IDENTIFICATION AS GIFTED AND TALENTED: EFFECTS ON INTERNAL-EXTERNAL CONTROL OF INTELLECTUAL ACHIEVEMENT AND SELF CONCEPT OF ABILITY (CREATIVITY, HIGH ACHIEVING, DISSONANCE)

Students identified as gifted and talented were studied and non-identification of high achieving students were examined. The questions explored were: (1) What affect does labeling of individuals as gifted and talented have on their self concept of ability and on their perception of themselves as responsible for their successes and failures, (2) Will high achieving students who are not identified for a gifted and talented program show a decrease in their self concept of ability and a decrease in their perception of themselves as responsible for their academic successes and failures and, (3) In what ways will the students who are labeled as gifted and talented be affected by this identification?;Preliminary comparisons using the Mann Whitney Test indicated a significant difference between the two groups on self concept of ability. Differences between the pre post tests using the Wilcoxen Test indicated a significant increase in the identified students IAR negative and total scores.;A case study analysis revealed that all identified students perceived their identification positively. Seventy-five percent considered their parents as the most important factor contributing to their academic giftedness. Only 3 of the 20 students revealed dissonance scores due to their identification. The students expressed a concern about the pressures felt from school work and the lack of time to foster their creative, emotional and physical development. This study suggests that more emphasis be placed on gifted and talented programming, and less on identification.;The first two questions were studied using a pre post test design. A pool of 75 ninth graders were chosen based on a GPA of 3.6 or higher. The measurements used were the Self Concept of Ability Scale and the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire (IAR). Twenty-six students from the pool were identified for the gifted and talented program.