Temperament and the Cognitive Modifiability of Academically Superior Black Adolescents in South Africa

TEMPERAMENT is characterised as the relatively stable dimension of human functioning, while intelligence is increasingly seen as a dynamic process. This study investigated the relationship between temperament and cognitive modifiability in an academically successful but disadvantaged South African population. For 92 adolescents in the Soweto Gifted Child Programme, the relationship was determined between their ratings on the Teacher Temperament Questionnaire and their performance on the Learning Potential Assessment Device and other measures of cognitive ability and learning. The Task Orientation and Personal‐Social Flexibility temperament dimensions were directly related to learning, academic performance and cognitive change. A more complex relationship was suggested for the Reactivity dimension, in that more intense and reactive subjects tended to perform better in unstimulating situations, while under more facilitative learning conditions, a higher performance level tended to be associated with a lower reactivity level. The findings support the possibility of an interaction between temperament and cognitive growth and demonstrate the usefulness of considering these individual difference variables in combination with each other.