Extreme Giftedness

Giftedness and evidence for reproducibly superior performance: an account based on the expert performance framework

“…Furthermore, findings from these investigations consistently demonstrate differences in the quality and intensity of practice activities (or equivalently, in the quantity of deliberate practice) between experts and individuals of lesser skill. Our disagreements with von Károlyi and Winner's (2005) position concerns the causes of engagement in deliberate practice. Von Károlyi and Winner (2005) assert that 'A rage to master typically accompanies high ability, and both rage to master and high ability must have an inborn, biological component' (p. 379, italics added).…”

“…Our disagreements with von Károlyi and Winner's (2005) position concerns the causes of engagement in deliberate practice. Von Károlyi and Winner (2005) assert that 'A rage to master typically accompanies high ability, and both rage to master and high ability must have an inborn, biological component' (p. 379, italics added). Winner (1996a, p. 274) argues that gifted children are 'intrinsically motivated to acquire skill in the domain (because the ease with which they learn)'.…”

“…Several investigators (Sternberg, 1996;Vitouch, 1998;von Károlyi & Winner, 2005) have pointed out that the above evidence is merely correlational. Sternberg (1996, p. 350) argued over 10 years ago that 'Deliberate practice may be correlated with success because it is a proxy for ability: we stop doing what we do not do well and feel unrewarded for' and he even suggested practice was ineffective because 'without the ability, hours of practice can be for minimal or no rewards' (p. 349), although more recently he proposes that 'abilities are forms of developing expertise' (Sternberg, 1999(Sternberg, , 2005.…”

“…Notably, there are only comparatively few prodigies, such as Mozart, Picasso and Yehudi Menuhin, who continued their success into adulthood-most prodigies do not live up to expectations (Barlow, 1952;Bamberger, 1986;Freeman, 2000;Goldsmith, 2000). In a recent critique of the expert performance account von Károlyi and Winner (2005) argued that 'extreme precocity makes its appearance prior to practice and training ' (p. 378), citing examples such as 'Garett, who read at 18 months … a skill typically learned in school at age 6' (p. 378) and 'Amy, who did algebra for fun at age 4' (p. 378). There are many other similar examples from a variety of other domains, but we question the assertion that these individuals 'come ''hard-wired'' with both interest and ability in particular domains' (p. 378, italics added).…”

“…In the fourth and final section we critically examine different types of reported evidence for innate genetic endowments that have been proposed, including research on intelligence and creativity. Throughout our paper we address a number of criticisms raised against the expert performance approach by some theorists of giftedness (Gagné, 2005;Subotnik & Jarvin, 2005;Simonton, 2005;Sternberg, 1996;von Károlyi & Winner, 2005) as well as several commentators to Howe et al's (1998) article. In our concluding section we discuss the implications of our findings for the future study of giftedness.…”