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The Nature of Genius in Today's Society

High Cognitive Ability (HCA) is something we idealize in society but don't often understand its nature. Those with HCA are known to have developed new and unique contributions to society that range from business to art. For example, Steve Jobs grew Apple into a successful business and Picasso produced master works in Art. Each of them had a unique skill that was channeled into some constructive activity. It is important to understand genius in society so they can be tasked for the greatest benefit. I read a book entitled Genius Gift or Curse? by Dr. James MacLean that delves into the biological and key modifiers of genius behavior. He studies multiple geniuses throughout history and uses his own practice to understand how HCA influences life and behavior. The work further provides an understanding of the mixed blessing and curse high intelligence bring with it and the benefit of channeling this intelligence into some useful activity. Genius can either be a positive force or a neg

Mental Models of the Prodigy and Gifted

Researchers have often what makes the gifted and child prodigy different from the rest of the population. Memory, intelligence, sensory perception, etc. are some of the explanations. A paper postulated by Larry Vandervert (2007) discusses that the learning power in the gifted is based on collaboration between cognitive functions and memory to create “acquisition of superior power, control, and speed of motor activities”. This results in better selection of potential actions based on representative situations. In this case, practice makes perfect.  As feed forward cerebellar control models are fed back through working memory areas of the cortex the thought processes of working memory become faster, more focused, and optimally timed (Ivry, 1997). It is the process of developing models, sending through memory, and creating a performance outcome. The models continue to develop with experience and reflection (memory) to create stronger models.  What is a feed forward cerebel

Gifted Moral Development in Youth Far above College Students

Derryberry, et. al. (2005), works to understand the early moral development in gifted populations. When comparing gifted youth to adult college students they found that such youth were more advanced than their adult peers. The research is designed to help understand the nature of giftedness, how to foster further development, and to encourage possible transfers to other members of the population. Moral development has a number of stages. At the lowest stage such development is associated with a personal interest schema, then norm maintenance, and then the post-conventional schema (Rest. et.al, 1999). Each stage indicates a level of personal development that grows overtime. A large percentage of society never advances beyond the first or second stage. At the lowest stage of personal interest schema people naturally interpret morality through what is best for them. This means that people are involved in self-serving interests and associations. In the maintaining norms schem

Scientists Find the Interconnectivity of Einstein's Brain

Albert Einstein was unique in that the corpus callosum that connects both sides of his brain had high density connections that further led to a higher level of thinking and creativity. Researchers from Weiwei Men of East China Normal University and Dean Falk from Florida State University studied his preserved brain and found that the thickness of his corpus callosum was much greater than others, indicating additional nerve connections.  Previous research has shown that the interconnectivity of the brain and the ability to process from differentiated locations can create higher levels of thinking and creativity. It is considered a gifted trait whereby the holders have higher than average ability to learn and can use this processing power to create new and unique connections among various forms of information. This is what leads to scientific breakthroughs.  Research on intelligence has also shown the varying forms in which some people excel and learn is based in their proc

Book Review: Creating Minds by Dr. Howard Gardner

Creating Minds an Anatomy of Creativity Seen through the Lives of Freud, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham and Gandhi by Dr. Howard Gardner delves into the personal lives of some of the world’s greatest geniuses and their chaotic development into full productivity.   Dr. Howard Gardner is a developmental psychologist and Professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard. He is best known for his ground breaking work on the Theory of Multiple Intelligences.  Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences indicates that people have different processes for learning and developing. Schools often rely on only a few methods leaving many geniuses out of the academic arena. These arenas of learning are in the linguistic, logic-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic.   At present he is also considering an additional intelligence called existential intelligence which is the “consideration of big questions”.  Within the book he