Locus of Control as an Important Factor in Teacher's Rating of Highly Able Children *

Abstract

In our study on the identification of giftedness the role of intellectual and non-intellectual factors and their relation to each other are being investigated in the development of giftedness.

We think that non-intellectual factors (positive personality traits, motivation, interest, etc.) do not predict giftedness in themselves but they are absolutely necessary in the actualisation of abilities. We presume that in some cases (“late-bloomers”, unequal development of intellectual, emotional and social factors) it is some personality characteristic that might play a decisive role in helping to foster the intellectual development. In this way the fact that the teacher notices some positive personality traits (strong internal control, responsibility, wide range of interests, strength of will etc.) and evaluates the child positively even if s/he does not really have good achievement, yet, can enhance the chance for later development.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Crandall

V.C.

, (1973), Differences in parental antecedents of internal-external control in children and in young adulthood. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association Convention, Montreal.

Crandall

V.C.

Katkovsky

Crandall

V.J.

, 1965, Children's beliefs in their control of reinforcements in intellectual academic achievement behaviors. Child Development, 36, 91–109.

Cromwell

R.L.

, (1963), A social learning approach to mental retardation. In.: Ellis

H.R.

(ed.), Handbook of mental deficiency. New York, McGraw-Hill, 41–91.

Davis

G.A.

Rimm

S.B.

, (1985), Education of the Gifted and Talented, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Dweck

C.S.

, (1975), The role of expectations and attributions on the alleviation of learned helplessness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 674–685.

Feldhusen

J.F.

, (ed.), (1985), Toward Excellence in Gifted Education, Love Publishing Company, Denver, London.

Findley

M.J.

Cooper

H.M.

, (1983), Locus of control and academic achievement, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 419–427.

Heider

, (1958), The psychology of interpersonal relations, Wiley, New York.

Hoppe

, (1930), Erfolg and Mißerfolg, Psychologische Forschung, 14, 1–62.

10.

Kanoy

R.C.

Johnson

B.W.

Kanoy

K.W.

, (1980), Locus of control and self-concept in achieving and underachieving bright elementary students, Psychology in the Schools, 17, 395–399.

11.

Lefcourt

H. M.

, (1980), Locus of Control and Coping with Life's Events. In.: Staub

(ed.), Personality, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

12.

Lewin

, (1935), A dynamic theory of personality, McGraw-Hill, New York.

13.

Milgram

R.A.

Milgram

H.A.

, (1976), Personality characteristics of gifted Israeli children, Journal of Psychology, 129, 185–194.

14.

Mönks

F.J.

van Boxtel

H.W.

, (1985). Gifted adolescents: a developmental perspective, In.: Freeman

(ed.), The Psychology of Gifted Children, John Wiley and Sons, London.

15.

Attila

Oláh

(1982), Kérdölves módszerek a külsö-belsö kontroll attitüdvizsgálatára, Pszichológiai Tanácsadás a Pályaválasztásban, Módszertani füzetek, OPI, Budapest.

16.

Renzulli

J.S.

(1977), The enrichment triad model: A guide for developing defensible programs for the gifted and talented, Creative Learning Press, Mansfield.

17.

Renzulli

J.S.

(1978), What makes giftedness? Reexamining a definition, Phi Delta Kappan, 180–184.

18.

Rotter

J.B.

(1966), Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement, Psychol. Monographs.

19.

Rotter

J.B.

Chance

J.E.

Phares

E.J.

(1972), Applications of a social learning theory of personality, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.

20.

Tannenbaum

A.J.

(1983), Gifted Children, Psychological and Educational Perspectives, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York.

21.

Terman

L.M.

Oden

M.H.

(1925), Genetic studies of genius: Mental and physical traits of a thousand gifted children, Stanford University Press, Stanford.

22.

Terman

L.M.

Oden

M.H.

(1947), Genetic studies of genius: The gifted child grows up, Stanford University Press, Stanford.

23.

Terman

L.M.

Oden

M.H.

(1959), Genetic studies of genius: The gifted at mid-life, Stanford University Press, Stanford.

24.

Urban

Jellen

, Teacher rating list (personal note).

25.

Weiner

Frieze

I.H.

Kukla

Reed

Rest

Rosenbaum

R.M.

(1971), Perceiving the causes of success and failure, General Learning Press, Morristown, New Jersey.

26.

Weiner

Heckhausen

Meyer

W.U.

Cook

R.E.

(1972), Causal ascriptions and achievement motivation, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 21, 239–248.