Group Dynamics

Gifted children and adults are accustomed to not being like those around them, and this can make them feel like they exist outside of groups. The term gifted defines individuals by their exceptionalism, by how they stand out or by how many standard deviations they are from the mean. This focus on the individual, however, risks losing sight of the fact that everyone belongs to many groups, such as their family, school, workplace, organization, team, or group of friends. Characteristics of human groups and the implications of group dynamics research for gifted students are reviewed in this entry.

Groups need not be cliques of enforced homogeneity. Indeed, families, schools, sports teams, and organizations of all types contain different roles for different individuals. They can be unified ...