Intellectual Talent Research Articles

Children's social preference for peers engaged in brilliance-required activities: The impact of gender and race.

Women's underrepresentation in academic fields and professions emphasizing high intellectual talents persists as a prominent societal issue. To explore early antecedents of this gender imbalance, the present study investigated the developmental changes in children's social preference of boys and girls who pursue brilliance-required (vs. effort-required) activities. Importantly, we took an intersectional perspective to explore whether children consider target race in their social preference. Five- to 9-year-old U.S. children (N = 207; Mage = 7.53; 104 girls and 103 boys; 48% White) were presented with pairs of Asian, Black, and White characters matched in gender. One character was depicted as enjoying a game requiring high intellectual talents and the other enjoyed a game requiring effort. Participants were then asked to choose the character that they liked more, as an indicator of their social preference. With age, children became increasingly likely to prefer White boys and girls of color (i.e., Black and Asian girls) pursuing activities requiring brilliance (vs. activities requiring effort). In contrast, children did not develop increasing social preference for White girls or boys of color who opt in for brilliance-required activities. Our data suggest that, as early as elementary school years, children's social preference in contexts valuing sheer brilliance becomes both gendered and racialized. These findings highlight the importance of using an intersectional approach to identify the specific developmental processes that contribute to social disparities in brilliance-required contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Mathematical and Intellectual Innovation in Higher Education Talent Training Models

Abstract The economy and society have entered a highly transformative digital age. Digital Intelligence promotes the change of social and economic forms and promotes the integration and innovation of technology, economy and society. In this paper, we formulate the goal of training talents with digital intelligence thinking and the model of training talents with digital intelligence thinking, and propose a strategy for implementing talent training. Using big data technology (cloud computing resource scheduling method, virtual scene dynamic splicing technology) to assist in the implementation of teaching strategies. Conduct simulation experiments to analyze the performance of the cloud resource scheduling algorithm proposed in this paper on different numbers of virtual machines. Evaluate the effect of virtual scene splicing technology on image alignment. Discuss the influences factors from the three aspects of cultivation objectives, curriculum arrangement, and scientific research training in light of the satisfaction of the implementation of the mathematical and intellectual talent cultivation model. The cultivation objectives for numerical intelligence ability are viewed by 40.61% of the students as average, and 13.75% of them feel completely satisfied. Only 4.31% of the students agreed on scientific research and innovation. It can be seen that most of the students did not carry out any interdisciplinary research in depth. It shows that the implementation of the strategy for cultivating mathematical and intellectual talents still needs improvement and strengthening.

Undergraduate Lay Theories of Abilities: Mindset, universality, and brilliance beliefs uniquely predict undergraduate educational outcomes.

Students' beliefs about their abilities (called "lay theories") affect their motivations, behaviors, and academic success. Lay theories include beliefs about the potential to improve intelligence (mindset), who (i.e., everyone or only some people) has the potential to be excellent in a field (universality), and whether reaching excellence in a field requires raw intellectual talent (brilliance). Research demonstrates that each of these beliefs influences students' educational experiences and academic outcomes. However, it remains unclear whether they represent distinct latent constructs or are susceptible to the "jangle fallacy" (i.e., different names given to the same underlying construct). We conducted a multiphase, mixed-methods study to 1) evaluate whether mindset, universality, and brilliance beliefs represent conceptually and empirically discriminable concepts, and 2) evaluate whether mindset, universality, and brilliance beliefs contribute unique explanatory value for both psychosocial (e.g., sense of belonging) and academic outcomes (e.g., course grades). To address these questions, we developed and collected validity evidence for a new measure of science and math undergraduates' lay theories, called the Undergraduate Lay Theories of Abilities (ULTrA) survey. Factor analyses suggest that mindset, brilliance, and universality are distinct and empirically discriminable constructs. Structural Equation Models indicate that each lay theory contributes unique predictive value to relevant outcomes.

"You need to be super smart to do well in math!" Young children's field-specific ability beliefs.

