What is the difference between genius and talent? Giftedness, talent, genius: distinguish between concepts

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intellectual skills, creative tasks human potential is explained by different concepts used in scientific works. The terms are of interest to scientists, psychologists and educators. The opinions of researchers are the basis for creating pedagogical and psychological techniques, allowing people to find directions for development.

Giftedness

Scholars have not established a universally accepted term that is used in all classical educational books. IN scientific books the option proposed by psychologist V. Stern is used.

Giftedness is a person’s ability to adapt to emerging needs, to act to achieve goals, perceiving external factors, and this is done consciously with the help of developed thinking.

Despite criticism of the concept by some scientists, the term is still used for interpretation. It is generally accepted that it is a natural gift that cannot be determined by heredity. Giftedness is a function of a person’s living conditions, a function of a developed personality, therefore it manifests itself at every stage of development and is directly related to the life of an individual.

Natural potential cannot be determined by a person’s talent. Inclinations make up the spectrum of conditions that are required for personality development. Giftedness is used not to express internal inclinations for self-improvement, but to characterize a person, internal abilities, and internal abilities and external manifestations are closely related.

The manifestation of the inherent potential is possible under favorable conditions for development and achievement of assigned tasks. It is used to express the potential that a person has, the psychological components that allow him to create a reality that corresponds to his wishes and take the necessary actions. Suitable external conditions for dynamic change are imperative. For example, a student needs a curriculum. Stimulating development requires serious demands that are achieved with effort.

Giftedness can be special. In this case, the relationship between internal potential, mental characteristics and the requirements of a certain sphere that the individual chooses is considered. The correlation manifests itself not only at the abstract level, but also in ongoing events, as a result of which a person’s abilities are formed. The individual may be capable of completing assigned tasks. At the same time, the manifestation of general talent is assumed, which must be assessed taking into account external factors influencing a person’s life.

In the scientific literature, the term causes active debate. Many scientists are convinced of the absence of general talent, which must be understood as intellectual potential, memory, and the ability to solve assigned problems. To compare mental and real age, an intellectual quotient is used, which is designated IQ and allows you to determine the capabilities of an individual. IQ determines the potential inherent in nature and the speed at which a person develops, as a result of which the level of development at a certain stage of life is established.

In the psychological sphere, giftedness is part of the human structure, so it has a close connection with character. It is assumed that characteristics manifest themselves under the influence of upbringing and external conditions, the favorability of which varies. Psychologists look at the type of thinking and temperament, trying to determine the capabilities of individuals.

Special abilities directly depend on the field of activity in which a person is involved. The activity must be active and effective for the manifestation of properties that are characteristic of the individual.

As a result, what stands between giftedness and special abilities is the ability to correlate the level of human development and the pace of improvement. These aspects are considered by teachers who are responsible for the future of children.

In genetic terms, the relationship between the general - special development are stable. For this reason, geneticists and scientists believe that a person’s future is determined not only by external conditions, but also by natural potential, which is determined by genetics. Understanding giftedness depends on the significance of the chosen direction of activity, the success of other people who show their inclinations.

Scientists believe that giftedness is a quantitative concept. Qualitative approach impossible to use fully. The question regarding the definition of inherent abilities remains open.

At the same time, C. Spearman notes that mental talent should be determined by the mental energy that is characteristic of a person. This quantitative approach to interpretation is correct, because it allows one to assess the development prospects of an individual.

Abilities differ at a qualitative level: one person has the capabilities and potential for one area, and another person has the potential for another area. External conditions influence the degree to which internal potential is manifested, so they deserve attention.

Psychologists evaluate qualitative differences to open up people's perspectives. Researchers study information and experimental materials to create an assessment of an individual's abilities. The goal is to determine the person's abilities that will allow him to achieve success.

Talent

Talent is a person’s ability to achieve success and recognition in areas in which initial potential is realized.

The degree of inherent potential determines the ability to act originally and independently, to solve assigned tasks, regardless of their specificity and complexity. Talent presupposes the potential to show inclinations in the field, offering new ideas, implementing original and perfect actions, and achieving respect at the public level.

The child shows the first signs of inherent talent, which is realized in a certain direction. In some cases, manifestation occurs later, for example, in adulthood under significant events. and is realized if favorable conditions arise in culture, history, social order, if a person receives a full education.

Talent manifests itself in all areas, not just in art. Realization occurs in organizational work, pedagogy, technology and science. The sphere is determined by the underlying inclinations.

To develop talent, persistence in searching for areas of self-improvement and the manifestation of first works is required. For this reason, talented people should be drawn to work, without which it is impossible to imagine life.

Abilities and potential are the basis of talent. The range of inclinations and the ability to implement original and promising ideas are characteristic of the individual, therefore they are considered a unique gift.

The results of actions, the heights that a person reaches by making efforts, make it possible to understand the presence of talent or to refute the assumption. Results that are novel and original are the basis for forming an affirmative opinion.

Genius

Genius is a person’s talent, which is manifested in creative works.

The results of the work are of great importance for the people, historians and subsequent generations. Geniuses create new eras and push the world towards advancement. Among the differences are productivity in creativity, understanding cultural heritage, the ability to overcome previous standards and create new traditions.

What makes talented people different?

Researchers interact with talented individuals, understanding how they differ from ordinary citizens. Talented individuals experience dissatisfaction with the results of their work, as a result of which they strive for self-improvement, self-education and a change in thinking in order to achieve their goals. Geniuses refuse many offers, concentrating on the desired results.

Pianist G. Neuhaus noted that geniuses and talents are born. Despite this, people create a culture that varies in breadth, democracy and loyalty of manifestations. Favorable conditions allow people with inherent potential to become geniuses, talents, and achieve success. For this reason social society, the specifics of upbringing determine the possibilities for manifestation of the inherent potential and talent.

There is an opinion that nature rests on the children of talented parents. This opinion is confirmed by experience. Talent is inherited to a small extent. Research led to the following conclusions: mental skills are close to biological parents, which is due to the hereditary pattern, and not to adoptive parents. Similarity in potential and inherent inclinations does not appear in every situation, and the similarity decreases as a person grows older, who is faced with a different upbringing scheme, experiences personal events, and undergoes changes based on external factors.

Results are achieved not only on the basis of natural abilities, but also under the influence of motivation, conditions for the manifestation of existing potential. Pensioners get a chance to show their talent, although during their life there were no favorable factors for discovering inclinations. Over time, retirees achieve success they never dreamed of before.

Conclusion

Scientists debate the nature of human potential. Disputes are developing actively. Is potential an innate gift? Does potential development occur during life? Is it worth paying attention to the saying: the manifestation of talent is one percent of natural ability and 99% of sweat? Each point has supporters and opponents.

The biological influence on abilities and their manifestation depends on genetic inheritance. Upbringing and favorable factors reveal inclinations and accelerate development. The potential will appear without teachers and psychologists, but later.

Other scientists are convinced: the psyche and character develop in the process of education. For this reason, inclinations are formed in people. The children of primitive peoples received instruction and then conformed to the educated principles. Mowgli children, under the influence of unfavorable conditions, lose contact with society.

Abilities are formed and developed on the basis of inclinations, hereditary and innate. Potential, knowledge and skills characterize a person as an individual, a subject of activity.

Psychologists and scientists have not come to a single concept within the framework of personality theory, but in every era geniuses and talents are born who gain popularity and achieve success.

19 January 2014, 18:26

In recent years, it has become common to throw around the words “talent” or “genius” easily when assessing someone’s performance. But talent, and especially genius, is a gift from above, which is given to a person extremely rarely. Moreover, very few people receive the honor of being acquainted with a genius. What is the difference between talent and genius? Let's try to figure it out.

Definition

Talent- a person's obvious ability to do something, which time and experience can sharpen.

Genius– the greatest manifestation of an individual’s creative potential relative to other people, the highest degree of talent in something.

Comparison

Unlike a talented person, a genius, as a rule, creates something unique, something that has not existed in this world before. A genius makes discoveries all the time, allowing society to make a qualitative transition to the next stage of development. The intelligence and performance of geniuses are truly amazing. Therefore, a genius overshadows the talented individuals nearby. For example, during the time of A.S. There were many good poets and writers about Pushkin, but we know very little or nothing about them, since they were simply lost against the background of the author of “Eugene Onegin” and many other brilliant works. The personality of a genius is inherent cosmic scale. Typically, a genius creates noticeably more productively and faster than his contemporaries and peers, who achieve recognition in the same field of activity much later. Moreover, such productivity at work is an innate quality for geniuses. A genius is a person of exceptional talent. They say that geniuses are born when the Universe is ready to receive them.

Talented man is also capable of creating, but he can only develop what was discovered by a genius, detailing and concretizing his inventions. Another feature of talent is that it is able to prepare the ground, to be a harbinger of the activity of a genius, outlining the path that a brilliant person will then confidently follow. Almost every person living on Earth has a talent for something, you just need to find it and develop it. Talent can be honed through tireless hard work.

Conclusions website

  1. A person of genius is naturally more gifted than a talented person. Genius is hypertrophied talent.
  2. The consequence of genius is the creation of new, unique, unprecedented, never-before-seen creations that can change the course of history, influence souls and events. The creations of geniuses live on for centuries. Talent does not create anything revolutionary.
  3. Genius is characterized by unconventional thinking, a special thought process that is inaccessible to anyone, even an outstanding talent.
  4. Genius goes beyond the ordinary, it is incomprehensible. Talent is “closer to the ground”; it can be developed and sharpened.
  5. Talent usually develops in a favorable social environment, genius is often formed in stressful life circumstances.
  6. A person's genius is often recognized after his death.

Introduction

The topic of giftedness and genius in psychology is considered quite widely. “...most often the following classification of levels of development of abilities is found: ability, giftedness, talent, genius” (Yu.B. Gippenreiter).

