When I was a kid, I was very good at frustrating my school psychologists. When I was 10, my parents wanted me to try out private school since I didn't seem to be receiving much enjoyment from the public school I was attending. They consulted a school psychologist to determine the best placement. I remember the day quite vividly, the day when I took an IQ test.
I remember thinking (as well as expressing quite repeatedly to the frustration of my poor, patient, elderly, school psychologist) such questions as, "Why do I have to pick one of the answers provided?", "But I can justify why more than one answer is correct!", and "Would you mind if I modified this question a bit? This wording sucks." I still have the report the psychologist wrote up that day. Suffice it to say, my IQ score that day wasn't spectacular. In fact, my parents tell me that when the psychologist met with them after I underwent his battery of tests, he didn't know what to do with me. On the one hand, I was one of the most creative test takers he's ever seen. Unfortunately, he told my parents, that didn't earn me many points on the test. All ended well though. I went to a private school for students with "learning difficulties" for one year, and ended up having one of the most enjoyable years of my life with people I found quite interesting, unique, and creative.
So why do I tell such a personal story to introduce my new blog? These early experiences I had in school fueled in me a curiosity about what the heck intelligence is all about. Then I discovered science-a way to actually answer these questions, and get closer and closer to the truth. Through this blog, I want to share findings about the nature of human intelligence and creativity, and how these abilities and ways of thinking impact on our daily lives, education, and society at large. My research has led me to surprising findings. For instance, as much as I wanted to find that IQ doesn't matter, I haven't found much support for that idea. More on that later...
For now, I just want to say that my search for the truth wherever it leads me has in fact led me to a new conceptualization of human cognition far different than when I first entered graduate school, yet ultimately more satisfying and supported by facts. I am eager to share all of this with readers of this blog and receive feedback in return.
I was always the kid on the playground who befriended at least one person from every clique. With the punk rockers, I'd throw on my jean jacket and complain about the oppression of society. With the nerds, I'd whip out my calculator at lunchtime and share new calculator games (Tetris was the bomb, wasn't it!?) with my fellow owners of the awesome TI-92. With the jocks, I'd seriously bruise myself playing basketball but always wore long jogging pants so the bruises wouldn't show. Now, as a graduate student in cognitive psychology, I like hanging out with people from as many perspectives as I can to more completely understand the nature of human intelligence and creativity. Therefore, in my posts I hope to mix multiple perspectives, such as philosophy, cognitive science, evolutionary psychology, and social psychology to get closer to the answers to such questions as, "What's the link between intelligence and creativity?", "What level of IQ do you need to be a genius?", "What is giftedness?", "How many minds do we have in one body?", "What is the implication of the fact that we might have multiple minds for understanding intelligence and creativity?", "what is the role of intelligence and creativity in human mate selection?", "Can beautiful minds be just as sexy as beautiful bodies?", etc. etc.
Lots of questions. That's OK, because there is lots of fascinating research out there. I am excited and optimistic that we are on the verge of more fully understanding the nature of human intelligence and creativity, but only if we listen to multiple perspectives and keep an open mind.
I would like this blog to be as interactive as possible. Please post comments. Even personal ones. Or if you are shy and don't wish to post your ideas to the world, email me at beautifulminds@scottbarrykaufman.com. Of course, I don't have all the answers. I will share as much as I know at the moment about the nature and nurture of human intelligence and creativity. And hopefully, through this journey, we will all learn more about these fascinating topics.
Let's start with the basics though. In my next post, I will describe the elusive, enigmatic, yet ever present g factor.
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As an aside, if you too would like to create your own placement on the IQ spectrum, check out the very creative website GlassGiant.com where you can make your own pictures!
This sounds interesting! I
This sounds interesting! I don't comment on blogs much, but I'm trying to make it more of a habit, so let me introduce myself...
I'm a college student studying Biochemistry but I have a lot of interests and happen to read an excessive amount (including blogs) about psychology/related topics. I have spent the majority of my school years getting straight A's and I was identified as "gifted" in middle school, whatever that means. My journey through school was interesting, mostly because I often found school boring... so I could be a little difficult. I'm the oldest of five kids, and I was aware very early that somehow I'd ended up in the role of the "smart one," and that my younger siblings all thought and learned very differently from me. My younger brother seemed as smart as me at home, but in elementary school he floundered and they tried to convince my mother he was mentally challenged. Turns out he's quite smart, just has a few odd little learning disabilities. He hasn't been a school superstar, but he does well enough and excels at public speaking and cooking. (He's attending culinary school starting this fall.) But anyhow, I got very interested in learning and education because even in my own family I saw so much variation in how people learned and how well they were served by traditional education. My pre-college education almost included college courses + a private school, as I was very bored in my public school, but my family moving to Indiana eventually landed me at IASMH, a residential school for "gifted" kids. That was interesting to say the least.
So anyhow, sorry for the long intro, but as you can see, this blog is right up my alley. So if it goes how I'm guessing it will from your intro above, I'll be sticking around.
