Individual Differences in IQ, Daydreaming and Moral Reasoning in Gifted and Average Adolescents

Previous research found factorial independence between IQ and daydreaming in both gifted and average children and adolescents, supporting Hogan's (1980) three-dimensional model of intelligence. The present study was designed to replicate and extend these findings to older adolescents. The second aim of this research was to relate the decline in guilt and fear of failure daydreams that has been found in studies of children, adolescents, and college students to the development of moral reasoning ability. A total of 98 gifted students and 104 average students in grades 9 through 12 completed a revised form of the Imaginal Processes Inventory and the Defining Issues Test. Measures of daydreaming style were again found to be independent of intelligence. The gifted group was also found to have fewer guilt and fear of failure daydreams and more positive-constructive daydreams than the average group. No relationship was found between moral judgment and guilt and fear of failure daydreaming.