Abstract
The thinking processes and the cognitive structures of the gifted have been tangentially examined by various theorists of varying perspectives. Piagetians have offered one posture, i.e., formal operations as defined by hypothesis testing; information processing theorists, another. The Triarchic theory of Sternberg examines selective encoding, selective combination and selective comparison. These factors lead to insight and/or the ability to deal with novelty, while past factor analytic theorists have examined verbal comprehension, perceptual organization and freedom from distractibility. Gardner's recent work has cited no less than six separate forms of intelligence.
This paper examines these competing perspectives and attempts to provide a meta-analysis from which to view the cognitive structures of the gifted.
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