THE APPLICATION OF DABROWSKI’S THEORY TO THE GIFTED

1. THE APPLICATION OF DABROWSKI’S THEORY TO THE GIFTED Chapter 6: Kevin J. O’Connor, Ed. M. By Tricia Bower and Anna Rader

2. Dabrowski’s Work • Presents broad and complex theoretical approach to personality development • May be relevant to understanding the unique experiences and development of gifted individuals • Includes intriguing hypotheses concerning gifted individuals • Other forms of developmental potential, the nature of development, and the role of psychoneuroses, and positive disintegration in this group await further testing (Tillier 2009)

3. Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration • Displays the mapping of human personality development according to emotional development and developmental potential • Psychological theory of personality development • Suggesting anxiety is necessary for growth • Anxieties and major life events • People to evaluate self, ideas, values, and thoughts • Develop individual opinions • Affects personality and behavior • Suggested to be positive • Lower levels broken down • Enter a higher level of thinking • Beneficial: inferior – superior personal attributes • Questioning what is and what ought to be – developing “self” • Intense inner conflict, feelings of inferiority, dissatisfaction, anxiety, etc. • Greatest potential for development • Multilevel approach to identify developmental levels observed in select populations (Neihart et. al)

4. Pentatonic Levels • Theory of Positive Disintegration considers emotional development most essential dimension of human life • Hierarchy of altruistic values in the highest levels • Most individuals do not advance to highest levels • Gifted individuals • Different development potentials • Enter a higher level of problem solving and creativity • Gifted and creative individuals are often in conflict with the demands of environment • Compete with higher value structure Neihart et. al

5. Pentatonic levelsCharacterized by Piechowski 1997 (Level I = Low) • Level I: Primary Integration • Egocentrism prevails • Lacks the capacity for empathy and self-examination • Someone else is always to blame • Self-responsibility is not encountered here • Level II: Unilevel Disintegration • Individuals are influenced primarily by their social group and mainstream values • Often exhibit ambivalent feelings and indecisive flip-flop behavior • Have no clear-cut set of self-determined internal values • Inner conflicts are horizontal, a contest between equal, competing values • Level III: Spontaneous Multilevel Disintegration • Person develops a hierarchical sense of values • Inner conflict is vertical, a struggle to bring up one’s behavior to higher standards • Dissatisfaction with what one is • Competing sense of what one could and ought to be (personal ideal)

6. Pentatonic levelsCharacterized by Piechowski 1997 (Level I = Low) continued… • Level IV: Organized Multilevel Disintegration • Individuals are well on the road to self-actualization • Found a way to reach their own ideals • Effective leaders in society • Show high levels of responsibility, authenticity, reflective judgment, empathy for others, autonomy of thought and action, self-awareness • Level V: Secondary Integration • Struggle for self-mastery has been won • Inner conflicts regarding the self have been resolved through actualization of the personality ideal • Disintegration has been transcended by the integration of one’s values into one’s living and being

7. Supporting Theory – Qualitative • Dabrowski’s ideas • Source of practical recommendations for assisting personal development • Inspiration for research • Helpful in describing developmental phenomena • Research results confirm the basic assumptions of the theory • Fitting point of departure for further investigations • Study beginnings of positive disintegration could be traced to between ages 5 and 7 • Understanding adults • Important in transition from unilevel to multilevel development • Religion and art play a significant role (Mroz 2009)

8. The Theory of Overexcitabilities (OE) • High levels of overexcitabilities allow for people to reach the highest levels of development • Contingent upon intelligence, special talents and abilities, the will to develop • Innate tendency to respond • Heightened intensity and sensitivity Intellectual or emotional stimuli • Unique psychological theory • Researchers developing instruments to measure OE • Needs to be investigated on a cross-cultural level • Provides new understanding of gifted and talented youth (Piirto 2010)

