Section 2.2: Dabrowski

As you’ve seen from the previous readings, a gifted child’s emotional state cannot be discounted. Just as they have intensity in their levels of performance and cognitive abilities, they have intensity in the feelings and attitudes, as well. In the following readings, you will see how Kazimierz Dąbrowski (1902-1980), a Polish psychologist and psychiatrist, (and widely seen as the “father” of research into giftedness from an intellectual point of view), developed some important theories to help us better understand our gifted students.

Dabrowski’s Theory of Positive Disintegration, on the surface, seems a bit of a paradox. How can something that is disintegrating be a positive thing? However, it is important in this context to view “disintegration” as the dissolving of previously held attitudes and beliefs, as the individual’s life experiences help that individual to re-frame who and how they are and want to be. From this point of view, disintegration is a positive experience, as it would theoretically lead to growth for the individual.