Rather than considering human potential in terms of an unrealized desired state, what if we framed it as gaining momentum in worthy long-term pursuits? This conceptual article, integrating ideas and findings from several scholarly literatures, explores how life purpose can serve as a meaningful, intentional guide for individuals, especially youth, to direct their other potentials into prosocial contributions to society. The argument (a) considers life purpose itself as a form of intrapersonal giftedness different from academic giftedness; (b) describes how life purpose could include distinctions of further potentials: coherence among purpose dimensions, influence on different life domains, reach of others impacted by the youths’ contributions, emphasis to change society, and precocious emergence of purpose’s dimensions and distinctions; and (c) muses how life purpose’s directing of other potentials might become a potential that could be realized by all youth.
AmbroseD. (2016). Twenty-first century contextual influences on the life trajectories of the gifted and talented. In AmbroseD.SternbergR. J. (Eds.), Giftedness and talent in the 21st century: Adapting to the turbulence of globalization (pp. 15–42). Sense Publishers.
2.
AmbroseD.CrossT. L. (2009). Connecting ethics with high ability: An interdisciplinary approach. In AmbroseD.CrossT. L. (Eds.), Morality, ethics, and gifted minds (pp. 3–18). Springer.
3.
AmbroseD.SternbergR. J. (2016). Previewing a collaborative exploration of gifted education and talent development in the 21st century. In AmbroseD.SternbergR. J. (Eds.), Giftedness and talent in the 21st century: Adapting to the turbulence of globalization (pp. 3–14). Sense Publishers.
4.
ArmstrongT. (2017). Multiple intelligences in the classroom (4th ed.). Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
5.
BaileyC. L. (2011). An examination of the relationships between ego development, Dabrowski’s theory of positive disintegration, and the behavioral characteristics of gifted adolescents. Gifted Child Quarterly, 55(3), 208–222. https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986211412180
6.
BermanS. L.WeemsC. F.StickleT. R. (2006). Existential anxiety in adolescents: Prevalence, structure, association with psychological symptoms and identity development. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35(3), 285–292. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-006-9032-y
7.
BerndtT. J. (1981). Age changes and changes over time in prosocial intentions and behavior between friends. Developmental Psychology, 17(4), 408–416. https://doi.org/10.1037/00121649.17.4.408
BrigandiC. B.SiegleD.WeinerJ. M.GubbinsE. J.LittleC. A. (2016). Gifted secondary school students: The perceived relationship between enrichment and goal valuation. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 39(4), 263–287. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162353216671837
10.
BronkK. C. (2012). A grounded theory of the development of noble youth purpose. Journal of Adolescent Research, 27(1), 78–109. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558411412958
11.
BronkK. C.FinchW. H. (2010). Adolescent characteristics by type of long-term aim in life. Applied Developmental Science, 14(1), 35–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888690903510331
BronkK. C.HillP. L.LapsleyD. K.TalibT. L.FinchH. (2009). Purpose, hope, and life satisfaction in three age groups. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4, 500–510. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760903271439
14.
CelikN. D.MertolH. (2018). Gifted students’ purpose in life. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 6(10), 2210–2216. https://doi.org/0.13189/ujer.2018.061019
15.
ChenJ.-Q.MoranS.GardnerH. (Eds.). (2009). Multiple intelligences around the world. Jossey-Bass.
16.
ColbyA.DamonW. (1992). Some do care: Contemporary lives of moral commitment. Free Press.
17.
ColemanL. J.GuoA. (2013). Exploring children’s passion for learning in six domains. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 36(2), 155–175. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162353213480432
18.
CoxC. (1926). Genetic studies of genius: The early mental traits of three hundred geniuses (Vol. 2). Stanford University.
19.
CsikszentmihalyiM.RathundeK.WhalenS. (1993). Talented teenagers. Cambridge University Press.
DabrowskiK.PiechowskiM. M. (1977). Theory of levels of emotional development: Multilevelness and positive disintegration (Vol. 1). Dabor.
22.
DaiD. Y. (2010). The nature and nurture of giftedness: A new framework for understanding gifted education. Teachers College Press.
23.
DaiD. Y. (2014, August). Giftedness in the making: The “being” and “doing” of talent development and creativity. The Esther Katz Rosen Lecture given at the convention of the American Psychological Association Conference, Washington, DC, United States. https://www.apa.org/apf/funding/dai.pdf
24.
DaiJ. Y.MoonS. M.FeldhusenJ. F. (1998). Achievement motivation and gifted students: A social cognitive perspective. Educational Psychologist, 32(2–3), 45–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.1998.9653290
25.
