A study of diversity in high-level competence was conducted with 122 students identified as academically gifted, in Grades 6, 7, and 8. Data collection involved psychological self-report measures, as well as nine high-ceiling assessments in three domains of functioning. The results of data analyses were inconsistent with a linear single-scale model of intelligence (e.g., intelligence quotient), but supported the efficacy of a three factor solution: Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical and Social. Further, the data indicated that specialization and generalization develop in tension with each other, yielding coherent patterns of competence and personality, consistent with a model that views competence as arising from developmental histories that may be captured as habits of mind. Recommendations were made pertaining to education, most particularly taking diversity in patterns of high-level development into account, and considering the Social domain an important domain of intellectual growth at early adolescence.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alvi, S. A.
, & Khan, S. B. (1983). An investigation into the construct validity of Crites' career maturity model. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 22, 174-181.
2.
Arlin, P. K.
(1982). A multi-trait multi-method validity study of a test of formal reasoning. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 43, 103-109.
3.
Arlin, P. K.
(1984). Arlin test of formal reasoning. East Aurora, NY: Slosson Educational Publications.
4.
Astington, J. W.
, & Olson, D. R. (1990). Metacognitive and metalinguistic language: Learning to talk about thoughtApplied Psychology, 39 (1), 77-87.
5.
Cauce, A. M.
(1987). School and peer competence in early adolescence: A test of domain-specific self-perceived competence. Developmental Psychology, 23, 287-291.
6.
Ceci, S. J.
(1990). On intelligence... more or less. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
7.
Chodzinski, R. T.
, & Randhawa, B. S. (1983). Validity of Career Maturity Inventory. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 43, 1163-1173.
8.
Cohn, S. J.
(1988). Assessing the gifted child and adolescent. In C. J. Kestenbaum & D. T. Williams (Eds.), Handbook of clinical assessment of children and adolescents (pp. 355-376). New York: New York University Press.
9.
Crites, J. O.
(1978). CMI administration and use manual (2nd ed.). Monterey, CA: CTB/McGraw-Hill.
10.
Dunbar, R.
(1992.) Why gossip is good for you. New Scientist, 136, 28-31.
11.
Feffer, M. H.
(1959). The cognitive implications of role taking behavior. Journal of Personality, 27, 152-168.
12.
Feffer, M. H.
, & Gourevitch, V. (1960). Cognitive aspects of role-taking in children. Journal of Personality, 28, 383-396.
13.
Feldman, D. H.
(with Goldsmith, L. T.). (1986). Nature's gambit: Child prodigies and the development of human potential. New York: Basic Books.
14.
Ford, M. E.
(1982). Social cognition and social competence in adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 18, 323-340.
15.
Ford, M. E.
, & Tisak, M. S. (1983). A further search for social intelligence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75 (2), 196-206.
16.
Fox, L. H.
(1981). Identification of the academically gifted. American Psychologist, 36, 1103-1111.
17.
Gardner, H.
(1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
18.
Gardner, H.
(1991). The unschooled mind: How children think and how schools should teach. New York: Basic Books.
19.
Glass, G. V.
, & Hopkins, K. D. (1984). Statistical methods in education and psychology (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
20.
Gorsuch, R. L.
(1983). Factor analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
21.
Gould, S. J.
(1981). The mismeasure of man. New York: Norton.
22.
Green, B. F.
(1992). Exposé or smear? The Burt affair. Psychological Science, 3, 328-331.
23.
Harter, S.
(1982). The perceived competence scale for children. Child Development, 53, 87-97.
24.
Harter, S.
(1985). Manual for the Self-Perception Profile for Children. Denver, CO: University of Denver.
25.
Hartup, W. W.
(1978). Peer relations and the growth of social competence. In M. W. Kent & J. E. Rolf (Eds.), The primary prevention of psychopathology: Vol 3. Promoting social competence and coping in children (pp. 150-170). Hanover, PA: University Press of New England.
26.
Howe, M.J.A.
(1990). The origins of exceptional abilities. Oxford, England: Basil Blackwell.
27.
Iantorno, M. L (1989). Learning disabled students' social status and role-taking ability in a private school setting. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Toronto.
28.
Kaiser, H. F.
(1960). The application of electronic computers to factor analysis. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20, 141-151.
29.
Keating, D. P.
(1975). Testing those in the top percentiles. Exceptional Children, 41, 435-436.
30.
Keating, D. P.
(Ed.). (1976). Intellectual development: Research and development. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
31.
Keating, D. P.
(1978). A search for social intelligence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 70, 218-223.
32.
Keating, D. P.
(1980). Thinking processes in adolescence. In J. Adelson (Ed.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 211-246). New York: Wiley.
33.
Keating, D. P.
(1990a). Adolescent thinking. In S. S. Feldman & G. R. Elliott (Eds.), At the threshold: The developing adolescent (pp. 54-89). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
34.
Keating, D. P.
(1990b). Charting pathways to the development of expertise. Educational Psychologist, 25, 243-267.
35.
Keating, D. P.
(1990c). Developmental processes in the soialization of cognitive structure. In L. Krappmann (Ed.), Proceedings of a symposium in honour of Wolfgang Edelstein. West Berlin: Max Planck Institut.
36.
Keating, D. P.
(1991). Curriculum options for the developmentally advanced: A developmental alternative for gifted education. Education Exceptionality Canada, 1, 53-83.
37.
Keating, D. P.
