Personality, Learning Style and Cognitve Style Profiles of Mathematically Talented Students

Clear personality differences were found for a sample of academically talented students when compared to a general population of same age students. On the Myers‐Briggs dimensions, the academically talented students differed significantly from the comparison group on all four dimensions. Specifically, the academically talented group expressed greater preferences for introversion, intuition, and thinking. Although there were more judging types in this group than in the comparison group, overall more academically talented students expressed a preference for a perceptive style. They also tended to be higher on achievement motivation and lower on interpersonal and social concerns. In particular, a cognitive style that empasizes a thinking over a feeling mode appears to mediate gender differences in mathematics ability and achievement.