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The way in which children are identified in a given society, especially the way that their peculiar mental, intellectual and moral situations are recognized, has concrete implications for the manner in which they are cared for. Cognitive identification is, therefore, an issue that sparks off social strategies, especially parental strategies. This paper adopts this perspective to analyse the social use of the label “gifted children,” seen as a successful attempt by upper- and middle-class families to make use of an alternative psychological identification against the dominant academic identification – with the result that their educational power grows. Beyond this case, the aim is to propose a general model of children’s cognitive identification. This model offers a coherent view of the diverse institutions involved in cognitive identifications, as well as of the different forms and effects that these identifications can have. Finally, the model suggests that cognitive identification should always be taken into account when the differentiation of socializations is at stake.