(1995). Habits of mind: Developmental diversity in competence and coping. In D. K. Detterman (Ed.), Current topics in human intelligence: The role of the environment. (pp. 31-44). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
38.
Keating, D. P.
(in press). Understanding human intelligence: Toward a developmental synthesis. In C. Benbow & D. Lubinski (Eds.), From psychometrics to giftedness: Essays in honor of Julian Stanley. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
39.
Keating, D. P.
, & Clark, L. V. (1980). Development of physical and social reasoning in adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 16 (1), 23-30.
40.
Keating, D. P.
, & Crane, L. L. (1990). Domain-general and domain-specific processes in proportional reasoning. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 36, 411-424.
41.
Keating, D. P.
, & MacLean, D. J. (1988). Reconstruction in cognitive development: A poststructuralist agenda. In P. B. Baltes, D. L. Featherman, & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Life-span development and behavior, (Vol. 8, pp. 283-317). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
42.
Keyser, D. J.
, & Sweetland, R. C. (1984). Test critiques (Vol. 1). Kansas City, MO: Test Corporation of America.
43.
Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K.
, & Glaser, R. (1991). Stress and immune function in humans. In R. Ader, D. L. Felten, & N. Cohen (Eds.), Psychoneuroimmunology (2nd ed., pp. 849-867). New York: Academic Press.
44.
Langer, E. J.
(1993). A mindful education. Educational Psychologist, 28 (1), 43-50.
45.
Levenson, R. W.
, & Gottman, J. M. (1978). Toward the assessment of competence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 45, 453-462.
46.
Matthews, D. J. (1990). Patterns of competence in early adolescence: A domain specific approach to gifted education. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto.
47.
Matthews, D. J.
(1991, February). Patterns of competence in early adolescence: Gender differences by domain. Paper presented at the Facets of Giftedness National Conference on Gifted Education, Ottawa, Canada.
48.
Matthews, D. J.
(1992). Charting developmental paths of giftedness: Early adolescence, girls, and the social domain. Toronto: Ontario Education Research Council.
49.
Matthews, D. J.
(1993). Linguistic giftedness in the context of domain-specific development. Education Exceptionality Canada, 3 (3), 1-23.
50.
Morrison, D. F.
(1976). Multivariate statistical methods. New York: McGraw-Hill.
51.
Pellegrini, D. S. (1980). The social cognitive qualities of stress resistant children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota, Duluth.
52.
Pellegrini, D. S.
, Masten, A. S., Garmezy, N., & Ferrarese, M. J. (1987). Correlates of social and academic competence in middle childhood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 28, 699-714.
53.
Perkins, D.
, Jay, E., & Tishman, S. (1993). New conceptions of thinking: From ontology to education. Educational Psychologist, 28 (1), 67-85.
54.
Platt, J.
, & Spivack, G. (1977). Measures of interpersonal cognitive problem-solving for adults and adolescents. Unpublished manuscript. (Available from Community Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center, Department of Mental Health Sciences, Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital, Philadelphia, PA 19102).
55.
Resnick, L. B.
, Levine, J. B., & Teasley, S. D. (Eds.). (1991). Perspectives on socially shared cognition. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
56.
Rimm, S.
(1980). Group Inventory for Finding Creative Talent. Waterton, WI: Educational Assessment Service.
57.
Rosenberg, M.
(1986). Self-concept from middle childhood through adolescence. In J. Suls & A. G. Greenwald (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on the self. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
58.
Rubenstein, G.
, Fisher, L., & Iker, H. (1975). Peer observation of student behavior in elementary school classrooms. Developmental Psychology, 11, 867-868.
59.
Selman, R. L.
(1971a). The relation of role-taking ability to the development of moral judgment in children. Child Development, 42, 79-91.
60.
Selman, R. L.
(1971b). Taking another's perspective: Role-taking development in early childhood. Child Development, 42, 1721-1734.
61.
Selman, R. L.
, Beardslee, W., Schultz, L. H., Krupa, M., & Podorefsky, D. (1986). Assessing adolescent interpersonal negotiation strategies: Toward the integration of structural and functional models. Developmental Psychology, 22 (4), 450-459.
62.
Stanford Test of Academic Skills: Third Edition. (1989). San Diego, CA: Psychological Corporation, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
63.
Stanley, J. C.
(1977). The predictive value of the SAT for brilliant seventh and eighth graders. College Board Review, 106, 2-7.
64.
Stanley, J. C.
, Keating, D. P., & Fox, L. H. (Eds.). (1974). Mathematical talent: Discovery, description, and development. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
65.
Steinberg, R. J.
(1977). Intelligence, information processing and analogical reasoning: The componential analysis of human abilities. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
66.
Sternberg, R. J.
, & Smith, C. (1985). Social intelligence and decoding skills in nonverbal communication. Social Cognition, 3 (2), 168-192.
67.
Stevens, J.
(1986). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
68.
Tanaka, J. S.
, & Westerman, M. A. (1988). Common dimensions in the assessment of competence in school-aged girls. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80 (4), 579-584.
69.
Vygotsky, L. S.
(1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Original work published 1930, 1935, and 1960)
70.
Walker, R. E.
, & Foley, J. M. (1973). Social intelligence: Its history and measurement. Psychological Reports, 33, 839-864.
71.
Waters, E.
, & Sroufe, L. A. (1983). Social competence as a developmental constructDevelopmental Review, 3, 79-97.
