This article introduces a 6P framework for understanding intelligence, as well as the theories and tests that are derived from it. The 6Ps in the framework are purpose, press, problems, persons, processes, and products underlying intelligence. Each of the 6Ps is considered in turn. We argue that although the purpose of intelligence is culturally…

The late James Flynn, to whom this Special Issue is dedicated, suggested that what will matter most to the future of the world is not levels of intelligence but rather how intelligence is deployed. In this article, I argue that we can distinguish between transactional and transformational deployments of intelligence. Loosely following Flynn, I…

The field of giftedness legitimates itself on the basis of correlations of gifted-identification measures with future success that do not mean what they often are taken to mean. When one views the inadequacies of these correlations, the field turns out to be much like the emperor who had no clothes. This essay reviews some of the assumptions upon…

Criterion-referenced testing is usually applied to the assessment of achievement. In this article, we suggest how it can also be applied to the assessment of adaptive intelligence, that is, intelligence as adaptation to the environment. In the era of the Anthropocene, we argue that adaptive intelligence is what is most important not only for…

Cultural intelligence is one's ability to adapt when confronted with problems arising in interactions with people or artifacts of diverse cultures. In this study, we conduct an initial construct-validation and assessment of a maximum-performance test of cultural intelligence. We assess the psychometric properties of the test and also correlate the…

This article explores the advantages of viewing intelligence not as a fixed trait residing within an individual, but rather as a person × task × situation interaction. The emphasis in the article is on the role of persons solving tasks embedded in situations involving learning, intellectual abilities, and competencies. The article opens with a…

Creativity tests, at best, measure only a small sliver of the whole of creative giftedness. These tests assess aspects of creative intelligence. But creativity is at least as much a conscious decision and even an attitude toward life as it is a traditionally defined ability. This article discusses how well-intentioned gifted educators may be…

This article introduces the concept of adaptive intelligence--the intelligence one needs to adapt to current problems and anticipate future problems of real-world environments--and discusses its implications for education. Adaptive intelligence involves not only promoting one's own ability to survive and thrive, but also that of others in one's…

In many nations, grades and standardized test scores are used to select students for programs of scientific study. We suggest that the skills that these assessments measure are related to success in science, but only peripherally in comparison with two other skills, scientific creativity and recognition of scientific impact. In three studies, we…

Intelligence typically is defined as consisting of "adaptation to the environment" or in related terms. Yet, it is not clear that "general intelligence" or g, traditionally conceptualized in terms of a general factor in a psychometrically-based hierarchical model of intelligence, provides an optimal way of defining intelligence…

The field of gifted education, historically and contemporarily, is not well-known for being equitable for underrepresented students, specifically, Black, Hispanic, Native American, among others. In this article, we present a short history of gifted education with attention to key historical figures who have significantly shaped the field; their…

In this article, I describe the 21 ideas underlying a 42-year search to understand giftedness. I present the ideas roughly chronologically, in the order in which they arose, and discuss how in a career as in science, progress means supplementing or even superseding one idea with the next. In terms of the 21 ideas, I start with a discussion of how…

"Everyone else was turning the page but I had not yet finished the first item." That is how the author remembers the beginning of his interest in intelligence. For whatever reason, he decided while in elementary school that intelligence is modifiable, and every year he authored a work book with exercises children could complete to increase their…

The Flynn effect probably has multiple causes, and the target essays in this issue have expanded the number of possible causes behind it. This essay deals primarily with a different question: How important is IQ in the current world and should it perhaps be understood also in conjunction with a consideration of some kind of ethical intelligence?

This article outlines shortcomings of currently used university admissions tests and discusses ways in which they could potentially be improved, summarizing two projects designed to enhance college and university admissions. The projects were inspired by the augmented theory of successful intelligence, according to which successful intelligence…