title: Ability differences among people who have commensurate degrees matter for scientific creativity.
abstract: A sample of 1,586 intellectually talented adolescents (top 1%) were assessed on the math portion of the SAT by age 13 and tracked for more than 25 years. Patents and scientific publications were used as criteria for scientific and technological accomplishment. Participants were categorized according to whether their terminal degree was a bachelor's, master's, or doctorate degree, and within these degree groupings, the proportion of participants with at least one patent or scientific publication in adulthood increased as a function of this early SAT assessment. Information about individual differences in cognitive ability (even when measured in early adolescence) can predict differential creative potential in science and technology within populations that have advanced educational degrees.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203, USA. greg.park@vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lubinski
authors.forename: Camilla P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Benbow
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001076:Aptitude; D002321:Career Choice; D003405:Creativity; D004500:Education, Graduate / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008433:Mathematics; D010330:Patents as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011643:Publishing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012106:Research; D012586:Science; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult