How Cognitive and Affective Differences May Interact to Create Difficulties for Gifted Students - Literature review Example

Title: How cognitive and affective differences may interact to create difficulties for gifted students Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Name and Code: University: Date of Submission: How cognitive and affective differences may interact to create difficulties for gifted students Gifted people have special traits and conducts that make them unique from their age-mates as well as the rest of the population (Heylighen, 1992). This is the same for gifted students. More often than not, gifted individuals are not recognized right away as being gifted. People sometimes do not understand why these children are the way they are, and immediately deciding to explain the characteristic of being gifted, as a characteristic of some form of illness, in most cases mental. The misunderstanding does not only take place in the society, but also in schools. Gifted students are heaped with other students. Their gifts and talents are not explored or expanded by those in charge or by their teachers. The traits of gifted children not only exhibited in their intelligence, high levels of Intelligence Quotient (IQ) or in their creativity (Heylighen, 1992). They are also manifested in other, more characteristic ways like their intense emotions and feelings towards items, issues or people. Another way is in their unique methods of social interaction which may sometimes be perceived as being awkward. The society does not seem to be readily open to accepting that there are people who are more gifted than others in our midst. This causes teachers to underestimate the capacity of these children and their contribution to the society as a whole. Female students often have it rougher than their male counterparts who are seen as the typical stereotype geniuses. Gifted students have certain cognitive and affective characteristics that may give rise to problems and other uncomfortable situations. Francis Heylighen in his article A Cognitive-Systemic Reconstruction of Marslow’s Theory of Self-Actualization (1992) argues that self satisfaction does not only come from meeting needs but also from intelligence and knowledge (cognitive competence). It can, therefore, be deduced that the effective satisfaction of needs requires that a person have some level of cognitive competence. For that reason, people with high levels of this competence, are more likely to realize self-actualization at higher levels. Cognition capabilities and affective displays of emotions in gifted children are what make them different from others. There are various cognition traits that may be present in these children (Heylighen, 1992). However, all these characteristics are not present in one gifted child but, they have majority of them. One characteristic is that they have original and unusual ideas accompanied by high levels of creativity. Also, they are able to connect ideas that would seem unrelated to other individuals (Clark, 1997). These children also have superior or advanced abilities of reasoning. For instance, a child may reason out a situation like an adult. In addition, they usually generalize situations or problem-solve and they are very intelligent with vivid imagination that is extremely rich. Albert Einstein said that imagination encircles the whole world (Microsoft Encarta, 2009). Also, they are fascinated by words and are always learning new ones. As a result, their speech is characterized by extensive vocabulary and excellent verbal ability. They tend to learn new things at a fast rate. This is enabled by their extraordinary long term memory. Sometimes their memory abilities are even eidetic. Another cognitive characteristic of gifted children is that they grasp scientific and mathematical concepts fast. They also have very insightful and advanced comprehension of situations and concepts. For instance, they can basically learn how to participate in many activities by equating them to mathematics. They are avid readers with complex ways of thinking and deep thoughts (Heylighen, 1992). Also, they reason in the abstract. A few of them can multi-task their thoughts and come up with answers to different problems simultaneously. In order for these high capabilities of the mind to work, they have to be very fast thinkers which most of them are. These minds are fed by information which gives them persistent intellectual curiosity. They may also be interested in a number of things since they tend not to dismiss ideas on prejudice but listen to the facts. However, they may develop only one or two of these interests to a great depth. They also appreciate challenges to the intellect and are always waiting for one. The intellect is accompanied by the mind’s emotions and they play a great part in determining how people react to certain situations and conditions. Gifted children have very rich and active emotions that are part of making them who they are. They are often highly sensitive either to information or to other emotions (Colangelo & Davis, 1991). Also they have unusual senses of humor that work excellent for them. In addition, they are observant and perceptive; not only about their environment and surrounding but also about the people around them. They can deduce people’s attitudes and emotions faster and more accurately from observing how they behave. As a result, they recognize the slightest changes to the environment and people. Another thing is that they are very passionate and often display and have very intense feelings. They are mostly introverts and are aware of things that others may not take interest. Their perception of the world is different. They also do not mind if things get complex or ambiguous, they have very high tolerance for this (Heylighen, 1992). They think openly and view problems from different angles consequently coming up with many ways to solve it or solve it correctly using the different ways. This makes them very open to new experiences and activities which give them some sort of childlike wonder to new experiences. The emotions exhibited by these children manifest or are shown in different ways through the child’s personality. The exhibiting of these emotions externally is what entails their affective characteristics. There are affective characteristics that are exhibited by gifted children are numerous