On the essential characteristics of the phenomenon of giftedness

Abstract

The article poses and solves the problem of a general methodological character, topical for modern psychological knowledge - the conceptual design of the notion of giftedness. The solution of this problem will allow to create an integral system of investigation of the phenomenon of giftedness, which could adequately reflect its qualitative uniqueness. The hypothesis of the research was that the task could be solved by using a number of cognitive procedures, in particular, such as analyzing the conceptual apparatus, identifying the boundaries of the phenomenon of giftedness, and highlighting the basic approaches to its cognition. The chosen hybrid methodology that includes elements of logical and semantic analysis, made it possible to establish that the notion of giftedness reflects, on the one hand, not a fully theoretically reflected understanding of the essential characteristics of giftedness, and, on the other hand, established in the psychology numerous and diverse ideas about this phenomenon. Due to the existence of a number of related concepts, the boundaries of the concept analyzed in the article appear to be blurred, which makes the task of detailed analysis of the semantic structure of giftedness significant, while giftedness itself consists of the list of defining characteristics proposed by the author. This approach has a serious heuristic potential, allows us to identify the reasons for the diversity of approaches to the study of giftedness as an integrated system, and thus significantly expand the possibilities of its cognition. The approaches identified in the research result in different interpretations of giftedness, its nature and structure. This fact confirmed the assumption that the existence of a huge number of theories of giftedness is a consequence of not only diverse manifestations of the phenomenon of giftedness. We should talk about the differences between the philosophical foundations of these approaches.