Success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is often believed to require intellectual talent ("brilliance"). Given that many cultures associate men more than women with brilliance, this belief poses an obstacle to women's STEM pursuits. Here, we investigated the developmental roots of this phenomenon, focusing specifically on young children's beliefs about math (N=174 U.S. students in Grades 1-4; 93 girls, 81 boys; 52% White, 17% Asian, 13% Hispanic/Latinx). We found that field-specific ability beliefs (FABs) that associate success in math (vs. reading/writing) with brilliance are already present in early elementary school. We also found that brilliance-oriented FABs about math are negatively associated with elementary school students' (and particularly girls') math motivation-specifically, their math self-efficacy and interest. The early emergence of brilliance-oriented FABs about math and the negative relation between FABs and math motivation underscore the need to understand the sources and long-term effects of these beliefs. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Field-specific ability beliefs (FABs) are beliefs about the extent to which intellectual talent (or "brilliance") is required for success in a particular field or context. Among adults, brilliance-oriented FABs are an obstacle to diversity in science and technology, but the childhood antecedents of these beliefs are not well understood. The present study (N=174) found that FABs that associate success in math (vs. reading/writing) with brilliance were already present in Grades 1-4. Brilliance-oriented FABs about math were negatively associated with elementary school students' (and particularly girls') math motivation-specifically, their math self-efficacy and interest.

Who gets to see themselves as talented? Biased self-concepts contribute to first-generation students' disadvantage in talent-focused environments

Intellectual talent is commonly regarded as an important factor for success – i.e., “what it takes to succeed” in Western educational contexts. Yet, the differential experiences individuals have may not allow everyone to think of themselves as talented - i.e., as having “what it takes to succeed” - to the same degree. In five studies with 3584 students in Western countries, we show i) that first-generation students see themselves as less intellectually talented than continuing-generation students, ii) that this bias in self-concept contributes to disadvantages in their academic experience and engagement, and iii) how this disadvantage may be reduced.Quasi-experiments 1a and b (N = 694; 316) show that first-generation students view themselves as relatively less talented, but not less diligent, above and beyond prior performance-levels. Field and experimental Studies 2a-b (N = 1881; 362) show that this bias in students' talent self-concept contributes to disadvantage in first-generation students' academic experience and engagement. Experiment 3 (N = 331) suggests that talent self-concept bias is most consequential in talent-focused environments. If, however, environments emphasize effort, disadvantages connected to talent self-concepts are mitigated.The experiences first-generation students have in current Western environments seem to make them see themselves as relatively less talented, contributing to disadvantage. Creating effort-focused environments can reduce this disadvantage and promote equality.

I Was a French Muslim: Memories of an Algerian Freedom Fighter. By Mokhtar Mokhtefi. Translated by Elaine Mokhtefi

Readers of memoirs of Algeria’s War of Independence from France (1954–62) become aware that these works not only engage the writer’s memory in bringing past events to light but grant the memoirists important perspectives on their war experiences. Through memoir writing, former combatants come to understand how the anticolonial struggle — in its multiple facets — transformed their lives, affording them new perspectives on the world and their place in it. Mokhtar Mokhtefi’s memoir presents such a trajectory. Originally published in 2016 in Algiers by Éditions Barzakh, the text first appeared as J’étais Français-musulman: itinéraire d’un soldat de l’ALN. The translator is Mokhtefi’s widow, Elaine Mokhtefi; she has prefaced the English-language text. Born in Berrouaghia, Algeria, in 1935, Mokhtar Mokhtefi joined the Armée de libération nationale (ALN) at the age of twenty-two in 1957, three years after the war had begun. He trained as a radio operator and headed a communications unit during the war. Following independence, he became president of the Union générale des étudiants musulmans algériens, and studied sociology and economics in Algiers and Paris. Mokhtefi left Algeria for France in 1973 and later moved to New York, where he died in 2015 shortly before the publication of his memoir. The youngest son of a butcher and the only one of six children to continue his studies beyond elementary school, Mokhtefi owes his remarkable trajectory to a schoolteacher who recognized his intellectual talents and convinced the boy’s father to allow the son to continue his education, insisting on the opportunities that education would offer the family. Mokhtefi’s memoir contains three parts: ‘Childhood’; ‘Awakening’; and ‘Soldier in the ALN Signal Corps’. The first two parts deal with his early life within the family, showing him initially as having been completely integrated into his community, and the outward journey, first to Blida as a boarding student in high school and then to Constantine as a maître d’internat in a high school there. Both sections trace the journey away from home that grants him political awareness of the injustices of colonialism and results in the young man’s sense of alienation. He writes: ‘I feel mutilated, bouncing back and forth between the traditional family, the village, and my life at the school and the city’ (p. 90). He poignantly admits to the gap that his French education has created between his world and his parents’ world: ‘Without seeking it, I am conscious of being mentally estranged from them’ (p. 141). The third part describes his war experiences: his training as a radio operator for the ALN; his life in the army; and his contact with important political figures such as President Houari Boumediene, whom he characterizes as extremely disciplined but cold (p. 242). Mokhtefi’s memoir is a fascinating read. I suggest, however, that the francophone public read the work in French to best capture Mokhtefi’s spontaneity and personal literary style, and recommend the translation to anglophone readers who otherwise would not have access to it.