DalozL. A. P.KeenC. H.KeenJ. P.ParkS. D. (1996). Common fire: Leading lives of commitment in a complex world. Beacon Press.
26.
DamonW. (2008). The path to purpose: Helping our children find a calling in life. Free Press.
27.
DavisK.ChristodoulouJ. A.SeiderS.GardnerH. (2011). The theory of multiple intelligences. In SternbergR. J.KaufmanS. B. (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of intelligence (pp. 485–503). Cambridge University Press.
28.
DikB. J.DuffyR. D.StegerM. F. (2012). Enhancing social justice by promoting prosocial values in career development interventions. Counseling & Values, 57(1), 31–37. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-007X.2012.00005.x
29.
EinfeldA.CollinsD. (2008). The relationships between service-learning, social justice, multicultural competence, and civic engagement. Journal of College Student Development, 49(2), 95–109. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2008.0017
30.
FalkR. F.LindS.MillerN. B.PiechowskiM. M.SilvermanL. K. (1999). The Overexcitability Questionnaire—II: Manual, scoring system, and questionnaire. Institute for the Study of Advanced Development.
31.
FolgueirasP.PalouB. (2018). An exploratory study of aspirations for change and their effect on purpose among Catalan university students. Journal of Moral Education, 47(2), 186–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2018.1433643
GardnerH. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. Basic Books.
35.
GardnerH. (1999). Intelligence reframed: Multiple intelligences for the 21st century. Basic Books.
36.
GardnerH.MoranS. (2006). The science of multiple intelligences theory: A response to Lynn Waterhouse. Educational Psychologist, 41(4), 227–232. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4104_2
37.
GinoF.ArielyD. (2012). The dark side of creativity: Original thinkers can be more dishonest. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(3), 445–459. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026406
GrantA. M.BerryJ. W. (2011). The necessity of others is the mother of invention: Intrinsic and prosocial motivations, perspective taking, and creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 54(1), 73–96. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.59215085
40.
GruberH. E. (1989). The evolving systems approach to creative work. In WallaceD. B.GruberH. E. (Eds.), Creative people at work (pp. 3–24). Oxford University Press.
41.
GruberH. E. (1993). Creativity in the moral domain: OUGHT implies CAN implies CREATE. Creativity Research Journal, 6(1 & 2), 3–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419309534462
42.
GruberH. E. (1997). Creative altruism, cooperation, and world peace. In RuncoM. A.RichardsR. (Eds.), Eminent creativity, everyday creativity, and health (pp. 463–480). Ablex.
43.
HabermasT.de SilveiraC. (2008). The development of global coherence in life narratives across adolescence: Temporal, causal, and thematic aspects. Developmental Psychology, 44(3), 707–721. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.44.3.707
HartD.FegleyS. (1995). Prosocial behavior and caring in adolescence: Relations to self-understanding and social judgment. Child Development, 66(5), 1346–1359. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131651
46.
HarterS. (1998). The development of self-representations. In DamonW.EisenbergN. (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Social, emotional, and personality development (pp. 553–617). John Wiley.
47.
HillP. L.BurrowA. L.BrandenbergerJ. W.LapsleyD. K.QuarantoJ. C. (2010). College purpose orientations and well-being in early and middle adulthood. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31(2), 173–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2009.12.001
48.
HillP. L.BurrowA. L.BronkK. C. (2016). Persevering with positivity and purpose: An examination of purpose commitment and positive affect as predictors of grit. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17(1), 257–269. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9593-5
49.
HillP. L.TurianoN. A. (2014). Purpose in life as a predictor of mortality across adulthood. Psychological Science, 25(7), 1482–1486. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614531799
50.
HollingworthL. S. (1942). Children above 180 IQ, Stanford-Binet: Origin and development. World Book.
51.
JiangF.GaoD. (2018). Are Chinese student teachers’ life purposes associated with their perceptions of how much their university supports community service work?Journal of Moral Education, 47(2), 201–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2018.1430023
52.
KashdanT. B.McKnightP. E. (2009). Origins of purpose in life: Refining our understanding of a life well lived. Psychological Topics, 18(2), 303–316. https://doi.org/2010-23922-008
53.
KashdanT. B.McKnightP. E. (2013). Commitment to a purpose in life: An antidote to the suffering by individuals with social anxiety disorder. Emotion, 13(6), 1150–1159. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033278
54.