Smart or creative? I'd like to buy an "and."
Ah yes, I recall my IQ test in 2nd grade.
I had just moved to Florida from Canada, and one of the questions was "How many feet are in a yard?" In Canada, we use meters. I thought they meant a backyard (that was the only sort of yard I knew) and my answer was 22.
Then I was told to take these pictures and "put them in the proper narrative order" (or some 2nd grade version of that language). Who knows how I scored on that section, but I remember thinking, "Well, if I put them in this order, then this is how the story goes, and if I put them in THIS order, then THIS is how the story goes." But who's to say what makes a story "correct"? I'll bet the makers of Memento would have failed that section.
I managed to do well on the test regardless and got put in "gifted," which actually was a great program for students who hadn't asked too many questions during their IQ test (Scott). I got to be creative there. I got to be challenged. It was a great atmosphere, with a silly way of getting in the door.
I'm an artist now, living in LA. Among my pursuits are acting, writing, and reading scripts for a company I'm starting. As an artist, I value my ability to create interesting, creative, innovative narrative structures, structures that the common school psychologist probably wouldn't think "logical." In fact, part of my theater training in college involved bringing in random photographs, arranging and rearranging them in different orders, and coming up with narratives to justify their order. Apparently we all had low IQs at Yale if we were messing around with storylines.
I'm actually working in intertainment (internet entertainment) right now, and it allows for possibilities other than the traditional, linear presentation of stories. IQ-test-makers, beware! You just may encounter a sort of genius you hadn't theorized about or accounted for on your linear spectrum! Uh oh!
I look forward to joining the conversations. :)
faye.
Yay Gifted!
I was also labeled gifted in elementary school, but I was never very satisfied with the gifted classes that were provided to me. Florida public schools are awful. :P
Anyway, I really think I'm going to enjoy this blog! I wanted to take classes at school about giftedness, but the only kind of classes available for that were in the education department, and I would have had to take too many prerequisite classes in order to take them, and I'm not an education major. Funny how there weren't any classes about "giftedness" in the psychology department...
Really looking forward to your blog postings!
Thanks for the comments
I have enjoyed reading all of your comments. It looks like you all have something in common-- you were all labeled as gifted but still question the system. Indeed, it is probably that curiosity that got you labeled as gifted in the first place!
I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts when I start writing about giftedness and the issues surrounding the best ways to identify and nurture those with extraordinary talents. So stay tuned! And please let others who might benefit know about this blog.
Scott
tightly wrapped gifts
I am really looking forward to this blog. I have always been very interested in intelligence and as a therapist who works with adolescents, IQ tests are included in every client file and to be considered during treatment planning. The thing I most often notice is a discrepencey between the IQ scores and projected intelligence of clients who have been severely abused. It is common knowledge that emotional trauma may lead to cognitive defecits, however, I wonder if there are still intellectual gains being made during the truamatic times that simply can't be accessed until the emotional turmoil is under control. Might people learn to manage thier emotions first before addressing more typical intellectual challanges?
In my own experience, I was never lableled as gifted. In fact I remember watching the HP (High Potential) kids be taken from our fifth grade class every Friday to go discuss things apparently too complex for us AP ( Average Potential) students. I scored very poorly in math thorughout my adolescent years and thought of myslef as illogical and not so bright overall. I also had extreme social anxiety and felt this occupied a large part of my intellectual energy. Once I began taking anti-anxiety meds as an adult, I actually felt more capable and an IQ test revealed that I was in the 96th percentile for intelligence. I don't base much on a number, but couldn't help but question the coincedence of my strong intellectual gains occuring at the very time of my recovery from crippling social anxiety. Who knew I had "high potential" beneath my emotional distress?
Response to Becky
Dear Becky,
Thank you for sharing your story. The discrepancy between "potential" and "achievement" that school psychologists often make is not so clear cut. As you astutely point out, various personal factors (e.g., extreme anxiety) can affect an individual’s IQ score during any particular test session. It should be noted however that at the group level, these individual "quirks" wash away, and IQ still has predictive value. But we must never forget that each individual should be treated as an individual during the testing session and their score should be interpreted in the context of their own life history and pattern of strengths and weaknesses.
On a related theme-- high-IQ scorers who perform poorly in school are often labeled "underachievers" whereas low-IQ scorers who perform well in school are often labeled "overachievers". Something I always found curious.
I will return to these themes in later posts. I don't want to get too ahead of my blog, but thought your reflective post deserved a response.
Stay tuned.
Scott
Oooh Fun
Well, this looks fun!!!
I vaguely remember taking the IQ test in the 5th grade and being labeled gifted. I skipped a grade, graduated from high school early, and started college at age 16. I quit college by the time I was 19. I've always loved learning, but I've always hated being around other people or socializing. Like others on here, I'm kinda multitalented too.
I write songs, write poetry and stories, paint, draw, dance, sing, blah blah, etc.
I look forward to this blog.
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