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With this issue of High Ability Studies, the journal continues its tradition of having distinguished colleagues comment on target articles. High Ability Studies received 49 peer commentaries from 17 nations in response to Ziegler’s and Phillipson’s article. A majority of these viewed the idea of a paradigm shift wholly or largely positively. This enthusiastic and positive reaction bespeaks the promising and innovative nature of Ziegler’s and Phillipson’s position. At the same time, some colleagues expressed reservations about such a paradigm shift. This issue not only presents a new theoretical approach to the field of gifted education. It also inaugurates a number of organizational changes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Comments on an article by Albert Zieglera & Shane N. Phillipson (see record 2012-16824-002). Ziegler and Phillipson draw upon the Actiotope Model of Giftedness (AMG) to give an overview of a systemic approach to gifted education. They argue the value of such a systemic approach for understanding the development of exceptionality. We certainly agree that the achievement of excellent performance is not only the result of individual abilities and efforts but also the collective support from interactive components within the system. In our field, the AMG has provided us with a conceptual framework that helps us interpret our data on connectedness and life skills development among children in Hong Kong. Ziegler and Phillipson also point out weaknesses in key models and strategies established so far in gifted education. They certainly challenge the fundamentals of the current mode of nurturing giftedness. They hold that the development of exceptional achievement requires attention to students’ needs at an individual level, rather than group or class level. As suggested by Ziegler and Phillipson, one of the few strategies implemented at the moment that can cater to students’ individual needs is mentorship found that gifted students regard interaction with experienced people from their field of interest as the most valued and helpful means for their development. Similarly, our study of high ability adolescents in Hong Kong has shown that many students benefit from peer mentoring and counseling in school (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

The paper argues that educators of the gifted have overlooked important evidence on the power of special environments because of our habit of considering cognitive outcomes and an outsider view of evidence as the standard for judging the benefits of special environments. The author proposes that social context be used as a construct to help rethink how to study the benefits of special environments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

