10 Characteristics of a Gifted Person

We explain what a gifted person is and what their main characteristics are. We also explain what dysynchrony consists of.

What is a gifted person?

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

That’s why The characteristics shared by gifted people refer only to the intellectual aspectwhile in other aspects (physical appearance, social and communication skills, emotions, personality, etc.) they can be very different from each other, like any non-gifted person. 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.

While the gifted They are usually identified in childhoodSome reach adulthood without knowing it, because the lack of stimulation in their family and school environment has not allowed them to express their abilities.

See also: Intelligence.

Characteristics of a gifted person:

1. Innate ability

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

2. Fast learning

In a non-gifted person, learning helps develop different skills, so it is usually a relatively slow process. Since gifted people They already have developed intellectual abilitieslearning is fast.

This is because new intellectual activities do not require the development of new abilities, but simply the use of existing ones. They are able to immediately use the skills and knowledge they have learned, that is, they are able to use them in a more efficient way. Your theoretical knowledge can become practical.

3. Memory

The gifted They have an extraordinary memory capacityThey are able to remember information immediately (without needing repetition) and in large quantities. In addition, they can interrelate the information learned.

4. Curiosity

Gifted people They actively seek information, asking questions or searching for themselvessince 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. Their curiosity and memory are the reason why they have a surprisingly broad general knowledge base.

5. Creativity

The creativity of the gifted It is usually observed mainly in its originality to solve problems in new ways and to find new ways of doing things.

Problems can be a source of motivationThey have a great ability to solve problems due to their exceptional capacity for reasoning, abstraction and understanding, but it is also due to their ability to apply knowledge acquired in one area to any other, as well as their speculative capacity. In other words, their ideas do not only come from knowledge already acquired, but they themselves generate new ideas and knowledge.

6. Perfectionism

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

7. Independence

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

8. Hyperactivity

Rest is not usually a priority They also get bored easily and are impatient. They spend their time satisfying their curiosity or overcoming challenges offered to them (when their family or educational environment provides them).

9. Hypersensitivity

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

10. Dyssynchrony

Dyssynchrony is faster development in some aspects of the person than in othersand in the case of gifted individuals, it occurs in childhood and adolescence, since during these periods their motor and emotional abilities are still developing. Although it has been observed that gifted individuals may have very different 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 learn to write, since they develop the intellectual capacity before the motor capacity to write.
• Reasoning-language. While gifted individuals are quick learners and users of language, their understanding of abstract concepts may be even quicker, and therefore they may not be able to express their ideas clearly.
• Intellect-affectivity. Even though they may have intellectual abilities similar to those of an adult, gifted children are not able to take care of themselves emotionally. In fact, their mental capacity can be difficult to process. In addition, feeling different from others can lead to low self-esteem.
• At school. The gap between their abilities and the challenges offered by school causes them to lose motivation, with the consequent failure to complete tasks, behavioral problems and even academic failure. This is one of the reasons why many gifted children do not identify themselves as such.