definition of intelligence and giftedness

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I found this gifted children traits list in this website: http://giftedkids.about.com/od/gifted10 ... traits.htm

Cognitive Traits

Very Observant
Extremely Curious
Intense interests
Excellent memory
Long attention span
Excellent reasoning skills
Well-developed powers of abstraction, conceptualization, and synthesis
Quickly and easily sees relationships in ideas, objects, or facts
Fluent and flexible thinking
Elaborate and original thinking
Excellent problem solving skills
Learns quickly and with less practice and repetition
Unusual and/or vivid imagination

Social and Emotional Traits
Interested in philosophical and social issues
Very sensitive, emotionally and even physically
Concerned about fairness and injustice
Perfectionistic
Surplus of energy
Sensory sensitivity
Intense Imagination
Emotional sensitivity



Energetic
Well-Developed Sense of Humor
Usually intrinsically motivated
Relates well to parents, teachers and other adults

Language Traits (See Language Development in Gifted Children)
Extensive Vocabulary
May Read Early
Reads Rapidly and Widely
Asks "what if" questions

Additional Traits
Enjoys learning new things
Enjoys intellectual activity
Displays intellectual playfulness
Prefers books and magazines meant for older children
Skeptical, critical, and evaluative
Asynchronous development

I liked it a lot! It doesn't use iq concepts and I agree with that. for me there is not a definite relation iq-gifted, or academic success-gifted; I know people that score high on iq tests but I woudn't consider gifted at all and vice versa. Because for me being intelligent is about creating, associating and analyzing ideas, not only the finding patterns etc as measured in iq tests (though there certain is an overlap!)
When I was at school I noted it that some kids scored gifted on iq tests and were good in maths and so but getting good grades copying what the teacher said and didn't think critically or flexibly or originally and I wouldn't consider them very intelligent.
Also note there are relations to autistic traits, like sensory sensitivity and good memory!

I wish that the giftedness studies would focus more on moral giftedness.

The real test will come when one has options to:

1) date
2) play computer games /watch tv
3) sleep

and I have worked with tech people that go without all three of the above ....

"loners" who work 2-3 days with no sleep, then crash, while focusing on inventing , and product development ...

I think that the list is really accurate too.

I like your point about IQ not always equalling giftedness. It seems really true. It kind of reminds me of a study that my dad told me about, which found that there wasn't all that much correlation between a high SAT score and college achievement.

Hmmm...

Giftedness is designing a better automobile.

Intelligence is knowing not to drive it off a cliff.....