A study of the effects of schooling on the social cognition of gifted adolescents is reported. A student attitude questionnaire (SAQ) exploring the cognitive behavioral strategies utilized to manage the stigma of giftedness was developed after conducting phenomenological interviews of fifteen gifted adolescents attending the Tennessee Governor’s Schools (Coleman & Cross, 1988). The questionnaire asked subjects to respond to six scenarios described as potentially stigmatizing events during the normal school day. Five common strategies noted during the interviews were provided as options in each of the scenarios. The data reported herein are based on the responses of 1,465 students over a two-year period. The patterns of responses suggested that gifted adolescents utilize the five strategies to differing degrees across situations. Situations most closely associated with test performance seemed to elicit the greatest variation in coping strategies, while those primarily reflecting social situations showed a consistently narrow range of strategies. The “placate” coping strategy was the most frequently used across the school-based scenarios. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Background: According to empirical literature, low self-esteem is highly correlated to behavioural and emotional problems in gifted children and adolescents. Since self-esteem is an indicator of social and emotional adjustment, it would be interesting to better understand the meaning of this construct, as it is evaluated explicitly with the use of self-report questionnaires. In order to explore the psychological processes underlying the explicit self-esteem, we studied the relation of a self-report questionnaire and an indirect measure of self and interpersonal perception using the Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS). Method: The participants were 93 children, aged between 9 and 15 years old, with an IQ≥130. They were attending regular classes (no curriculum difference). Self-esteem was evaluated using the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI). We used the Rorschach CS measures of self and interpersonal perception. Results: The results showed no significant correlation between self-esteem and high IQ. A negative correlation between self-esteem evaluated on the SEI and the Rorschach Vista responses was found, which reflected self-critical introspection and painful self-appraisal. Then a positive correlation was observed between self-esteem and reflection answers on the Rorschach (Fr+rF>0), which are related to narcissistic-like features of personality. We also found a positive correlation between self-esteem and the Rorschach egocentricity index (EGO), which provides an estimate of self-concern. Finally, the strongest correlation was found between self-esteem and the dominance of good over poor human representations (GHR>PHR), which reveals effective interpersonal behaviour. Discussion: The psychological processes which seem to be related to low self-esteem in gifted children and adolescents are maladaptive interpersonal behaviours, painful experience of introspection focusing on perceived negative aspects of the self, absence of narcissistic-like features of the personality and low self-concern. These findings may suggest that intervention planning with gifted children and adolescents with low self-esteem should emphasize the accurate interpretation of interpersonal data, develop social skills and restructure negative self-thoughts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Multidimensional models of giftedness specify individual and environmental moderators or catalysts that help transform potential into achievement. However, these models do not state whether the importance of the ‘individual boxes’ and the ‘environmental boxes’ changes during this process. The present study examines whether, during the early stages of talent development, the ‘environmental boxes’ play a more important role than the ‘individual boxes.’ To answer this question, we analyzed individual moderators and environmental moderators of achievement for fourth-grade primary-school students (N = 976). A cluster analysis that included intelligence, achievement, and two individual moderators (motivation and learning behavior) revealed three groups of students, two of which are of particular interest, as they both displayed high intelligence and achievement but differed in their motivation and learning behavior. Questionnaire data on family environment (filled out by parents, N = 682) and school environment (filled out by teachers, N = 47) supported the assumption that among young students an inauspicious set of individual moderators, in this case maladaptive motivation and learning behavior, can be compensated by a sufficiently propitious set of environmental moderators, in this case parents’ and teachers’ learning support, cultural capital within the family, and teachers’ commitment to support their students’ learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The present study reflects upon the identification process for gifted or highly able children through a systematic study of the literature, with the aim of providing them with an adequate and stimulating education beginning at an early age. The identification process requires an adequate diagnostic process of giftedness, and creativity is an important determining factor. Creativity, however, is a very complex construct due to differences in definition in the psychology field. This study aims to make a valuable contribution by discussing how to measure creativity in gifted or highly able children, as well as proving recommendations in the diagnostic process. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Super-gifted individuals are considered to be very rare. This paper addresses one part of a larger body of research aimed at characterization of super-giftedness in mathematics. The research population consists of three groups of students who excel in mathematics: Super-gifted in mathematics (S-MG), generally gifted students who excel in school mathematics (G-EM) and students who excel in school mathematics but are not identified as generally gifted (NG-EM). Fifty-six male students who comprised these groups performed a battery of cognitive tests: memory, speed of information processing, visual perception, and attention. We found that the between-group differences are task depended and that S-MG students can be characterized by superior performance on Working Memory test (WM – span, WM – total score) and the accuracy of Pattern-recognition, which was an indicator of visual perception. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Many gifted education experts have found that Black, Hispanic, and Native American students are less likely to be identified for gifted programs than Asian American and White students. A study was conducted to ascertain the degree of underrepresentation of these groups in gifted programs in Utah. Using state-collected data from 14,781 students in six representative school districts in Utah, it was found through multiple logistic regression analysis that there was no statistically significant difference in the likelihoods that Black, Hispanic, or Native American students and White students would be identified as gifted; Asian American and Pacific Islander students were more likely to be identified as gifted than White students. After controlling for academic achievement and SES, it was found that all diverse demographic groups of students were more likely to be identified as gifted than White students, although the differences did not reach statistical significance for multiracial or Native American students. Further research into the nature and causes of disproportionate representation in gifted programs is suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Despite their social deficits and behavioral abnormalities, individuals with autism may frequently display unexpected and unusual areas of interest and giftedness in music. In the present work, we discuss the natural predisposition to music shown in autism using a neurophysiological framework, exploring the possible correlations between the musical experience and the connectivity alterations of the autistic brain. After a brief description of the complex cerebral organization in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the article focuses on the microcircuit alterations, in particular on the excess synaptic excitation and minicolumnopathy, which are strongly linked to the peculiar attention in detecting, processing, and focusing on detail, widely described by the weak central coherence theory. Superior pitch discrimination, labeling, and memory, demonstrated in ASD, even seem to derive from these complex mental processes. The connectivity alterations seem to be also present in the cerebellum, where they damage the timekeeper function and produce severe dysfunctions in rhythmicity and synchronization of thoughts and emotions. We propose that music might restore the natural rhythmicity in the cerebellum of patients with ASD and that this could explain the natural predisposition to music seen in this condition. Finally, we focus on the usefulness of music for rehabilitative purposes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

This article presents an interview with Roland S. Persson, Professor of Educational Psychology and Associate Professor of General Psychology at Jönköping University in Sweden. The interview focuses widely on giftedness and talent but with an emphasis on social context and the gifted individual in society. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Severe socioeconomic inequality strongly suppresses and distorts the discovery of aspirations and the concomitant development of talents among the gifted. More comprehensive understanding of this suppression and distortion is available through a wide-ranging interdisciplinary search for research findings and theories that illuminate economic, ideological-political, historical, philosophical, and psychological contextual influences on bright young people. This theoretical synthesis draws from multiple disciplines to reveal some of these contextual influences and then provides some recommendations for ways in which educators and policymakers might attempt to counteract some of the most pernicious effects of growing inequality on the gifted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

This article argues that research and educational practices relating to gifted students can highly benefit by linking up more closely with the mainstream of research on learning and instruction. The CLIA-model for the design of powerful learning environments that consists of four interconnected components (Competence, Learning, Intervention, and Assessment) is thereby used as a framework. The kind of learning processes needed to acquire adaptive competence are well in tune with features of exceptional performance, namely active, constructive, self-regulated and goal-oriented learning. Therefore gifted students should be taught in powerful learning environments that induce in them learning processes that embody those characteristics. Interventions focused on gifted students such as acceleration, grouping and differentiated instruction can benefit from taking into account the components and characteristics of the CLIA-model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