KawaiT.MoranS. (2017). How do future life perspective and present action work in Japanese youth development?Journal of Moral Education, 46(3), 323–336. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2017.1350150
55.
KeganR. (1982). The evolving self. Harvard University Press.
56.
KiangL. (2011). Deriving daily purpose through daily events and role fulfillment among Asian American youth. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 22(1), 185–198. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2011.00767.x
57.
LeeS.-Y.Olszewski-KubiliusP. (2006). The emotional intelligence, moral judgment, and leadership of academically gifted adolescents. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 30(1), 29–67. https://doi.org/10.1177/016235320603000103
58.
LewisN. A.Jr.OysermanD. (2015). When does the future begin? Time metrics matter, connecting present and future selves. Psychological Science, 26(6), 816–825. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615572231
59.
LinverM. R.UrbanJ. B.MacDonnellM.RobertsE. D.QuinnJ.SamtaniS.DoubledeeR.GamaL.MorganD. (2018). Mixed methods in youth purpose: An examination of adolescent self-regulation and purpose. Research in Human Development, 15(2), 118–138. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2018.1445925
60.
LoevingerJ. (1976). Ego development. Jossey-Bass.
61.
MagoldaM. B. (2008). Three elements of self-authorship. Journal of College Student Development, 49(4), 269–284. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.0.0016
62.
MalinH. (2018). Teaching for purpose. Harvard Education Press.
63.
MalinH.HanH.LiauwI. (2017). Civic purpose in late adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 53(7), 1384–1397. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000322
64.
MalinH.ReillyT. S.QuinnB.MoranS. (2014). Adolescent purpose development: Exploring empathy, discovering roles, shifting priorities, and creating pathways. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 24(1), 186–199. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.1205
MatsubaM. K.WalkerL. J. (2005). Young adult moral exemplars: The making of self through stories. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 15(3), 275–297. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2005.00097.x
68.
McAdamsD. P.DiamondA.de St. AubinE.MansfieldE. (1997). Stories of commitment: The psychological construction of generative lives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(3), 678–694. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.72.3.678
69.
McKnightP. E.KashdanT. B. (2009). Purpose in life as a system that creates and sustains health and well-being: An integrative, testable theory. Review of General Psychology, 13(3), 242–251. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017152
70.
MendaglioS. (2003). Heightened multifaceted sensitivity of gifted students: Implications for counseling. Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 14(2), 72–82. https://doi.org/10.4219/jsge-2003-421
71.
MendaglioS.TillierW. (2006). Dabrowski’s theory of positive disintegration and giftedness: Overexcitability research findings. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 30(1), 68–87. https://doi.org/10.1177/016235320603000104
MoranS. (2009b). Why multiple intelligences? In ChenJ.MoranS.GardnerH. (Eds.), Multiple intelligences around the world (pp. 365–373). Jossey-Bass.
74.
MoranS. (2010a). Changing the world: Tolerance and creativity aspirations among American youth. High Ability Studies, 21(2), 117–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/13598139.2010.525342
75.
MoranS. (2010b). Returning to the Good Work Project’s roots: Can creative work be humane? In GardnerH. (Ed.), Good work: Theory and practice (pp. 127–145). Good Work Project.
76.
MoranS. (2010c). The roles of creativity in society. In KaufmanJ. C.SternbergR. J. (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of creativity (pp. 74–90). Cambridge University Press.
MoranS. (2014b). Youth’s own understandings of purpose: Are there distinct “cultures of purpose”?Applied Developmental Science, 18(3), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2014.924359
79.
MoranS. (2015a). Adolescent aspirations for change: Creativity as a life purpose. Asia Pacific Education Review, 16(2), 167–175. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-015-9363-z
80.
MoranS. (2015b, March). Moral purpose: Gifts and talents in self-regulation for prosocial contribution [Paper presentation]. Annual meeting of the Queensland Association for the Gifted and Talented International Conference, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
81.
MoranS. (2016a). Ethical ripples of creativity and innovation. Palgrave Macmillan.
MoranS. (2019a). Is personal life purpose replacing shared worldview as youths increasingly individuate? Implications for educators. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 18(5), 8–23. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijler.18.5.2
86.
MoranS. (2019b). Youth life purpose: Evaluating service-learning via development of lifelong “radar” for community contribution. In AramburuzabalaP.McIlrathL.OpazoH. (Eds.), Embedding service-learning in European higher education (pp. 51–66). Routledge.
87.
