Content area
Full Text
This study was designed to investigate the differences in cognitive modifiability, emotional-motivational factors, cognitive behavioral characteristics during dynamic assessment (DA), and openness to mediation and level of mediation among gifted versus nongifted children. One hundred forty-five 3rd-grade children in 4 groups (gifted [G], = 5 41; outstanding-high [OH], n = 31; outstanding-low [OL], n = 35; and typical [T], = 5 38) were given a battery of emotional-motivational tests and two DA measures: analogies subtest from the Cognitive Modifiability Battery and Rey's (1956) Complex Figure test. Several behavioral categories were rated during DA. The G and OH groups were found to be similar on variables of cognitive modifiability and behavioral characteristics, and both were higher than the OL and T groups. The OH group was consistently higher than the G group on emotional-motivational factors. Discriminant function analysis showed that all variables significantly differentiated the four groups. The OH group was similar to the G group on cognitive modifiability but higher on emotional-motivational and cognitive behavioral characteristics. The data raised questions about the conventional procedures of selection of gifted children for enrichment programs.
Keyterms: gifted children; cognitive modifiability; emotional-motivational factors; dynamic assessment; mediation
The main objective of this study was to investigate the differences in cognitive modifiability, emotional-motivational factors, and changes in behavioral characteristics during dynamic assessment (DA) between gifted versus nongifted children. The emotional-motivational factors and the cognitive behavioral characteristics (e.g., use of cognitive strategies, task-intrinsic motivation, concentration level) are considered to have an impact on actualizing cognitive modifiability and therefore are important for understanding their contribution in different groups of children, especially gifted children. The literature is replete with evidence showing the importance of emotional-motivational factors in enhancing cognitive functioning of gifted children (e.g., Zeidner, Shani-Zinovich, Matthews, & Roberts, 2005); however, no study is known to show their effects on cognitive modifiability. Terman and Oden (1947) have already indicated in their classic study that emotional-motivational characteristics such as perseverance, self-confidence, and integration toward goals were more predictive than IQ in determining whether gifted individuals actualized their abilities in professional life. More recently, Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, and Kelly (2007) showed across six studies that individual differences in perseverance accounted for significant incremental variance in the success outcomes, over and beyond that explained by...