New Perspective on Talent Development

Why are some people more graceful or creative than others?  Why are some individuals able to learn faster and apply what they learn when most of us are just getting the hang of something? The main focus of education policy and research has been on understanding what gets in the way of achievement rather than the factors associated with optimal performance.  In fact, when talent is discussed, it is usually explained away as a result of luck, unfair opportunity, or exclusively from effort.  A new policy paper in Psychological Science in the Public Interest based on a rich survey of research from psychology and education synthesizes what we know and need to know about successful development of talent, with applications across academic, artistic and athletic arenas. The main points made by authors Rena Subotnik (American Psychological Association), Paula Olszewski-Kubilius (Center for Talent Development, Northwestern University), and Frank Worrell (University of California, Berkeley) include the following:

1.  No matter how hard you try, you need to have some talent to be outstanding.  However, that talent is not exclusively innate.  It can be developed through participating in promising opportunities and commitment of effort.  Individuals are talented in something rather than generally.  That means that you can be a gifted musician even if you are not a gifted creative writer.
2.  Not all talents develop at the same time.  It’s easier to see talent in children in some areas and not in others.  Talent development programs can be available for gifted children in mathematics in elementary school.  Gifted scholars in the social sciences may not be discovered till high school or even college.
3.  Anyone who is committed to tackle challenges, whether in sport, academics or the arts, needs to be mentally tough.  Athletes and musicians get some training in developing their psychological strength.  Academically talented young people need these opportunities as well if they are to be encouraged to take strategic and creative risks, and dust themselves off after inevitable setbacks.

With these points in mind, Subotnik, Olszewski-Kubilius, and Worrell argue that we will prepare young people to capitalize on their developed abilities.  With further understanding of the nature of abilities and what opportunities are most promising for transforming potential into fulfillment we can provide the tools for constructive self-expression that could bring yet unimaginable aesthetic, health, social and financial gains to them and to society.  There would be no better time in recent history for this kind of boost in our view of the future. Two of the authors, Subotnik and Olszewski-Kubilius, will present the paper at the National Association for Gifted Children 2011 annual conference in New Orleans next month.  Conference attendees are encouraged to participate in the session scheduled for Saturday, November 5, at 12:45 p.m.  The authors are eager for feedback and the opportunity to launch a dialogue on this important topic. Whether attending the conference or not, please share your thoughts here as well.