9. 5 Overexcitabilities • Psychomotor – an augmented capacity for being active and energetic – expressed as movement, restlessness, drive • Sensual – an enhanced differentiation and aliveness of sensual experience • Intellectual – avidity for knowledge and the search for truth – expressed as passion for discovery, questioning, love of ideas and theoretical analysis • Imaginational – the power of thought creation – expressed through vividness of imagery, richness of association, liking for the unusual, and a facility for dreams, fantasies, and inventions • Emotional – recognized in the great depth and intensity of emotional life expressed through a wide range of feelings, attachments, compassion, heightened sense of responsibility, and scrupulous self-examination (Piirto 2010)

10. Michael Piechowski • Overexcitability • Higher form of adjustment on a continuum of levels of adjustment to varying degrees these five dimensions give talent its power (1997) • Helped researchers understand relationship between OE and positive disintegration • OE = sensitivities and intensities • Greater than normal • Different in the very quality of experiencing • Contribute to developmental potential • Developmental potential contributes to adult creativity (Piirto 2010)

11. Jane Piirto Ph.D. since 1989 • Overexcitaility Questionnaire (OEQ) and OEQ-II • 600+ talented high school sophomore sand juniors • Comparison studies • Organized Dabrowski conferences • Qualitative and quantitative studies • Describes Dabrowski theory as a culture within the field of gifted education • Attempts to uncover ideologies • Psychology as part of gifted education (Piirto 2010)

12. Piirto’s Research • Talented teenagers and adult creators • Grants from state Department of Education • Summer honors institutes • Adjective Check List ACL • SOI Divergent Production test DFU, DMU, DSU • Confirm or deny the presence of certain personality attributes • Myers-Briggs Type Indicator MBTI • High School Personality Questionnaire HSPQ • Rokeach Values Survey RVS • Findings presented and research conferences and in books– not discussed through journal Piirto 2010

13. Piirto’s Research • Mentor • Mary Meeker • Structure of Intellect movement in gifted education • Test SOI-LA • Statistics requires extensive training • University of Akron • Scoring system for the OEQ • Miller Assessment Coding System MACS coding levels of development from responses to The Definition Response Instrument (Gage, Morse, & Piechowski, 1981) • Numerical Value to OE (higher the number, the more present OE) • Attended conferences on scoring • Found behaviors show up in young gifted children • Very intense and overexcitable

14. Defining Giftedness • Asynchronous development • High IQ • Different emotionally • People began to want alternative ways to identify gifted students • 1998 Ackerman • Found that the OEQ did seem to discriminate between gifted and non- gifted people • Breard • Used it to explore identifying African American students in South Carolina (Piirto 2010)

15. Qualitative Research • Piirto • Less rigorous scoring • Instead of how much? • Personal knowledge more important • Asking questions to creative artists about imaginary playmates as a child • Dabrowski • SENG conference (Piirto 2010)

16. Findings • Studies • Canada confirmed presence of overexcitabilities in students • Summer Honors Institute courses • Identified as gifted and talented • Concluded presence of overexcitabilities • Gifted and talented adolescents no matter the domain • Mean score of the coded OEQs was over 3, above average Graduate Students 1989, 1991, and 1995 Found four common themes that characterized the responses of the gifted students: 1.) Hypersensitivity 2.) Heightened sense of life in other forms (spiritual dimensions) 3.) Love of performing 4.) Love to argue (Piirto 2010)

17. Students Speak: Overexcitabilities • Students have described: • “My heartbeat increases, even if I am only intellectually excited. I get very talkative and I gesture a lot.” Flint, et al. (1997) • Student Athlete: “When the competition is high and I know I can take over the whole scene I use the energy to excel and raise my play up a notch. It is a feeling of freedom and an incredible high. It is a true freedom that unfortunately not everyone can feel. It is to be a winner.” (Piirto 2010)

18. Piirto Concluding • Still attempting to confirm or disconfirm presence of personality attribute in her own theoretical framework • PiirtoPiiramid of Talent Development NEO PI-R • Presence of intellectual overexcitability in high IQ students has been demonstrated • Lack of evidence of imaginational and emotional • Condemnation of sensual and psychomotor OE may be an artifact of age in which Dabrowski wrote theory • Calling these the lesser two (Piirto 2010)

