Children's Conception of Giftedness — An Implicit Theory

Abstract

Subjective views are gaining respect as we are increasingly becoming objective in evaluating our subjective views (Runco, 1990). One of the most informative approaches for the study of the subjective views involves ‘implicit theories’. The work by Sternberg and his associates (1982) is particularly convincing because it demonstrates that implicit theories influence actual behavior. Implicit theories are defined as an individual's basic assumption about him/herself and the rest of the world. These theories thus help create a meaning system by providing a framework to guide our goals (Dweck, 1995). These are theories that exist in the minds of individuals and need to be discussed rather than invented because they already exist in some form in people's heads (Sternberg, 1998, pp608). Thus these theories arise from the individual's personal experiences and are mainly mediated by the individual's socio-cultural environment (Runco, 1990). A child's implicit theory is supposed to consist of loose generalizations and explanations that describe the relationships among concepts within a domain of knowledge. While implicit theories are not easy for a child to articulate, they guide the child's thoughts, deductions and behaviors (Guenther, 1998). Research on implicit theories is not to evaluate the correctness of children's beliefs but to understand their construction of reality. Research studies done in this area with children have produced significant results. Gross's (2001) study is particularly worth mentioning. This study investigated issues pertaining to giftedness in a group of children from year 3 through 7. The study found out that children's conception of giftedness is developmental and strongly influenced by age.