Psychological assessment

Suspected giftedness in a person is not assessed in one particular standardized way but rather depending on the issue in question: Apart from identifying giftedness, assessment might also, for instance, be used to investigate a person’s social behavior, their motivation to learn, or specific ways of providing them with support. When psychological assessment is conducted to determine giftedness, it often involves the use of intelligence tests.

Intelligence tests constitute an important tool for identifying gifted children and adolescents because they are regarded as the most reliable factor in establishing intellectual giftedness. Other important aspects—apart from intelligence—include concentration, creativity, motivation, self-concept, interests, or personality variables as well as social relationships or processes of interaction in the family. Additional data relevant to a particular issue are incorporated into the psychological assessment depending on the question being asked. These include the psychometric assessment of an individual’s personality variables and skills, information on their achievements as well as the subjective opinions of the tested children and adolescents, their parents, and educators.