Why Gifted Adults Are Reluctant To Identify Themselves As Gifted

In an earlier post I asked: why are gifted adults reluctant to identify themselves as gifted? Douglas Eby, on his site Talent Development Resources responded with the insight that gifted adults are particularly likely to find intellectual pleasure in determining what is different, incongruent in any situation including the issue of their self-identity.  It’s my understanding that one of the hallmarks of divergent thinking  (common in highly intelligent people) is to question and seek unconventional answers.  Douglas has put his finger on one of the many possible reasons I suspect gifted adults don’t choose to identify themselves as gifted. 

Some more ideas as to why gifted adults are reluctant to identify themselves as gifted:

1. Many, I suspect the majority, of gifted adults simply doesn’t know they are gifted.  I am confident that the lack of information and misconceptions about giftedness are the main reasons that prevent gifted people from identifying themselves.
2. Gifted is a terrible word - I don’t doubt that some people would reject the idea they are a gifted adult simply because the term itself is off-putting.
3. Some of us may know we’re gifted because we attended a gifted programme or wrote an IQ test but were never told what the word gifted could mean.
4. Related to point number one – of the limited information available, much of it has an academic and/or psychological focus which some of us may not relate to.  It’s my sense that the sample of the gifted population described by educators and psychologists is likely to represent a more extreme or adverse experience of being gifted than most of us experience.  I could be wrong about that but I think it’s reasonable to assume that a gifted person who meets with a psychologist may not be representative of gifted people overall.  Having worked in a mental health environment, I am very appreciative and respectful of the positive ways psychology may help some people; however, because much of the writing about giftedness is influenced by psychology, I find there is the tendency to generalize giftedness as  pathology.  Some gifted adults will reject identification of giftedness when linked to or equated with psychological pathology.
5. Labels can be problematic.  They can be limiting, particularly if the label is incorrect or based on incomplete information.  Sometimes people limit themselves by using a label as a crutch.  Also, there is the potential for any group affiliated with a label to use the label as justification for entitlement.  As a result, a gifted adult might not want to identify as a gifted adult because they think it will mean limiting themselves or that they will be limited by others.  Or perhaps, they may not identify with the entitlement mentality that sometimes comes with minorities associated with labels.
6. Some gifted adults are just fine, thank you very much.  Understanding themselves as a gifted adult does not interest them simply because self-examination or identity is not what they’re about.  Furthermore, they’re getting along OK so why would they need to identify themselves as gifted?
7. Some gifted adults feel they’re not that different than anyone else or not significantly different enough to warrant identifying themselves as gifted.
8. On the other hand, for some gifted adults, they associate their ‘gifted qualities’ with difficulties in their life, and because of this, they would prefer to leave it alone.

I’m sure this list still leaves a lot of reasons out.  There are a lot of good reasons for a gifted adult to choose not to call themselves gifted; however, lack of information and awareness are not part of my list of good reasons.  Gifted adults not identifying themselves as gifted results in a Catch-22: less information, narrower understanding of what being a gifted adult mean which in turn lessens the likelihood of a gifted adult recognizing themselves as a gifted adult.  Which brings me to some reasons why I think gifted adults SHOULD consider identifying themselves as gifted……

Tagged as: adult, gifted, Intellectual giftedness, intelligence, Intelligence quotient, IQ