MoranS.BundickM. J.MalinH.ReillyT. S. (2013). How supportive of their specific purposes do youth believe their family and friends are?Journal of Adolescent Research, 28(3), 348–377. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558412457816
88.
MoranS.GarciaR. L. (2019). How does US college students’ sense of life purpose relate to their emotional expectations of being a volunteer in the community as part of a service-learning course?Bordon, Journal of Education, 71, 45–62. https://doi.org/10.13042/Bordon.2019.70425
89.
MoranS.GardnerH. (2006a). At the workplace. In GardnerH. (Ed.), Multiple intelligences: New horizons (pp. 213–232). Basic Books.
90.
MoranS.GardnerH. (2006b). Extraordinary cognitive achievements: A developmental and systems analysis. In DamonW. (Series Ed.) & KuhnD.SieglerR. S. (Vol. Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 2. Cognition, perception, and language (6th ed., pp. 905–949). Wiley.
91.
MoranS.GardnerH. (2018). Hill, skill and will: Executive function from a multiple intelligences perspective. In MeltzerL. (Ed.), Executive function in education: From theory to practice (2nd ed., pp. 25–56). Guilford Press.
92.
MoranS.John-SteinerV. (2003). Creativity in the making: Vygotsky’s contribution to the dialectic of creativity and development. In SawyerR. K.John-SteinerV.MoranS.SternbergR. J.FeldmanD. H.NakamuraJ.CsikszentmihalyiM. (Eds.), Creativity and development (pp. 61–90). Oxford University Press.
93.
MoranS.OpazoH. (2019). How service-learning mentors teachers’ life purpose toward long-term community impact. The Chronicle of Mentoring & Coaching, 2, 762-767.
94.
MotlT. (2009). Existential giftedness. In KerrB. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of giftedness, creativity, and talent (pp. 340–342). Sage.
NarvaezD.MrkvaK. (2014). Creative moral imagination. In MoranS.CropleyD.KaufmanJ. (Eds.), The ethics of creativity (pp. 25–45). Palgrave Macmillan.
97.
NurmiJ.-E. (1991). How do adolescents see their future? A review of the development of future orientation and planning. Developmental Review, 11, 1–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/0273-2297(91)90002-6
98.
O’ConnorK. J. (2002). The application of Dabrowski’s theory to the gifted. In NeihartM.ReisS. M.RobinsonN.MoonS. (Eds.), The social and emotional development of gifted children: What do we know? (pp. 51–60). Prufrock Press.
99.
OlinerS. (2003). Do unto others: Extraordinary acts of ordinary people. Westview Press.
100.
OlinerS.OlinerP. (1988). The altruistic personality. Free Press.
101.
OpazoH.AramburuzabalaP.RamirezC. (2018). Emotions related to Spanish student-teachers’ changes in life purposes following service-learning participation. Journal of Moral Education, 47(2), 217–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2018.1438992
OysermanD.JamesL. (2009). Possible selves: From content to process. In MarkmanK. D.KleinW. M. P.SuhrJ. A. (Eds.), Handbook of imagination and mental simulation (pp. 373–394). Psychology Press.
104.
PalsJ. L. (2006). Narrative identity processing of difficult life experiences: Pathways of personality development and positive self-transformation in adulthood. Journal of Personality, 74(4), 1079–1110. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2006.00403.x
105.
Perrone-McGovernK. M.Simon-DackS. L.SmithK. N.WilliamsC.EscheA. (2015). Emotions, cognitions, and well-being: The role of perfectionism, emotional overexcitability and emotion regulation. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 38(4), 343–357. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162353215607326
106.
PerryW. (1970). Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
107.
PiechowskiM. M. (1997). Emotional giftedness: The measure of intrapersonal intelligence. In ColangeloN.DavisG. A. (Eds.), Handbook of gifted education (2nd ed., pp. 366–381). Allyn & Bacon.
108.
PintrichP. R. (2004). A conceptual framework for assessing motivation and self-regulated learning in college students. Educational Psychology Review, 16(4), 385–407. https://doi.org/0.1007/s10648-004-0006-x
109.
PorathM. (2000). Social giftedness in childhood: A developmental perspective. In FriedmanR. C.ShoreB. M. (Eds.), Talents unfolding: Cognition and development (pp. 195–216). American Psychological Association.
110.
PutnamR. D. (2007). E pluribus unum: Diversity and community in the twenty-first century (the 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture). Scandinavian Political Studies, 30(2), 137–174. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9477.2007.00176.x
ReillyT. S. (2009). Talent, purpose, and goal orientations: Case studies of talented adolescents. High Ability Studies, 20(2), 161–172. https://doi.org/10.1080/13598130903358519
113.
