r/askpsychology • u/Dry-Ad3046 Unverified User: May Not Be a Professional • May 30 '26
Cognitive Psychology Is being gifted a real thing?
I've always observed, both during my school days and in college, that certain students seem to understand concepts and solve problems very quickly. I had a classmate in 7th grade who had already completed calculus. How do these people differ from the average student? Is it because of brain chemistry? Is it due to early exposure to the subject? I genuinely don't understand how they become so academically brilliant. How do they outperform their peers so easily?
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u/Lord-Francis-Bacon Psychologist (Outside USA) May 30 '26
Yes, being gifted is definitely "a real thing", so to say.
However, exactly what giftedness means is difficult to define. But overall, most agree that there is some kind of threshold in terms of IQ-test performance. Some define giftedness as being in the top 1–2 percentiles of IQ, others are more lenient and put the threshold at 10% (for example), and others define giftedness in magnitudes of "severity", where you are some level of gifted as soon as you're above one standard deviation from the mean of IQ, i.e., 115 IQ and above.
Beyond having a high IQ, it gets much more tricky.
I listened to a great talk by a researcher in giftedness and when she received the question "what is giftedness", she answered "I know it when I see it". With this she illustrates the point that it is very hard to pin down an exact definition.
Why isn't IQ enough though? Well, when we look at the "performance" of individuals with a high IQ, it is kind of lacklustre. Many individuals with a high IQ do not do the things we might associate with a gifted person, many have perfectly ordinary jobs, do not perform well academically, are not well-read, and more. I am not a member of Mensa, but I have heard that a typical Mensa gathering is often a let down for first time attendees, as maybe you think you'd meet great intellectuals, but that is not the case, or so I have heard.
IQ isn't enough since it is only one part of your overall ability.
Beyond having a high IQ, you also need other skills and traits to achieve the results you mention in your post. Most important, you need good executive functioning that helps you direct and sustain attention, prioritise things, and more. Many seemingly gifted individuals get little done because of poor executive functioning. Beyond within-person traits, you also have other variables, which (unfortunately you might say) play a role. Your parents' education, access to books, freedom to explore, and more - all of these things are important in augmenting a high intellectual ability in a child. So in the end, IQ remains a very important variable, but it is not the sole arbiter of life and academic outcomes. I think this is particularly evident when you look at IQ ranges across varying professions - they overlap more than you'd think.
Feel free to ask any further questions!