Recommended Reading: |
A lot of the focus, as one looks at courses on the psychology of the gifted, is on identification and programs. While these are important issues, they are both addressed elsewhere. The questions are, instead: 'What does the development of a gifted person look like?' 'What effect do various forces have on that development?' 'What are their emotional needs?' 'What drives and motivates them?' Obviously, none of those has a quick and simple answer, but each of them has been given more than a little thought along the way. We'll look at what a variety of theorists have had to say about those questions and others. Among the theorists are Francoys Gagne, Miraca Gross, Sue Jackson, Andy Mahoney, and Abraham Tannenbaum. We will also look at Dabrowski's thoughts though his is less directly a theory on psychology of gifted people, per se. As we look at these theories, we will try to keep in mind elements that we have already, elsewhere, noted were of the most interest to us: Intelligence and Testing, Learning, Memory and Cognition, Motivation and Emotion, Personality, and Sensation and Perception. How these fit into the theories and how the conception of them differs from the population in general will be key to our understanding of the psychology of the gifted.
|