A Century of Findings on Intellectual Precocity: some highlights

The paper From Terman to Today: A Century of Findings on Intellectual Precocity does a lot of mythbusting.

The recently popular notion that IQ > 120 has little incremental utility is dead false. Even small differences in IQ predict significant differences in creative output and odds of having a top-tier income.

Gifted children (and adults) are not fragile creatures with chronic emotional problems, they are “highly effective and resilient” individuals.

Not stated, but implied: IQ measurement in the upper ranges (above 137) is measuring something precisely enough to justify real-world predictions that differ significantly even over single-digit spans.

Not stated, but implied: Multifactor theories of intelligence are bunk. To a good first approximation there is only g. Otherwise the shapes of the bottom four outcome curves in Figure 3 would have to be more divergent than they are.

“g, fluid reasoning ability, general intelligence, general mental ability, and IQ essentially denote the same overarching construct”

“if graduation from college were based on demonstrated knowledge rather than time in the educational system, a full 15% of the entering freshmen class would be deemed ready to graduate.”

“Failure to provide for differences among students is perhaps the greatest source

of inefficiency in education.”

“Overall, there does not seem to be an ability threshold [even] within the top 1% beyond which more ability does not matter.”

A marked characteristic of the profoundly gifted is “willingness to work long hours.”