19. Identifying • Interest and need among researchers • Falk, Lind, Miller, Piechowski, & Silverman 1999 • CLikert-questionaire of 50 items • Assess presence of OEs • Take 10 minutes to administer • Easy to score • Data found was included in convergent validity studies 2000 (Piirto 2010)

20. Likert Scale • Quantitiative Research (Ruf 2009) • Heightened global awareness and caring reported as attributes of high intelligence • Cognitive complexity and certain personality traits of the gifted create unique experiences and awareness that separate those from others. A central feature of the gifted experience is their moral sensitivity, which is essential to the welfare of the entire society. (Silverman 1993) • Noted enough exceptions in gifted clientele to question whether feelings of global concern are further related to personality type and gender • Nonrandom sample of 124 bright adults • Likert scale online survey questions about global issues • Catastrophe and Problem Action scales • Females scoring higher than males • Feeling-Perceiving personality type • Higher scores on the Bothered by Catastrophe Scale • Extroverts • Significantly higher on Concern About Global Issues than introverts (Ruf 2009)

21. Likert Scale • Rest’s Defining Issues Test DIT Rest, 1986 • Moral reasoning, moral dilemmas • Educational level correlated with DIT • Develop curricula to teach moral reasoning; who goes on for more education? • Stages of moral development • Kohlberg 1984 Gilligan 1982 • Dabrowski • Some individuals must be born with a higher ability to transcend life’s difficulties and thus grow into more mature, wiser, “evolved” human beings than other people • Tested • Select group • 99th percentile intellectually • Over 40 years old • Four year degree • Findings ranged on DIT scores as much as general population • Suggesting something more than education or high intellect is at work (Ruf 2009)

22. Personalities • 93.5% of gifted children brought to Ruf for help were P • Perceivers on the MBTI • Most were NFPs • Highly intuitive, flexible, open-ended, theoretical learners • Next time 89% • Teachers mostly ESFJ • Deadlines, sequential learning plans, etc. • J (judgers) • Might assume a child who does not do and turn in all assignments must be helped • Doomed to failure • Conflicting personalities between gifted child and teacher

23. Applied to Gifted • Advanced development • Characteristic of a deeper sensitivity and intensity of emotional experiencing • More meaningful contact with environment • One who manifests several forms of OE may be said to see reality in a different, stronger, and more multisided manner • Individuals with high levels of intensity and sensitivity may • Feel pressure to be “normal” • May continue into adulthood • Questioning potential, possibilities, personality ideals • Susceptible to being misunderstood and alienated • Cause individuals to question their differences • Feel different • May attempt to hide or learn to control their intensities and sensitivities in order to confirm expectations of others • Painful and frightening (Neihart et. al)

24. Counseling & Education • Parents of gifted children and gifted individuals • Useful framework for understanding and explaining developmental patterns • Challenges that occur for those of high ability • Counseling services • Consider Dabrowski’s concepts • ProvideEmpathetic environment • Appreciate sensitivities, intensities, and passions • Beyond IQ measure • Overexcitability profile • Questionnaires • Possibility for future research • Overexcitabilityinstrument used as part of identification procedure (Neihart et. al)

25. Characteristics of Gifted StudentsWinebrenner, 2001 Dabrowski’s Theory of “Positive Disintegration ” or developmental crises help us understand why living with and teaching gifted kids can be such an incredible challenge. Awareness, not just from a parents’ or teachers’ stand point, but a gifted student’s view, may help them understand themselves and others around them.

26. Mini-Unit on Dabrowski’s Theory Strickland, 2000 Students will be able to know: • Dabrowski’s 5 types of overexcitabilities (OE) • Characteristics of persons with a particular type of OE • Recognizing their OE’s can help them better understand themselves and others. • Dabrowski was interested in the link between OE and giftedness

27. Mini-Unit on Dabrowski’s Theory At the end of this unit students will be able to: • Recognize their own OE (overexcitability) traits • Recognize OE in others • Demonstrate an understanding of the two sided nature of OE • Explain OE to a fellow student • Journal and complete activities after OE discussions

28. Questions to journal… • What is your biggest pet peeve at home? • How can someone tell when you are bored? • What do you do when you are tense? • What is the longest you have been good friends with someone? • What is your favorite game? • What is hard for you to decide? • Do you have nervous habits? What are they?