Ability and Nonability Predictors of Real-World Skill Acquisition: The Case of Rubik's Cube Solving.

Most research on skilled performance is correlational, with skill and predictors measured at a single point in time, making it difficult to draw conclusions about the acquisition of skill. By contrast, in this study, we trained novice participants (N = 79) to solve Rubik's Cubes using a 7-step solution method. Participants also completed measures of fluid intelligence (Gf), working memory capacity (WMC), and nonability factors (grit, growth mindset, NFC, and the "big five"). Overall, higher Gf (but not WMC) was predictive of efficient and accurate Rubik's cube skill. No nonability variables were associated with skill. Our results provide compelling evidence for the importance of intellectual talent (cognitive ability) in developing expertise in a complex task.

Narrative Interviewing in Research on the Education of Talented Learners Based on the Own Previous Research

The main goal of this article is to demonstrate the significant value of using narrative interviews in research on the education of talented learners. The authors decided to highlight the value of such research in the case of a specific group of learners. However, it might prove valuable to mention the special features of that method and some challenges that can appear in such research.
 The authors investigate the importance of applying narrative inquiry, especially narrative interviewing, in research on talented individuals. As for the research approach, it is embedded in qualitative methods. The authors present a retrospective secondary analysis based on their previous research into talented people’s experience of education, from an approach of both writer and reviewer.
 The introduction contains an outline of the subject of the text. Then, a description of narrative interviews and of talented learners is presented. The research method is also characterized. The previous results regarding talented learners’ experience of education are presented. Finally, the research results and recommendations for research practice are provided.
 The narrative interview technique proved to be a suitable method for the social sciences. It is appropriate for research on talented learners and their experiences within the educational process. Thanks to narrative interviews, researchers can reveal many important matters, such as learners’ intellectual talents and accomplishments, their relationships with themselves and other people, and some important common patterns of their functioning, such as perfectionism or non-conformism. Moreover, the research material can very rich and researchers can interpret it in very interesting ways so that the readers (educators and parents) can understand this particular group of learners and provide them with a convenient, conducive educational environment.
 The final section consists of some possibilities for researchers who want to use narrative interviewing as a method of research. The authors suggest obtaining some psychological and interpretative skills and building good relationships with the narrators.

The Diaspora’s influence on Regional Innovation Performance – a new theoretical and empirical approach toward understanding it

