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The aim the current research was to investigate the evidence of validity based on relationship with other variables—concurrent criterion validity of the Scale to Identify Giftedness Characteristics (SIGC). The sample was composed by two groups. 405 students from a city of São Paulo State composed the control group and 80 children from Santa Catarina and Distrito Federal States, which attended the NAAH/S and a resource classroom to gifted children constituted the criterion group. The participants answered the SIGC and the results indicated higher averages obtained by the criterion group. The results showed that the scale discriminates the groups with or without giftedness indicators. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract) Resumen en idioma originalO objetivo desse estudo foi investigar evidências de validade baseadas nas relações com outras variáveis – validade de critério concorrente para a Escala de Identificação de Características associadas às Altas Habilidades/Superdotação (EICAH/S). A amostra foi composta por dois grupos, sendo que 405 estudantes de uma cidade do interior do Estado de São Paulo compuseram o grupo controle e 80 crianças provenientes dos Estados de Santa Catarina e Distrito Federal que frequentavam o NAAH/S e as salas de recursos de atendimento às altas habilidades/superdotação (AH/S) constituíram o grupo critério. Os participantes responderam à EICAH/S, cujos resultados apontaram para médias significativamente superiores a favor do grupo critério nos dois fatores (cognitivo e socioemocional) e na pontuação total da escala, demostrando a eficácia da escala em discriminar os indivíduos com e sem indicadores de AH/S. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Gifted children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often referred to as twice-exceptional, the term that highlights the co-occurrence of exceptional challenges and exceptional giftedness. This study performed secondary data analysis on samples of twice-exceptional children from the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study and the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study datasets. The results provide a descriptive profile of twice-exceptional (e.g. demographics, average academic performance, and services utilized), trajectory plots that indicate how academic performance changes over time, and multilevel analyses that model growth in academic outcomes using demographics, school services, and giftedness as predictors. Some of the key findings are that twice-exceptional students show not only higher initial levels of academic performance, but they improve over time relative to the non-gifted ASD counterparts and—with the exception of Letter Word Matching—even relative to the general population. Moreover, they benefit from mental health services disproportionately. Together, the results offer a deeper understanding of the twice-exceptional autistic population, their academic performance over time, and the services that they utilize. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

In this article, we report on a scoping review of empirical literature addressing the relationship between teachers' inclusion-related knowledge, skills, and attitudes and student outcomes. Using six common electronic databases for education (ProQuest, JSTOR, SAGE Journals Online, ScienceDirect, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES), we searched for peerreviewed, English-language publications between 1 January 2008 and 1 January 2018 (a 10-year period). A total of 25 articles met the search criteria for this scoping review and were consequently subject to a more detailed examination. This more detailed examination focused upon five student variables (intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder [ASD], other mental health disorders, and giftedness) and five possible student outcomes (social well-being, functional or life skills, academic achievement, post-secondary transitions, and exceptionality-related outcomes). These 25 articles include eight systematic or scoping reviews, two that report on experimental studies, nine that report on quasi-experimental studies, and six that report on correlationaldescriptive research studies. A summary account of these 25 articles is offered, as is a list of related implications, for both practice and inquiry. Some of the most significant implications are related to the limited body of evidence related to a number of variables; these include teachers' attitudes and resultant student outcomes, giftedness, and post-secondary transitions. Additionally, these implications also offer cautionary considerations related to teachers delivering mental health-related programs and utilizing technology-related interventions for students with ASD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Anadolu-Sak Intelligence Scale (ASIS) is the first intelligence scale developed and normed in Turkey. In this study, the concurrent validity of the ASIS was investigated. A total of 98 gifted and 232 average students were administered the ASIS. Gifted students’ mean IQ (135) on the ASIS was found to be above the traditional cutoff (130 IQ). ASIS general intelligence index was the best predictor of giftedness, followed by the Fluid Reasoning Index, the Crystalized Knowledge Index and the Memory Capacity Index. Correlations between the ASIS indexes and academic achievement in math, science, language and social studies for average students were high, ranging from .50 to .83. The General Intelligence Index had the highest correlations with academic achievement in all the subjects with a mean correlation of .81 at the fourth grade and .75 at the fifth grade. Results provided strong support for the validity of the ASIS in relation to academic achievement and giftedness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

