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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)

This reprinted chapter originally appeared in Gifted Child Quarterly, Vol 25(3), Sum 1981, 116-118. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1984-25480-001.) Discusses lifetime creative processes focusing on creativity in the mature and retirement years. It is argued that a person in later years has time, greater wealth of experience, more fully developed talents, greater freedom to adopt unorthodox concepts, and a heightened vision of life, which are viewed as assets in the creative process. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

This reprinted article originally appeared in Gifted Education Quarterly, 1984, Vol 28(4), 157-161. The following abstract of the original article appeared in (see record 1985-23827-001). Argues for the replacement of the current identification/placement paradigm, which is used to assess giftedness and talent in children, with one that focuses more on assessment and education. The separate identification step should be replaced by curriculum-imbedded and curriculum-determinitive processes. Suggestions for increasing the contributions of school psychologists in the assessment phase are outlined, along with the need to develop more individualized adaptive education programs for gifted students. Implications for school district policy are also noted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

In this reprinted chapter (originally printed in Gifted Child Quarterly, 24[1], 10-14), the author examines the country of Japan as a model in the education of gifted and creative individuals. The following topics outline the discussion: National Climate for Creativity and Giftedness; Creativity in Preschool Education; Rewards for Creative Achievement; and Ability to Use Freedom. Several suggestions as to how the US can counter its national problems of underachievement and the problem of underachievement among gifted and talented children are also provided. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

How to identify students for participation in programs for the gifted and talented continues to be one of the most widely discussed and debated topics in the field. The fourteen seminal articles from Gifted Child Quarterly in this volume represent a cross-section of research and commentary about key ideas and concepts that attempt to lend both wisdom and clarity to important concerns about identification, and of course, these ideas also relate to the conceptions of giftedness discussed in volume one of the series. Both theoretical and practical relationships exist between the definitions and conceptions of giftedness and talent and issues related to identification. This relationship represents a good point of departure for two of the main issues that should guide all identification processes and which are discussed in varying contexts by the authors of articles about identification. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: introduction)

This reprinted article originally appeared in Gifted Child Quarterly, 1982, Vol 26(2), 88-94. The following abstract of the original article appeared in (see record 1984-27624-001). Argues that intelligence seems to consist in large part of the ability to deal with nonentrenched tasks and concepts, but this ability seems only to be peripherally measured by current tests of intelligence. This view brings the concept of intelligence closer to that of creativity, as usually conceived, but still maintains the distinction between convergent and divergent thinking that has traditionally characterized the difference between what is measured in intelligence tests and what is measured in creativity tests. Examples of nonentrenchment in the assessment of intellectual giftedness are provided. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

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)

This reprinted chapter (originally published in Gifted Child Quarterly, 26[1], 21-23) examines the history of measurement in creativity and the myth that creativity is too difficult of a concept to measure. The author states that the measurement of creativity, like other facets of intellectual functioning, will always be a challenge. Just as in intelligence we face problems of differentiating operational creative thinking abilities from native creative potential. This is further complicated by the entry of energizing forces of the suprarational and cosmic interacting with the individual rational and emotive-motivational systems. However, for practical purposes we can manage this problem by realizing that available measures have established certain parameters of measurable creativity found to be of great importance to school learning. Further, we can take advantage of those instruments whose psychometric and practical soundness has been evidenced. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

This reprinted article originally appeared in Gifted Child Quarterly, 1987, Vol 31(4), 180-185. (The abstract of the original article appeared in record 1989-27664-001.) The lack of representation of black gifted children in educational programs for the gifted is a cause for great concern. Historical precedents and lack of empirical data on appropriate identification processes and educational planning techniques have been noted as part of the reason for the lack. A discussion of research data to date indicates that observation techniques, community involvement, and peer, parent, and teacher nominations are viable techniques to use in identifying the black gifted child. The data also show that leadership skills, creativity, and mental processing abilities, are good indicators of giftedness among the black students. Identification, curriculum, the instructional environment (teacher, setting, strategies), and evaluation are discussed as important aspects of a total plan for the black gifted child. Alternatives for program planning are recommended. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 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)

In this reprinted chapter (originally appearing in Gifted Child Quarterly, 33[2], 81-84), the author attempts to clarify goals and objectives of some useful approaches to strengthening creative attitudes, skills, and abilities while teaching creative thinking. Specifically, discussion centers on the following topics: Raising creativity consciousness and teaching creative attitudes; Improving students' metacognitive understanding of creativity; Exercising creative abilities; Teaching creative thinking techniques; and Involving student in creative activities. As for which approach or combination of approaches produces the greatest gains the most quickly and efficiently, the variety of ages, abilities, interests, and needs of the particular students, along with a virtual absence of relevant research, make it impossible to specify an all-around ideal recipe. However, the author does recommend using all of the above goals and related activities in approximately the order they are presented. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

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)