Talent is an ability inherent from birth. But it reveals itself gradually, with the acquisition of certain skills or experience. Modern scientists identify certain types of talent that people possess to one degree or another. In the early 1980s, Howard Gardner wrote the book "Frames of Mind." In this book, he identified eight types of talent and intelligence:

    verbal-linguistic (responsible for the ability to write and read, inherent in journalists, writers and lawyers);

    digital (typical for mathematicians, programmers);

    auditory (musicians, linguists, linguists);

    spatial (inherent in designers and artists);

    physical (athletes and dancers are endowed with it; these people learn more easily through practice);

    personal (also called emotional; responsible for what a person says to himself);

    interpersonal (people with this talent often become politicians, speakers, traders, actors);

    talent environment(trainers and farmers are endowed with this talent). 2

The presence of talent should be judged by the high development of abilities, especially special ones, as well as by the results of human activity, which should be distinguished by fundamental novelty and originality of approach. A person’s talent is usually directed by a pronounced need for creativity and reflects social demands.

Genius – the practical embodiment of an increased level of creative potential of an individual relative to other individuals. Traditionally expressed in new and unique creations, belatedly recognized as “masterpieces”. Sometimes genius is explained by a new and unexpected methodological approach to the creative process.

As a rule, a genius creates much more productively and faster than his peers who achieve official recognition in the same field of activity. There is an opinion that genius requires the universal interests of an extraordinary personality.

Psychologists agree that abilities, like muscles, must be developed through exercise. This follows from the very definition of abilities, because they cannot be born on their own, outside of a certain activity. The truth of this thesis can be easily seen using the example of musical abilities. Those who have studied music know that the path to performance mastery lies through daily hours of practice, a significant part of which consists of tedious scales. But these scales are played every day by both beginning musicians and great pianists. However, the point is not so much in the number of exercises, but in the strength of tension, in the systematic nature of mental work, and its methodology.

Nai highest level the development of abilities manifested in creative activity, the results of which have historical significance in the life of society, in the development of science, literature, and art, is called genius. Genius is different from talent public importance the problems that a person solves. Genius expresses the advanced trends of his time.

Individual characteristics of abilities are reflected in the versatility or one-sidedness of their development. M. Lomonosov, D. Mendeleev, N. Borodin, T. Shevchenko and others had versatile abilities. For example, M. V. Lomonosov achieved outstanding results in various areas knowledge: chemistry, astronomy, mathematics, and at the same time he was an artist, writer, linguist, and had an excellent knowledge of poetry.

However, this “...does not mean that all individual qualities genius developed in to the same degree. Genius, as a rule, has its own “profile”, some side dominates in it, some abilities manifest themselves more clearly.”

The individual characteristics of each person’s abilities are the result of its development. Therefore, for the development of abilities, appropriate social conditions and individual activity are needed.

“There are moments in the life of brilliant people when these people show great similarities with madmen, for example, increased sensitivity, exaltation followed by apathy, originality of aesthetic works and the ability to discover, unconsciousness of creativity and the use of special expressions, strong absent-mindedness and suicidal tendencies, as well as often abuse of alcoholic beverages and, finally, enormous vanity.”

It can be said about brilliant people, just like about crazy people, that they remain lonely, cold, and indifferent to the responsibilities of a family man and a member of society all their lives. Michelangelo constantly insisted that “his art replaces his wife.”

It is not uncommon that, due to the same reasons that so often cause madness, that is, due to illness and head damage, the most ordinary people turn into geniuses. Vico fell from a the highest staircase and crushed his right parietal bone. Gratri, at first a bad singer, became a famous artist after severely bruising his head with a log. Mabillon, completely weak-minded from a young age, achieved fame for his talents, which developed in him as a result of a head wound he received.

This dependence of genius on pathological changes can partly explain a curious feature of genius compared to talent: it is something unconscious and manifests itself completely unexpectedly.

Jürgen Meyer says that a talented person acts strictly deliberately. He knows how and why he came to famous theory, while this is completely unknown to a genius: every creative activity unconscious.

Those people of genius who have observed themselves say that under the influence of inspiration they experience some inexpressibly pleasant feverish state, during which thoughts involuntarily appear in their minds and splash out of their own accord, like sparks.

If we now turn to solving the question - what exactly is the physiological difference between a genius and an ordinary person, then, on the basis of autobiographies and observations, we will find that for the most part the whole difference between them lies in the refined and almost painful impressionability of a genius.

As mental abilities develop, impressionability grows and reaches its greatest strength in brilliant individuals, being the source of their suffering and glory. These chosen natures are more sensitive in quantitative and qualitative terms than mere mortals, and the impressions they perceive are distinguished by their depth, remain in memory for a long time and are combined in various ways. This is one of the most important prerequisites for geniuses to create something fundamentally new, which is why they are able to see in small things what is not noticeable to others and make the greatest discovery out of these small things. Many brilliant scientists fainted with delight when reading Homer's works. The painter Francia died of admiration after seeing Raphael's painting. giftedness abilities genius mattoid

But it is precisely this too strong impressionability of brilliant or only gifted people that in the vast majority of cases is the cause of their misfortunes, both real and imaginary. A genius is irritated by everything, and what for ordinary people seems like just pinpricks, with his sensitivity already seems to him like a blow from a dagger. Morbid impressionability also gives rise to exorbitant vanity, which distinguishes not only people of genius, but also scientists in general, starting from ancient times.

The poet Lucius did not rise from his seat when Julius Caesar appeared in the meeting of poets, because he considered himself superior to him in the art of versification. Schopenhauer became furious and refused to pay bills if his last name was spelled with two “n’s.”

Everyone who had the rare good fortune of living in the company of brilliant people was amazed at their ability to interpret in a bad way every action of those around them, to see persecution everywhere and in everything to find a reason for deep, endless melancholy. This ability is determined precisely by the stronger development of mental powers, thanks to which a gifted person is more able to find the truth and at the same time more easily comes up with false arguments to confirm the validity of his painful delusion. In part, the gloomy view of geniuses on their surroundings depends, however, on the fact that, being innovators in the mental sphere, they repel most people with unshakable firmness.

A genius has the ability to guess what is not fully known to him: for example, Goethe described Italy in detail without seeing it. It is precisely because of such insight, rising above the general level, and due to the fact that genius, absorbed in higher considerations, differs from the crowd in super-actions or even, like crazy people (but in contrast to talented people), reveals a tendency towards disorder - genius natures are met with contempt from the side of the majority, which, not noticing the intermediate points in their work, sees only the discrepancy between the conclusions they made and the generally accepted ones and the oddities in their behavior.

If some of these latter exhibit remarkable mental abilities, then this is only in relatively rare cases, and moreover, their mind is always one-sided: much more often we notice in them a lack of perseverance, diligence, strength of character, attention, accuracy, memory - the main qualities of a genius. And for the most part they remain lonely all their lives, uncommunicative, indifferent or insensitive to what worries the human race, as if they were surrounded by some special atmosphere that belonged to them alone.

Summarizing these provisions, we can come to the following conclusions: in physiological terms between normal condition There are many points of contact between a man of genius and a pathological madman. Among brilliant people there are madmen and among madmen there are geniuses. But there were and are many brilliant people in whom one cannot find the slightest sign of insanity, with the exception of some abnormalities in the sphere of sensitivity.

Having established such a close correspondence between men of genius and madmen, nature seemed to want to point out to us our duty to treat with condescension the greatest of human disasters - madness and at the same time warn us not to get too carried away by the brilliant ghosts of geniuses, many of whom are not only do not rise into the transcendental spheres, but, like sparkling meteors, having once flared up, they fall very low and drown in a mass of delusions.

Talent and genius are different , first of all, in terms of the objective significance and at the same time the originality of what they are capable of producing. Talent is characterized by the ability to achieve high order, but remaining in principle within the framework of what has already been achieved; genius presupposes the ability to create something fundamentally new, to pave truly new paths, and not just reach high points on already beaten roads. The high level of giftedness that characterizes genius is inevitably associated with excellence in different or even all areas. As an example of universalism, often characteristic of geniuses, it is enough to name Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, R. Descartes, G. V. Leibniz, M. V. Lomonosov, K. Marx. But the talent of a genius also has a certain profile, and some side dominates in it, some abilities are especially identified and formed in the leading direction of his work.

Conclusion

The nature of human abilities causes quite heated debate among scientists. Are our abilities innate or are they developed?lifetime? Do you need to be born a musician, or talent, as follows from the well-known statements, is it 1% ability and 99% sweat? Among scientists there are active adherents of both one and the other point of view.

Proponents of the idea of ​​abilities argue that abilities are biologically determined and their manifestation depends entirely on the inherited genetic stock. Training and education, scientists who take this position believe, can only speed up the process of manifestation of abilities, but even without pedagogical influence they will certainly manifest themselves.

Representatives of the other extreme point of view believe that mental characteristics are determined by the quality of education and training and that any person can develop any abilities. Supporters this direction they refer to cases where the children of the most primitive tribes, having received appropriate training, were no different from educated Europeans. Here they talk about the so-called “Mowgli children”, which convincingly indicate irreparable damage, even the impossibility human development outside of society.

Abilities are formed and developed in the process of activity on the basis of inclinations - hereditary and innate psychological qualities of a person. Consequently, in order to develop the ability for this type of activity, it is imperative to carry out this activity. Abilities characterize a person as a subject of activity.

The problem of talent and genius has been facing psychologists for a long time, and today there is no single concept within the framework of any personality theory that would explain it in full. Most personality theories consider only some aspects of this problem. However, studying talent structure issues has very great importance, both for the theory of psychology and for solving specific psychological and pedagogical problems of modern education.

When considering psychological literature, the question arises about the relationship between the concepts of giftedness, talent and genius. In many sources, the concepts of giftedness and talent are interpreted as synonymous and are not separated. Genius is seen as the highest degree of manifestation of talent or giftedness. Hence the need to introduce precise concepts to further clarify the problem.

In modern literature, more and more articles and publications appear that touch on this topic in one way or another. True, they are all just a drop in the bucket psychological problems, appearing among teachers and parents of gifted children in our time, when information changes every five years, and sometimes more often. Today's schoolchildren have to fit so much into their memory that sometimes their young, unstable psyche cannot withstand such loads. Hence the emotional breakdowns and depression. Here we no longer have to talk about the development of creative potential, which requires a careful, thoughtful attitude; there is a continuous race for the quantity and quality of knowledge.

