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Synopsis
The author, a
psychologist with over 35 years’ experience in the lab, classroom, and clinic,
shares two lessons that he has learned in his work with gifted and creative
kids. The first lesson is that talent development among gifted kids requires
more than high intelligence. The second lesson is that success in adult life
requires both head strengths and heart strengths.
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I
love reading success stories about young prodigies who grow up and become
highly accomplished, creative, and successful adults. We all are familiar with
the stories about the Mark Zuckerberg’s, Bill Gates’s, and Lady Gaga’s of the
world. These amazing and heart-warming stories keep those of us in the gifted
field enthusiastic and pumped-up about our own work supporting intellectually
precocious children and youth.
I
have worked with high-ability kids for over 35 years. In a variety of
capacities. In my clinical practice as a psychologist, I have counseled many
very bright and creative kids and their parents. In my academic world at
Florida State University, I teach a gifted course, and direct a research lab
that conducts research on the social and emotional needs of gifted and creative
kids. And I served as Executive Director of the Duke University gifted
program, TIP, which provides fast-paced and highly challenging summer academic
programs for the brightest-of-the-bright adolescents.
In
my career as a psychologist working with gifted and creative students, two
lessons stand out as particularly memorable, even poignant. The first
lesson is that development of talent among highly gifted and highly creative
kids requires more than intellectual ability, more than what I call, ‘head
strengths.’ The second lesson that I’ve learned over the years is that
success in adult life requires both head strengths and heart strengths. Let me
very briefly explain what I mean.
With
young gifted students, even child prodigies, we can at best only predict the
likelihood of later outstanding accomplishment, such as this year’s winner of
the Nobel Prize in Literature, Svetlana Alexievich, or Maryam Mirzakhani, the
first woman to ever win the most prestigious award in mathematics, The Fields
Medal, in 2014. The reality is that a great many students identified as gifted
when very young grow up and, as adults, demonstrate no special or extraordinary
talent. Not everyone with super intelligence turns out to be a Stephen
Hawking or a Steven Spielberg, or a William Campbell, 2015 winner of the
Nobel Prize in Medicine.
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Giuseppi
Verdi (Image source: The Guardian UK)
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Equally
intriguing, many kids who were not recognized as having any special gifts when
young are “late bloomers,” and astound us with extraordinary inventions and
accomplishments as adults! For example, Giuseppi Verdi sketched his ideas for
composing Othello at age 73! And the famous detective fiction writer, Raymond
Chandler, didn’t write his first short story until he lost his job during the
Great Depression at age 44. The lessons here are that it is not always easy to
predict who will reach their full potential in life – including very gifted
child prodigies. And that many non-aptitude factors go into the algorithm in
determining who, exactly, will end up traveling the greatest distance along
ones imaginable success trajectory!
The
full development and actualization of talent at its highest levels requires, in
most professions and fields, more than high intellectual ability. Developing
gifted and creative children’s talents requires time and hard work, what the
Chinese aptly term “chi ku,”
meaning “eating bitterness.” The development
of our very best and most creative writers, scientists, engineers, surgeons,
detectives, teachers, artists, performers, political leaders, and others
requires a tremendous amount of practice, considerable patience and
stick-with-it-ness, and a healthy dosage of frustration tolerance. To reach the
highest levels in any field also requires a passion to excel in that chosen
profession, and available adults who serve as mentors and role models. And
luck!
The
second lesson that I’ve learned is that, as adults, gifted individuals’
happiness, sense of well-being, and feeling of fulfilment, requires both head
strengths and heart strengths. Over the years, I have kept in
touch with a great many former highly gifted and creative students; I have
followed with great interest their career paths and also their personal life
trajectories. Not all of these gifted kids grow up and become happy and
successful adults! Some dropped out of college, and others were admitted
but did not finish medical school, law school, architecture school, and other
career pursuits. Some, as adults, struggle with feelings of loneliness,
depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, and a lack of meaning in their lives. Some
have even acknowledged thoughts of suicide. The message that I have taken
away from this is that not all gifted and creative kids successfully navigate
the turbulent waters of adolescence and find a safe and supportive harbor in
adult life. Not all young gifted and creative kids turn out to be successful
and well-adjusted adults. Gifted kids, by definition, all possess impressive
intellectual abilities. And many also possess a good amount of raw creativity –
‘head strengths.’
What
some gifted and creative kids lack in equal measure, however, are what I call,
‘strengths-of-the-heart.’ Heart strengths are not emphasized in today’s
classrooms, with our emphasis on academics, learning, and STEM education
initiatives. We in the USA and globally are very focused on head strengths. And
we’ve all but forgotten about heart strengths. In my clinical work, I have
found that heart strengths are particularly valuable in the lives of gifted
kids as they grow up. These heart strengths include humility, compassion,
gratitude, enthusiasm, concern for others and the larger world that they are
part of, kindness. And even playfulness. Research in our lab and my
own clinical experience strongly suggest that these heart strengths often can
make a real difference in whether a gifted or creative kid grows up to be a
happy, well-adjusted, and successful adult.
Steven
Pfeiffer is a Professor at Florida State
University, where he serves as Director of Clinical Training of FSU’s PhD
program in combined counseling psychology and school psychology. Prior to his
tenure at Florida State, Steven was a Professor at Duke University, where he
served as Executive Director of Duke’s Talent Identification Program for gifted
students (TIP)