From the genetic side, giftedness in cognitive development is the result of contribution of many common genetic variants of small effect size, so called polygenicity (Spain et al., 2016). From the environmental side, educationalists have argued for the importance of the environment for sustaining early potential in children, showing that bright poor children are held back in their subsequent development (Feinstein, 2003a). Such correlational data need to be complemented by mechanistic models showing how gifted development results from the respective genetic and environmental influences. A neurocomputational model of cognitive development is presented, using artificial neural networks to simulate the development of a population of children. Variability was produced by many small differences in neurocomputational parameters each influenced by multiple artificial genes, instantiating a polygenic model, and by variations in the level of stimulation from the environment. The simulations captured several key empirical phenomena, including the non-linearity of developmental trajectories, asymmetries in the characteristics of the upper and lower tails of the population distribution, and the potential of poor environments to hold back bright children. At a computational level, ‘gifted’ networks tended to have higher capacity, higher plasticity, less noisy neural processing, a lower impact of regressive events, and a richer environment. However, individual instances presented heterogeneous contributions of these neurocomputational factors, suggesting giftedness has diverse causes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Research abounds on adolescent poverty and on gifted education, but these fields are seldom considered together. This study explores trajectories of aggressive behavior (i.e., weapon carrying) of impoverished, gifted youth. Results indicate that gifted students engage in lower levels of weapon carrying than non-gifted students. Gifted and non-gifted girls’ trajectories are parallel across age. However, weapon carrying among gifted and non-gifted boys does not differ during early and late adolescence, but it does during middle adolescence. These differences can perhaps be explained by examining impulsivity and temperament trajectories by gifted status. Impulsivity for boys and quick-temperedness for girls is lower during early and middle adolescence for gifted students than for non-gifted students, but not during later adolescence. Quick-temperedness for boys and impulsivity for girls does not differ by gifted status during early and late adolescence, but it does during middle adolescence. These findings suggest that some characteristics of giftedness are manifest during early adolescence (perhaps even before enrollment in a gifted program). However, other giftedness characteristics appear only during middle adolescence, after students have enrolled in the gifted program. Implications of these findings for how gifted education programs can impact aggression, and ways to optimally structure these programs, are explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The editorial briefs about the issues of the Journal of Psychology Learning & Teaching. The current issue of PLAT contains four research articles and three reports. In their research article, Gibbs Thomas and Thomas investigated the effects of personalized, tailored feedback given to first and second year college students with below average exam performance. Heyder, Bergold and Steinmayr introduce a test assessing secondary school teachers’ knowledge about intellectual giftedness. How important it is for teachers to have knowledge about giftedness becomes obvious in view of the finding that teachers with higher rates of misconceptions had more negative attitudes toward fostering gifted students. Merced, Stutman and Mann give insight to the typical way of teaching in the US by investigating syllabi of History and Systems Psychology courses. Mallonee, Phillips, Holloway and Riggs compared the effectiveness of two methods preparing behavioral health clinicians to administer evidence-based treatments. Gray Deering reports on an innovative teaching format using literature to teach crisis intervention. Specifically, this author employed novels and autobiographies as case studies to which psychological theories and concepts were applied. Waggoner Denton reports on introducing a reflective learning journal in an introductory statistics course. As is well-known, statistics courses are not among the favorite classes of many students, and are frequently even associated with worry and fear. Butler, Lenore and Nunez report on an innovative learning partnership between undergraduates in an educational psychology course and fifth graders at an elementary school. For learners on each side, this partnership opened a window into a different world with many opportunities to learn. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

In this article, I describe the 21 ideas underlying a 42-year search to understand giftedness. I present the ideas roughly chronologically, in the order in which they arose, and discuss how in a career as in science, progress means supplementing or even superseding one idea with the next. In terms of the 21 ideas, I start with a discussion of how I thought IQ tests could account for giftedness and end with a discussion of the ACCEL (Active Concerned Citizenship and Ethical Leadership) model. But I frame the article in terms of a paradox—that despite the fact that IQs rose 30 points during the 20th century, people often seem to be operating at an intellectual level that is not notably higher and may even be lower in some respects than in previous times. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

