Most people of exceptional intelligence will remain unknown to the public. We can prove this with simple mathematics. A person of IQ 140 (considered profoundly gifted) is in the 99.6th percentile. This means that their IQ is greater than 99.6% of all the population. In other words, people of IQ 140 or greater represent about …
For centuries people have asked, “What thinking processes do mathematicians and research scientists use in making discoveries that advance the frontiers of human knowledge?” Unfortunately, we know little of the mechanisms that lie “under the hood” of our mental awareness. In my post last Monday, I outlined Henri Poincaré’s theory of the subconscious and how …
While we have a reasonably accurate knowledge of how intelligence changes with age, the question of how creativity changes with age remains under debate. Furthermore, it depends on the field in which creativity is measured. It is generally recognized that mathematicians and theoretical physicists reach the peak of their creativity before age 45. Other scientists …
The self-esteem of high IQ individuals spans the full range from low self-esteem to high self-esteem. Our personal self-evaluation, when it is linked to our perception of our ability depends to a large extent on the people to whom we compare ourselves. We see this in sports like golf, where golfers are divided into flights …
The Problem A person with an exceptionally high IQ is usually different from the average person in their interests, their sense of humour, and their worldview. When they are young, they are often tagged with the epithet “nerd,” meaning that they are perceived by others as “weird.” Like everyone else, they want to be included …
A few years ago, I saw a cartoon in which a student, hand raised, asks his teacher, “Sir, may I leave the room; my brain is full?” The cartoonist has captured the natural perception that the brain is like a vessel with a limited capacity. Fortunately, the brain functions differently, otherwise we’d be unable to …
One of the most comprehensive studies of mathematical giftedness was conducted in the Soviet Union between 1955 and 1966, by a team of researchers headed by psychologist Vadim Krutetskii. In describing the results of this research, Krutetskii noted innate differences in the cognitive capacities of children. While carefully sidestepping the Soviet prohibition on linking talent …
Problem: Each face of a cube is marked with a letter. The cube is shown in 3 different positions. Determine the letter on the face opposite: • the face marked X. • the face marked A. • the face marked C. Solution Comparing the cube in positions 1 and 3, we see that …
Oratorical excellence has been celebrated as a form of intelligence since the beginning of the written word. In 725 BCE, the ancient Greek author, Homer wrote: So, the gods don’t hand out all their gifts at once, not build and brains and flowing speech to all. One man may fail to impress us with his …
Francis Galton, who conceptualized the idea of intelligence, asserted that genius could not be attributed to intelligence alone. He attributed genius to “the concrete triple event, of ability combined with zeal and with capacity for hard labour.” In 1978, Joseph Renzulli, building on this idea, introduced what is known as his “three-ring” definition of giftedness. …