In the 29 years since the last special issue in the Journal of Counseling & Development focusing on gifted individuals, there has been considerable research regarding giftedness. However, meeting the counseling needs of gifted individuals has not been on the national agenda in counselor preparation. This article outlines the status of counseling the gifted from the standpoint of both the counseling and the gifted education professions and includes recommendations for future directions for both fields. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

This editorial discusses the identification of effective learning environments. Leading models of expertise development and giftedness have placed environmental factors as fundamentally important for understanding attainment. This special issue of Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling highlights the diversity of approaches used by researchers who have examined optimal environments for learning and achievement and the various influences of different forms of educational and learning capital. It is hoped that the papers featured in this special issue will enhance the knowledge of its readers in the field of educational and learning capital. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Asynchrony is a theoretical construct that views the intellectually gifted child as inherently vulnerable because of disparities arising from the mismatch between his or her chronological age and mental age. Such disparities, for example, between wanting to belong but being intellectually out of step with peers, are said to give rise to a psychological experience of discomfort or tension and to impact upon developing self-concept. Though the theory has been little subjected to empirical research, it does bear strong similarities to the well-established, but broader-based, psychological theory of cognitive dissonance. This article develops a model of asynchrony as a particular case of cognitive dissonance. As such, it may assist understanding of some children's experiences of giftedness, though more research is needed to examine this theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

This issue contains a range of interesting articles on topics that are highly relevant for the work of psychologists, guidance and counseling professionals. Many of the articles address aspects of social-emotional functioning and behavior, several are related to social networking and online communication, and one focuses on career guidance. The various authors have highlighted the implications of their research for professional practice, especially with respect to prevention and intervention. Spanning children, adolescents and young adults, and covering topics as diverse as ADHD, giftedness, bereavement, career planning, bullying, virtual connectedness, and online counseling, this is an issue with something for everyone. Those of you who will be enjoying summer vacations over the next few months will undoubtedly find some stimulating articles to intersperse with your usual holiday reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Recent functional neuroimaging studies have shown differences in brain activation between mathematically gifted adolescents and controls. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between mathematical giftedness, intelligent quotient (IQ), and the microstructure of white matter tracts in a sample composed of math-gifted adolescents and aged-matched controls. Math-gifted subjects were selected through a national program based on detecting enhanced visuospatial abilities and creative thinking. We used diffusion tensor imaging to assess white matter microstructure in neuroanatomical connectivity. The processing included voxel-wise and region of interest-based analyses of the fractional anisotropy (FA), a parameter which is purportedly related to white matter microstructure. In a whole-sample analysis, IQ showed a significant positive correlation with FA, mainly in the corpus callosum, supporting the idea that efficient information transfer between hemispheres is crucial for higher intellectual capabilities. In addition, math-gifted adolescents showed increased FA (adjusted for IQ) in white matter tracts connecting frontal lobes with basal ganglia and parietal regions. The enhanced anatomical connectivity observed in the forceps minor and splenium may underlie the greater fluid reasoning, visuospatial working memory, and creative capabilities of these children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

This contribution presents the design of a theoretically grounded assessment Heuristic concerning students with (suspicion of) the coexistence of Intellectual Giftedness and an Autism Spectrum Disorder (IG + ASD). This Heuristic focuses at various cognitive and psycho-social Strengths and Weaknesses (S&Ws) and is called the S&W Heuristic. It deals with the discrepancy between the lack of a theoretically grounded coherent view on assessment and intervention issues concerning students with (suspicion of) IG + ASD and the concomitant problem of biased diagnoses in psycho-educational practice. It aims at a systematic connection between assessment and intervention-indications, by way of systematic dimensional needs-based assessment. One of its merits is that the assessment departs from IG + ASD characteristics, instead of IG-characteristics apart from ASD-symptoms, so that camouflage and underachievement might be detected more easily. The S&W Heuristic is explorative in nature and serves as a point of departure in theory-development and psycho-educational praxis concerning IG+ASD and may be Twice-Exceptionalities in general. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The paper explores the question of how gifted and talented adolescents experience being gifted in high school. Fifteen subjects were interviewed twice while attending a special summer program in order to answer this general question. The data were analyzed and interpreted using a set of research questions which postulated that the subjects would voice feelings of difference and would make statements indicating recognition that being gifted interfered with full social acceptance. The results support the notion that many, but not all, gifted and talented adolescents experience giftedness as a social handicap. The data also suggested that some students manage information about themselves to minimize their visibility as gifted students to others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)