Abstract The occurrences of “brain-gain” and “brain-loss” are significant concerns for both the countries experiencing the departure of intellectual talent and those that ultimately receive such individuals. The phenomenon holds significance for stakeholders and their policy recommendations on social, economic and political areas. Moreover, there exists extensive literature elucidating the reasons behind certain nations encountering the phenomenon of “brain loss” while simultaneously observing the return of individuals to their homelands. Simultaneously, there is a limited amount of research conducted regarding the observation and comprehension of the activities in which the returning diaspora is involved post their return. Even more, there is less research done on the way the return diaspora is influencing regional innovation performance. To enhance comprehension, this article introduces a novel theoretical and empirical approach aimed at understanding the engagement of the returning diaspora in the innovation process and its impact on regional innovation performance. The novelty of this approach consists in the combination of classical theories on returning diaspora, Regional Innovation Performance and Social Fields Theory. As a result, the focus will be on the combination of the three social forces (institutions, networks, and cognitive frames) and returning diaspora. The evaluation of diaspora’s impact on regional innovation performance primarily hinges on the combination and comprehension of these two factors. However, this article serves as a theoretical proposal aimed at enhancing understanding of the phenomenon and establishing a model for systematic data collection. The empirical results could lead to policy recommendations for various stakeholders and bring improvements for helping and encouraging innovation activities in the region.

Gender stereotypes are racialized: A cross-cultural investigation of gender stereotypes about intellectual talents.

In the United States, there is a common stereotype associating brilliance with men. This gender brilliance stereotype emerges early and may undermine women's engagement in many prestigious careers. However, past research on its acquisition has focused almost exclusively on American children's beliefs of White people's intellectual talents. Therefore, less is known about how this stereotype develops in non-Western cultures and whether children consider other social identities such as race in forming this stereotype. To address these issues, the present research (a) provided the first cross-cultural test examining its development in 5- to 7-year-old Chinese and American children and (b) compared children's gender brilliance stereotype of White people with that of Asian people. Studies 1 (N = 96; Chinese children) and 2 (N = 96; Chinese children) revealed that, similar to American children, Chinese children associated brilliance with White men (vs. White women) around the age of 6. In contrast, Studies 3 (N = 96; Chinese children) and 4 (N = 96; American children; 76.9% White) showed that 5- to 7-year-old children from both cultures associated brilliance with Asian women (vs. Asian men). The results suggest that the gender stereotype about brilliance has a racial component and may be culturally consistent. Overall, these findings add to our knowledge of children's acquisition of the gender stereotype about brilliance in non-Western cultural contexts and highlight the importance of considering multiple social identities to understand the acquisition of stereotypes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Indian Studies in Soviet Social Studies

The article is focused on the evolution of Soviet Indian studies in the course of the 1970s and 1980s, i.e. the period of the discipline’s indisputable academic upsurge. The present author maintains that factors instrumental of Indian studies’ ascendant development were many; among the latter foreign policy imperatives as well as high quality intellectual talent available are distinguished to explain the advancement of this area of social science research to the status of socially significant professional activities. Socio-economic, history and political studies are taken to demonstrate the academic accomplishments of Soviet scholars who exploited their own “wisdom” to comprehend India’s complex social reality and, also, utilized critical assessment of the existent social science research paradigms circulating in Indian scholarship. The “crisis” of Indian studies dating back to the late 1980s is discussed in basic aspects. The social and political origins of the “crisis” are being highlighted. The evolution of Soviet Indian studies during the late 1980s is investigated at the backdrop of sociopolitical development in the years preceding the USSR’s dismemberment. Tentative factors instrumental of the eventual “comeback” of Indian studies as an academic discipline of high societal stature are estimated.

Teacher Perspectives on Secondary School Students' Reactions to School Achievement in the High School Transition System

This research aims to gain a better knowledge of how the LGS System, which was implemented in 2017 after the TEOG System was withdrawn, reflects student achievement. The case study pattern was used in this study, which was conducted utilizing the qualitative research approach. The criteria sampling methodology is used in this study instead of the intended sampling methods. According to this, the research's study group consisted of 12 instructors who worked in Gumushane Central secondary schools and were given questions from their majors in the new test system. As a data-gathering method, researchers devised a semi-structured interview form. A theme analysis method is used to analyze the study data. The NVivo 11 package application is used to analyze the data. According to the research results, the LGS system is able to distinguish students in the lower, middle and upper quadrants, and the children in the upper quadrants have increased their high level of intellectual talents, motivation and academic achievement. In addition, students in the lower and middle quadrics were found to have decreased motivation, achievement, and self-sufficiency judgments as a result of the system. It was also discovered that students value courses based on their question coefficients and tests. While the TEOG System is generally regarded as beneficial, the exam is memorable and does not adequately acknowledge students in terms of academic achievement, which has been identified as a drawback. The study's findings have led to recommendations for a new assessment system and central and neighbourhood placement.

