Abstract

The development of research on giftedness and on psychological characteristics of the genius could have been limited by the ambiguities present in the field. In fact, giftedness has been referred sometimes to individuals with a high Full Scale Intelligence Quotient, but other times to people with a very high competence in a particular domain. The present paper argues that general intelligence, talent, creativity and genius must be distinguished. In particular, very high general intelligence and very high talent can be understood only within a hierarchical theory of intelligence and the psychological profile of a genius typically involves also creativity and other personality characteristics.