Emotional Development, Intellectual Ability, and Gender

• Published in: Journal for the education of the gifted Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 20 - 38
• Main Authors: Miller, Nancy B., Silvermany, Linda Kreger, Falk, R. Frank
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.01.1995; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Child development; Cross Cultural Studies; Emotional Development; Gender differences; Gifted; Individual Development; Moral Development; Personality; Personality Development; Sex roles; Sociology; Talent Development; Theory
• ISSN: 0162-3532; 2162-9501
• DOI: 10.1177/016235329401800103

Dabrowski's Theory of Emotional Development provides the framework for investigating the dynamic interplay of emotion and cognition in the personality development of a group of intellectually gifted adults and a group of graduate students. When the gifted adults were compared to the graduate students on developmental potential, as measured by their over-excitability scores, the gifted subjects showed substantially greater potential for emotional development; but when actual level of development was compared, no significant differences between the two groups were found. Gender differences were discovered in areas related to traditional gender-role socialization—women scored higher on emotional potential and level of emotional development while men were higher on intellectual potential. In support of Dabrowski's theoretical position, emotional, intellectual, and imaginational intensity significantly predicted level of development.