Giftedness Does Not Reside Within a Person: Defining Giftedness in Society Is a Three-Step Process

ABSTRACT This article describes a three-step process by which behaviors are associated with the concept of giftedness. In the first step, a three-way interaction of a person x task x situation leads to some kind of excellence in a societally significant performance. In the second step, that performance is identified as excellent and societally significant. In the third step, the performance is labeled as “gifted” and the person who did the performance potentially as a “gifted person.” Behavior may be excellent (Step 1) and societally significant but not recognized as such (Step 2). Or behavior may be recognized as excellent and even societally significant (Step 2), but not be labeled as “gifted” (Step 3). The article elaborates on this three-step process.