29. What is personality? Personality is made up of many factors. There are two sides to every personality trait. Conflict can comes when differences occur. Personality factors vary in intensity!

30. Introduction • Show cartoons that exemplify certain Overexcitabilites (OE’s) and ask students to comment on what information the cartoons give about the personality traits of the characters. Point out those traits that are exaggerated by the cartoon in order to make a point.

31. Psychomotor Evident behavior: • Active, energetic • Talks fast • Lots of gestures • Impulsive • Sleep less then others When stressed: ticks, competitive, need to organize

32. Psychomotor Overexcitabilitywww.rocomora.org/gift_selftest.html • I am a high-energy person. • I feel constantly pressured to take action. • I am impulsive. • I have nervous habits. • I am restless, always on the go. • I talk compulsively. • I am incapable of just relaxing.

33. Sensual Evident Behavior: • Love good smells • Hate bad smells • Dislike itchy clothing • Sensitive to light and sound • Center of attention When stressed: • Overindulge • Seek comfort

34. Sensual Overexcitabilitywww.rocomora.org/gift_selftest.html • I often become totally captivated by music/art. • A beautiful sunset mesmerizes me. • Bad sounds, smells, tastes or sights irritate me. • People call me “picky”. • I am prone to drinking or eating too much because this gives me intense pleasure.

35. Intellectual Evident behavior: • Logical • Seeks truth • Observant • Racing mind When stressed: • Analyze things

36. Imaginational Evident Behavior: • Loves images • Creative • Loves fantasy • Strong imagination When stressed: • Tune out • Fear

37. Imaginational Overexcitabilitywww.rocomora.org/gift_selftest.html • I write, speak, dream or think in images. • I enjoy the unusual • I tend to be disorganized in my day to day life. • I think of or treat animals or objects like people. • I tend to daydream • I embellish the truth • I entertain myself by telling jokes, or viewing wacky visual and listening to auditory images.

38. Emotional Evident Behavior: • Extreme emotions • Sensitive to others • Compassionate • Reluctant to change When stressed: • Physical illness • Depression • Highly self-critical

39. Emotional Overexcitabilitywww.rocomora.org/gift_selftest.html • I am extremely sensitive. • I am easily hurt. • I am highly compassionate and caring. • I can describe my feelings with great precision. • I have intense emotional attachments. • I tend to be fearful. • I am intensely critical of myself or others.

40. References Neihart, Maureen, Reis, Sally M., Robisnon, Nancy M. & Moon, Sidney M. (2002). The Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Children. Waco, Texas: Prufrock Press. Mroz, Anna. (2009). Theory of Positive Disintegration as a Basis for Research on Assisting Development. Roeper Review, 31, 96-102. doi: 10.180/02783190902737665 Piirto,Jane. (2010). 21 Years with the Dabrowski Theory. Advanced Development Journal, 12, 1-20, 70-73. Roberts, Julia L. & Inman, Tracy F . (2007). Differentiating InstructionBest Practices for the Classroom. Waco, Texas: Prufrock Press. Ruf, Deborah L. & Radosevich, David M. (2009). How Personality and Gender May Related to Individual Attitudes Toward Caring for and About Others. Roeper Review, 31, 207-216. doi: 10.1080/02783190903177572 Strickland, Cindy. (2000). Retrieved fromaustega.com/gifted/articles/Strickland_Dabrowski.pdf Tillier, William. (2009). Dabrowski Without the Theory of Positive Disintegration Just Isn’t Dabrowski. Roeper Review, 31, pp. 123-126. doi: 10.1080/02783190902737699 Winebrenner, Susan. (2001,1992). Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.