Many figures of modern science highlight personal factor as the only one thanks to which humanity can move forward. Therefore, both abroad and in our country, new programs for the development of talented children and adolescents are being developed, giving them the opportunity to begin realizing their potential as early as possible. But in my opinion, truly good methods can only be developed on the basis of solid theoretical basis, after the problem has been comprehensively studied and theoretical principles have been formed within the framework of a unified psychological and pedagogical concept.

List of sources used

    Averin V. A. Personality psychology: Tutorial. - St. Petersburg: EastNovaPress, 2007. – 398 p.

    Ananyev B.G. Man as an object of knowledge. – L.: Lenizdat, 1999. – 215 p.

    Introduction to psychology / Ed. ed. prof. A.V. Petrovsky. – M.: “Academy”, 1996. – 496 p.

    Leites N. S. Early manifestations of giftedness // Questions of psychology. - 1998. - No. 4. - P. 98-107.

    Luria A.R. Lectures on general psychology. – St. Petersburg: Peter, 2006. – 320 p.

    Maklakov A.G. General psychology: Textbook. Benefit. – St. Petersburg: Peter, 2001. – 592 p.

    Matyushkin A.M. The concept of creative talent // Questions of psychology. – 1989 - No. 6. – pp. 29-33.

    Mukhina V.S. Age-related psychology. Phenomenology of development. – M.: “Academy”, 2006. – 608 p.

    Nemov R.S. Psychology: In 3 books. – M.: VLADOS, 2003. – Book. 1: General Basics psychology. – 688 p.

    General psychology: Textbook / Ed. Tugusheva R. X., Garbera E. I. – M.: Eksmo, 2006. – 592 p.

    Popova L.V. Gifted girls and boys // Primary school: “plus – minus”. - 2000. - No. 3. – P. 58-65.

    Psychology: Textbook / Ed. prof. K.N. Kornilova, prof. A.A. Smirnova, prof. B.M. Teplova. – M.: Uchpedgiz, 1988. – 614 p.

    Shcheblanova E.I., Averina I.S. Modern longitudinal studies of giftedness // Questions of psychology. – 1994. - No. 6. – pp. 134-139.

    Shcheblanova E.I. Unsuccessful gifted schoolchildren: their problems and characteristics // School of Health. -1999. No. 3. – P. 41-55.

    Slutsky V.M. Gifted children: www.friendship.com.ru

    http://psylist.net/difpsi/genials.htm

1 Teplov B.M. Abilities and talents: Psychology individual differences. - M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 1982. – 404 p.

2 Gardner G. Frames of the mind. – M.: Nauka, 1980. – 250 p.

3 Psylist. net [Electronic resource] – access mode to the article: http://psylist.net/difpsi/genials.htm

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Skill, talent and genius

Introduction

In modern literature, more and more articles and publications appear that in one way or another touch on the topic of talent and genius.

Human thinking and the ability to create are the greatest gift of nature.

It is very important to understand that nature honors every person with this gift. But it is also obvious that she does not divide her gifts equally and rewards someone generously, without stinting, but bypasses someone.

Why do some people succeed very well, while others, no matter how hard they try, cannot achieve the same results?

The object of the study is such psychological concepts as talent and genius.

What distinguishes a genius from other people? How is talent different from genius? What is skill?

The purpose of the work is to study the characteristics of mastery, the conditions for the emergence, development and disclosure of such aspects of the human psyche as talent and genius.

The goal is achieved through the following tasks:

Give a general description of human abilities;

Study the general concept of giftedness, its features and types;

Study the theoretical and psychological foundations of talent;

Reveal the general concept of genius, the similarity between brilliant people and crazy people;

The range of human abilities is very wide - from mental retardation to a high degree of giftedness.

Real practice shows that the mental and creative abilities of people are not equal and these differences appear already in childhood.

It is precisely this period of a person’s life that is the most favorable, because recognition of the world is taking place and at first certain abilities are not voluntarily developed, and then parents and teachers help to develop them.

The topic of talent and genius in psychology is considered quite widely. “...The most common classification of levels of development of abilities is: ability, giftedness, talent, genius” (Yu.B. Gippenreiter).

Capabilities

General characteristics of human abilities

In the study of abilities domestic psychology M. Teplov made a great contribution. In addition, ability theory has been developed by many others domestic psychologists: Vygotsky, Leontiev, Rubinstein, Ananyev, Krutetsky, Golubeva

Teplov identified 3 main characteristics and several stages of abilities Teplov B.M. Abilities and talent:

· individual psychological characteristics that distinguish one person from another;

· features that relate to the success of an activity or several activities;

· features that cannot be reduced to existing knowledge, skills, abilities, but which can explain the ease and speed of acquiring knowledge and skills.

The formation and development of human abilities is impossible without mastery of products human culture, without assimilating the abilities of many generations. Mastery of Achievements social development done through other people.

Natural (or natural) and specific abilities are distinguished. Natural abilities are biologically determined and associated with innate inclinations. Many of the natural abilities are common to humans and animals, especially higher animals, for example, monkeys (for example: memory, thinking, the ability to communicate at the level of expression). These abilities are formed through learning mechanisms such as conditioned reflex connections.

The development of one or another ability takes place in several stages:

· Makings of

· Capabilities

· Giftedness

· Genius

Inclinations are only peculiar anatomical and physiological prerequisites for the development of abilities. Abilities can be formed from inclinations only during activity and under favorable conditions. In addition, every deposit is multi-valued, i.e. under different conditions, different abilities can be formed from it.

Ability is basic property personality, which is a condition for the successful performance of a certain activity. The vast majority of people have the ability to perform several types of activities.

Giftedness is associated with the development of abilities, but at the same time it is independent of them. B.M. Teplov defined giftedness as “a qualitatively unique combination of abilities, on which the possibility of achieving greater or lesser success in performing one or another activity depends. Teplov B.M. Abilities and giftedness: Psychology of individual differences. - M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 1982. - 404 pp.” Giftedness does not ensure success in any activity, but only the opportunity to achieve this success. Those. To successfully perform an activity, a person must have certain knowledge, skills or abilities. Giftedness can be special - that is, applicable to one type of activity, and general - to different types activities. Often general talent is combined with special talent. Signs that indicate giftedness include early development abilities or more pronounced compared to other members of the same social group.

Talent is an ability inherent at birth. But it reveals itself gradually, with the acquisition of certain skills or experience.

Already in childhood The first signs of talent may appear in the field of music, mathematics, linguistics, technology, sports, etc. However, talent may appear later. The formation and development of talent largely depends on the socio-historical conditions of human life and activity.

Talent is a high level of a person’s ability to perform a specific activity. This is a combination of abilities that give a person the opportunity to successfully, independently and originally perform certain complex work activities.

Genius is the practical embodiment of an increased level of creative potential of an individual relative to other individuals. Traditionally expressed in new and unique creations, belatedly recognized as “masterpieces”. Sometimes genius is explained by a new and unexpected methodological approach to the creative process.

Psychological basis of talent

psychology talent genius giftedness

Talent can manifest itself in all spheres of human labor: in organizational and pedagogical activities, in science, technology, in various types of production. Hard work and perseverance are of great importance in developing talent. Talented people are characterized by a need to engage in a certain type of activity, which sometimes manifests itself in a passion for the chosen business.

The manifestation and development of talent requires high performance, dedication of a person, stable motivation (personal orientation), mastery of knowledge and skills in a special field of activity. It is not without reason that most outstanding scientists, writers and artists believe that 90% of their achievements come from work and only 10% from talent. The word comes from the measure of weight “talent”. In the New Testament there is a parable about three slaves who were given a coin called “talent” by their master. One buried his talent in the ground, the second exchanged it, and the third multiplied it. Hence the three expressions: buried, exchanged and multiplied (developed) his talent. From the Bible, the word “talent” has spread in a figurative sense: as a gift of God, the ability to create, and create something new, without neglecting it.

Modern scientists identify certain types of talents that people possess to one degree or another. In the early 1980s, Howard Gardner wrote the book "Frames of Mind." In this book, he identified eight types of talent and intelligence:

· verbal-linguistic (responsible for the ability to write and read, inherent in journalists, writers and lawyers);

· digital (typical for mathematicians, programmers);

· auditory (musicians, linguists, linguists);

· spatial (inherent in designers and artists);

· physical (athletes and dancers are endowed with it; these people learn more easily through practice);

· personal (also called emotional; responsible for what a person says to himself);

· interpersonal (people with this talent often become politicians, speakers, traders, actors);

· environmental talent (trainers and farmers are endowed with this talent). Gardner G. Frames of the mind. - M.: Nauka, 1980. - 250 p.

Talent and skill

When the talent within is revealed, mastery is revealed among the husks and legends. Mastery lies in knowing the capabilities of the tool and the ability to use it, maximizing or adjusting the parameters to the implementation of the task facing the master - the implementation of the idea. And everyone can learn this skill. Anyone with a developed brain can become a sculptor, poet, artist, writer, composer - if they are not lazy.

Mastery is perfection in a specific type of activity; it requires a lot of hard work. Mastery in to a large extent associated with productive activities. Mastery in any profession presupposes psychological readiness for creative solutions to emerging problems. The level of skill in the process of activity changes, the structure of a person’s abilities develops, and his personality is formed.

Thus, every teacher can and should possess pedagogical skills, i.e. acquired and constantly improved knowledge, skills and abilities of teaching and education. A. S. Makarenko wrote about this: “...can we build the education of our entire Soviet childhood and youth based on talent? No. We need to talk only about mastery, that is, about real knowledge of the educational process, about educational skill.”

Genius

The highest level of development of abilities, manifested in creative activity, the results of which have historical significance in the life of society, in the development of science, literature, and art, is called genius. Genius differs from talent of social significance of the problems that a person solves. Genius expresses the advanced trends of his time. Genius is the highest level of talent development, allowing for fundamental shifts in one or another area of ​​creativity, “to create an era.” Men of genius are meteors destined to burn out to illuminate their age. Napoleon Bonaparte

Exceptional Features of Genius People

What distinguishes a genius from other people? How is talent different from genius? Alas, no one has yet determined this for sure.

