The Art Of Mind’s Blog

The more I learn about Giftedness, the more I have discovered an overlap amongst the creative, highly sensitive personality and giftedness. It appears the characteristics and traits run side by side. Inspired by the information I’m discovering, I’m beginning a series focused on Giftedness. I will explore such aspects as What is Giftedness, the different characteristics of being Gifted, the emotional challenges, misconceptions and so on.

What is Giftedness? Although many specialists have attempted to define Giftedness, due to conflicting definitions, there is still much confusion. One of the causes for the confusion is that Giftedness doesn’t always appear in a single skill, but can show up in a multitude of talents as well as emotional characteristics. Giftedness was once measured by academic achievement or extreme intelligence. However, traits such as highly empathetic, very observant, creative, highly curious and even underachieving are also part of the gifted person.

Stated in the 1972 Marland Report to Congress, gifted individuals display high performance in areas such as general intellectual ability, specific academic aptitude, creative or productive thinking, leadership ability, visual or performing arts and psychomotor ability. Giftedness doesn’t necessarily appear in all of theses areas, but can appear either in one or multiple of areas.

Joseph S. Renzulli, an Educational Psychologist, viewed the gifted as individuals who are capable of combining all three characteristics of above-average abilities, discipline or motivation, and extreme creativity and applying them to any area of human performance (1986).

Some of the basic gifted traits can be described as the following:

Highly motivated
Perfectionism
Sharp sense of humor
Highly sensitive and empathetic
Imaginative
Problem solving abilities
Very perceptive/observant
Intense interest
Insightful
Understands abstract concepts
Creative
Superior reasoning abilities
Highly curious
Unusual long-term memory
Contemplative
Learns rapidly
Overwhelmed easily by interests/abilities</em