Giftedness * Talent * Highest talent * Talent promotion *

In current research there is no uniform definition of giftedness. What all the different models have in common, however, is the presence of intellectual performance that is far above average. In addition to high general intelligence, gifted people each have specific intelligence factors that can be available to varying degrees, e.g. verbal, spatial-abstract or mathematical factors. In addition to intellectual ability (intelligence), other areas of ability or talent can be distinguished (such as social or artistic talent, artistic-performing and psychomotor-practical talent), which are considered relatively independent of one another and can be developed to different degrees in each person. When people talk about “giftedness,” however, what is usually meant is the presence of a very high level of general intelligence, i.e. a high level of thinking or problem-solving ability. Traditionally, people are described as “highly gifted” if they achieve an intelligence quotient (IQ) of 130 or a percentile rank of 97.7 or higher in an intelligence test. The percentile rank indicates what percentage of the comparison group achieves the same or smaller values. For example, a percentile rank of 97.7 means that only 2.3 percent of children of the same age achieved the same or better values, i.e. that the child is among the 2.3 percent of the best. Within the group of highly gifted people, a distinction can be made between the highly gifted (usually from a percentile rank of 97.7) and the group of the extremely gifted (from a percentile rank of approx. 99.7). However, a special talent does not mean that exceptional performance will automatically be achieved. Being gifted is neither a guarantee of academic nor professional success. Whether giftedness also manifests itself in exceptional achievements depends on various mediating factors.