RenzulliJ. S. (2002). Expanding the conception of giftedness to include co-cognitive traits to promote social capital. Phi Delta Kappan, 84(1), 33–58.
RockenbachA. B.HudsonT. D.TuchmayerJ. B. (2014). Fostering meaning, purpose, and enduring commitments to community service in college. The Journal of Higher Education, 85(3), 313–338. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2014.11777330
116.
RoeperA.SilvermanL. K. (2009). Giftedness and moral promise. In AmbroseD.CrossT. (Eds.), Morality, ethics, and gifted minds (pp. 251–264). Springer.
117.
RoseT. (2016). The end of average: How we succeed in a world that values sameness. Harper.
SeiderS. (2007). Catalyzing a commitment to community service in emerging adults. Journal of Adolescent Research, 22(6), 612–639. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558407306347
120.
SeiderS.DavisK.GardnerH. (2009). Morality, ethics and good work: Young people’s respectful and ethical minds. In AmbroseD.CrossT. (Eds.), Morality, ethics and gifted minds (pp. 209–222). Springer.
121.
ShearerB. (2013). The MIDAS: A professional manual. M. I. Research and Consulting.
122.
SiegleD. (2013). The underachieving gifted child: Recognizing, understanding, and reversing underachievement. Prufrock Press.
123.
SilvermanL. K. (2011). The moral sensitivity of gifted children and the evolution of society. Roeper Review, 17(2), 110–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/02783199409553636
StegerM. F.KashdanT. B. (2013). The unbearable lightness of meaning: Well-being and unstable meaning in life. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 8(2), 103–115. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2013.771208
126.
StegerM. F.KashdanT. B.OishiS. (2008). Being good by doing good: Daily eudaimonic activity and well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 42(1), 22–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2007.03.004
127.
SternbergR.WagnerR. (1982). A revolutionary look at intelligence. Gifted Children Newsletter, 3, 11.
128.
TannenbaumA. J. (2001, February). Giftedness: The ultimate instrument for good and evil [Paper presentation]. International online conference of the Opening Gates in Teacher Education. Tel Aviv, Israel: The Mofet Institute
129.
TebesJ. K.IrishJ. T.VasquezM. J. P.PerkinsD. V. (2004). Cognitive transformation as a marker of resilience. Substance Use & Misuse, 39(5), 769–788. https://doi.org/10.1081/JA-120034015
130.
TirriK. (2016). Holistic perspectives on gifted education for the 21st century. In AmbroseD.SternbergR. J. (Eds.), Giftedness and talent in the 21st century: Adapting to the turbulence of globalization (pp. 101–110). Sense Publishers.
131.
TirriK.MoranS.MarianoJ. M. (Eds.). (2018). Education for purposeful teaching around the world. Routledge.
132.
TirriK.NokelainenP. (2007). Comparison of academically average and gifted students’ self-rated ethical sensitivity. Educational Research and Evaluation, 13(6), 587–601. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803610701786053
133.
TreffingerD. J.FeldhusenJ. F. (1996). Talent recognition and development: Successor to gifted education. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 19(2), 181–193. https://doi.org/10.1177/016235329601900205
Van TongerenD. R.GreenJ. D.CairoA. H.DeWallC. N.DavisD. E.HookJ. N. (2018). Self-regulation facilitates meaning in life. Review of General Psychology, 22(1), 95–106. https://doi.org/10.1037/gpr0000121
136.
VuykM. A.KrieshokT. S.KerrB. A. (2016). Openness to experience rather than overexcitabilities: Call it like it is. Gifted Child Quarterly, 60(3), 192–211. https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986216645407
137.
WaddingtonD. I. (2010). Building on treacherous ground: Sense-of-purpose research and demarcating problematic purposes. The Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 56(1), 82–94.
138.
WaterhouseL. (2006). Multiple intelligences, the Mozart effect, and emotional intelligence: A critical review. Educational Psychologist, 41(4), 207–225. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4104_1
139.
YeagerD. S.HendersonM. D.PauneskuD.WaltonG. M.D’MelloS.SpitzerB. J.DuckworthA. L. (2014). Boring but important: A self-transcendent purpose for learning fosters academic self-regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107(4), 559–580. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037637.supp
140.
ZimmermanB. J. (2008). Investigating self-regulation and motivation: Historical background, methodological developments, and future prospects. American Educational Research Journal, 45(1), 166–183. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831207312909
