CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

ADULT STATUS AND PERSONALITY RATINGS

Observation of such cases as those described in the foregoing chapters suggests that children of exceptionally high intelligence do not regress toward mediocrity as they mature but maintain their initial distinguished status. Studies by other workers (Kuhlmann, Baldwin and Stechner, Terman) confirm such a conclusion. A further study of this point was reported by Hollingworth and Lorge in 1936, in which the following questions were investigated:

1. To what extent is status in IER Intelligence Scale CAVD at maturity predictable from childhood scores in Stanford-Binet?

2. How do those who tested above 180 IQ in childhood differ at maturity from those at lower levels in measures of general culture and of scientific information?

3. Is there discernable any consistent specialization in mental abilities from childhood to maturity?

4. At what degree of intelligence in terms of IQ (Stanford-Binet) is the word "genius" justifiable, if at all?

5. At what point on the scale of IQ (Stanford-Binet) obtained in childhood will individuals later prove "unmeasurable" by available tests of adult intelligence?

In 1934-1935 a group of eighteen persons whose high IQ's had been measured tweleve or thirteen years earlier (at ages 7 to 9 years) were measured in these respects and to these were added three others whose childhood IQ's were known to have been over 170. The tests used, to be reported here, were: CAVD Intelligence Scale, Levels N-Q; the Coöperative General Culture Test (Form 1933 or 1934); and the Coöperative General Science Test (Form 1933). There were also available data on most of the individuals from Army Alpha tests taken at ages 16 to 19. Of the 21 cases thus studied, nine had a childhood IQ over 170; eight over 150 [to 170]; the remaining four ranged down to 133.

ADULT STATUS OF HIGHLY INTELLIGENT CHILDREN [1]

The detailed data have been reported elsewhere and only the general results need to be recited here.

"For these gifted individuals (albeit there are so few studied) superior status on the Stanford-Binet at or near ages 7 to 9 years of age is highly predictive of status on Army Alpha at or near 16 to 19 years of age, and of status on CAVD at or near maturity. . . .

"It is clear that CAVD is more closely associated with General Culture than with General Science. . . . There obviously is a specificity of success for Science as compared with general Culture. . . .

"The results for the CAVD as interpreted through norms obtained on selected populations show that highly intelligent children (of IQ 140 or above) fall within the upper quartile of the college graduate population of the United States, when they are at or near maturity."

Such results are confirmed also by a study reported two years earlier, in which over 100 children had been re-measured with Army Alpha 10 to 12 years after their initial Stanford-Binet measurements at ages 7 to 9 years. [2] All these children had IQ's over 130, and half of them were over 150, ranging up to 190. From this study the following conclusions had been drawn:

"Of 116 children testing in the top centile of the distribution of school children by Stanford-Binet, 82 per cent were found when near maturity, ten years later, to rate in the top centile of the military draft by Army Alpha. The remainder rated in high centiles. No individual of either sex regressed to or nearly to the average. . . . Girls regressed from the top centile somewhat more frequently than boys, this regression being in part but not fully accounted for by the known sex difference between medians on Army Alpha.

"This result affords a validation, by means of elapsed time, of the predictive power of available mental tests on the one hand; and on the other, a proof of the constancy of the intellectual development of gifted children in terms of centile status."

CRITIQUE OF THE CONCEPT OF "GENIUS" AS APPLIED IN TERMS OF IQ

The term "genius" has been used by Terman--and following him by many others--to denote children testing at or above 140 IQ (S-B). In the light of the developmental data herein presented, it would appear that the term "genius" is thus misapplied, unless we wish to define as "geniuses" persons who represent approximately the best fourth of all students being graduated from American colleges.

Of individuals here followed to early maturity, those who test at about 140 IQ (S-B) are found to define approximately the 75th percentile of college graduates, taking the country over. They are far from "genius," if by that term is to be meant the degree of mental ability that is capable of outstanding original intellectual achievement. It is only when we have an IQ (S-B) of at least 160 in a child, that we may begin to expect mildly noteworthy accomplishments, such as winning "honors" in a first-class college. Very rarely are "honors" won in first-class colleges by those who test below this status in childhood. The small sample of college graduates here presented is truly representative of the much larger sample in our files (not tested by our end tests) in this respect.

Of primary interest to the present investigators is the subsequent history of those who in childhood have achieved the extremely infrequent rating of 180 IQ or higher. At maturity will these persons still stand out from their contemporaries in mental tests and in achievement?

This question is answered affirmatively by our data. The five children here included, [3] who achieved IQ's (S-B) on _first_ test in childhood of more than 180, are they who "find the tops" on CAVD at maturity. Every one of these top-rank persons is noteworthy among contemporaries. Before the age of 22 in all cases, one had prosecuted research in history, one in mathematics, one in chess, and two had become established in learned professions. One stood high in the national ranking for chess. A long list of medals and prizes had been won by them. All but one of those graduated from college had been elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

These unusual achievements show how children testing above 180 IQ rise above the generality of the college populations in adolescence and in early maturity. None of those who tested in childhood around 140, 150, or 160 IQ (S-B) approaches these others at maturity in honors and prizes won, or in test scores.

This is, perhaps, the most significant fact to be derived from our data: that the children who test at and above 180 IQ constitute the "top" among college graduates. They are the students of whom one may confidently predict that they will win honors and prizes for intellectual work.

Furthermore, it is shown that at approximately 190 IQ (S-B) individuals "go through the ceiling" of available tests for adult intelligence by the time they are 21 years old. We cannot at present distribute these persons at maturity.

