A Duplex Model for Giftedness

Abstract

This article proposes a duplex model for understanding giftedness. The first part of the duplex is the set of gifted skills and attitudes that one possesses as a result of heredity, the environment, and their interaction. It is the input that one has acquired from one’s life experiences. The second part of the duplex is the utilization or deployment of gifted skills and attitudes. On this view, giftedness, like intelligence, in practice heavily depends upon one’s attitudes toward deployment of abilities, not just the abilities themselves. It is the output that one gifts back to the world. Someone may possess giftedness in the first part of the duplex but give very little back in the second part. Alternatively, someone may make gifted contributions but not be identified as having the characteristics usually associated with giftedness. This can result because giftedness can be either trait-like or state-like. Some people act in gifted ways as a function of their interactions with tasks and situations, although they would not have been predicted to be individuals who would act that way. A full model should allow both for input and output—giftedness as a possession but also giftedness as it is deployed to make the world a better place.