Teachers' negative affect toward academically gifted students: an evolutionary psychological study

Abstract

A frequent reason for teachers not making special provisions for a gifted child is that the child is 'not fitting in socially'. The conjecture that a psychological source of such negative affect has evolved along with human language was tested with a large sample (N = 377) of teachers in England, Scotland, and Australia who were undertaking continuing professional development (CPD) in gifted education. Quantitative indicators of teachers` subconscious feelings toward gifted children were measured using a five-dimensional semantic differential instrument. Oblique factor analysis produced a three-factor structure, namely, general characteristics of gifted children including high cognitive abilities, social misfits, and antisocial leaders. Teachers` negative affect toward gifted children concerns the potential use of high intelligence toward social noncompliance. The factor scores for teachers completing the CPD programs were lower for the social noncompliance factors and higher for the general factor compared with scores of teachers commencing the programs.