and different depending on the child’s cognitive character and emotional character. One of them is that the child will be highly motivated to do work that excites them (Clark, 1997). Also, they will be persistent in the completion of tasks that are of interest to them. In addition, they are independent in their endeavors and self-directed. Also, they evaluate and judge issues basing on the facts at hand i.e. critically (Khatena, 1992). They also have very high levels of concentration accompanied by an interest in adult problems. They get bored with repetitive or routine tasks and are very sensitive. Also, they set very high expectations for themselves and others, coupled with higher self concept in most areas but, mostly academics (Rogers, 2001). In addition, they are capable of empathy to an impressive level and take morals and ethics very seriously. Gifted children always want to get things right and work on achieving perfection instead of just satisfaction. They often feel that they can do the best of everything and work tirelessly towards this. These affective and cognitive domains that are specific to gifted children sometimes cause them to have problems in school, where they are mixed with other students. Some of these affective characteristics are inherited genetically, while some are developed by the child as they grow up (Winner, 1996). These characteristics are what make gifted children who they are. While they make these children unique and special in all ways, they can also cause some difficulties especially in the classroom setting. Children in most schools are all taught together and considered to understand things the same way. Class work and school are structured to follow almost the same routine every day. Gifted children experience new things. They dive into it fully then lose interest as soon as they know everything about it. Subsequently, they always want to be challenged and to experience new things intellectually. Their intellectual property of coming up with original and unusual ideas, combined with how fast they get bored will ensure problems for them since none of these needs will be met adequately. As a result, they may get bored in class and this may be perceived by the teacher as Attention Deficit Disorder or rudeness (Colangelo & Davis, 1991). These children also need constant intellectual motivation and are motivated by activities that excite. They will most likely lose interest and get bored if their minds are not always stimulated. The need for constant intellectual stimulation and motivation by exciting events and activities will not be in their favor in the case of a classroom, with all other students. The fact that they focus wholly on the things that interest them and always want to add more information on the subject may cause them difficulties. For instance, if the lesson has ended and it is time to move to another subject, they may resist vocally and cause disturbance in class. This could earn them some form of punishment and make the teachers view them negatively. Also, since they have very intense feelings, taking away what they love may lead to conflict and they are persistent to finish something of interest to them (Rogers, 2001). Teachers always touch lightly on topic in class then move on to the next item. Gifted children may resist changing of subject matter especially if they liked the subject that was being discussed. However, other than resisting change of subject, they may also push for the continued teaching of a topic or an area of interest to them. Unfortunately, teacher often only highlights topics. They are avid readers and they may come across something that interests them. The teacher may not explore the topic, yet the child want to pursue it to the end. This will cause difficulty for the child, like affect their concentration or cause conflict between them and the teacher. Optimum achievement is very important to these children. Analyzing items from a factual point of view, may lead them to have too high expectations for themselves and others around them (Khatena, 1992). Failure is unacceptable to gifted children and when it is experienced, the child may react adversely. They may over exhaust themselves trying to achieve the desired result or they may lapse into depression for not being able to get what they want. In addition, they will be very critical of other people and themselves. Many a time, they become perfectionists obsessing over getting everything right. While they do this, they may lose friends in class and support from the teachers. Social interaction is important to a child’s development. The highly critical nature of gifted children may make other children grow distant from them for fear of getting disapproved of. Another problem or difficulty that they may face is that, they may be withdrawn in a case of cooperative learning like having discussions or they may dominate the discussion encouraged by their self-directedness (Heylighen, 1992). In the former, they may withdraw because, they feel like they are not part of the group because all the other children are interested in knowing something he already knows; while, in the later, they may decide to dominate because they know everything that is being discussed. Also, gifted children hold very strong opinions on issues and facts. Because of their superior intellect, they believe in the correctness of their opinions which are most likely supported by facts. If in any case their teachers or other students make an error or give inaccurate facts, they may disagree vocally with them. Their high and intense emotions and high levels of intellect contribute to this kind of display of vocal disagreement. In addition, they may make jokes at times when others, especially adults, consider inappropriate. They have good intellectual senses of humor and unusual ways of interacting with adults. Their preference for adult company may not benefit them (Winner, 1996). When these two combine with a joke that others may see as inappropriate, less people will want to engage in social interaction with them. In addition, their tendency to have very intense emotions may cause them to be overly sensitive, empathetic and sympathetic (Heylighen, 1992). They may even cry if a situation seems unfair or when things go wrong. In this case, they cry when no one else does or sees the need to. Another problem is that as long