Giftedness and Genetics: The Emergenic-Epigenetic Model and Its Implications

Abstract

The genetic endowment underlying giftedness may operate in a far more complex manner than often expressed in most theoretical accounts of the phenomenon. First, an endowment may be emergenic. That is, a gift may consist of multiple traits (multidimensional) that are inherited in a multiplicative (configurational), rather than an additive (simple) fashion. Second, the endowment may not appear all at once but, rather, will more likely unfold via an epigenetic process. These 2 complications have consequences regarding such aspects of giftedness as the likelihood of early signs, the appearance of early versus late bloomers, the distribution of giftedness in the general population, and the stability and continuity of gifts over the course of childhood and adolescence. These complexities lead to a 4-fold typology of giftedness that has important practical implications.