Robert Sternberg's WICS model for identifying gifted individuals broadens the standard conception of giftedness and makes many helpful suggestions on how to conceptualize and assess the relevant dimensions of giftedness. There is one area, however, where the authors would propose an alternate viewpoint. "In a sense, this essay is about how to…

This paper is, in one sense, a Sternberg review. It references 36 papers first authored by him and three co-authored or 42% of all the papers cited. Most of it deals with what should be viewed as goals of gifted education, very little of it with practical aspects of the process of identifying/selecting youth for specific programmes. The paper is…

This article presents WICS as a model of giftedness. WICS stands for Wisdom, Intelligence, Creativity, Synthesized. The article considers the relation between giftedness and expertise, and argues that giftedness is, ultimately, expertise in development. One cannot clearly distinguish between giftedness and expertise, because all measures of…

To investigate factors influencing gifted early adolescent girls' career orientation and career aspirations in both the USA and Germany, the associations between giftedness, agentic characteristics, gender role attitudes, maternal characteristics, and the mother-daughter relationship were examined in 63 young adolescent girls. Additionally, two…

Models of giftedness are not versions of the way the world is, but programmes for improving the world. They uphold visions of the good life, good society, and worthy character. They are vehicles for values. Sternberg acknowledges this in his conclusion: "The important thing is to work together toward a common good--toward devising the best ways to…

The present study examined if spatial knowledge gained from a virtual environment is affected by the spatial ability of the participant, and whether information can be more efficiently acquired and applied to a physical space when participants are given a display featuring both overhead and first-person visual cues. Three spatial training displays…

Several sport-specific talent detection models have been developed over the last 30 years (Durand-Bush & Salmela, 2001). However, these models have failed in at least one important standard of judgment--accurately predicting who will develop into an elite level athlete. The authors believe that the WICS model presented by Robert Sternberg also…

Robert Sternberg's WICS (Wisdom, Intelligence, Creativity, Syntehsized) model of giftedness provides a novel and valuable meaning to the construct of giftedness. First, instead of conceptualizing giftedness as inherited static traits, WICS is distinctly a dynamic, developmental model of giftedness. The second valuable feature of the model is that…

This article describes the knowledge and skills that comprise personal talent and distinguish it from personal competence and several related psychological constructs, such as social intelligence, motivation, and wisdom. Finally, the usefulness of the theory of personal talent for research in high ability studies is discussed. (Contains…

A study involving 566 Singaporean high-achieving sixth-graders and 32 teachers found that students reported higher on task and ego goal orientations and less on work avoidance tendencies; the more ego-oriented the students, the better they performed academically; and teachers' classroom task goal orientation had positive influences on students'…

A study involving 639 Chinese gifted students (grades 4-12) found that intense emotional involvement, perfectionism, unchallenging schoolwork, multipotentiality, and parental expectations were relatively common adjustment problems. Poor interpersonal relationships were not. Results also indicated that conventional intelligence increased…

A 10-year longitudinal study investigated whether 37 children identified as academically gifted at preschool but who received no specific support would be identifiably different from their peers after 10 years of Finnish comprehensive school. The gifted group scored significantly higher than controls for final school grades and scholastic…

A study compared the performance of 66 New Zealand children (ages 9-12) on a published problem-solving test and the Progressive Achievement Test (PAT). Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that, independent of any chosen percentile, the PAT's accuracy at identifying mathematically gifted children was only 78%. (Contains references.)…

This article examines evidence both for and against early specialization in the development of sports expertise and presents the early diversification approach as another path leading to elite levels of performance. It discusses sports dropout and questions the link between early sports specialization and exceptional sports performance. (Contains…