. Recent attempts at explanations assume that the main reason for this fact are motivational differences between the genders determined by the socialization process. In 2 studies the authors measured implicit theories of mathematics and physics teachers on gender-specific giftedness and motivation. A significant part of the teachers still holds to gender related views. 26.5 % of the mathematics and 30.4 % of the physics teachers thought that in their subjects boys were more gifted than girls. Further differences were shown in the kind of further education the teachers would advise their male and female students to take up. Whereas they would suggest the girls careers in education, medicine or philology, they thought that the boys were better suited for the mathematical, scientific, engineering or technology areas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

This article addresses the cross-cultural generalization of the pentagonal implicit theory of giftedness (R. J. Sternberg and L. F. Zhang, 1995) as well as differential expectations regarding excellence for girls vs boys. An instrument based on the pentagonal theory was used with a sample of 72 in-service and pre-service teachers (aged 20–50 yrs). In a second study, a questionnaire designed to assess conceptions of "excellence", one of the attributes for giftedness described in the pentagonal model, was administered to a different sample of 102 in-service and pre-service teachers (aged 22–48 yrs). Results showed a good fit of the pentagonal model to the data collected, paralleling results obtained in the US. However, it was also found that in Hong Kong, unlike in the US, teachers had higher expectations of excellence for boys than for girls. Implications for identification, instruction, and programming for the gifted are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Suggests that the lens through which the gifted Self sees the world is at once complex and vividly intense. Giftedness is seen as a ground of experience that differs significantly from the norm. Just as developmental delay produces lifelong effects on social and emotional development, academic achievement, home life, response of the community, and career goals, developmental advancement exerts a profound impact on the Self, permeating all facets of a person's life in childhood and adulthood. Children with significant developmental differences in either direction require modifications in parenting, teaching and counseling in order for the Self to be fully realized. Because their abstract reasoning abilities enable the gifted to compensate, true disabilities and disorders are often masked, while typical behaviors of the gifted may be misinterpreted. Diagnosticians, school psychologists, therapists and educators need to be aware of the characteristics of giftedness in order to recognize what is atypical for this population, rather than comparing gifted individuals with the general population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Provides a critical overview of the existing research literature on gifted children and their families. The purposes of this paper were: (1) to provide family therapists with information on the unique psychosocial stressors associated with giftedness, and (2) to stimulate further research and development on the efficacy of family therapy in alleviating distress and actualizing potential in gifted and talented children and their families. First, current conceptualizations of giftedness are described. Then the research literature on the characteristics of intellectually and creatively gifted children and their families is reviewed with an emphasis on the endogenous (individual) and exogenous (systemic) factors that can create or exacerbate psychosocial problems. Finally, an eclectic, eco-systemic approach is suggested to three common concerns that bring gifted children and their families to therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

This paper reports on a small scale study carried out in a large Australian school to investigate student perceptions of giftedness, preferred teacher qualities, and ways of providing for gifted students in the school setting. 80 students, aged 12–16 yrs, from grades 8, 9, and 10 participated. 40 students with IQs of 130 and above were identified as gifted, and 40 students with a mean IQ of 106 as nongifted. 76% of Ss said giftedness in sport was most valued. Far less important were academic skills (27%), music (22%), and maths and the arts (both 18%). Both gifted and nongifted Ss believed that students generally feel positive or neutral about special provisions when they are not involved in them (43% were positive and 39% neutral). When asked how they felt personally about special provisions for the gifted, 34% were highly positive and 36% positive (70%), with 23% using neutral ratings. The teacher quality most often important by the total group was that the teacher should "know the subject well." Gifted students chose 3 qualities as particularly important: that the teacher "knows the subject well," "is interested in students," and "doesn't stick to the text all the time." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Knowing one's giftedness and having a well-developed sense of identity as a gifted person are crucial for the development of the self. Many gifted people struggle with their giftedness, what it means to be gifted and how to develop that potential because there are few models available to assist in the identity development and counseling of gifted people. Moreover, identity itself is often viewed as an abstract concept making the task of bridging this concept to pragmatic applications highly challenging. The Gifted Identity Formation Model, presented here, helps bridge the theoretical with the practical, includes identity and its formation as crucial variables in the counseling process, and uses identity as the baseline for intervention. The model aids with assessment and helps deliver counseling related interventions that explore and strengthen the identity and identity formation of gifted people, in turn enhancing the health and development of the self. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Using a qualitative cross-case methodology over 3 yrs, the author investigated the ways in which 2 male, gifted students (aged 6 and 14 yrs) with cerebral palsy and no speech indicated their cognitive abilities. Data collection methods included participant observation, interviewing, document analysis, audiotaping, and videotaping. Data were analyzed using analytic induction, constant comparison, diagramming, and cross-case analysis. The Ss demonstrated several academic characteristics of giftedness, some of which were modified by effects of the disability. Personality traits which often accompany giftedness were manifested: maturity, goal orientation, persistence/determination, and patients. Giftedness was also apparent in ways that were related to the disability: recognition of limitations at a mature level, desire for independence from human aides and technological devices, and use of the intellect to circumvent the disability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)