This article presents a new theory of talent development, evolving complexity theory (ECT), in the context of the changing theoretical directions as well as the landscape of gifted education. I argue that gifted education needs a new foundation that provides a broad psychosocial basis than what the notion of giftedness can afford. A focus on talent development rather than giftedness should be based on a theory of talent development that is truly developmental, treating the developing person as an open, dynamic, and adaptive system, changing oneself adaptively while interacting with environmental opportunities and challenges. To introduce ECT, I first delineate the meaning and significance of four dimensions or “parameters” of talent development undergirding this new theory: domain, person, development, and culture. I then describe how ECT explicates the developmental processes and transitions as the result of human adaptations to environmental opportunities and challenges. More specifically, ECT uses the constructs of characteristic and maximal adaptation to elucidate how domain, person, development, and culture jointly shape a particular line of talent development, and how cognitive, affective, and social processes interact to push and sustain a critical transition from characteristic adaptation to maximal adaptation, eventually leading to high-caliber performance and creative productivity. I finally discuss the theoretical contributions and practical utilities of ECT for future research and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Over the past few decades, systemic thinking has gained in popularity in developmental and learning sciences. The trend has, however, shown up in gifted education research only occasionally. The aim of this article is to introduce systemic thinking to the field of giftedness and explore possibilities for its application. In the first part, a definition of a system is provided and basic concepts of systemic thinking are introduced. In the second part, a full-fledged systemic model is introduced, the actiotope model of giftedness. In the third part, implications for gifted education are elaborated. In the discussion, the authors explain (a) how systemic thinking can make a valuable contribution to gifted education, (b) why systemic thinking will complement rather than replace current approaches to gifted education, and (c) the necessity of combining systemic thinking with other empirically testable theories. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration (TPD) is taken as an important tool to understand the emotional development of gifted children. It is a theory of personality development which emphasizes the role of emotions in the human developmental potential. The purpose of this study is to present the central concepts of TPD and their contributions to the field of giftedness. It is emphasized the concept of overexcitabilities, which, besides being regarded as an indicator of giftedness, represents a key construct to the development of measures and to the promotion of interventions which focus is the personality and emotional characteristics of gifted children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract) Resumen en idioma originalA Teoria da Desintegração Positiva (TDP), proposta por Dabrowski, constitui importante ferramenta para a compreensão do desenvolvimento emocional de superdotados. Trata-se de uma teoria do desenvolvimento da personalidade que enfatiza o papel desempenhado pelas emoções no potencial de desenvolvimento humano. O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar conceitos centrais da TDP e suas contribuições para a área da superdotação. É enfatizado o conceito de sobre-excitabilidade, que, além de ser considerado um indicador de superdotação, representa um construto chave para o desenvolvimento de medidas e para promoção de intervenções que tenham como foco as características de personalidade e emocionais dos superdotados. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The interplay between creativity and intelligence has been extensively documented for decades. However, there is currently no consensus on how these constructs are related. The threshold hypothesis states that intelligence fosters creativity only below a 120 cut-off IQ. To clarify these issues, the relationships between intelligence and creativity were studied, using respectively WISC-IV and EPoC (Evaluation of Potential Creativity), in 338 children including 118 intellectually gifted children (IQ ≥ 130) and 220 non-gifted children (IQ < 130). Weak correlations were found between intelligence and creativity. However, high verbal ability children (Verbal Comprehension Index ≥ 130) showed significantly higher scores on verbal tasks of EPoC. Additionally, the threshold effect was only found for correlations between verbal integrative thinking and perceptual reasoning or processing speed. Thus, the findings indicate that the threshold effect depends on the type of process involved in the expression of creativity (divergent or integrative thinking), the domain of creativity (verbal or graphic), and the factors of intelligence considered. Taken together, these results suggest that giftedness should be conceptualized by specifying the cognitive domain of high ability, rather than focusing