The intellectual and psychosocial nature of extreme giftedness

Abstract

The highly gifted create structure, generate ideas, and efficiently process information in ways that are qualitatively superior to moderately gifted and average ability individuals. Typically, adult academic and occupational achievements are also superior. Their advanced need to know tends to narrow their self‐concept such that consistent, accurate, and valid feedback is more difficult to obtain. The net effect of this is a tendency toward low self‐esteem.