The word genius comes from the root "GEN" - the life-giving principle. And the word “talent” comes from two roots “ANT” - heritage (of the ancient sages ANT, that is, the Aryans) and the root “TAL” in this context is translated as “SPIRIT”. That is, talent is a person who has inherited the creative spirit of his ancestors. And a genius is someone who has breathed life and inspiration into an entire generation, or even several generations.

The difference between an ordinary man and a genius lies mainly in the greater or lesser depth of the principles on which he bases his ideas: with the majority of people, every judgment is based on a particular case; their mind cannot comprehend provisions of universal significance; every general idea is dark for them. David Hume. As one joke goes: “According to psychiatrists, every fourth person suffers from mental illness. If three of your friends are fine, then it’s you.”

I asked genius for talent;

Tell me, what are your merits?

Why do people exalt you so much?

And the gods smoke incense?

After thinking, the genius answered:

I'm just an obedient child

The joint fruit of diligence and labor.

From that union I began.

There are facts that contradict the theory that the abilities of geniuses, and simply talented people, can be achieved through intense exercise. Mentally retarded girl with three years old She knew how to perfectly draw horses in different poses and angles. Unlike ordinary children, who go through stages of drawing "bumps and tadpoles" and tadpoles with sticks instead of arms and legs, she began to draw horses brilliantly from the very moment her fingers began to hold a pencil. There was no training or exercise. There are known children who can instantly calculate the days of the week of any month and year, having not yet mastered the division operation, and who have learned their ability without the help of adults.

It can be assumed that those individuals who have passed a certain turning point, a critical point in the development of individuality, become geniuses. Geniuses have the right to their shortcomings. And great people, even their shortcomings, must be great. Talent is a gift over which a person has control; genius is a gift that dominates the person himself. James Russell Lowell

A little history

For a long time the prevailing idea was that divine origin a gift that determines the individual differences of people. So, for example, Plato wrote that “... the poet creates not from art and knowledge, but from divine predestination.” But around the middle of the 19th century, a different understanding emerged. The famous English scientist Francis Galton, inspired by the works of his cousin Charles Darwin, began to actively develop the idea that a man of genius is “the product of a race of genius.” He carefully analyzed the pedigrees outstanding people of his time and past and found a number of patterns that quite clearly indicate, from his point of view, that manifestations of giftedness depend primarily on heredity.

In parallel, however, there was a directly opposite point of view, according to which no gift (neither divine nor innate) exists at all. This idea is expressed in the somewhat strange term "tabula rasa" (Latin for "blank slate"). The child is like " clean board", without any signs and ideas, and there is no, neither divine nor hereditary, predisposition to mental or any other activity. Despite the obvious doubtfulness felt even at the time of its inception, this theory finds its adherents to this day.

Individual characteristics of abilities are reflected in the versatility or one-sidedness of their development. M. Lomonosov, D. Mendeleev, N. Borodin, T. Shevchenko and others had versatile abilities. For example, M. V. Lomonosov achieved outstanding results in various fields of knowledge: chemistry, astronomy, mathematics and at the same time was an artist and writer , a linguist, had an excellent knowledge of poetry.

“A genius is an obsessed person, but he is a creator...” wrote N. A. Berdyaev. Is genius always associated with madness? There is no clear answer to this either.

There are moments in the life of brilliant people when these people show great similarities with madmen, for example, increased sensitivity, exaltation followed by apathy, originality of aesthetic works and the ability to discover, unconsciousness of creativity and the use of special expressions, strong absent-mindedness and suicidal tendencies, and also often alcohol abuse and, finally, enormous vanity.

No matter how cruel and sad this kind of paradox may be, considering it from a scientific point of view, we can say that in some respects it is quite reasonable, although at first glance it seems absurd.

It can be said about brilliant people, just like about crazy people, that they remain lonely, cold, and indifferent to the responsibilities of a family man and a member of society all their lives. Michelangelo constantly insisted that “his art replaces his wife.” Van Gogh considered himself possessed by a demon. Hoffmann had persecution delusions and hallucinations. Hobbes was afraid to stay in a dark room, because he saw ghosts there. Goncharov was a hypochondriac, Vrubel and Kharms were treated in psychiatric clinics, Dostoevsky suffered from epilepsy and a morbid passion for gambling, Mandelstam had severe neurosis and attempted suicide. The genius madmen include Mozart, Schumann, Beethoven and Handel. Anna Akhmatova had agoraphobia - fear open spaces, Mayakovsky was terrified of infections, so he carried a soap dish with him everywhere. According to eyewitnesses, Leo Tolstoy had seizures, possibly epileptic. Alexey Tolstoy also suffered from seizures, only not epileptic, but hysterical. During one of these hysterical attacks, he even wrote a poem, and when he woke up, he did not remember how he created it. Raphael had a vision (in medical terms - a hallucination) of the image of the Madonna, which he embodied in his works. Kramskoy experienced hallucinations while working on the painting “Christ at the Crossroads,” and Derzhavin experienced hallucinations while writing the ode “God.” Maupassant sometimes saw his double in his house. Glinka had nervous breakdown, reaching the point of hallucinations.

Goethe, Mozart, Raphael, Koltsov created in a dream or in the so-called dream-like (somnambulistic) state. Walter Scott dictated his novel to Ivanhoe in an ill state, and then remembered absolutely nothing about it, except for the main idea of ​​the novel, which came to him before his illness.

Having established such a close correspondence between men of genius and madmen, nature seemed to want to point out to us our duty to treat with condescension the greatest of human disasters - madness and at the same time warn us not to get too carried away by the brilliant ghosts of geniuses, many of whom are not only do not rise into the transcendental spheres, but, like sparkling meteors, having once flared up, they fall very low and drown in a mass of delusions.

Talent and autism in children

This or that child can demonstrate particular success in a fairly wide range of activities. Moreover, even in the same type of activity, different children can discover the uniqueness of their talent in relation to its different aspects. There are many types and forms of giftedness, since the mental capabilities of a child are extremely plastic different stages his age development.

The concept " talented child" is very often used as a synonym for the concepts of "gifted child" or "prodigy" (translated from German - a wonderful child). A child prodigy may have some common characteristics with children with autism. Sonya Shatalova is a unique child known in Russia, she writes poetry, she has autism: “...About genius. She is not superpowered or super talented. Genius is life simultaneously in everyday reality and in the reality of God, sometimes also in the reality of some of the subtle worlds. True, geniuses often have assistants from another reality, and this supports them. A person can cease to be a genius if for some reason he stops living in other realities and remains only in the everyday one. This often happens to children. Or the Lord blocks access to his reality when a genius leans towards evil. The condition for the survival of genius is the transfer of these realities into everyday life. In any way, but if there is no such transmission, the genius goes crazy.”

The problem of talent and genius has been facing psychologists for a long time, and today there is no single concept within the framework of any personality theory that would explain it in full. Most personality theories consider only some aspects of this problem. Nevertheless, the study of the structure of giftedness, talent and genius is of great importance, both for the theory of psychology and for solving specific psychological and pedagogical problems of modern education. Both abroad and in our country, new programs for the development of talented children and adolescents are being developed, giving them the opportunity to begin realizing their potential as early as possible. But truly good methods can only be developed on the basis of a solid theoretical basis, after the problem has been comprehensively studied and a unified psychological and pedagogical concept has been formed.

Bibliography

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Introduction

The topic of giftedness and genius in psychology is considered quite widely. “...most often the following classification of levels of development of abilities is found: ability, giftedness, talent, genius” (Yu.B. Gippenreiter).

Relevance The topics of our course work are revealed by the following provisions. A few decades ago, S. L. Rubinstein wrote: “A lot of work has been devoted to the study of giftedness. However, the results obtained are in no way adequate to the amount of labor spent on these works. This is explained by the fallacy of the initial assumptions of so many of the studies and the unsatisfactory nature of the methods that were mostly used in them.”

Unfortunately, sometimes, with the help of inexorable analysis, those bright, rainbow illusions with which a person deceives and exalts himself are destroyed and destroyed one after another. So we come to the conviction that love is, in essence, nothing more than the mutual attraction of stamens and pistils... and thoughts are the simple movement of molecules. Even genius - this only sovereign power that belonged to a person, before which, without blushing, one can kneel - even many psychiatrists put it on the same level with a penchant for crime, even in it they see only one of the teratological forms of the human mind, one of the varieties madness.

Questions of giftedness, talent, genius, as Rubinstein correctly noted above, despite the regularity of study, remain not fully understood, with such different options cause-and-effect relationships, it is difficult to talk about any logical connection between these theories. For example, in psychological literature The question of the relationship between the concepts of giftedness, talent and genius often has very contradictory answers. In many sources, the concepts of “giftedness” and “talent” are interpreted as synonymous and not separated, and genius is considered as the highest degree of manifestation of talent or giftedness.

The lack of development and at the same time the importance of the topic of the course work also emphasizes the relevance of our theoretical research.

Object of study are such psychological concepts as giftedness, talent, genius.

Subject of research– features, time of appearance, development, disclosure of such aspects of the psyche as giftedness, talent, genius.

Target Our course work is to study the features and conditions of the emergence, development and disclosure of such aspects of the human psyche as giftedness, talent, genius.

The goal is achieved by the following tasks:

Give a general description of a person’s abilities, describe the levels and development of special abilities, the relationship between abilities and age;

To study the general concept of giftedness, the characteristics of children's giftedness and its types, the influence of the social environment on giftedness;

Study the theoretical and psychological foundations of talent;

Reveal the general concept of genius, the similarity between brilliant people and crazy people;

Describe the intermediate stage of genius - mattoids (according to Ch. Lombroso);

In the process of revealing the stated topic, we studied the works of such psychologists as: Ananyev B.G., A.V. Petrovsky, Gardner G., Gippenreiter Yu.B., Leites N.S., Luria A.R., Matyushkin A.M., Nemov R.S., Popova L.V., Rubinshtein S.L., Teplov B. M., Shcheblanova E.I.

Our work is written on 36 pages, consists of an introduction, 5 paragraphs with subparagraphs, a conclusion, a list of references (30 sources) and is exclusively theoretical in nature.

The first chapter of our course work is devoted to abilities as the basis of the processes we study, the 2nd chapter describes giftedness, the 3rd - talent, the 4th - genius and its intermediate level, in the 5th chapter we give general recommendations for working with gifted children .

