‘Self-Image’ Features in Gifted Senior Preschoolers


Cite item

Full Text

Abstract

The article is devoted to one of the topical problems of modern psychology - the development of self-awareness in children - as it is considered in the psychology of giftedness. The study was aimed at identifying ‘self-image’ features in creatively gifted senior preschool children. It was carried out in line with the scientific approach proposed by A.M. Matyushkin to the study of giftedness as a prerequisite for the development of a creative personality. The study involved 290 children aged 6-7 years ( M = 6.6; SD = 0.54; boys = 143, girls = 147) attending preschool educational institutions in Moscow. The creative potential of the participants (senior preschool children) was identified using Figural Form A of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT), as well as on the basis of observations, surveys of teachers and parents, and expert assessments of the children’s creative works. The results made it possible to identify a group of gifted senior preschoolers with high creative potential ( N = 52, boys = 26, girls = 26) and a group of their peers, equal in quantitative composition and gender distribution, whose creative potential was lower. The child’s ‘self-image’ features were revealed during a conversation based on the Twenty Statements Test - TST (M. Kuhn and Th. McPartland, modified by T.V. Rumyantseva) and the Study of the System of Children’s Self-Characteristics (O.A. Belobrykina). The analysis of the obtained data showed the relationship between the results of the Torrance Test performed by the senior preschoolers and the number of their self-characteristics. The following differences between the groups were highlighted: the gifted children named more characteristics when describing themselves than their peers; this was especially true for such subcategories of answers as ‘gender’, ‘age’, ‘role in society’, ‘role in the family’, ‘physical qualities’, ‘communication’, ‘abilities’, and ‘general’. The analysis of the ‘self-image’ structural components revealed that the group of the gifted children, to a greater extent than the group of their peers, represented the indicators of the social, communicative, physical, active and reflexive components. All this indicates a greater volume and greater degree of cognitive complexity and differentiation of the ‘self-image’ in the gifted senior preschoolers compared to their peers. At the same time, the following ‘self-image’ aspects common to both groups were identified: the predominance of self-characteristics of the subjective category (personality traits, skills, etc.) and emotionally positive responses. A comparison of the ‘self-images’ between the gifted boys and gifted girls showed that the girls had more pronounced ‘emotional characteristics (cheerful)’, ‘description of appearance (beautiful)’ and ‘role in the family’. The results obtained can be used in creating programs aimed at the emotional and personal development of gifted preschoolers, as well as in the process of consultative work on the prevention/correction of difficulties in the upbringing of preschoolers.

About the authors

Elena S. Belova

Federal Scientific Center for Psychological and Interdisciplinary Research

Author for correspondence.
Email: elenasbelova@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6956-8214
SPIN-code: 9446-9020
Scopus Author ID: 15054105500
ResearcherId: AAM-4434-2021