as they know the answers, they may ignore the details and turn in work that is messy. They will not view this as a problem since their focus is on the answer but, for the teacher it goes against rules to do so. In addition, they will often ignore authority and be stubborn. For instance, if they perceive everyone as being an equal, then they may not do what they are told to do and they rank themselves very highly in the academic domain (Winner, 1996). This may encourage them to question authority. Also, they are highly perceptive and notice the slightest change in the area they are in (Heylighen, 1992). This may cause them some difficulty in concentration, since they can be affected by new noises or change in lights. These environmental stimuli may cause them to lose focus. These difficulties that they face because of their cognitive and affective differences, are especially so if they are taken out of the context of understanding gifted students. If they were understood by their teachers, their families, their friends and the society, the ‘difficulties’ will not be considered as troubled or mentally ill children manifesting their problems but as highly intellectual children who are manifesting their gifts in different or unusual ways. Also, gifted children have high levels of self-concept in academics. In addition, they have superior intellect that keeps them quite comfortable in academic fields. However, self-concept is a multidimensional issue that covers other areas that are not academics. Nurius in his article Reappraisal of the self-concept and implications for counseling (1986) describes self concept as a system in cognition that mediates the interpretation of responses that the brain sends out for issues directed at the individual. This has however evolved to mean how someone feels about themselves. Self-concept in other areas causes problems for gifted children. The more they grow older in school, the lower their self-concept becomes and they isolate themselves even more. Superior intellect is not always a good thing particularly when these children attempt to interact with others and fail. There is often plenty of misunderstanding between the two. Other students and teachers may not be able to comprehend what is said by the gifted child. The child will lack adequate opportunities for communication. Interpersonal communication is essential to the development of children and not being able to do so may cause the gifted child to retreat even more and become more isolated. The following findings by Lynne Azpeitia, M.A. and Mary Rocamore, M.A. in their article, Misdiagnosis of the gifted child, that were adapted by Francis Heylighen in his article, A Cognitive-Systemic Reconstruction of Marslow’s Theory of Self-Actualization (1992), describes characteristics that may occur at the same time and the type of problems or difficulties they cause for the child. Source: Heylighen F. (1992): "A Cognitive-Systemic Reconstruction of Maslow's Theory of Self-Actualization", Behavioral Science 37, p. 39-58. Gifted students have a library of facts in their heads and great long term memory which may cause them to get bored in class since they already know everything. Also they are fast thinkers and they may be frustrated by teachers or by the other students who think slower than them. Their creativity may cause them to be disruptive; like, they may decide to make an invention out of the materials in class like chairs, desks, other student’s pencils and books. He will be showing a creation of some sort but the teachers and other students will focus on the things he has destroyed in the process and dislike him for doing so. They have many interests and are curious. As a result, they may not work well with others in a group and if they are involved, they dominate the discussions and they may use this skill to avoid difficult tasks. Their use of advanced vocabulary may lead to their alienation. Also, they often have solutions and opinions that may be too ‘out of the box’ for the teachers or students to understand. The constant misunderstanding may lead to frustration. In conclusion, over the years, there has been much emphasis in the cognitive side of gifted children’s development. This has been channeled and developed while the affective side is not thought of much, the effective domain is as important as the cognitive one. They are integrated and one affects the other’s outcome. However, researchers have been making more effort especially because of the difficulties that these children are at school (Colangelo & Assouline, 1995). Most schools do not have provisions for gifted children and they are mixed in with the others. They do not get the kind of attention and help they need to develop their gifts. Gifted children manifest their characteristic behaviors in both positive and negative ways. They should be allowed to display these feelings since it is one of the ways of identifying their specific gifts. Teacher should provide adequate opportunities for these children to explore their feelings and intellectual characteristics. Gifted students are here to stay. Therefore, provisions should be made for them such that they are not viewed as outsiders by their peers. They should be equipped so that even if they are unpopular, they are fine with the situation and are happy. References Clark, B. (1997). Growing up gifted (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Colangelo, N., & Assouline, S. G. (1995). Self-concept of gifted students: Patterns by self-concept domain, grade level, and gender. In M. W. Katzko & F. J. Mönks (Eds.), Nurturing talent: Individual needs and social ability (pp. 66-74). Assen, The Netherlands: Van Gorcum. Colangelo, N., & Davis, G. A. (1991). Handbook of gifted education. Boston: Allyn and Bacon Heylighen F. (1992): "A Cognitive-Systemic Reconstruction of Maslow's Theory of Self- Actualization", Behavioral Science 37(1), 39-58. Khatena, J. (1992). Gifted: Challenge and response for education. Itasca, IL: Peacock Nurius, P. S. (1986). Reappraisal of the self-concept and implications for counseling. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 33 (4), 429-438. Rogers, K. B. (2001). Re-forming gifted education: Matching the program to the child. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press. Winner, E. (1996). Gifted children: Myths and realities. New York: Basic Books Read More