1. Abilities

1.1 General characteristics of human abilities

M. Teplov made a great contribution to the study of abilities in Russian psychology. In addition, the theory of abilities was created by many other domestic psychologists: Vygotsky, Leontiev, Rubinstein, Ananyev, Krutetsky, Golubeva.

Teplov identified 3 main signs of abilities:

· individual psychological characteristics that distinguish one person from another;

· features that relate to the success of an activity or several activities;

· features that cannot be reduced to existing knowledge, skills, abilities, but which can explain the ease and speed of acquiring knowledge and skills.

According to S. L. Rubinstein, “abilities are a complex, synthetic formation that includes a whole range of data, without which a person would not be capable of any specific activity, and properties that are only in the process in a certain way organized activities are being developed."

V. S. Yurkevich understands types of activities as abilities, V. D. Shadrikov understands the properties of functional systems that implement individual mental functions, etc. But we will focus on Teplov’s definition. Summarizing all the above characteristics, we get the following definition:

« Capabilities– individual personality traits, which are subjective conditions for the successful implementation of a certain type of activity. Abilities are not limited to the knowledge, skills and abilities an individual has.”

It should also be noted that abilities can only exist in constant process development. Without development, the ability is lost. That is why the success of a particular activity depends on the development of the abilities necessary for this activity.

They highlight natural (or natural) and specific abilities . Natural abilities are biologically determined and associated with innate inclinations. Many of the natural abilities are common to humans and animals, especially higher animals, for example, monkeys (for example: memory, thinking, the ability to communicate at the level of expression). These abilities are formed through learning mechanisms such as conditioned reflex connections.

Specific the same abilities have a socio-historical origin and ensure life and development in the social environment. In turn, specific abilities can be divided into 3 more types:

· theoretical, which determine a person’s propensity for abstract-logical thinking, and practical, which underlie the propensity for concrete practical actions;

· educational, which influence the success of pedagogical influence, a person’s assimilation of knowledge, abilities, skills, the formation of personality traits, and creative, associated with success in creating works of material and spiritual culture, new ideas, discoveries, inventions.

· ability to communicate and interact with people.

We also note that theoretical and practical abilities do not combine with each other, unlike natural and other specific ones. In this case, most people have either one or the other type of ability. Together they are extremely rare and mainly among gifted and versatile developed people. Abilities help a person develop and, with a certain combination of various well-developed abilities, determine the level of development of abilities, in general, for a particular person.

The prerequisite for this development of abilities is the innate abilities with which the child was born. However, abilities are not determined by biologically inherited properties. The brain contains only the ability to form these abilities. How abilities develop depends on:

1) on the quality of existing knowledge and skills, on the degree of their integration into a single whole;

2) from the natural inclinations of a person, the quality of the innate nervous mechanisms of elementary mental activity;

3) from the greater or lesser “training” of the brain structures themselves involved in the implementation of cognitive and psychomotor processes.

1.2 Levels and development of special abilities

Abilities have complex structure, which depends on the development of personality. There are two levels of development of abilities:

reproductive

· creative

A person at the reproductive level only discovers high skill to acquire knowledge, master activities and carry them out according to a given model. At the creative level, a person creates something new and original.

If humanity were deprived of the opportunity to create or did not have educational (reproductive) abilities, then it would hardly be able to develop. Therefore, some authors believe that reproductive abilities are, first of all, general abilities, and creative abilities are special ones that determine the success of creativity. And their interaction determines the development of humanity.

It is worth taking into account that these levels are interconnected; all creative activity includes reproductive activity, and reproductive activity includes creative activity. Also, both levels are quite dynamic. They are not something frozen. In the process of mastering new knowledge or skills, a person moves from one level to another, the structure of his ability changes. It is known that even extremely gifted or even brilliant people began by imitation.

The development of one or another ability takes place in several stages:

· Makings of

· Capabilities

· Giftedness

· Genius

Makings of– these are only peculiar anatomical and physiological prerequisites for the development of abilities. Abilities can be formed from inclinations only during activity and under favorable conditions. In addition, every deposit is multi-valued, i.e. under different conditions, different abilities can be formed from it.

Ability– this is a basic personality property, which is a condition for the successful performance of a certain activity. The vast majority of people have the ability to perform several types of activities.

Giftedness connected with the development of abilities, but at the same time independent of them. B.M. Teplov defined giftedness as “a qualitatively unique combination of abilities, on which the possibility of achieving greater or lesser success in performing one or another activity depends.” Giftedness does not ensure success in any activity, but only the opportunity to achieve this success. Those. To successfully perform an activity, a person must have certain knowledge, skills or abilities. Giftedness can be special - that is, applicable to one type of activity, and general - to different types of activity. Often general talent is combined with special talent. Signs that indicate giftedness include early development of abilities or more pronounced ones compared to other members of the same social group.

Talent is an ability inherent from birth. But it reveals itself gradually, with the acquisition of certain skills or experience. Modern scientists identify certain types of talent that people possess to one degree or another. In the early 1980s, Howard Gardner wrote the book "Frames of Mind." In this book, he identified eight types of talent and intelligence:

· verbal-linguistic (responsible for the ability to write and read, inherent in journalists, writers and lawyers);

· digital (typical for mathematicians, programmers);

· auditory (musicians, linguists, linguists);

· spatial (inherent in designers and artists);

· physical (athletes and dancers are endowed with it; these people learn more easily through practice);

· personal (also called emotional; responsible for what a person says to himself);

· interpersonal (people with this talent often become politicians, speakers, traders, actors);

· environmental talent (trainers and farmers are endowed with this talent).

The presence of talent should be judged by the high development of abilities, especially special ones, as well as by the results of human activity, which should be distinguished by fundamental novelty and originality of approach. A person’s talent is usually directed by a pronounced need for creativity and reflects social demands.

Genius– the practical embodiment of an increased level of creative potential of an individual relative to other individuals. Traditionally expressed in new and unique creations, belatedly recognized as “masterpieces”. Sometimes genius is explained by a new and unexpected methodological approach to the creative process.

As a rule, a genius creates much more productively and faster than his peers who achieve official recognition in the same field of activity. There is an opinion that genius requires the universal interests of an extraordinary personality.

Psychologists agree that abilities, like muscles, must be developed through exercise. This follows from the very definition of abilities, because they cannot be born on their own, outside of a certain activity. The truth of this thesis can be easily seen using the example of musical abilities. Those who have studied music know that the path to performance mastery lies through daily hours of practice, a significant part of which consists of tedious scales. But these scales are played every day by both beginning musicians and great pianists. However, the point is not so much in the number of exercises, but in the strength of tension, in the systematic nature of mental work, and its methodology.

But all this relates to training existing abilities. The formation of new abilities takes place in several stages:

1) Identification of inclinations. This is very important stage, in which it is necessary to identify the prerequisites for certain abilities for their further formation. This can be done through observation, however the most common approach to this process is to conduct various tests. A similar technique is widely used by child psychologists to identify the inclinations of a child, but can also be applied to an adult, which is practiced by employers during an interview with a candidate.

2) Providing a favorable environment for the development of abilities. A favorable condition can be considered a sensitive period of human development, that is, a period when the conditions for the development of certain abilities are most optimal. This period is often called a period of special sensitivity. Sensitive periods are typical for children, but the time of their occurrence and duration depend on the individual characteristics of each particular child. The adult’s task at this stage is to anticipate or notice such a period in time and provide the child with what he needs to develop this or that ability. An example would be learning to play the violin. Most teachers do not begin teaching children over nine years of age, so usually after this age there is a sensitive period for this musical ability ends.

3) Introduction to the activity. This stage is practical implementation the previous one and has many similarities with it. As soon as favorable conditions for the development of a particular ability are identified, it is necessary to immerse the person in activities directly related to this ability. Because as mentioned above, ability can arise and develop only within activity. The variety of activities in which a person is engaged contributes to the most versatile and at the same time integrated development his abilities. It is also important to take into account some requirements, the observance of which will allow the most effective development of a particular ability.

· Creative nature of activity. Such an activity requires a person to be quick-witted and have some originality. In addition, this approach will allow you to achieve complete immersion in the environment, completely capturing your attention. This is most relevant for children, the most effective techniques Today, learning and development of abilities are based on creative, often playful activities.

· Optimal difficulty level. It is necessary to take into account the characteristics of each individual, his mental abilities, physical qualities and some individual properties such as memory, attention, etc. If the activity is too simple, it only ensures the implementation of existing abilities; if it is overly complex, it becomes impossible to implement and, therefore, also does not lead to the formation of new skills.

· Ensuring a positive emotional state contributes to the formation of interest in activities and increasing their effectiveness. A positive attitude can be achieved through a system of successes and failures. Within its framework, every failure must be supported by a victory, thus some variety is introduced into the process of activity, excitement arises, which does not allow the individual to quit this or that type of activity.

· Proper motivation. Stimulating motivation also maintains an individual's interest in a given activity. It turns the goal of activity into current need person. For the formation and development of human abilities, learning is necessary, and according to the theory of social learning, this process cannot occur without appropriate reinforcement. The stronger the reinforcement, the faster and more effective the development of a particular ability will be. Stimuli such as encouragement and punishment can be used as reinforcement. Encouragement is considered a more effective method because... Punishments often lead to the suppression of unwanted behavior rather than its elimination.

Thus, the development of a person’s abilities for various types of activities largely depends on the external environment. There is an opinion that development creativity a person has some special, internal sources. Proponents of this idea support their point of view by the predisposition of some people and the complete inability of others to certain types of activities. However, they forget and distort the main thing - the source of development of abilities. Spontaneously developed initial abilities are mistaken for innate.

So, the initial abilities of people develop very quickly, but only reach the very low level. In order to continue the development of certain abilities or to form new ones, the development process must be organized and managed.

1.3 Relationship between abilities and age

Of course, abilities develop throughout life, because they are closely related to the development of a person’s personality, which never tires of improving. However, for the most part, abilities are revealed and developed in childhood.

The development of children's abilities occurs in the process of training and education. A child’s abilities are formed in the process of learning material and spiritual culture, technology, science and art. The prerequisite for this development is innate inclinations. They are both common to all people and completely unique to each person. In the process of development of a person and his personality, inclinations turn into diverse and more advanced abilities. The very first manifestations of inclinations transform them into elementary abilities.

