Giftedness: The Psychological Basis of Eminence

Introduction

The first study of giftedness was conducted by Sir Francis Galton who posited that giftedness was largely hereditary in his study of eminent families. To this day in regards to giftedness, the subject of nature and nurture remains heavily debated. Still, there is much evidence to suggest that although innate ability exists in those that are gifted, considerable intensive and deliberate practice may be involved in bringing one's gifts to total fruition.

Lewis Terman studied children with IQs of 140+ and found them to be exceptionally healthy, well-adjusted, and astoundingly morally developed. However, since the late 1950's (his study was published in 1959), evidence has shown poor work and academic habits on part of the gifted, as well as worse peer relationships accompanied by more emotional distress. This was interpreted to be due to the fact that the gifted often become aware of the world's moral, ethical, and existential dilemmas earlier.

In order to study giftedness in any capacity, it is important to define it. Since Terman's time, intelligence quotient has been insufficient to define giftedness, as it has taken on a multidimensional meaning.

Renzulli's Three Rings

Renzulli has suggested a three-ring model of giftedness in which three conditions must be satisfied:

• Outstanding general ability as measured by IQ or other domain-specific aptitude test.
• Creativity in the domain of high skill.
• High levels of commitment and motivation to further develop skill in the aforementioned domain.

Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Gardner proposed that the term intelligence is rather general and can be broken down into different intelligences. Giftedness does not, then, mean high overall intelligence, but outstanding ability in one or more of these domains. These intelligences are:

• Linguistic - refers to production and interpretation of language.
• Logical-mathematical - refers to facility with numbers and abstract symbol systems.
• Spatial - refers to perceiving and transforming visual-spatial relationships.
• Musical - refers to sensitivity of pitch, rhythm, and timbre.
• Bodily Kinaesthetic - refers to sensitivity and control of bodily movements.
• Interpersonal - refers to interpersonal relationships and ability to perceive and influence others' intentions.
• Intrapersonal - refers to understanding of one's own psychological and physical strengths.

Gardner posits that each of these domains follows a unique course of phylogenetic and ontogenetic development and are available for psychometric measurement. He also posits that brain damage may influence one of these intelligences, but not others.

Sternberg's Wisdom, Intelligence, Creativity, Synthesized (WICS) Model

Sternberg posits that wisdom, intelligence, and creativity are essential for the expression of giftedness. For Sternberg, gifted people use their intelligence in a creative way and have the wisdom to determine how to use their abilities in order to better society. Sternberg posits a traiarchic theory of intelligence, defined as "the capacity to use analytical, creative, and practical abilities to achieve goals within one's sociocultural context by using strengths and compensating for weaknesses in order to select, shape, or adapt to the environment." Creativity was deemed to be "buying low and selling high," in which an idea is developed in which few people are interested but, but en masse become convinced of the new idea.

Savants

It may be worth our time to define savants as those who have shown exceptional ability in one domain that does not transfer to others. This is different than very good performance in a given domain exhibited by high-IQ individuals and has a degree of specificity. There is a high correlation with autism-spectrum disorders and traits and savant skills.

Genetic and Environmental Factors of Giftedness

Attributing psychological phenomena to heritability or environment can be rather messy. To further complicate things, those who are gifted in a given domain tend to exercise their strengths in that domain often and intensively, making the nature/nurture debate of giftedness one of entanglement. In investigations of giftedness in music, arts, writing, language, chess, mathematics, sports, memory, and knowledge, Vinkhuyzen et al, (2009) found heritability estimates between 0.5 and 0.9 for teenage and young adult twin pairs. Further, studying a cohort of twin pairs aged 6-71, they found heritability of high cognitive ability was 0.5. Based on this study, at least half of the skill in a domain for a gifted person comes from genetics. However, one is left to wonder where the rest of the skill comes from, which suggests environment plays a particular role. This means that intensive training in a given skill can and does attribute to giftedness. Further, one has to question how cyclical the natures of giftedness and the question of nature/nurture are.

Psychological Well-Being of the Gifted

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In a meta-analysis of epidemiological studies of psychopathology of those gifted and non-gifted, it was confirmed that the gifted typically experience significantly lower levels of anxiety when compared to their non-gifted peers. Further, they are not more depressed or suicidal. There were few studies comparing occurrences of bipolar disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. These results do not confirm the belief that the gifted are often psychologically unwell.

Neurobiological Basis for Giftedness

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The neural resource hypothesis suggests that the brains of gifted people are structurally or functionally different from their counterparts. The neural efficiency hypothesis states that gifted people are more efficient in their neural processes than their counterparts.

The Neural Resource Hypothesis

In support of the neural resource hypothesis, IQ has been positively correlated with head circumference and brain volume. Further, the brain-areas related to the domains of high skill for gifted children have enhanced development.

The Neural Efficiency Hypothesis

In support of the neural efficiency hypothesis, it has been shown repeatedly that the gifted use less neural resources and show less activation in solving problems in their area of expertise as indexed by electroencephalograms.

Conclusion

Although it has been suggested that giftedness is based on intelligence, few, if any, working models of eminence include just intelligence and often avoid pigeon-holing themselves into selecting one specific domain of intelligence. Further, giftedness is expected to come with creativity, and in some models, even wisdom. The study of eminence has not concluded that it is hereditary or environmental, but has concluded that there are an entanglement of variables. So although you can't change your genes (yet), it may be possible to practice your way into giftedness. Furthermore, exercise your creativity and you may find that you are quite gifted. Stunt your creativity and thwart your inner motivations to grow and learn and you may find yourself straying from the path of giftedness


It may seem tempting to believe that once you're gifted, you will always be gifted, or, conversely, that once you're normal, you'll always be normal. It is important to understand that there is much that one can do to veer onto the path of greatness.