title: Who rises to the top? Early indicators.
abstract: Youth identified before age 13 (N = 320) as having profound mathematical or verbal reasoning abilities (top 1 in 10,000) were tracked for nearly three decades. Their awards and creative accomplishments by age 38, in combination with specific details about their occupational responsibilities, illuminate the magnitude of their contribution and professional stature. Many have been entrusted with obligations and resources for making critical decisions about individual and organizational well-being. Their leadership positions in business, health care, law, the professoriate, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) suggest that many are outstanding creators of modern culture, constituting a precious human-capital resource. Identifying truly profound human potential, and forecasting differential development within such populations, requires assessing multiple cognitive abilities and using atypical measurement procedures. This study illustrates how ultimate criteria may be aggregated and longitudinally sequenced to validate such measures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, 0552 GPC, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203, USA. harrison.kell@vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: Harrison J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kell
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lubinski
authors.forename: Camilla P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Benbow
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000328:Adult; D001076:Aptitude / Q000502:physiology*; D001363:Awards and Prizes; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003405:Creativity; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States
keywords: STEM; cognitive abilities; creativity; human capital; intelligence; profoundly gifted