At the same time, each ability that begins to take shape is, as it were, a deposit for the further development of abilities. Each ability, when manifested, at the same time develops, moves to a higher level, and its transition to a higher level opens up opportunities for new, higher manifestations. The role of inclinations in the development of various abilities is different. It is more significant and specific, for example, in the development of a musician, in whose talent specific innate properties play a significant role hearing aid than in developing the abilities of a literary scholar, historian or economist.

An essential stage in the development of a child’s abilities is the development of his so-called readiness to learn. This ability to learn does not fade away at school age, as those who associate it with a certain period of maturation tend to claim. The practice of mass adult education to eliminate illiteracy in the Soviet Union has proven this. But of course, early years, nevertheless, it is an exceptionally favorable time for learning; in the process of this learning, the formation of abilities takes place, which open up greater opportunities for successful further learning and improvement in mature years.

There are always individual differences in children's abilities. They can manifest themselves in successful studies, in the fact that different children have different aptitudes for different subjects, and they master knowledge with different depths. However, success in something cannot be turned into a criterion for giftedness, because children may have different motivations. Therefore, the same successes of different students can be indicators of different abilities. And with the same abilities, successes can be different.


2. Giftedness

2.1 General concept of giftedness

The concept of giftedness has not received a single generally accepted definition. The most common is the definition of the German psychologist W. Stern, a leading psychologist in the modern interpretation of the problem of giftedness:

“Giftedness is the general ability of an individual to consciously orient his thinking towards new requirements; this is the general ability of the psyche to adapt to new tasks and living conditions.”

Giftedness is something like a natural gift, or something hereditary. Giftedness is a function of the entire system of living conditions in its unity, a function of the individual. It is inextricably linked with the whole of human life and therefore finds itself at different stages of its development.

Natural inclinations organisms in themselves do not uniquely determine a person’s giftedness. They are only an integral component of the system of conditions that determine the development of the individual and his talent. Giftedness expresses internal capabilities development not of the organism as such, but of the personality.

Giftedness manifests itself only through its relationship with the conditions in which specific human activities occur. It expresses the internal data and capabilities of a person, that is, internal psychological conditions activities in their relationship with the requirements posed by this activity. For the dynamics of giftedness, the optimal level of requirements put forward in the course of human activity, for example, the requirements that the curriculum sets for the student, is essential. To stimulate development, these requirements must be high enough.

The question of the relationship between giftedness and special abilities faces a fundamental problem - the problem of the relationship between general and special development, the solution of which is of great importance for children's pedagogical psychology. In genetic terms, the relationship between general and special development, and, accordingly, between giftedness and special abilities, changes with age. The use of each of these psychological concepts is legitimate, but one should not forget about their relative nature, because special abilities are both genetically and structurally related to giftedness, and giftedness is specifically manifested in special abilities and develops in them.

Giftedness is a unique combination of abilities on which the possibility of achieving greater or lesser success in performing a particular activity depends. Understanding giftedness significantly depends on how much weight is given to certain types of activities and what is meant by the successful implementation of each specific activity.

People's talents and abilities vary not quantitatively, but qualitatively. Qualitative differences in giftedness are expressed not only in the fact that one person is gifted in one area, another in another, but also in the level of development of giftedness. Search for qualitative differences in abilities - important task psychology.

The purpose of giftedness research is not to rank people by their level, but to develop ways scientific analysis quality features giftedness and abilities. The main question is not how gifted or capable a particular person is, but what the giftedness and abilities of this person are.

2.2 Children's giftedness

The main difficulty in identifying signs of giftedness during childhood is that it is not easy to identify what is actually individual in them, relatively independent of age. Thus, the high mental activity observed in a child, a special readiness for tension, is internal condition mental growth. And it is not known whether it will turn out to be a stable feature in subsequent age stages. A child’s creative aspirations and his production of new trains of thought can also be classified as harbingers of giftedness, but it is not a fact that they will receive further development. At the same time, early manifestations of giftedness do not yet predetermine a person’s future capabilities: it is extremely difficult to foresee the course of the further development of giftedness.

Determination of a child's giftedness - difficult task, in solving which it is necessary to use both the results of a comprehensive psychological examination and information about the child’s school and extracurricular achievements obtained by interviewing parents, teachers, and peers. Only such an integrated approach to diagnosis is recognized by all scientific concepts, while the question of the structure and factors of development of giftedness remains debatable. Numerous psychological studies have changed the original ideas about a high IQ (intelligence quotient) as the only criterion for outstanding achievements, demonstrated vital role creativity and personal sphere, interests and special abilities, as well as social conditions in the development of giftedness. In the majority scientific concepts giftedness and the prerequisites for its development are associated with the child’s creative capabilities and abilities, defined as creativity. Gifted children exhibit a strong desire to engage in activities for which they are capable.

They can literally spend hours every day doing something that interests them, without getting tired and without straining at all. This is both work and play for them. All experiences, interests, searches, questions are concentrated around these activities. It is easy to understand how much, as a result of such almost continuous activity, a child manages to learn, understand and assimilate, and how much time and effort would be required for a teacher to specifically teach him all this.

There is a certain age sequence in the manifestation of giftedness in different areas. Giftedness for music can manifest itself especially early, then for drawing; In general, talent for art appears earlier than for science. General intellectual talent can manifest itself in an unusually high level of mental development (all other things being equal) and in qualitative originality mental activity. Gifted children are characterized by enthusiasm for their activities and manifestations of creative moments in their activities.

A child’s giftedness, like his individual abilities, are not given by nature in a ready-made form. Innate inclinations of abilities are only one of the conditions for very complex process the formation of individual psychological characteristics, which largely depend on the environment and the nature of the activity. The signs of giftedness cannot be judged solely on the basis of the results of standardized tests (tests). The giftedness of children can be established and studied only in the process of training and upbringing, during the child’s performance of one or another meaningful activity.

The identification and development of giftedness in children is facilitated by special schools (for example, with a musical, mathematical bias), various clubs and studios, children's technical stations, holding Olympiads for schoolchildren, children's amateur art competitions, etc. Caring for gifted children involves combining the development of special abilities with broad general educational training and comprehensive personality development.

2.3 Types of giftedness

Gifted children differ extremely greatly from each other in terms of types of giftedness.

Types of giftedness include the following:

a) Artistic talent.

This type of giftedness is supported and developed in special schools, clubs, and studios. It implies high achievements in the field artistic creativity and performance skills in music, painting, sculpture, acting. One of the major challenges is to ensure that these abilities are recognized and respected in mainstream schools. These children devote a lot of time, energy to exercise, achieving mastery in their field. They have few opportunities for successful studies; they often need individual programs in school subjects and understanding from teachers and peers.

b) General intellectual and academic talent.

The main thing is that children with this type of giftedness quickly master fundamental concepts and easily remember and retain information. Their highly developed information processing abilities allow them to excel in many areas of knowledge.

Academic talent has a somewhat different character, which is manifested in the success of learning certain academic subjects and is more frequent and selective.

These children can show high results in the ease and speed of progress in mathematics or foreign language, physics or biology and sometimes have poor performance in other subjects that are not so easy for them. The pronounced selectivity of aspirations in a relatively narrow area creates its own problems at school and in the family. Parents and teachers are sometimes dissatisfied that the child does not study equally well in all subjects, refuse to recognize his giftedness and do not try to find opportunities to support and develop special talents.

c) Creative talent.

First of all, debate continues about the very need to distinguish this type of giftedness. The essence of the disagreement is as follows. Some experts believe that creativity is an integral element of all types of talent, which cannot be presented separately from the creative component. So, A.M. Matyushkin insists that there is only one type of giftedness - creative: if there is no creativity, there is no point in talking about giftedness. Other researchers defend the legitimacy of the existence of creative talent as a separate, independent species. One of the points of view is that talent is generated either by the ability to produce, put forward new ideas, invent, or by the ability to brilliantly perform and use what has already been created.

At the same time, researchers show that children with a creative orientation often have a number of behavioral characteristics that distinguish them and which do not cause positive emotions in teachers and surrounding people:

· Greater independence in judgment;

· Subtle sense of humor;

· Lack of attention to order and organization of work;

· Bright temperament;

· Social giftedness.

The definition of social giftedness states that it is the exceptional ability to establish mature, constructive relationships with other people. There are such structural elements of social giftedness as social perception, prosocial behavior, moral judgments, organizational skills, etc.

Social talent is a prerequisite for high success in several areas. It presupposes the ability to understand, love, empathize, and get along with others, which allows you to be a good teacher, psychologist, and social worker. Thus, the concept of social giftedness covers a wide area of ​​manifestations associated with the ease of establishing and high quality interpersonal relationships. These features allow one to be a leader, that is, to show leadership talent, which can be considered as one of the manifestations of social talent.

There are many definitions of leadership talent, in which it is possible, however, to identify common features:

· Above average intelligence;

· Ability to make decisions;

· Ability to deal with abstract concepts, planning for the future, and time constraints;

· A sense of purpose, direction of movement;

· Flexibility, adaptability;

· Sense of responsibility;

· Self-confidence and self-knowledge;

· Perseverance;

· Enthusiasm;

· Ability to express thoughts clearly;

The listed types of giftedness manifest themselves in different ways and encounter specific barriers to their development, depending on the individual characteristics and uniqueness of the child’s environment.

2.4 The influence of the social environment on giftedness

The results of various researchers examining the influence of the social environment (socio-economic relations, material support, social conditions, etc.) on giftedness are not clear. But it is possible to draw the following conclusions: socio-economic conditions influence the development of giftedness, because they determine a person's standard of living; The more economically developed a society is, the more favorable the opportunities for human development.

A very important condition for the development of giftedness is the family, namely:

Family structure and emotional climate;

Styles of parent-child relationships;

Parents' attitudes towards children's giftedness.

The issue of styles of parent-child relationships has been studied in more detail. Scientists are unanimous that styles based on strict control and forceful pressure do not provide opportunities for the development of a gifted personality. An important aspect is the attitude of parents towards children's giftedness. Obviously, this factor is one of the main ones influencing the realization of a child’s capabilities.

