Moral giftedness is a highly superior level of knowledge, abilities, and attitudes that are required to apply universal principles of right and wrong to life problems, including personal, collective, and societal ones. Giftedness can be morally value-neutral. Or it can be transactional, in which case what is moral depends upon a transaction between oneself and either oneself, others, or both. Transformational moral giftedness is moral giftedness exercised to make the world a better place—to create, through moral behavior, a positive, meaningful, and potentially enduring difference to the world. Pseudo-transformational giftedness is the pretense of moral giftedness that in fact serves only oneself or members of one’s preferred group, usually at the expense of others. We need to develop transformational moral giftedness in young people while there still is time in the world to do so.
BanduraA. (1999). Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3(3), 193–209. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0303_3
BratsbergB.RogebergO. (2018). Flynn effect and its reversal are both environmentally caused. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(26), 6674–6678. Bibcode:2018PNAS.115.6674B. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1718793115
11.
BrundageM.AvinS.ClarkJ.TonerH.EckersleyP.GarfinkelB.DafoeA.ScharreP.ZeitzoffT.FilarB.AndersonH.RoffH.AllenG.SteinhardtJ.FlynnC.O’HeigeartaighS.BeardS.BelfieldH.FarquharS. (2018). The malicious use of artificial intelligence: Forecasting, prevention, and mitigation. University of Cambridge Repository.
12.
BurnsJ. M. (1978). Leadership. Harper & Row.
13.
CallahanC. M.Hertberg-DavisH. L. (2017). Fundamentals of gifted education. Routledge.
CarreyrouJ. (2018). Bad blood: Secrets and lies in a silicon valley startup. Knopf.
16.
CasadevallA.ImperialeM. J. (2014). Risks and benefits of gain-of-function experiments with pathogens of pandemic potential. mBio, 5(4), Article e01875. https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01730-14
ChowkaseA. A.Parra MartinezF. A.GhahremaniM.BernsteinZ.FinoraG.SternbergR. J. (2024). Dual-process model of courage. Frontiers in Psychology, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1376195
20.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics inWashington. (2021). Tracking Trump's visits to his properties and other conflicts of interest (2026, May 7). Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-and-investigations
21.
CohenG. L.ShermanD. K. (2014). The psychology of change: Self-affirmation and social psychological intervention. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 333–371. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115137
22.
ColesR. (1997). The moral intelligence of children: How to raise a moral child. Plume.
23.
CongerJ. A.KanungoR. N. (1988). Charismatic leadership: The elusive factor in organizational effectiveness. Jossey-Bass.
24.
Coordinator, Conference on Disarmament (2024, August 14). New types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons; radiological weapons –Comprehensive programme of disarmament – Transparency in armaments. United Nations. https://docs.un.org/en/cd/2396
EvansN. G.LipsitchM.LevinsonM. (2015). The ethics of biosafety considerations in gain-of-function research resulting in the creation of potential pandemic pathogens. Journal of Medical Ethics, 41(11), 901–908. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2014-102619
27.
EyalN. (2014). Hooked: How to build habit-forming products. Portfolio.
FlynnJ. R. (2011). Secular changes in intelligence. In SternbergR. J.KaufmanS. B. (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of intelligence (pp. 647–665). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511977244.033
31.
FlynnJ. R. (2020). Secular changes in intelligence: The “Flynn effect”. In SternbergR. J. (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of intelligence (2nd ed., pp. 940–963). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108770422.040
32.
GardnerH. (2011). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences (exp. ed.). Basic Books.
33.
GardnerH.CsikszentmihalyiM.DamonW. (2002). Good work: When excellence and ethics meet. Basic Books.
34.
GaremaniM.KargaripadarL. (2026). Transformational courage and STEM wisdom: A developmental perspective through the ecological systems model. Roeper Review, 48(1), 11–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/02783193.2025.2593025
35.
GeddesB.WrightJ.FrantzE. (2018). How dictatorships work: Power, personalization, and collapse. Cambridge University Press.
36.
GilliganC. (1982). In a different voice. Harvard University Press.
GottfredsonL. S. (1997). Mainstream science on intelligence: An editorial with 52 signatories, history, and bibliography. Intelligence, 24(1), 13–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-2896(97)90011-8
40.
GottfredsonL. S. (2002). g: Highly general and highly practical. In SternbergR. J.GrigorenkoE. L. (Eds.), The general factor of intelligence: How general is it? (pp. 331–380). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
41.
