Relationship of Emotional Development to Academic Self-Concept in Gifted Students

Abstract

This paper will address the issues concerning the affective domain of the gifted student. A discussion about Dabrowski's over excitabilities theory will include the explanation of the five domains and what they mean to the emotional development of gifted students. In addition, a discussion concerning academic self-concept will be presented. The theory to be focused on in that concern is the self-concept theories related to giftedness. Lastly, the paper will include a synthesis of the two theories and the relationship they have to each other concerning the affective needs of gifted high school students. The researcher will examine secondary students who are gifted in regard to their over excitability areas and how that relates to their academic self-concepts in the areas of Math and English. The purpose of this research is to examine the affective needs of gifted students which is an area that has not been examined very closely. All teachers know that the emotional development of the student affects how the student functions in class. This research will hopefully give some substantive evidence to back up this belief. Moreover, it will draw attention to the fact that the emotional development of gifted students is very different than that of the regular student. The intent of the researcher is to bring some evidence to the field which will enhance the knowledge of how emotional development affects self-concept in gifted students.