Shifting from the Best of Gifted Education to
Talent Development:
Implications for Identification, Education, and
Psychological Support
Inside and Outside of School
Rena F. Subotnik
January 13, 2012
Speyer Legacy School
Coalition of Gifted Schools
Parents of Advanced Learners
Collaborators
Paula Olszewski-Kubilius and Frank Worrell
Five Main Points

Abilities matter

Domains have varied trajectories

Opportunities matter

Psychosocial skills matter a lot
Outcome to strive for is optimal
performance in the form of eminent
contributions

Abilities Matter

Abilities do matter, including abilities in specific
talent domains.
Why even say something so obvious?
Press for believing that eminence is exclusively due to
 Chance
 Privilege
 Effort
In fact each of these factors contributes cumulatively, and ability
enhances the potency of each.
Abilities Matter (continued)

Abilities do matter, including abilities in
specific talent domains.
General abilities serve as important foundations for high level
functioning:
 Not sufficient for full development of potential
 Vary in importance based on domain
 We don’t know enough about basics of special abilities, but we are
making progress.
Domains Vary

Developmental trajectories exist for talent
domains. These trajectories vary as to when
they start, peak and end.
Domains Vary (continued)
Opportunities

Opportunities to develop talent must be
provided.
Mapping on to developmental trajectories
 Falling in love
 Skills, knowledge, values
 Your special niche and voice
Opportunities (continued)

Opportunities need to be provided and
TAKEN

Many highly competent individuals have the ability and training to be
optimal performers, but do not exercise the drive, personal fortitude,
and social skills required for creative risk taking
These behaviors can be modified.

Psychosocial Skills

Psychosocial variables are determining
influences in the successful development of
talent.

Mindset
Persistence
Strategic risk taking
Social skills
Addressing fears




Psychosocial Skills (continued)


Beta blockers - cardiac medications, not tranquilizers or sedatives first marketed in 1967 in the United States for disorders like angina
and abnormal heart rhythms.
But many artists have coaches or teachers who help them to handle
stress in creative ways both psychological and practical.
Psychosocial Skills (continued)
Eminence

Eminence, or contributing in a
transcendent way to making societal life
better or more beautiful, ought to be the
aspired outcome of gifted education.

Rather than counting the number of eminent graduates,
accountability would focus on provision of what is known to be
useful in developing optimal performance in domains.
That investment would mean studying talent development in various
domains, assessing the benefits and costs of early specialization,
apprenticeships and psychosocial skill training.
Opportunities to express one’s full talent potential are inherently
rewarding to gifted individuals.


A Proposed
Talent Development Mega Model
Such a model should take into account:
 Whether a domain can be expressed
meaningfully in childhood, adolescence, and
adulthood.
 What are the acuities and propensities that can
serve as signs of potential.
 The need for external supports including
psychological strength training.
Performers
Similarities
Producers
Must master the content within the domain.
Need guided and deliberate practice and/or study.
Must have commitment and motivation.
Domain values are inculcated by mentors. WHAT IS CONSIDERED BEAUTIFUL,ELEGANT, WORTHY OF PURSUIT
Psycho-social variables limit or enhance success.
Differences
What you need to practice is more clearly defined—
results of practice seen more easily.
Tasks are more diffuse, long term and multi-component.
Judgments of experts are trusted throughout the process.
Judgments for selection in academic disciplines, at least at the pre collegiate
level, are not trusted and objective tests serve as a stand in.
Some components of performance are shared on this side by creators such as
composers and visual artists, e.g. judgments of experts are trusted throughout
the process.
Physical abilities are important—you do not have them
forever, which constrains the arc of talent development.
No physical delimiters
Greater winnowing and fewer opportunities over time.
Room for a greater number of producers, particularly in domains designated to
target societal need.
More current focus on mental skills training.
Little current focus on psychosocial skill training.
The outcome of excellence and creativity is clearer—
better sense of knowing the path and where you are
going.
Clear only in some areas, e.g. academic publications, grants, awards.
Domain is appreciated more widely by the public.
Appreciated by insiders.
Delimiters:
External and chance factors:
Late entry into domain
Poor match between interests and opportunities
Psychosocial factors:
Low motivation
Unproductive mindsets
Low level of psychological strength
Poor social skills
Enhancers:
External and chance factors:
Opportunities offered
Financial resources and social and cultural capital
Psychosocial factors:
Opportunities taken
Productive mindsets
Developed psychological strength
Developed social skills
Policy Implications: Identification (as distinct
from Selective Admission)



Beyond and parallel to general ability,
identification through domains
Identification at different stages for different
domains
Provide opportunities and monitor response
and commitment inside and outside of school
Schools offer limited domains
Outside of school domains are often selected by parental interest and
children’s exposure by parents.
Policy Implications: Education
Stage 1
Coordinate
exposure to domains with out-of-school enrichment
opportunities
Stage 2
Reasonable
accommodation for acceleration
Reasonable accommodation for specialization including culminating
experiences
Reasonable accommodation for competitions
Stage 3
Apprenticeships,
internships and mentorships
Policy Implications: Psychological Support




Provide explicit rewards for effort and
persistence. Dissociate ability from
effortlessness.
Reinforce graciousness in success and
failure.
Use mistakes as opportunities for self
correction.
Make connection between optimal
performance and psychological strength.
Acknowledgements



James S. McDonnell Foundation
Association for Psychological Science
American Psychological Association