Relationship types:

Negative;

Ignoring;

Positive;

Hypersocialization (when parents see giftedness as prestige, an opportunity for self-affirmation through the outstanding abilities of their children or the realization of their unfulfilled opportunities).

Talent is a high level of a person’s ability to perform a specific activity. It's a combination of abilities that give a person the opportunity to successfully, independently and original perform certain complex work activities.

Talent is a high level of development, especially special abilities. This is a set of such abilities that make it possible to obtain a product of activity that is distinguished by novelty, a high level of perfection and social significance.

Already in childhood, the first signs of talent in the field of music, mathematics, linguistics, technology, sports, etc. can appear. However, talent may appear later. The formation and development of talent largely depends on the socio-historical conditions of human life and activity.

Talent can manifest itself in all spheres of human labor: in organizational and pedagogical activities, in science, technology, in various types of production. Hard work and perseverance are of great importance in developing talent. Talented people are characterized by a need to engage in a certain type of activity, which sometimes manifests itself in a passion for the chosen business.

The combination of abilities, which are the basis of talent, in each case is special, characteristic only a certain person. The presence of talent should be inferred from the results of a person’s activities, which should be distinguished by their fundamental novelty and originality of approach. Human talent is directed by the need for creativity.

Talent may manifest itself at different times in different areas. Thus, in music, drawing, mathematics, linguistics, and technology, it usually manifests itself at an early age; and talent in the literary, scientific or organizational fields is discovered at a later age.

The maximum productivity of talented people also manifests itself at different ages: in science at 35 - 40 years old; in poetry at 24 - 30, etc. .

Talent and genius differ, first of all, in the objective significance and at the same time the originality of what they are capable of producing. Talent is characterized by the ability to achieve achievements of a high order, but remaining, in principle, within the framework of what has already been achieved; genius presupposes the ability to create something fundamentally new, to pave truly new paths, and not just reach high points on already beaten roads. The high level of giftedness that characterizes genius is inevitably associated with excellence in different or even all areas. As an example of universalism, often characteristic of geniuses, it is enough to name Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, R. Descartes, G. V. Leibniz, M. V. Lomonosov, K. Marx. But the talent of a genius also has a certain profile, and some side dominates in it, some abilities are especially identified and formed in the leading direction of his creativity.


4.1 General concept of genius

The highest level of development of abilities, manifested in creative activity, the results of which have historical significance in the life of society, in the development of science, literature, and art, is called genius. Genius differs from talent of social significance of the problems that a person solves. Genius expresses the advanced trends of his time.

Individual characteristics of abilities are reflected in the versatility or one-sidedness of their development. M. Lomonosov, D. Mendeleev, N. Borodin, T. Shevchenko and others had versatile abilities. For example, M. V. Lomonosov achieved outstanding results in various fields of knowledge: chemistry, astronomy, mathematics and at the same time was an artist and writer , a linguist, had an excellent knowledge of poetry.

However, this “...does not mean that all the individual qualities of a genius are developed to the same degree. Genius, as a rule, has its own “profile”, some side dominates in it, some abilities manifest themselves more clearly.”

The individual characteristics of each person’s abilities are the result of its development. Therefore, for the development of abilities, appropriate social conditions and individual activity are needed.

“There are moments in the life of brilliant people when these people show great similarities with madmen, for example, increased sensitivity, exaltation followed by apathy, originality of aesthetic works and the ability to discover, unconsciousness of creativity and the use of special expressions, strong absent-mindedness and suicidal tendencies, as well as often abuse of alcoholic beverages and, finally, enormous vanity.”

4.2 Similarities between geniuses and crazy people

“A genius is an obsessed person, but he is a creator...” - N. A. Berdyaev.

No matter how cruel and sad this kind of paradox may be, considering it from a scientific point of view, we can say that in some respects it is quite reasonable, although at first glance it seems absurd.

It can be said about brilliant people, just like about crazy people, that they remain lonely, cold, and indifferent to the responsibilities of a family man and a member of society all their lives. Michelangelo constantly insisted that “his art replaces his wife.”

It is not uncommon that, due to the same reasons that so often cause madness, that is, due to illness and head damage, the most ordinary people turn into geniuses. As a child, Vico fell from a tall staircase and crushed his right parietal bone. Gratri, at first a bad singer, became a famous artist after severely bruising his head with a log. Mabillon, completely weak-minded from a young age, achieved fame for his talents, which developed in him as a result of a head wound he received.

This dependence of genius on pathological changes can partly explain a curious feature of genius compared to talent: it is something unconscious and manifests itself completely unexpectedly.

Jürgen Meyer says that a talented person acts strictly deliberately. He knows how and why he came to a certain theory, while this is completely unknown to a genius: all creative activity is unconscious.

Those people of genius who have observed themselves say that, under the influence of inspiration, they experience some inexpressibly pleasant feverish state, during which thoughts involuntarily arise in their minds and splash out on their own, like sparks.

Napoleon said that the outcome of battles depended on one moment, on one thought that temporarily remained inactive. When a favorable moment arrives, it flares up like a spark, and the result is victory. Socrates was the first to point out that poets create their works not as a result of effort or art, but thanks to some natural instinct. In the same way, diviners say amazing things without realizing it.

“All works of genius,” says Voltaire in a letter to Diderot, “are created instinctively. The philosophers of the whole world together could not have written the Armides of Cinema or the fable “The Sea of ​​Beasts,” which La Fontaine dictated without even knowing well what would come of it. Corneille wrote the tragedy “Horace” as instinctively as a bird builds a nest.”

Thus, the greatest ideas of thinkers, prepared, so to speak, by impressions already received and by the highly sensitive organization of the subject, are born suddenly and develop as unconsciously as the rash actions of madmen. This same unconsciousness explains the unshakability of convictions in people who have fanatically adopted certain beliefs. But as soon as the moment of ecstasy, excitement has passed, the genius turns into an ordinary person or falls even lower, since the lack of uniformity (balance) is one of the signs of a genius nature. There can be no doubt that there is a complete similarity between a man who is mad during a seizure and a man of genius thinking about and creating his work. The Latin proverb says: “Aut insanit homo, aut versus fecit” (“Either a madman or a poet”).

Obviously, they all instinctively used drugs that temporarily increase the flow of blood to the head to the detriment of the rest of the body. Here, by the way, it is worth mentioning that many of the gifted and especially brilliant people abused alcoholic beverages.

It has been noticed that almost all the great creations of thinkers receive their final form, or at least become clear, under the influence of some special sensation, which plays here, so to speak, the role of the last straw. Facts prove that all great discoveries were made under the influence of the senses. Several frogs, from which it was supposed to prepare a healing decoction for Galvani's wife, became the reason for the discovery of galvanism. The isochronic (simultaneous) swinging of a chandelier and the falling of an apple prompted Newton and Galileo to create great systems.

It should also be added that inspiration and ecstasy always turn into real hallucinations, because a person sees objects that exist only in his imagination. So Bal says about Reynolds’ son that he could make up to three hundred portraits a year, since it was enough for him to look at someone for half an hour while he sketched a sketch, so that later this face would constantly be in front of him, as if alive. Luther heard arguments from Satan that he could not previously come up with on his own.

If we now turn to solving the question - what exactly is the physiological difference between a genius and an ordinary person, then, on the basis of autobiographies and observations, we will find that for the most part the whole difference between them lies in the refined and almost painful impressionability of a genius.

As mental abilities develop, impressionability grows and reaches its greatest strength in brilliant individuals, being the source of their suffering and glory. These chosen natures are more sensitive in quantitative and qualitative terms than mere mortals, and the impressions they perceive are distinguished by their depth, remain in memory for a long time and are combined in various ways. This is one of the most important prerequisites for geniuses to create something fundamentally new, which is why they are able to see in small things what is not noticeable to others and make the greatest discovery out of these small things. Many brilliant scientists fainted with delight when reading Homer's works. The painter Francia died of admiration after seeing Raphael's painting. giftedness abilities genius mattoid

But it is precisely this too strong impressionability of brilliant or only gifted people that in the vast majority of cases is the cause of their misfortunes, both real and imaginary. A genius is irritated by everything, and what for ordinary people seems like just pinpricks, with his sensitivity already seems to him like a blow from a dagger. Morbid impressionability also gives rise to exorbitant vanity, which distinguishes not only people of genius, but also scientists in general, starting from ancient times.

The poet Lucius did not rise from his seat when Julius Caesar appeared in the meeting of poets, because he considered himself superior to him in the art of versification. Schopenhauer became furious and refused to pay bills if his last name was spelled with two “n’s.”

Everyone who had the rare good fortune of living in the company of brilliant people was amazed at their ability to interpret in a bad way every action of those around them, to see persecution everywhere and in everything to find a reason for deep, endless melancholy. This ability is determined precisely by the stronger development of mental powers, thanks to which a gifted person is more able to find the truth and at the same time more easily comes up with false arguments to confirm the validity of his painful delusion. In part, the gloomy view of geniuses on their surroundings depends, however, on the fact that, being innovators in the mental sphere, they repel most people with unshakable firmness.

But still, the main reason for melancholy and dissatisfaction with the life of chosen natures, according to C. Lombroso, is the law of dynamism and balance, which also governs nervous system, the law according to which, following an excessive expenditure or development of force, there is an excessive decline of the same force.

Sometimes sensitivity becomes distorted and becomes one-sided, focusing on one point. Several ideas of a certain order and some especially favorite sensations gradually acquire the significance of the main (specific) stimulus acting on the brain of great people and even on the entire organism. Poisson said that life is worth living only to do mathematics. D'Alembert and Menage, who calmly endured the most painful operations, cried from the slight stings of criticism. Lucio de Lanceval laughed when his leg was cut off, but could not bear Geoffroy's harsh criticism.

It should also be noted that among brilliant or rather learned people there are often those narrow specialists whom Vakhdakof calls “monotypical” subjects. All their lives they are engaged in one kind of conclusion, which first occupies their brain and then covers it completely. Thus, Beckman spent his entire life studying the pathology of the kidneys, Fresner - the moon, Mkayer - ants, which is a great similarity with monomaniacs.