GrahamJ.HaidtJ.NosekB. A. (2009). Liberals and conservatives rely on different sets of moral foundations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(5), 1029–1046. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015141
42.
GrahamJ.NosekB. A.HaidtJ.IyerR.KolevaS.DittoP. H. (2011). Mapping the moral domain. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(2), 366–385. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021847
43.
GreeneJ. (2014). Moral tribes: Emotion, reason, and the gap between us and them. Penguin.
44.
HaidtJ. (2001). The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review, 108(4), 814–834. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.108.4.814
45.
HaidtJ. (2012). The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. Pantheon Books.
46.
HaidtJ.JosephC. (2007). The moral mind: How five sets of innate intuitions guide the development of many culture-specific virtues, and perhaps even modules. In CarruthersP.LaurenceS.StichS. (Eds.), The innate mind: Foundations and the future (Vol. 3, pp. 367–391). Oxford University Press.
47.
HalberstamD. (1993). The best and the brightest. Ballantine.
48.
HedlundJ. (2020). Practical intelligence. In SternbergR. J. (Ed.), Cambridge handbook of intelligence (2nd ed., pp. 736–755). Cambridge University Press.
49.
HouseR. J.WoyckeJ.FodorE. M. (1988). Charismatic and noncharismatic leaders: Differences in behavior and effectiveness. In CongerJ. A.KanungoR. N. (Eds.), Charismatic leadership: The elusive factor in organizational effectiveness (pp. 98–121). Jossey-Bass.
50.
JanisI. L. (1972). Victims of groupthink. Houghton-Mifflin.
51.
JordanJ. (2009). A social cognition framework for examining moral awareness in managers and academics. Journal of Business Ethics, 84(2), 237–258. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9706-3
52.
KellermanB. (2004). Bad leadership: What it is, how it happens, why it matters. Harvard Business School Press.
53.
KihlstromJ. F.CantorN. (2020). Social intelligence. In SternbergR. J. (Ed.), Cambridge handbook of intelligence (2nd ed., pp. 756–779). Cambridge University Press.
54.
KohlbergL. (1981). Essays on moral development (vol l). I: The philosophy of moral development. Harper & Row.
55.
KohlbergL. (1984). The psychology of moral development: The nature and validity of moral stages (essays on moral development, volume 2). Harper & Row.
56.
KussD. J.GriffithsM. D. (2017). Social networking sites and addiction: Ten lessons learned. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(3), Article 311. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14030311
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
59.
Lipman-BlumenJ. (2005). The allure of toxic leaders. Oxford University Press.
PfeifferS. (Ed.), (2008). Handbook of giftedness in children: Psycho-educational theory, research, and best practices (pp. 71–92). Springer.
68.
PfeifferS. (Ed.), (2017). APA handbook of giftedness and talent (pp. 143–162). American Psychological Association.
69.
PfeifferS. (Ed.), (2018). Handbook of giftedness in children: Psycho-educational theory, research, and best practices (2nd ed.). Springer.
70.
PhillipsonS. N.McCannM. (Eds.), (2007). Conceptions of giftedness: Socio-cultural perspectives. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
71.
PietschnigJ.GittlerG. (2015). A reversal of the Flynn effect for spatial perception in German-speaking countries: Evidence from a cross-temporal IRT-based meta-analysis (1977–2014). Intelligence, 53, 145–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2015.10.004
72.
PluckerJ. A.RinnA. N.MakelM. C. (Eds.), (2017). From giftedness to gifted education. Routledge.
73.
PriceT. L. (2008). Understanding ethical failures in leadership. Cambridge University Press.
74.
PuryC. L. S. (2009). Courage. In LopezS. J.SnyderC. R. (Eds.), Oxford handbook of positive psychology (2nd ed., pp. 375–382). Oxford University Press.
RateC. R.ClarkeJ. A.LindsayD. R.SternbergR. J. (2007). Implicit theories of courage. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 2(2), 80–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760701228755
77.
RenzulliJ. S.GubbinsE. J.McMillenK. S.EckertR. D.LittleC. A. (Eds.), (2009). Systems & models for developing gifted programs for the gifted & talented (2nd ed.). Creative Learning Press.
78.
RestJ. R. (1986). Moral development: Advances in research and theory. Praeger.
79.