PhD in Psychology, Leading Researcher, Laboratory of Giftedness Psychology

9 Mokhovaya St, bldg 4, 125009 Moscow, Russian Federation

References

  1. Abramenkova, V. (2021). Digitalization of education as a threat to the safe development of childhood. Scientific Research and Development. Socio-Humanitarian Research and Technology, 10(3), 3–11. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.12737/2306-1731-2021-10-3-3-11
  2. Arens, A.K., Marsh, H.W., Craven, R.G., Yeung, A.S., Randhawa, E., & Hasselhorn, M. (2016). Math self-concept in preschool children: Structure, achievement relations, and generalizability across gender. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 36, 391–403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.12.024
  3. Arkhireeva, T.V. (2008). System approach to understanding structure of self-concept and patterns of its development in child age. Cultural-Historical Psychology, 4(4), 48–55. (In Russ.)
  4. Belobrykina, O.A. (2006). Diagnosis of the development of self-awareness in childhood. St. Petersburg: Rech' Publ. (In Russ.)
  5. Belova, E.S. (2004). Identification of creative potential of preschoolers using the E.P. Torrance tests. Psikhologicheskaya Diagnostika, (1), 21–40. (In Russ.)
  6. Bogoyavlenskaya, D.B. (2021). Disclosure of the concepts of creativity and giftedness according to the stages of cognitive development. Russian Psychological Journal, 18(3), 159–168. (In Russ.)
  7. Bozhovich, L.I. (2008). Personality and its development in childhood. St. Petersburg: Piter Publ. (In Russ.)
  8. Brummelman, E., & Thomaes, S. (2017). How children construct views of themselves: A social‐developmental perspective. Child Development, 88(6), 1763–1773. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12961
  9. Burns, R. (1986). Self-concept development and education. Moscow: Progress Publ. (In Russ.)
  10. Cimpian, A., Hammond, M. D., Mazza, G., & Corry, G. (2017). Young children’s self‐concepts include representations of abstract traits and the global self. Child Development, 88(6), 1786–1798. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12925
  11. Dapp, L.C., & Roebers, C.M. (2018). Self-concept in kindergarten and first grade children: A longitudinal study on structure, development, and relation to achievement. Psychology, 9(7), 1605–1629. https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2018.97097
  12. Dubrovina, I.V. (2018). Psychological issues of education of kindergarten children and school children in the information society. National Psychological Journal, (1), 6–16. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.11621/npj.2018.0101
  13. Ermolova, T.V., Meshcheryakova, S.Yu., & Ganoshenko, N.I. (1999). Features of personal development of preschool children in the pre-crisis phase and at the stage of the crisis of seven years. Voprosy Psychologii, (1), 50–60. (In Russ.)
  14. Falk, R.F. (2017). Personality, intellectual ability, and the self-concept of gifted children: An application of PLS-SEM. In H. Latan & R. Noonan (Eds.), Partial Least Squares Path Modeling: Basic Concepts, Methodological Issues and Applications (pp. 299–310). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64069-3_14
  15. Fedina, L.V. (2020). Dynamics of “self-image” of preschool children (2004 and 2017: A comparative analysis). Integration of Education, 24(3), 501–518. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.15507/1991-9468.100.024.202003.501-518
  16. Feldshtein, D.I. (2015). Problems of psychological and pedagogical sciences in the space-time situation of the 21st century. National Education, (7), 9–26. (In Russ.).
  17. Freeman, J. (2010). Gifted lives: What happens when gifted children grow up? London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203845752
  18. Freeman, J. (2013). The long-term effects of families and educational provision on gifted children. Educational and Child Psychology, 30(2), 7–17. https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsecp.2013.30.2.7
  19. Gubbels, J., Segers, E., & Verhoeven, L. (2018). How children’s intellectual profiles relate to their cognitive, socio-emotional, and academic functioning. High Ability Studies, 29(2), 149–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/13598139.2018.1507902
  20. Karabanova, O.A. (2022). Modern childhood and preschool education protecting the rights of child: To the 75th anniversary of E.O. Smirnova’s birth. National Psychological Journal, (3), 60–68. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.11621/npj.2022.0308
  21. Konchalovskaya, M.M. (2015). Preschool children identity features (comparative analysis of the data obtained in 2005 and 2014). Mir Psikhologii, (1), 77–85. (In Russ.)
  22. Korepanova, M.V. (2009). The peculiarities of the “I-image” development of the child in his preschool age. Izvestiya of Saratov University. Philosophy. Psychology. Pedagogy, 9(4), 74–79. (In Russ.)
  23. Korepanova, M.V., & Dubovkina, E.V. (2019). “Knowing Myself”: Program for the social and communicative development of infants, young children and preschoolers (from 0 to 7‒8 years). In V.V. Rubtsov, Yu.M. Zabrodin, I.V. Dubrovina & E.S. Romanova (Eds.), Psychological and Pedagogical Programs and Technologies in the Educational Environment: Catalog ‒ 2019: Collective monograph (pp. 153–162). Moscow: Moscow State University of Psychology and Education. (In Russ.)
  24. Kosolapova, N.G. (2008). The formation of positive “self-conception” of preschool children. Izvestia: Herzen University Journal of Humanities & Sciences, (11), 212–220. (In Russ.)
