What Is Talent And What Does It Depend On? The 3 Main Types And Associated Factors
Are you very good at something? Maybe you have a talent! Enter and discover what it is, what types there are and what factors are associated with its development.
In the 20th century in France, a specific law was passed that determined that all boys and girls had to go to school. This measure revealed something and that is that there was a wide range of intellectual differences between the students, the most worrying thing for the teachers of that time being those children who had significant difficulty in acquiring academic content. That is why the psychologists Alfred Binet and Théodore developed a list of questions that varied according to age and which was one of the first instruments to measure intelligence. Through this list, which was initially created to provide support to those boys and girls who needed more help, it was found that there were students with superior abilities.
In this sense, it is quite common to talk about giftedness and talent But these two concepts are often confused, leading to the conclusion that the main difference between the two is that the second can be trained. The reality is that there are many more differences between giftedness and talent. Enter and discover what exactly talent is, what types there are, what makes it different from giftedness and what it depends on.
He talent It is defined as an outstanding ability in carrying out a task that involves a series of specific capabilities. In other words, it is a person who excels above average in a specific area such as, for example, writing, but in other areas he or she obtains a completely normal performance.
When talking about intelligence and high abilities from psychology, a distinction is usually made between gifted people and those with talents Although gifted people are commonly associated with a high IQ score, the reality is that currently, the ability creativity and perseverance in the tasks carried out. Be that as it may, when we think of someone gifted, someone who has ease in everything he or she sets out to do comes to mind, but, on the other hand, when we think of a talented person, someone who, with a lot of effort, can excel comes to mind. in a ability concrete. The reality is that this difference is erroneous and the differences between the two lie in other aspects.
Specifically, one of the aspects that differentiates gifted people from those who have talents are the scores they obtain on tests that measure intelligence:
Giftedness: Gifted individuals obtain minimum scores above the 75th percentile in all areas measured. This means that in all the aspects that are evaluated, the person is above 75% of the population taking into account their age and sex. This score will be reflected in the fact that the person will have a high level of functioning in various intellectual areas and, therefore, greater integration of information.
Talent: A person with a talent does not stand out in all the areas measured but, depending on the talent, stands out above 95% of the population or 80% if he stands out in several areas. Therefore, a talent is when a person stands out above the rest in a certain aspect, such as in art, mathematics, sports, etc. but not in other areas. However, there is one aspect that we must take into account when considering talent. The reality is that depending on the historical moment or the culture, there are certain talents that are appreciated more than others, so sometimes this makes their identification difficult.
Types of talent:
When talking about talent, you can differentiate between different types based on classification. When referring to the number of areas in which a person excels, talent can be differentiated into:
Simple talent: They are those people who have high performance, even more than gifted people in a specific area, that is, they surpass 95% of the population in a certain area. A example of talent It could simply be a child who excels in the verbal area, having a high capacity for writing, dialogue, etc. but, on the other hand, he has a normal performance in mathematics or art.
Multiple talent: Multiple talent occurs when a person excels above the 95th percentile in different areas but these are not related to each other. Therefore, it would be a combination of different talents simple ones that don’t have much to do with each other, such as a person who has mathematical and artistic talent.
Complex talent: Complex talent, on the other hand, is when high performance (above the 80th percentile) is present in areas that can be combined with each other. In this type of talent, the following can be identified, for example:
Academic talent: This type of talent is usually characterized by people who have high aptitudes in areas related to the academic field, such as verbal, mathematical, numerical, etc.
Artistic talent: People with complex artistic talent are characterized by excelling in areas related to creativity, spatial mastery, etc.
Within these types of talents They can also be differentiated depending on the area in which they stand out, such as, for example, they can be differentiated between: social talent mathematical talent, kinesthetic talent, musical talent, etc.
What does talent depend on?
It is common to think that intelligence is a solely genetic issue, that boys and girls with high abilities are born having these characteristics. The reality is that although intelligence does depend on a genetic component, neither high abilities nor talents respond solely to genetic factors. Therefore, although a person has a certain IQ, throughout childhood certain factors must be present that promote its expression. But… What factors are those?
G factor (also called general intelligence factor or general intelligence): This factor is determined by the performance that a person obtains in cognitive tasks such as, for example, memory, reasoning, etc., that is, they are basic areas for execution of all the tasks that a human being can perform.
Non-intellectual factors: Among the non-intellectual factors we can place motivation, dedication, commitment, etc. Being gifted or talented does not mean that you do not have to make efforts or that you do not need to be motivated to master a specific area. In this sense, regardless of intelligence, to master an aspect, you need to be involved in the tasks and have motivation to learn. In fact, although one may think otherwise, many people who are gifted sometimes suffer from academic failure due to being poorly motivated by the tasks or content given in class.
Environmental factors: There are different environmental factors, such as family and school, that determine the talent development or giftedness. Growing up in an environment that provides you with the necessary stimuli to develop these capabilities is essential. On the other hand, socioeconomic factors, opportunities, lifestyle, etc. They also influence this development.
People with high abilities usually need specialized attention to develop, as well as to prevent problems that are sometimes associated, such as academic failure, low self-esteem, interpersonal problems, etc. Therefore, it is important to go to a specialized professional so that they can assess both your educational and psychological needs and who can offer you a personalized service.