on a general conception of intelligence, and by distinguishing intellectual and creative giftedness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between identified gifted adolescents and adolescents not identified as gifted in terms of social acceptance and self-concept (peer relations, academic, and general). In addition, we aimed to investigate the differences between two groups of students identified according to different identification criteria (i.e. intelligence test and teacher assessment), and whether the relationship between students’ giftedness and the indicators of their social adjustment was moderated by gender. A total of 404 Slovenian elementary school students (191 males; 47%, 213 females; 53%) participated in the study; among them 85 (21%) were identified as gifted. No significant differences were found between gifted and non-gifted students in positive sociometric nominations and social preference; gifted students received less negative nominations and had lower social impact, but were assessed as more socially accepted by their teachers. Gifted students reported higher academic and general but not peer relations self-concept. No differences in social acceptance and self-concept were found between the groups of gifted students identified with regard to different identification criteria. In addition, we found significant interaction effects between gender and giftedness for peer relations self-concept. The results indicate the importance of investigating individual differences among gifted students in future studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Mathematics achievement in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been understudied. However, the ability to solve applied math problems is associated with academic achievement, everyday problem‐solving abilities, and vocational outcomes. The paucity of research on math achievement in ASD may be partly explained by the widely‐held belief that most individuals with ASD are mathematically gifted, despite emerging evidence to the contrary. The purpose of the study was twofold: to assess the relative proportions of youth with ASD who demonstrate giftedness versus disability on applied math problems, and to examine which cognitive (i.e., perceptual reasoning, verbal ability, working memory) and clinical (i.e., test anxiety) characteristics best predict achievement on applied math problems in ASD relative to typically developing peers. Twenty‐seven high‐functioning adolescents with ASD and 27 age‐ and Full Scale IQ‐matched typically developing controls were assessed on standardized measures of math problem solving, perceptual reasoning, verbal ability, and test anxiety. Results indicated that 22% of the ASD sample evidenced a mathematics learning disability, while only 4% exhibited mathematical giftedness. The parsimonious linear regression model revealed that the strongest predictor of math problem solving was perceptual reasoning, followed by verbal ability and test anxiety, then diagnosis of ASD. These results inform our theories of math ability in ASD and highlight possible targets of intervention for students with ASD struggling with mathematics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Identity formation is particularly challenging for stigmatized minorities. The minority stress model (MSM) posits that both negative stereotypes and their internalization represent stressors. There is evidence that this applies to the gifted, too. However, their status is ambiguous, given that both negative and positive stereotypes exist. Furthermore, individual wellbeing also hinges on one’s identity stage, as outlined in the Cass identity model (CIM). The CIM was applied to gifted identity development in a survey of 742 high-IQ society members (16–79 years). Identity stages could be reliably and validly assessed with a new measure and were related to adjustment and coping as expected. Latent class analysis revealed four groups, which resembled the CIM, but with a few notable exceptions. Ordinal-logistic regression showed that years since first suspicion and since diagnosis of giftedness predicted group membership. In sum, identity development in the gifted examined here shows similarities with the CIM stages (which are differentially related to wellbeing and feelings toward one’s own giftedness) but has its own specific characteristics, too. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

In Germany, parents can request counseling and assessment of school-related learning and behavioral issues from either independent counseling centers or school-based ones. Focusing on giftedness consultations at independent counseling centers, the goal of this study is to provide a detailed description of the reasons for and the issues discussed during the consultation process. Specifically, the frequency and relationships among each other are examined as well as the relationships with the client characteristics gender, age, and ability. A questionnaire, completed by the counseling professionals, was used to assess the reasons that were given for seeking consultation and the topics that were addressed during the counseling process at 14 psychodiagnostic counseling centers. Overall, data from 156 children and adolescents (25% female) were included in the analyses. Frequent reasons for and topics of the consultations were giftedness assessment, advocacy of gifted education, and motivation. Correlation analyses identified two separate groups of themes: “social and behavioral problems” and “learning disorders and achievement-related problems.” Whereas the motives for seeking consultation and the counseling issues were typically the same for both boys and girls, some of these varied greatly depending on age, type of school, and aptitude of the children. These results are discussed with respect to the current state of research as well as their implications for counseling practice and the qualifications of the professional counseling personnel. