10 Characteristics of Gifted Individuals

We explain what a gifted individual is and what its main characteristics are. 

What is a gifted individual?

A gifted individual is a person whose intellectual ability significantly exceeds the average intellectual abilities of a population.

That is why the characteristics shared by the gifted refer only to the intellectual aspect, while in other aspects (physical appearance, social and communication skills, emotions, personality, etc.) they can be very different from each other, like any non-gifted individual. For example, while some tend to be leaders, others (especially in childhood) may suffer from low self-esteem because they feel different from their peers.

Although the gifted are usually identified in childhood, some reach adulthood without knowing that they are, because the lack of stimuli in their family and school environment has not allowed them to manifest their abilities.

Characteristics of a gifted individual :

Innate ability

Concrete skills can be developed through learning and training. On the contrary, the intellectual ability of a gifted individual appears from birth. That is why the gifted tend to manifest themselves as such even from childhood.

Fast learning

In a non-gifted individual, learning helps develop different skills, so it is usually a relatively slow process. Since the gifted already have developed intellectual abilities, learning is fast.

This is because new intellectual activities do not require new skills to be developed, but simply to use existing ones. They are able to immediately use the skills and knowledge learned, meaning that their theoretical knowledge can be made practical .

Memory

The gifted possess extraordinary memory capacity. They are able to recall information immediately (without requiring repetition) and in large quantities. In addition, they can interrelate the information learned.

Curiosity

Gifted people actively seek information, ask questions, or search for themselves, since they are very good observers and readers, meaning that their learning is mainly self-taught. In some cases, their curiosity is focused on a particular topic and in other cases their interests are varied. It is due to their curiosity and memory that they have general knowledge of surprising breadth.

Creativity

The creativity of the gifted is often seen primarily in their originality in solving problems in new ways and in finding new ways of doing things.

Problems can be a source of motivation. They have a great ability to solve them due to their exceptional capacity for reasoning, abstraction, and understanding, but it is also due to their ability to apply the knowledge acquired in one area to any other, as well as their speculative ability. That is to say that his ideas not only come from the knowledge already acquired but he himself generates new ideas and knowledge.

Perfectionism

They aspire to achieve the highest performance of their abilities. Your dissatisfaction with less than expected results can turn into anger.

Independence

They have no interest in submitting to authority or following other people's rules. Therefore, when they are children they can seem capricious and undisciplined, but in reality, they are capable of following rules determined by themselves and they can even have a strict moral sense and respond appropriately when responsibilities are delegated to them. However, their lack of predisposition for submission can cause them problems from childhood, causing isolation and even the inability to express their high capacity.

Hyperactivity

Rest is not usually a priority and they are easily bored and impatient. They use the time satisfying their curiosity or overcoming the challenges it offers them (when their family or educational environment provides them).

Hypersensitivity

The gifted suffer deeply from the injustices and pain of others. Your suffering may seem exaggerated to other people.

Dyssynchrony

Dysynchrony is the fastest development in some aspects of the individual than in others, and in the case of the gifted, it occurs in childhood and adolescence since in those periods their motor and emotional capacities are still in training. Although it has been observed that the gifted can have very dissimilar personality characteristics, the dyssynchrony caused by rapid intellectual development and other developments at a normal pace can have consequences on their personalities.

• Intellect-psychomotor skills. They can learn to read before they can write since they develop intellectual capacity before the motor capacity to write.
• Reasoning-language. Although the gifted have rapid learning and use of language, their understanding of abstract concepts may be even faster, and therefore they may not be able to express their ideas clearly.
• Intellect-affectivity. Although they have intellectual capacities similar to those of an adult, gifted children are not capable of supporting themselves emotionally. In fact, your mental capacity can be difficult to process. Also, feeling different from others can lead to low self-esteem.
• At school. The distance between their ability and the challenges offered by school causes them to lose motivation, with the consequent failure to complete tasks, behavioral problems and can even lead to school failure. This is one of the reasons why many gifted people do not identify as such.

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