RiversS. E.Handley-MinerI. J.MayerJ. D.CarusoD. (2020). Emotional intelligence. In SternbergR. J. (Ed.), Cambridge handbook of intelligence (2nd ed., pp. 709–735). Cambridge University Press.
80.
RobsonD. (2021). The intelligence trap: Why smart people make dumb mistakes. W. W. Norton.
SackettP. R.ShewachO. R.DahlkeJ. A. (2020). The predictive value of general intelligence. In SternbergR. J. (Ed.), Human intelligence: An introduction (pp. 381–414). Cambridge University Press.
83.
SchwartzB.SharpeK. E. (2019). Practical wisdom: What Aristotle might add to psychology. In SternbergR. J.GlückJ. (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of wisdom (pp. 226–248). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108568272.012
ShoreZ. (2008). Blunder: Why smart people make bad decisions. Bloomsbury.
87.
SilvermanL. K. (1994). The moral sensitivity of gifted children and the evolution of society. Roeper Review, 17(2), 110–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/02783199409553633
88.
SilvermanL. K. (2012). Giftedness 101. Springer.
89.
SonnenfeldJ. (2026). Trump’s ten commandments: Strategic lessons from the Trump leadership toolbox. Worth.
SternbergR. J. (Ed.), (2002). Why smart people can be so stupid. Yale University Press.
92.
SternbergR. J. (2003). Giftedness according to the theory of successful intelligence. In ColangeloN.DavisG. A. (Eds.), Handbook of gifted education (3rd ed., pp. 88–99). Allyn & Bacon.
SternbergR. J. (2019). Where have all the flowers of wisdom gone? An analysis of teaching of wisdom over the years. In SternbergR. J.NusbaumH.GlückJ. (Eds.), Applying wisdom to contemporary world problems (pp. 1–20). Palgrave-Macmillan.
SternbergR. J. (2021a). Adaptive intelligence: Surviving and thriving in a world of uncertainty. Cambridge University Press.
97.
SternbergR. J. (2021b). Transformational creativity: The link between creativity, wisdom, and the solution of global problems. Philosophies, 6(3), Article 75. https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies6030075
SternbergR. J. (2022). Transformational giftedness: Who’s got it and who does not? In SternbergR. J.AmbroseD.KaramiS. (Eds.), Palgrave handbook of transformational giftedness for education (pp. 355–371). Palgrave-Macmillan.
100.
SternbergR. J. (2024). Don’t worry that generative AI may compromise human creativity or intelligence in the future: It already has. Journal of Intelligence, 12(7), Article 69. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence12070069
101.
SternbergR: J. (2025a). The role of credulity in failed problem solving. In WendtA. N.HoltD. V.von StockhausenL. (Eds.), Komplexität und Problemlösen. Festschrift für Joachim Funke zum 70 (pp. 79–100). University of Heidelberg Press. University Publishing. https://doi.org/10.17885/heiup.1067.c23270
SternbergR. J. (2026a). AI yai yai: The fate of creativity in the age of generative AI. In WorwoodM.KaufmanJ. C. (Eds.), Generative artificial intelligence and creativity: Possibilities, precautions, and perspectives (pp. 148–156). Academic Press.
104.
SternbergR. J. (2026b). Does AI increase cognitive abilities, decrease them, or a little bit of each?….and what are its implications for identification and development of the gifted?Frontiers in Education, 11, Article 1759062. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2026.1759062
105.
SternbergR. J. (2026c). A triptych theory of the nature of dark creativity. Manuscript submitted for publication.
106.
SternbergR. J.AmbroseD. (Eds.), (2021). Conceptions of giftedness and talent. Palgrave-Macmillan.
SternbergR. J.Soleimani-DashtakiA.PowerS. A. (2024). The Wonderland model of toxic creativity in leadership: When the “Never Again” impossible becomes not only possible but actual. Possibility Studies and Society, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2753869924127373
Tan-WillmanC.GutteridgeD. (1981). Creative thinking and moral reasoning of academically gifted secondary school adolescents. Gifted Child Quarterly, 25(3), 149–154. https://doi.org/10.1177/001698628102500402
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
117.
TirriK.PehkonenL. (2002). The moral reasoning and scientific argumentation of gifted adolescents. Prufrock Journal, 13(3), 120–129. https://doi.org/10.4219/jsge-2002-374
ZhangL. F.SternbergR. J. (2002). Thinking styles and teachers’ characteristics. International Journal of Psychology, 37(1), 3–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207590143000171
