Evolution of the Ideological Content of the Notion "Giftedness"

The paper aims to trace the evolution of the concept of "giftedness" in the context of accumulation and enrichment of its ideological content with new meanings. We have used the principles and methods of historical, sociocultural and comparative analyses. In particular, the application of the principle of differentiating between the theory and concept helped to identify the subject of research. The paper determines the nature of the concept, its difference from such forms of thought as notion, idea, image. Based on the historical and genetic analysis it became possible to identify and to describe five main stages or ways of conceptualizing giftedness: antique, religious-ethical, empirical, proto-scientific (from the standpoint of particular social sciences), holistic (in the framework of scientific psychology).