Three New Findings on Intelligence and Giftedness

A few new research findings on human intelligence.

 

The 17th annual meeting of the International Society for Intelligence Research recently published its program. What follows are links to three new findings and brief summaries. Links to the full abstracts and program provide more detail on cutting edge developments in human intelligence and giftedness.

Mothers prefer extraverted rather than intelligent or conscientious children

Rachel Latham and Sophie von Stumm

142 mothers with 0 to 12 month old babies were surveyed about their child’s personality on the Big Five: extraversion, agreeableness, concsientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. Less than 10% of mothers rated intelligence and conscientiousness as most important. 51% of mothers rated extraversion as most important, followed by 20% who rated agreeableness as most important. Overall, mothers believed they had an important influence on the development of their child’s character and that they could encourage or discourage specific traits in their children.

Intelligence can be measured by a variety of video games, especially puzzles

Alicia Aranda, Jesus Privado, Fraciscojavier Roman, Roberto Colom, and Mariangeles Quiroga

Brain games have been found to measure intelligence rather than improve intelligence. A battery of “non-brain” video games (shooter, sports, platforms, strategy, and puzzles) were compared to standard intelligence tests and administered to 75 participants. Overall, the correlation between the “video game factor” and the “intelligence factor” was 0.55. The authors conclude that intelligence can be measured with non-brain video games. Puzzles appear to be most highly related to the intelligence factors.

Gifted kids grow up to be healthy and well-adjusted adults

Harrison Kell, David Lubinski, and Camilla P. Benbow

There is a stereotype that gifted kids don’t end up as healthy or well-adjusted adults. This study examined 3,652 gifted kids who were followed up after age 50 on medical and psychological health outcomes. Gifted males and females tended to have more positive outcomes on the health survey questions than the general population. Although the research is still in progress, findings appear to point to the gifted population being quite healthy and well-adjusted, which is in line with a century of research (the Terman study) that demonstrated intelligence is associated with positive health outcomes.

 

Jonathan Wai, Ph.D., is a psychologist, writer, and research scientist at Duke University.

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ARTICLE 9

 

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