Due to such exaggerated and concentrated sensitivity, great people and madmen are extremely difficult to convince or dissuade of anything. And this is understandable: the source of true and misconceptions lies deeper and more developed among them than among ordinary people, for whom opinions constitute only the basic form, a type of clothing, changed according to the whim of fashion or as required by circumstances. The extreme and one-sided development of sensitivity, without a doubt, is the cause of those strange actions due to temporary anesthesia and analgesia, which are characteristic of great geniuses along with madmen.

Thus, they say about Newton that when he happened to leave the room to bring some thing, he always returned without taking it. Beethoven and Newton, starting one after another musical compositions, and the other for solving problems, became so insensitive to hunger that they scolded the servants when they brought them food, assuring them that they had already had dinner. Gioia, in a fit of creativity, wrote an entire chapter on the desk board instead of paper.

In a similar way, it is explained why great geniuses sometimes cannot grasp concepts that are accessible to the most ordinary minds, and at the same time express such bold ideas that seem absurd to most. The fact is that greater impressionability also corresponds to greater limited thinking. The mind, under the influence of ecstasy, does not perceive too simple and easy positions that do not correspond to its powerful energy. Thus, Monge, who did the most complex differential calculations, found it difficult to extract the square root, although any student could easily solve this problem.

Hagen considers originality to be the quality that sharply distinguishes genius from talent. In the same way, Jürgen Meyer says: “The fantasy of a talented person reproduces what has already been found, the fantasy of a genius reproduces something completely new. The first makes discoveries and confirms them, the second invents and creates. A talented person is a shooter who hits a target that seems difficult to reach; genius hits a target that we cannot even see. Originality is in the nature of genius.”

A genius has the ability to guess what is not fully known to him: for example, Goethe described Italy in detail without seeing it. It is precisely because of such insight, rising above the general level, and due to the fact that genius, absorbed in higher considerations, differs from the crowd in super-actions or even, like crazy people (but in contrast to talented people), reveals a tendency towards disorder - genius natures are met with contempt from the side of the majority, which, not noticing the intermediate points in their work, sees only the discrepancy between the conclusions they made and the generally accepted ones and the oddities in their behavior.

If some of these latter exhibit remarkable mental abilities, then this is only in relatively rare cases, and moreover, their mind is always one-sided: much more often we notice in them a lack of perseverance, diligence, strength of character, attention, accuracy, memory - the main qualities of a genius. And for the most part they remain lonely all their lives, uncommunicative, indifferent or insensitive to what worries the human race, as if they were surrounded by some special atmosphere that belonged to them alone.

Summarizing these provisions, we can come to the following conclusions: in the physiological relationship between the normal state of a genius person and the pathological state of a madman, there are many points of contact. Among brilliant people there are madmen and among madmen there are geniuses. But there were and are many brilliant people in whom one cannot find the slightest sign of insanity, with the exception of some abnormalities in the sphere of sensitivity.

Having established such a close correspondence between men of genius and madmen, nature seemed to want to point out to us our duty to treat with condescension the greatest of human disasters - madness and at the same time warn us not to get too carried away by the brilliant ghosts of geniuses, many of whom are not only do not rise into the transcendental spheres, but, like sparkling meteors, having once flared up, they fall very low and drown in a mass of delusions.


4.3 Intermediate stage of genius - mattoids (according to Ch. Lombroso)

Mattoids Cesare Lombroso calls the variety that makes up intermediate, a transitional stage between brilliant madmen, healthy people and actually crazy and possessing some kind of exceptional skill.

This is a special type of individuals who were first pointed out by Maudeli, calling them “people with a crazy temperament” and who were later called by Morel, Legrand de Sol and Schule “suffering from hereditary neurosis”, Ballinsky and others - psychopaths, and Raji - neuropaths.

The latter, who carefully and for a long time studied such subjects, proposed dividing them into four categories, depending on whether their abnormality belongs to the area of ​​sensual, affective or intellectual.

The first category consists of partly hysterical subjects, partly hypochondriacs with more acute impressionability than other people, and with a tendency to explain their imaginary misfortunes by fictitious reasons.

The second category includes subjects with perverted instincts, abusing either excesses or abstinence and prone to various abnormalities. Affective moral mattoids form, in the full sense of the word, a substrate or transitional stage to innate criminals. Usually such individuals become, according to Lombroso, at the head secret societies, sitting in a cafe or political club, become the founders of new sects, etc. Vain to the extreme, they often commit crimes out of a desire to become famous, forgetting that along with the loss of prestige, they lose both their honest name and the respect of others, which they so passionately sought.

Intellectual mattoids, according to Raja, are those uncontrollable talkers who, once they speak, cannot stop the flow of their eloquence, even if they wanted to. Under the influence of some kind of feverish mental excitement, they speak without logical connection and often come to conclusions completely opposite to what they wanted to prove. Sometimes they have an unusually developed memory, so that they remember entire pages of what they read, or they only remember numbers well, foreign words, but they forget the facial features of even their friends. Such subjects differ very little from the mentally ill, suffering from prideful insanity, etc., and often become one at the first occasion.

A variety of the same type, combining the intellectual mattoid with the moral or affective one, is represented by graphomaniacs. A distinctive feature of the mattoid is an exaggerated opinion of himself, of his merits, and at the same time, his unique ability to express his beliefs more on paper than in words or in deeds, without being in the least indignant at the adversities and contradictions that are encountered at every step in life. practical life and usually haunt both brilliant people and crazy people. The abnormality of mattoid writers is not always easy to notice if, for all the apparent seriousness and passion for this idea - in which they show similarities with monomaniacs and people of genius - their works were not often mixed with a lot of absurd conclusions, constant contradictions, verbosity and most importantly the image of selfishness and vanity, which constitute the predominant characteristic of brilliant people who have lost their minds.

It happens, however, that among the chaotic delirium in the works of mattoid graphomaniacs one comes across completely new, sound judgments.

Passanante, in his articles, and especially in conversation, sometimes expressed apt, original judgments that made many doubt whether he was really crazy. For example, his saying: “Where the scientist is lost, the ignorant succeeds.” Or here’s another thing: “History taught by peoples is more instructive than that which is studied from books.”

However, abnormality is reflected not so much in exaggerations regarding this or that tendency, but rather in inconsistency, in constant contradictions, so that next to sublime, sometimes beautifully presented views one encounters pitiful, absurd, paradoxical judgments that contradict the main plan of the essay and social status author. When reading such articles, one involuntarily recalls Don Quixote, whose generous actions, instead of sympathy, evoke a smile of compassion, although in another time they might have been recognized as heroic, worthy of surprise. In general, genius traits are a rare exception in the works of the Mattoids.

Mattoid geniuses. Intermediate forms and imperceptible gradations exist not only between the mad and the sane, but also between the insane and the mattoid. Even among the latter, who represent a complete lack of genius, there are individuals who are so richly gifted that it is difficult to determine whether they are mattoids or people of genius.

It should be remembered that no matter how gifted a child is, he needs to be taught. It is important to teach perseverance, to teach to work, to make decisions independently. A gifted child does not tolerate pressure, harassment, or shouting, which can lead to problems.

It is difficult to cultivate patience and unobtrusiveness in such a child. A huge workload is required for the child; from preschool age he should be introduced to creative work, create an environment for creativity.

To develop their talents, gifted children must have freedom of time and space, be taught an expanded curriculum, and feel individualized care and attention from their teacher. Wide time frames contribute to the development of the problem-search aspect. The emphasis is not on what to study, but on how to study. If a gifted child is given the opportunity not to rush through a task and not jump from one thing to another, he will best comprehend the mystery of the connection between phenomena and learn to apply his discoveries in practice. Unlimited opportunities to analyze expressed ideas and assumptions, to delve deeply into the essence of problems contribute to the manifestation of natural curiosity and inquisitiveness, the development of analytical and critical thinking.

One of the forms of working with talented, brilliant children in modern conditions is the creation of Children's Creativity Houses.

It is important, when you see a child’s talent, not to leave it to chance, not to think that he will find his way on his own. Need to provide maximum development. Without helping, it is not difficult to lower his capabilities below zero.

Conclusion

In modern literature, more and more articles and publications appear that in one way or another touch on this topic of giftedness, talent and genius. True, they are all just a drop in the sea of ​​psychological problems that appear among teachers and parents of gifted children when information changes every five years, and sometimes more often.

The nature of human talent causes quite heated debate among scientists. Is giftedness innate or developed during life? Do you need to be born a musician, or talent, as follows from famous saying, is it 1% ability and 99% hard work?

In this regard, there is a widespread opinion among scientists that abilities are biologically determined and their manifestation depends entirely on the inherited genetic fund. Training and education, scientists who take this position believe, can only speed up the process of manifestation of abilities, but even without pedagogical influence they will certainly manifest themselves.

Others believe that giftedness, talent, genius can manifest themselves in connection with the combination of a number of coinciding factors: genetic predisposition to a certain type activity due to only a slight distinctive physical feature, the presence of certain random or special conditions precisely during a sensitive period for this ability, painstaking and long-term work in the future in line with this activity.

The best period for the development of abilities, the discovery of giftedness and talent is childhood. It is precisely this period of a person’s life that is the most favorable, because recognition of the world takes place and at first certain abilities are developed involuntarily, and then parents and at school help to develop them.

The problem of talent and genius has been facing psychologists for a long time, and today there is no single concept within the framework of any personality theory that would explain it in full. Most personality theories consider only some aspects of this problem. Nevertheless, the study of the structure of giftedness, talent and genius is of great importance, both for the theory of psychology and for solving specific psychological and pedagogical problems of modern education.

Both abroad and in our country, new programs for the development of talented children and adolescents are being developed, giving them the opportunity to begin realizing their potential as early as possible. But in our opinion, truly good methods can only be developed on the basis of a solid theoretical basis, after the problem has been comprehensively studied and a unified psychological and pedagogical concept has been formed.

Thus, we solved the tasks set for ourselves, revealed the necessary content of the topic and gave general recommendations for working with gifted, talented and brilliant children.


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Teplov B.M. Abilities and giftedness: Psychology of individual differences. - M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 1982. – 404 p.

Gardner G. Frames of the mind. – M.: Nauka, 1980. – 250 p.

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