Perhaps this is the point at which the term "genius" begins to apply--i.e., at or near IQ 180 (S-B)--if we adhere to the dictionary definition of the word, "Exalted intellectual power, marked by an extraordinary faculty for original creation, expression, or achievement" which is beyond the reach of available modes of measurement in its maturity.

APPLICATION OF BERNREUTER INVENTORY OF PERSONALITY TO HIGHLY INTELLIGENT ADOLESCENTS [4]

The data of the present study were obtained early in 1933, the subjects being 36 boys and 19 girls, of the average age of 18 years 6 months. The IQ's (S-B) of all had been taken in early childhood. The group ranged from 135-190 IQ (S-B) with a median at about 153 IQ (S-B). All but four of these young persons were Jewish, a factor which must be considered as of possible consequence, but which cannot be evaluated properly from any data at present in scientific literature.

The inventories were taken and scored by the investigators in person. All subjects had been personally known since childhood to the senior investigator.

The method of scoring follows Bernreuter, three categories only being found of sufficient independence to warrant recording.

SHOWS GROUP RESULTS FOR HIGHLY INTELLIGENT BOYS AND GIRLS, GIVING EVIDENCE THAT SUCH GROUPS ARE MUCH LESS NEUROTIC, MUCH MORE SELF-SUFFICIENT, AND MUCH LESS SUBMISSIVE IN ATTITUDE THAN COLLEGE STUDENTS OR ADULTS IN GENERAL ARE, ACCORDING TO THE CATEGORIES AND NORMS SET UP BY BERNREUTER

B1-_N_ NEUROTIC TENDENCY B1-_S_ SELF-SUFFICIENCY B1-_D_ DOMINANCE-SUBMISSION Statistical Highly College Adult Highly College Adult Highly College Adult categories intelligent norm norm intelligent norm norm intelligent norm norm boys group group boys group group boys group group

Number 36 427 86 36 427 99 36 427 100 Mean -104.9 -52.9 -69.3 54.5 24.9 38.8 87.4 46.3 52.7 σ 56.7 85.2 76.3 42.3 54.0 52.4 44.6 67.4 61.8 σ Mean 9.4 4.1 8.2 7.0 2.6 5.3 7.4 3.3 6.2 σσ 6.7 2.9 5.8 5.0 1.8 3.7 5.2 2.3 4.4 σ diff. ms. 10.2 12.5 7.5 8.8 8.1 9.6 D ------ σ diff. 5.1 2.8 3.9 2.1 5.1 3.6 Median -112.0 -70.0 -75.0 54.5 25.0 35.0 98.1 45.0 55.0

Girls Girls Girls

Number 19 317 123 19 317 126 19 317 130 Mean -45.0 -39.6 -34.2 52.0 6.9 16.8 46.5 33.1 19.2 σ 65.7 78.9 80.6 51.7 55.7 55.6 55.5 63.5 65.5 σ Mean 15.1 4.4 7.3 11.9 3.1 5.0 12.7 3.6 5.7 σσ 10.7 3.1 5.1 8.4 2.2 3.5 9.0 2.5 4.1 σ diff. ms. 15.7 16.8 12.3 12.9 13.2 13.9 D ------ σ diff. .04 .64 3.7 2.7 1.0 1.96 Median -42.6 -40.0 -30.0 52.0 5.0 0.0 40.7 33.0 15.0

The summary of results shows that the highly intelligent are less neurotic, more self-sufficient, and less submissive, as a group, than are the populations with which they are comparable. This divergence from the norms is found both for boys and for girls of the highly intelligent group, but it is much more pronounced for boys.

To one who has been familiar with the characteristics and the careers of these persons for fifteen years, the correspondence between what is found on the inventory and what is found in the actual lives is interestingly close. Boy 13, for instance (extremely high score for self-sufficiency and dominance), took ship on his own initiative as soon as he was twenty-one years old and sailed around the world as an ordinary seaman, returning to his post in the financial district of New York City when the journey was completed. Boy 35 is a well-known player in metropolitan and sectional chess tournaments, and was able to meet seasoned players when he was fifteen to seventeen years old (high scores for self-sufficiency and dominance). Boy 29 entered college at 14 years of age, "held his own" with the older students, earned money throughout his course, graduated at eighteen years of age with Phi Beta Kappa, and won a prize for research, in competition, in his junior year at medical school. Girl H won and held an appointment in public service, against heavy odds of sex, age, and general economic depression.

The indication from these data is that adolescents who as children tested from 135-190 IQ (S-B) are _much less neurotic_, _much more self-sufficient_ and _much less submissive_ than college students in general, or than adults of the mental caliber represented in the Bernreuter norms. It is to be noted in this comparison with the generality of college students that from data so far collected, the median intelligence of the group here presented reaches about Q#3# for college students, taking them the country over.

[1] For a more detailed account see Lorge and Hollingworth's "The Adult Status of Highly Intelligent Children," in _Journal of Genetic Psychology_ (1936), Vol. 49, pages 215-226.

[2] Hollingworth and Kaunitz. "The Centile Status of Gifted Children at Maturity." _Journal of Genetic Psychology_ (September, 1934), pages 106-120.

[3] Study made by Leta S. Hollingworth in previous years.

[4] For detailed results see the paper by this title, by Hollingworth and Rust, _Journal of Psychology_ (1937), Vol. 4, pages 287-293.