ABSTRACT
Most definitions and models of giftedness developed since the early 1980s view giftedness as superior potential rather than superior performance, and acknowledge that the actualization or thwarting of a young child’s potential may arise from factors quite outside his or her control. Gagné (1985, 1995) defines giftedness as superior competence or aptitude, and talent as superior performance, and proposes that a cluster of catalytic factors, including personalogical and environmental variables, interact to facilitate or impede the translation of the individual’s giftedness (potential) into talent (performance).