Supplemental Material for Gender Stereotypes Are Racialized: A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Gender Stereotypes About Intellectual Talents

Supplemental Material for Gender Stereotypes Are Racialized: A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Gender Stereotypes About Intellectual Talents

Implications of the Social Subject Research Method for the Implementation of Ecological Civilization Education in Primary and Secondary Schools

From the social discipline research approach, there are some problems in ecological civilization education in primary and secondary schools: unclear human-centered education concept; decentralized implementation of ecological civilization education; major reversal of ecological civilization education process; and urgent need to strengthen teachers' ecological civilization quality. The inspiration of the social discipline research method of ecological civilization education in primary and secondary schools mainly lies in adhering to the public historical view and developing students' subjective activities; mobilizing teachers and students with a human-centered approach; mobilizing students and guiding them to participate in ecological civilization practices; and improving teachers' quality to achieve effective integration of education and ecological civilization. From the perspective of social discipline research methods, ecological civilization education in primary and secondary schools should focus on improving students' personality and moral cultivation, combining personal goals with social practice, combining personal growth with social development, and cultivating moral and intellectual talents of the new era.

COGNITIVE COMPONENT OF ADOLESCENT PERSONALITY CREATIVITY

The purpose of the article is to determine the psychological characteristics of the cognitive component of creativity of adolescents. The research methodology is based on the genetic modeling method of S.D. Maksymenko, strategic approach to creative thinking V.O. Molyak, fundamental research in the field of psychology of creative abilities. The scientific novelty of the study is to expand the understanding of the cognitive component of creativity of the adolescent as a psychological mechanism for identifying the personality of this age. Conclusions. Under the cognitive component of creativity, we understand the component of creativity, which is a manifestation of intellectual talent and exploratory activity of a young person, which is the ability of the subject to raise problems, solve them unconventionally, generate a lot of original ideas. Socio-psychological and age prerequisites for the development of creativity in adolescence are the desire of young men and women to self-identification, which is manifested in active reflection, introspection and searchtransforming activities, the results of which constitute the subjectivity of a young man or girl. The cognitive component of the creativity of a young person is associated with a high level of innovation, future orientation of young people, willingness to take risks for the sake of success and an optimistic outlook on their own success. Young men and women with a high level of creativity use a variety of intellectual resources in solving problem situations: visual representation and visualization, object modeling and design, creative transformation and have a pronounced holistic cognitive style, in which expert experience plays an important role.

Intellectual talent of higher education seekers: theoretical principles

From the theme: a retrospective analysis of the concepts of "gifted and intellectually talented personality"; we analyzed the experience of working with gifted young people abroad. In particular, a set of theoretical methods was used: comparison, analysis, synthesis and generalization; empirical methods: analysis of documentation and results of pedagogical activity, observation . The characteristics of working with talented young students were revealed through analysis of teaching, methodological and practical work with gifted students. An empirical study was carried out to determine the attitude of gifted young people towards organizational ways of working with them and a scientific circle was developed. The results revealed that the organization of pedagogical work is a fundamental point to provoke the development of their competencies, the explicit ones and those that are latent.

Reconciling the Hearts: Barthold Georg Niebuhr on the German Catholicism

The article presents a textual analysis of the letter of Barthold Georg Niebuhr, Prussian scientist and politician of the late 18th — first half of the 19th century, dedicated to the issue of German national church. Niebuhr is known primarily as one of the leading historians of his time. His name is mostly associated with the research on the history of Ancient Rome and other ancient states, as well as with the critical method which was a new word in German and European historiography. At the same time Niebuhr's intellectual talent allowed him to combine productively historical theory with political practice. Having served as Danish finance minister, then Prussian and Prussian ambassador in Rome for several years, Niebuhr created a significant corpus of political writings. However, they have attracted much less interest than his monographs and scientific articles on history and classical philology, until now. Nevertheless, as reviewing the real problems of politics from the practical point, Niebuhr's writings on political topics possess an undeniable merit. The fortieth year of Niebuhr's life was marked by the large-scale change of European borders, including territories ruled by Curia Romana. As Prussian ambassador in Rome Niebuhr was faced with a difficult task: diplomatically to bargain independence for German dioceses so that the process of forming a single national state was launched. In addition to the Roman Church, the solution to this issue was hampered by strained relations between catholics and protestants within Germany itself.

