The concept of cognitive style is discussed as a means of shedding light on the nature of giftedness and explaining differences in performance among individuals equally high in measured intellectual ability. Particular attention is given to the cognitive-style theory derived from ego psychology that focuses on what is known as the “cognitive control,” a cognitive structure that mediates the expression of drives in light of conditions that obtain in the external world. A study is described in which six cognitive controls were isolated through factor analysis in a sample of 59 intermediate-grade gifted children. Three cognitive styles, each representing a cluster of cognitive controls, were defined by cluster analysis. The cognitive style labeled “strict percept-strict concept” was associated with greater facility in divergent thinking on two of three dependent variables. The findings are interpreted as lending support to attempts to explain giftedness through the use of qualitative or style constructs.
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