Intelligence and giftedness in children are the subjects of ongoing research in many countries of the world. Scientists want to study intelligence to see how it develops, how we can recognize and identify it, and how we can measure it. These studies have ramifications for child development, education, social engagement, career development, scientific exploration, academic achievement, and much more.
Scientists and researchers want to talk to parents of intelligent and gifted children to advise them on what they need to know to inspire as well as protect their precocious children. They want to advise educational institutions on how to create programs to open doors for gifted students and provide avenues to accelerate intellectual pursuits.
Researchers look at children today and see how they live and play to see if there is any correlation between daily activities, parenting, social interaction, interests, recreation and play, obsessions, areas of study and focus, and overall health, growth and physical/social development.
Recent studies have taken a look at various segments of society to try to get more insights into intelligence. Mothers with infants were asked about their feelings in raising their children. How do they perceive characteristics in their children? Which ones do they see as important? Which ones do they try to cultivate? This research has some interesting findings.
Another study takes a look at school age children and one of their favorite pastimes, video games. A high number of children get exposed to video games at a young age, many so immersed that it becomes an obsession with them. Is this good or bad? Are these children making use of a higher order of intelligence, being challenged to make decisions and develop strategies to solve problems?
Or are children who play video games wasting their time and energy when they could be studying or playing with friends and developing socially? Is there any correlation between playing video games and intelligence? Recent studies cast some interesting light on this subject.
A third area of recent study is the overall health of intelligent children. The traditional belief is that gifted children are so different from non-gifted children that they grow up being socially challenged, have individual sensitivities and psychological or emotional issues that require medical interventions.
Do gifted children have more medical problems than non-gifted ones? Do they need more personal care? Do they have health problems as adults that require more attention and support than their peers? Research takes a look at this area, too, and comes up with more interesting findings.
The International Society for Intelligence Research (ISIR) recently held its 17th annual conference and published a program that included abstracts of new studies in the field related to the areas above. The studies provide valuable insights into human intelligence and giftedness.
Parents, Especially Mothers, Prefer Outgoing Children
What is the ideal child? Is there such a thing? What do mothers want in their child? Do they prize intelligence or social acceptance the most? Do they want children who are competitive or agreeable? Do they value conscientiousness?
Rachel Latham and Sophie von Stumm are researchers who studied 142 mothers of babies aged 0 to 12 months. The mothers were surveyed on five characteristics of personality in children: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. The mothers were asked to rate these characteristics in terms of importance.
Conscientiousness is a characteristic that can reflect self-awareness, sense of value, responsibility and a certain level of intelligence.
The characteristic rated highest by the mothers of infants was extraversion, with 51 percent making it the most important. Conversely, only 20 percent of mothers considered intelligence and conscientiousness as most important.
The mothers also said they felt that they had a strong influence on the development of their child’s character and could influence specific traits by encouraging or discouraging them as the child grows.
Video Games Can Measure Intelligence
As children get older, they see what other children are doing to have fun and quickly learn that video games are a popular form of recreation. They can spend hours of uninterrupted time focused on solving problems, playing sports, figuring out puzzles, developing strategies, or shooting at targets of various kinds.
Some children are just involved and killing time. Other students are highly motivated to come up with the right strategy and develop a high skill level to become the best player on the board. They have the intellectual stimulation to become fully engaged.
So-called “brain games” have been known to measure intelligence. But what about “non-brain” video games? Can we associate video game performance with levels of intelligence?
Researchers Alicia Aranda, Jesus Privado,and others created a battery of video games (puzzles, sports, strategy, and shooter) and compared them with standard intelligence tests. The tests and games were both administered to 75 participants.
The results were compared, and the correlation between the video game factor and the intelligence factor was 0.55, enough for the researchers to conclude that intelligence can be measured by video games, especially those involving puzzles.
This finding seems to be consistent with the view that intelligent and gifted students are highly inquisitive and can be very aggressive and engaged in trying to solve problems and explore areas of interest to greater detail than their peers.
In a similar study of undergraduates, students played video games in a laboratory under controlled conditions. The same conclusion was made, that commercial video games and intelligence tests measure the same high-order latent factor.
Gifted Children Grow Up Healthy
There is a common stereotype of gifted children being emotionally unstable, socially maladjusted, and physically weak. They are expected to grow up less healthy than well-adjusted kids.
A new study by Harrison Kell, David Lubinski, and Camilla P. Benbow challenges that reasoning. The study involved 3,652 gifted children who were followed up after age 50 on medical and psychological health outcomes.
The result of the study showed that gifted children, both male and female, tended to have more positive health outcomes than the general population. They appeared to be quite healthy and well-adjusted.
This finding is in line with other studies conducted over many years that have found that demonstrated intelligence is associated with positive health outcomes.