Faculty Books and Book Chapters

Gifted Children

Gifted Children

Book Title

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Document Type

Essay

Publication Date

2020

Editors

Randall Summers, Charles Golden, Lisa Lashley, & Erica Ailes

Keywords

academic achievement, cognitive ability, Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ), gifted children, intellectual ability, intellectual giftedness, Lewis Terman, positive life outcomes

Description

Excerpt

Children can be gifted in a variety of different areas, including musical talent, athleticism, and artistic ability among others. The focus of this entry will be solely on those children who are gifted in intellectual ability and academic achievement. Identification of intellectual giftedness usually requires an individually administered intelligence test, achieving a Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ) of 130 or higher, which is a threshold that dates back to Lewis Terman’s research at Stanford in the early to mid 20th century. Although this seems like an arbitrary score, an IQ score of 130 and above is where an individual scores two standard deviations above the population average score, thus falling in the upper 2% of the population. This level of cognitive ability is correlated with many positive life outcomes such as increased level of education, higher income, and longer life expectancy, although results may vary widely across this high intelligence group.

Additional Information

This is one in a collection of essays as part of a project that began as an encyclopedia of developmental psychology coordinated by Dr. Randall Summers. However, for unforeseen reasons, the publisher was no longer in a position to publish the encyclopedia. This project was undertaken so that thousands of hours of work by psychologists would not go wasted. Enjoy these essays and feel free to cite them using the proper format.

Submit suggestions for corrections and topics to goldench@nova.edu.

Disciplines

Psychology

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