Jennifer Riedl Cross

The Challenge of Adolescent Crowd Research: Defining the Crowd

As research on adolescent crowds has increased over the past several decades, researchers appear to be confident in their claims of the consequences of crowd membership, even suggesting targeted interventions. This review of the various methods used to identify adolescents’ crowd membership suggests that this confidence may be misplaced. There are diverse methodologies used in this research area that examine different samples of adolescents belonging to each crowd. Social-type rating methods, self-identification methods, grouping by adolescent behaviors or characteristics, and ethnographic or other qualitative methods should be accompanied by greater specificity in terminology to alert researchers to the various phenomena being studied (i.e., “reputational crowd,” “interactional crowd,” “behavioral crowd,” “affiliation crowd”). Additionally, studies comparing the various self-identification approaches and peer ratings are needed, along with reliability studies of peer ratings. More attention to specific methodology to determine crowd membership and its stability will aid the design of theoretical models of adolescent crowds and contribute to developmental outcome research.

Social dominance, moral politics, and gifted education

Theories from social psychology and cognitive psychology can help move the field of gifted education forward in its search for consensus on the purpose of gifted education and its target population. From Social Dominance Theory (SDT; J. Sidanius & F. Pratto, 1999), a theory of intergroup relations, we can assume that there will be members of our society who will want all gifted children to receive equal opportunities even as others will want members of the dominant group to receive greater opportunities. Linguistic analysis of the cognitive underpinnings of conservatism and liberalism in the US (G. Lakoff, 2002) informs us that some members of society will prefer a competitive environment in schools while others will prefer a more nurturant environment. Only by recognizing these differences can acceptable definitions and goals be agreed upon.

Maximizing Student Potential versus Building Community: An Exploration of Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Social Dominance Orientation, and Preferred Practice among Supporters of Gifted Education.

Social dominance orientation (SDO), right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), and socially desirable responding were examined among a sample of self-identified supporters of gifted education (N = 341), 70% of whom had an official role in gifted education as researchers, teachers, or gifted-talented (G/T) trainers. The sample was primarily female, White, well-educated, and upper middle class. The relationship of SDO, RWA, socially desirable responding, and support for various gifted education practices such as testing for identification, curricular differentiation in a heterogeneous classroom, and cooperative learning was explored through latent class analysis and logistic regression. Two distinct groups, communitarians and individualists, were found on the basis of their support for different gifted programming. Higher deference to authority among communitarians predicted support for an inclusive social norm, compared to a preference for maximizing potential without regard for inclusion among the individualists, who were less likely to defer to authority.

Gifted Education as a Vehicle for Enhancing Social Equality

Considering the benefits that accrue in countries having low levels of social inequality and the harm that accompanies wide disparities in income, it is important to examine any practices or traditions that contribute to inequality. Under some circumstances, gifted education does confer advantages that are not available to all students, particularly when its identification procedures fail to recognize potential in students not in the dominant group or when services improve the educational opportunities only for those who are identified even though all students could benefit. The elimination of age grading, a practice that inhibits the development of potential for many children, including gifted children, is recommended as a solution to the inequality engendered by current practice.

Social coping and self-concept among young gifted students in Ireland and the United States: a cross-cultural study

Social coping and self-concept were explored among Irish (n = 115) and American (n = 134) grades 3–8 students. Denying one’s giftedness or the impact it has on peer relationships were associated with poor self-concept in both samples. Among Irish students, denying giftedness was associated with more positive self-concept when paired with a high activity level. Engaging in many activities in the US sample and helping one’s peers in the Irish sample were positive predictors of academic self-concept. Findings suggest young gifted students may benefit from learning more about their exceptional abilities and their impact on peers. They should also be encouraged to engage in extracurricular activities and find ways to use their exceptional abilities to support their peers.

Accepting a Scholarly Identity Gifted Students, Academic Crowd Membership, and Identification With School

This study examined identification with school among middle school students and its relationship with academic crowd membership, a public expression of one’s academic orientation. Of the 127 Grade 6 to 8 students in the sample, 55 reported participation in a gifted program; 44% of these gifted students did not claim affiliation with the academic crowd. There was a positive correlation between identification with school and the importance placed on membership for students in the academic crowd, both gifted and nongifted. The California Bully Victimization Scale was used to determine that no group was more likely to have been victimized. Cluster analysis of crowd memberships indicated that gifted students not in the academic crowd had few other crowd memberships, suggesting that middle school may be an important time to encourage a willingness to be viewed by peers as academically oriented through promoting identification with school.

Social and emotional components of book reading between caregivers and their toddlers in a high-risk sample:

In this collective case study of caregiver behaviors with their toddlers, two-minute videotaped reading interactions were analyzed using a constant comparative method. Twenty-four caregiver—toddler dyads from a high-risk sample of children prenatally exposed to cocaine were selected from a larger sample because they represented the extremes of expressive language scores on the Reynell Expressive Language Quotient at 36 months, one year after the reading interactions. Caregivers in the high-scoring group shared control of the book and discourse, were ‘in tune’ with the child’s needs and abilities, and answered their own questions to the children. This was in contrast to the behaviors of caregivers of the low-scoring children, who appeared unaware of the child’s developmental needs in the interaction, particularly in their ability to respond to the questions posed. Implications of the results for future research on caregiver reading with young children are discussed.

Challenging an Idea Whose Time Has Gone

In this response to Sternberg’s article, “ACCEL: A New Model for Identifying the Gifted,” we agree that IQ testing may have outlasted its usefulness as an identification tool for gifted students. The field’s commitment to an imperfect formula has neglected the evolution of offerings in schools and theoretical underpinnings that are moving us away from an outdated conception of giftedness. IQ testing should be reserved for finding specific forms of high ability and as a diagnostic tool, not as a gatekeeper that continues to perpetuate the underrepresentation of some groups.

Psychological Heterogeneity Among Honors College Students

Greater knowledge of the psychology of honors college students will help to inform program administrators, counselors, residence life assistants, and faculty about how they may provide support to those with the greatest need. Via an online survey, personality, perfectionism, and suicidal ideation data were collected from honors college students (N = 410, 73% female). Using latent profile analysis, students were classified by their responses to the Big Five Inventory personality measure into five profiles. Risk factors of high perfectionism and suicidal ideation scores were found in two of the profiles, suggesting students with these personality characteristics may need enhanced psychological support. The largest profile (35% of students) had extraversion scores above the norm, but all other profiles had introverted scores below the norm. Neuroticism scores were also higher than the norm in the introverted profiles, which represented a majority of the honors college students.

Maximizing potential: A school-based conception of psychosocial development

Abstract Optimal talent development can only occur when high ability students are willing to take opportunities for growth in a domain and are able to persist when presented with challenges that accompany performance or production at the highest levels. This paper proposes the use of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development to provide a framework through which schools can pursue a parallel path of psychosocial supports to reinforce the development of talent in any domain. Ego strength can be fortified by an active program of professional development, curricula, and research based on Erikson’s psychosocial stage theory. In addition to the age-based components, ego strength can be promoted by activities that support the essential strengths of hope, will, purpose, skill, fidelity, and love.