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Do Contributors to Intellect Explain the Moral Judgment Abilities of Gifted Youth?

Western Kentucky University, pitt.derryberry{at}wku.edu

Brian Barger

Elise Middle School

To assess reaction time and attributional complexity as factors contributing to the relatively high moral judgment of gifted youth, a sample of 30 gifted youth and 30 college students responded to a computerized measure of moral judgment development, which also indexed reaction time. Additionally, participants completed a measurement of attributional complexity and reported American College Test (ACT) scores. Statistically significant differences favored the gifted in moral judgment development, reaction time, and attributional complexity. Regression analysis revealed that attributional complexity explained a significant amount of variance, whereas ACT scores and reaction times accounted for minimal variance. Although reaction time did not predict moral judgment developmental difference, discussion is offered to suggest how gifted youth, such as those in this study, might benefit from using their reaction time when considering moral situations.

Putting the Research to Use: The results of this study support the view that complex information processing and reaction time abilities of gifted youth are transferred to their moral judgment development. In sum, in comparison with a control group of college students, the gifted youth considered in this study appeared to process reasons for moral decisions in a more in-depth manner and were able to do so in a more efficient manner. Currently, it is unknown why and how this occurs, whether obstacles exist that could block this process, and whether practices exist that could help to facilitate these areas. Applications of these findings should therefore expound on these issues so that the utility of research on gifted moral judgment ability is increased. Applied research should also focus on transferring this understanding to general populations in the hopes of affecting the understanding of moral judgment development overall.

Key Words: middle school • age/developmental stage • high school • college or adult

Gifted Child Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 4, 340-352 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0016986208321806


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