More from the Water Jars: A Reanalysis of Problem-Solving Performance Among Gifted and Nongifted Children

Abstract

An earlier study of performance on water-jar combination problems concluded that giftedness (defined by superior school performance) is associated with metacognitive strength and flexibility in breaking an induced response set. Breaking sets is useful in bringing new perspectives to problem solving. Water-jar studies traditionally drop children who did not form the set, in this case 40% of the initial sample. The present study reanalyzed the initial data but did not exclude the previously omitted subjects. Gifted subjects who failed to form the set actually made the most errors of any group, and they were more likely not to recognize that they had made these errors. Other children who never formed the set were much like those who did. Therefore, gifted children do not always outperform others on cognitive tasks. There may be motivational reasons for this inferior performance.