ASIAN EDUCATION FOR THE WORLD LABOR MARKET: A MALAYSIAN SURVEY OF MIGRATION PROPENSITY

The purpose of the study: This research explores issues related to human mobility trend reflecting an increasing outflow of intellectual talents by surveying the migration propensity of future professional labours in Malaysia using small samples from selected universities having different establishment orientation and student compositions. It also surveys factors of their migration intention decisions. Methodology: A quantitative approach utilizing a questionnaire survey distributed to final year students was adopted. A total of 193 usable responses are used in the analysis covering descriptive and mean differences across five identified dimensions of gender, race, academic performance, university type, and education financing. Main Findings: The results indicate that 51% of the respondents have the intention of leaving the country, the majority of whom are private university students, females, Malays, studies funded by education loans, and those from the average group of academic achievement. The low economic reward was ranked first as the main factor in influencing their migration decision. Surprisingly, the worldwide application of accounting-based knowledge plays little role in students’ decision of migrating abroad, signalling students' inability to appreciate the economic consequence of mastering such knowledge and skills. Implications: The research contributes to the public policy debate with respect to education and human mobility by providing a strong basis for a reality check on the sustainability of Malaysia’s future landscape of its professional labour market. It also feeds critical policy inputs for all stakeholders involved, particularly the employers, in providing future Malaysian professionals with a conducive, meaningful, and rewarding career to attract and retain them.

FORMATION OF A SYSTEM OF METHODS OF TECHNICAL THINKING FUTURE ENGINEERS

The article details the formation of a system of technical thinking of future engineers. In this century, an engineer must speculate to such an extent that she should freely solve technical problems. If the future engineer cannot analyze his mistakes, her intellectual talent with the stage is reduced. Even more effective for the development of the educated foundations of technical thinking in the learning process is the work of students not with ready-made images, but the need to solve the problem posed in verbal form, create images and rely on them for reasoning. The design tasks in technical areas and methods of forming the basis of technical creativity are analyzed. Given skills to solve a technical problem with a stage for intelligent engineers and ways to complete the design of problem solving. In the article, intersubject communication is compared in the formation of the content side of thinking of dependence on the structures of the knowledge system. The results of the formation of the figurative component of technical thinking are investigated. Especially given with accents for frontal images and graphic representations.

STEM/Non-STEM Divide Structures Undergraduate Beliefs About Gender and Talent in Academia.

Research and popular debate on female underrepresentation in academia has focused on STEM fields. But recent work has offered a unifying explanation for gender representation across the STEM/non-STEM divide. This proposed explanation, called the field-specific ability beliefs (FAB) hypothesis, postulates that, in combination with pervasive stereotypes that link men but not women with intellectual talent, academics perpetuate female underrepresentation by transmitting to students in earlier stages of education their beliefs about how much intellectual talent is required for success in each academic field. This theory was supported by a nationwide survey of U.S. academics that showed both STEM and non-STEM fields with fewer women are also the fields that academics believe require more brilliance. We test this top-down schema with a nationwide survey of U.S. undergraduates, assessing the extent to which undergraduate beliefs about talent in academia mirror those of academics. We find no evidence that academics transmit their beliefs to undergraduates. We also use a second survey “identical to the first but with each field's gender ratio provided as added information” to explicitly test the relationship between undergraduate beliefs about gender and talent in academia. The results for this second survey suggest that the extent to which undergraduates rate brilliance as essential to success in an academic field is highly sensitive to this added information for non-STEM fields, but not STEM fields. Overall, our study offers evidence that, contrary to FAB hypothesis, the STEM/non-STEM divide principally shapes undergraduate beliefs about both gender and talent in academia.