Joe Renzulli | Task Commitment

We continue this week's theme of Task Commitment on Curious Quotes, Points To Ponder, & Inspiring Insights with Joe Renzulli's definition of the term from his Three Ring Conception of Giftedness. 

There is a long, fascinating, and sometimes scandalous history of Renzulli's Three Ring Conception of Giftedness that was first published in 1978 in the Phi Delta Kappan entitled What Makes Giftedness? Reexamining a Definition. Over the years, the three rings have been reproduced on countless numbers of slides. I myself have produced a variety of different versions while never quite seeming to get the rings to line up just right. After many revisions I think that I have created what I consider to be the definitive version. I also have created slides like this one that provide a definition of each of the rings. 

For the definition, I went back to the original 1978 article to see what Renzulli had to say about each of the three factors. Here is the full quote about task commitment and how it is different than motivation. 

“A second cluster of traits that are consistently found in creative/productive persons constitutes a refined or focused form of motivation known as task commitment. Whereas motivation is usually defined in terms of a general energizing process that triggers responses in organisms, task commitment represents energy brought to bear on a particular problem (task) or specific performance area.” 

It is the phrase "brought to bear upon" that is of particular interest to me. Renzulli goes on later in the article to discuss how it is the interaction of the three rings that produce gifted behaviors and it is those behaviors that are ​"brought to bear upon" a general or specific performance area. 


Renzulli, J. (1978). What Makes Giftedness? Reexamining a Definition. The Phi Delta Kappan, 60(3), 180-261.