Although there are numerous studies of gifted students, there have been no studies following up the very high IQ students into adulthood. Using the Terman files, 26 subjects with scores above 180 IQ were compared with 26 randomly selected subjects from Terman's sample. Findings were generally that the extra IQ points made little difference and that extremely high IQ does not seem to indicate “genius” in the commonly understood sense of the word.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
GallagherJ., & MossJ.New concepts of intelligence and their effect on exceptional children. Exceptional Children, 1963, 30(1), 1–5.
2.
GolemanD.1,528 little geniuses and how they grew. Psychology Today, February 1980.
3.
HollingworthL.Children above 180 IQ. New York: World Book Company, 1942.
4.
SearsR. R.Sources of life satisfaction of the Terman gifted men. American Psychologist, 1977, 32, 119–128.
5.
SearsP. S., & BarbeeA. H.Career and life satisfaction among Terman's gifted women. In StanleyGeorge, & Solano (Eds.), The gifted and the creative: A fifty year perspective. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1978.
6.
StottL., & BallR.Infant and preschool mental tests: Review and evaluation. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 1965, 30, 4–42.
7.
TermanL. (Ed.). Genetic studies of genius (Vols. 1–5). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1925–1959.
8.
WittyP.Contributions to the IQ controversy from the study of superior deviates. School and Society, 1940, 51, 503–508. (Reprinted in Barbe (Ed.), Psychology and education of the gifted. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1965).