  25. Kuhn, M., & McPartland, T. (1984). An empirical investigation of self-attitudes. In G.M. Andreeva, N.N. Bogomolova & L.A. Petrovskaya (Eds.), Contemporary Foreign Social Psychology. Texts (pp. 180–188). Moscow: Lomonosov Moscow State University. (In Russ.)
  26. Kuzmina, A.S., Praizendorf, E.S., Khummel', N.V., & Kulagina, D.A. (2023). Self-awareness of preschoolers born from multiple pregnancies. Pedagogy and Education, (3), 153–168. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.7256/2454-0676.2023.3.34132
  27. Leont'ev, A.N. (2005). Activity, Consciousness, and Personality (2nd ed.). Moscow: Smysl Publ., Akademiya Publ. (In Russ.)
  28. Lisina, M.I. (2009). Formation of a child’s personality in communication. St. Petersburg: Piter Publ. (In Russ.)
  29. Marikhin, S.V., & Kondretiuk, M.I. (2020). Age and gender identification and self-esteem features of preschoolers with different sociometric status. Pushkin Leningrad State University Journal, (4), 259–273. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.35231/18186653_2020_4_259
  30. Martsinkovskaya, T.D. (2015). Mental development of a modern preschooler – constants and transformations. Mir Psikhologii, (1), 42–53. (In Russ.)
  31. Martsinkovskaya, T.D. (Ed.) (2010). Concepts of socialization and individualization in modern contemporary psychology. Moscow, Obninsk: IG-SOTsIN Publ. (In Russ.)
  32. Matyushkin, A.M. (2012). The concept of creative giftedness. Bulletin of Practical Psychology of Education, 9(4), 83–86. (In Russ.)
  33. Neihart, M., Reis, S.M., Robinson, N.M., & Moon S.M. (Eds.). (2016). The social and emotional development of gifted children: What do we know? (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003238928
  34. Peregudina, V.A., & Klevakina, M.G. (2023). The experience of researching the self-concept of preschool children, depending on the order of their birth in the family. World of Science. Pedagogy and Psychology, 11(4), 13. (In Russ.)
  35. Popova, L.V. (2017). Gender aspects of identification, development and implementation of giftedness. In L.I. Larionova & A.I. Savenkov (Eds.), Psychology of Giftedness and Creativity (pp. 52–66). Moscow, St. Petersburg: Nestor-Istoriya Publ. (In Russ.)
  36. Rubtsova, О.V. (2019). Digital media as a new means of mediation (part two). Cultural-Historical Psychology, 15(4), 100–108. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2019150410
  37. Rudasill, K.M., Capper, M.R., Foust, R.C., Callahan, C.M., & Albaugh, S.B. (2009). Grade and gender differences in gifted students’ self-concepts. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 32(3), 340–367. https://doi.org/10.4219/jeg-2009-862
  38. Rumyantseva, T.V. (2006). Twenty statements self-attitude test. In Psychological Counseling: Diagnostics of Relationships in Couples (pp. 82–103). Saint Petersburg: Rech' Publ. (In Russ.)
  39. Savenkov, A.I. (2019). Psychology of children’s giftedness (2nd ed.). Moscow: Yurait Publ. (In Russ.)
  40. Sergienko, E.A., Martsinkovskaya, T.D., Izotova, E.I. Lebedeva, E.I., Ulanova, A.Yu., & Dubovskaya, E.M. (2019). Social and emotional development of children: Theoretical foundations. Moscow: Drofa Publ. (In Russ.)
  41. Shadrikov, V.D. (2019). Human abilities and talents. Moscow: The Institute of Psychology RAS. (In Russ.)
  42. Shani-Zinovich, I., & Zeidner, M. (2013). The elusive search for the personality of the intellectually gifted student: Some cross-cultural findings and conclusions from the israeli educational context. Talent Development and Excellence, 5(2), 13‒22.
  43. Shcheblanova, E.I. (2016). Intellectual self-concept of gifted adolescents. Theoretical and Experimental Psychology, 9(4), 23–38. (In Russ.)
  44. Shcheblanova, E.I. (2023). Concepts and models of intellectual giftedness in children: World trends and prospects in the XXI century. Theoretical and Experimental Psychology, 16(2), 23–35. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.11621/TEP-23-10
  45. Shi, J., Li, Y., & Zhang, X. (2008). Self-concept of gifted children aged 9 to 13 years old. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 31(4), 481–499. https://doi.org/10.4219/jeg-2008-791
  46. Smirnova, E.O. (2015). Child psychology (3rd ed.). St. Petersburg: Piter Publ. (In Russ.)
  47. Smirnova, E.O. (2019). Specific features of modern preschool childhood. National Psychological Journal, 2(2), 25–32. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.11621/npj.2019.0205
  48. Soldatova, G.U., Rasskazova, E.I., & Nestik, T.A. (2018). Digital generation of Russia: Competence and safety (2rd ed.). Moscow: Smysl Publ. (In Russ.)
  49. Sternberg, J., & Ambrose, D. (Eds.). (2021). Conceptions of giftedness and talent. London: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56869-6
  50. Uruntaeva, G.A. (2021). Child psychology (11th ed.). Moscow: Infra-M Publ. (In Russ.)
  51. Veraksa, А.N., Bukhalenkova, D.А., Chichinina, Е.А., & Almazova, О.V. (2021). Relationship between the use of digital devices and personal and emotional development in preschool children. Psychological Science and Education, 26(1), 27–40. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17759/pse.2021260101
  52. Yakobson, S.G., & Adilova, L.R. (2009). Development of early forms of self-awareness in children. Voprosy Psychologii, (1), 12–22. (In Russ.)

Copyright (c) 2024 Belova E.S.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

This website uses cookies

You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website.

About Cookies