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The Actiotope Model of Giftedness (AMG) focuses on person–environment interactions to define giftedness. The development of the Questionnaire of Educational and Learning Capital (QELC) was based on the AMG. The first aim of this study was to present the reliability and validity of a Turkish version of the QELC for 10th grade students. The second aim of this study was the administration of the QELC in gifted and non-gifted students and the determination of mean QELC-scale differences between both groups. Two different samples were included in the study. In the first sample, 421 10th grade students took the QELC (147 boys, 274 girls). The second sample consisted of 38 gifted students and 38 non-gifted students, the latter randomly selected from the first sample. In addition to the QELC, confidence in one’s competence, failure coping, stability and modifiability beliefs regarding one’s action repertoire were assessed and used to validate the QELC. School grades were collected, too. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis supported the two-factor structure of the QELC (i.e., educational capital and learning capital). The results supported the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of QELC. Gifted students had lower scores in educational as well as learning capital than non-gifted students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Previous studies on intelligence have demonstrated that higher abilities are associated with lower brain activation, indicating a higher neural efficiency. In other words, more able individuals use fewer brain resources. However, it is unclear whether the neural efficiency phenomenon also appears for mathematical performance, which is influenced by both domain-general giftedness and domain-specific competencies. Therefore, this study examined the effects of general giftedness (G) and excellence in mathematics (EM) on performance and brain activation while solving learning-based mathematical tasks that required translation from graphical to symbolic representations of functions. Overall, 118 high school students (aged 16–18) participated in the present study and were divided according to G and EM using a 2 × 2 study design. Participants worked on a function task requiring translation between symbolic and graphical representations of functions. Analyses of the behavioral data revealed positive effects of both G and EM on the accuracy of solutions and an interaction effect of both factors on reaction times, reflecting a positive effect of EM only among the gifted individuals. EEG analyses focused on oscillatory activity in the theta and alpha frequency bands and showed a significant effect of EM in the upper alpha band (10–12 Hz) event-related desynchronization (ERD) for both graphical and symbolic representations. Specifically, higher (compared to lower) EM was associated with a larger alpha ERD, indicating a higher level of brain activity. This stands in contrast with the neural efficiency phenomenon. These findings suggest that the neural efficiency phenomenon cannot be generalized to higher-order mathematical demands in high-performing individuals. Several explanations for this limitation are offered. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Teachers play important roles in identifying and promoting gifted students. An open question is: Which student characteristics do teachers use to evaluate whether a student is gifted or not? We used data from a representative sample of Dutch primary school teachers ( N = 1,304) who were asked whether or not they thought the students ( N = 26,720) in their class were gifted. We investigated students’ cognitive and noncognitive attributes as well as demographic factors that might be relevant for this judgment. In sum, the findings revealed that teachers considered students to be gifted when, in comparison with their peers, students were superior in cognitive domains, especially with respect to academic achievement, scored higher on openness to experience and lower on agreeableness, were male, were younger, and came from families with higher parental education. These findings are discussed in relation to research on teacher nominations, teachers’ representations of giftedness and gifted students, and theoretical conceptions of giftedness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

It is common practice in the educational system to foster high mathematical abilities in schools as well as in specific promotional programs. Still, little is known about the construct of mathematical giftedness itself. In line with intellectual investment theories, our study investigates the relationship between fluid intelligence (figural and numerical), openness, and the need for cognition with mathematical abilities. The current study is based on a sample (N = 115) of seventh graders participating in the application process for a promotion program. The results of our regression analyses show a positive link between fluid intelligence and mathematical abilities. However, neither the association with openness nor the need for cognition reached significance, emphasizing the importance of cognitive abilities for mathematical giftedness. Limitations and further directions are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)