In this commentary on "A Quality of Giftedness," ("Gifted and Talented International," v27 n2 p13-71 2012), by Dr. Joan Freeman, Michael F. Shaughnessy and Gilbert Valdez recognize that those working with gifted populations have all encountered an intangible, ephemeral aspect that is often quite difficult to describe, harder…

In this commentary on Professor Joan Freeman's "A Quality of Giftedness," (Gifted and Talented International" v27 n2 p 13-71 2012), Rhoda Myra Garces-Bacsal applauds Professor Freeman's capacity to translate what is commonly a pedantic and boring academic treatise to a vibrant and timely article that demonstrates how "ivory…

In their recent and insightful article on adjustment among retirees, Wang, Henkens, and van Solinge (April 2011) provided a comprehensive review of current theorizing on the antecedents of employees' post-retirement well-being. Central to their review is a resource-based model, which conceptualizes retirement as a stress-inducing role transition…

The author of this article believes that Ericsson and his associates continue to produce impressive research on talent and exceptional performances. He agrees that the objective of their featured article--"a general theoretical framework that establishes scientific criteria for acceptable evidence of superior reproducible performance, which any…

Many teachers are interested in fostering creativity, and there are good reasons for doing so. However, the question of how to do it is made difficult by the paradoxes of creativity: mutually contradictory findings that are, nonetheless, simultaneously true (e.g. convergent thinking hampers creativity but is also necessary for it). These paradoxes…

In his best-selling book, "The World Is Flat," Thomas Friedman describes that the real world is becoming "flat." He describes how 10 forces are "flattening" the 21st century--making it easier for people in India, China and around the world to compete with Americans and others who had triumphed the century before. This article presents an interview…

In this commentary, the author focuses on the claim summarized in the last sentence of the target article's abstract. To begin, the concept of talent does not require the existence of "innate constraints to the attainment of elite achievement". On the contrary, genetic endowment may merely influence the rate at which domain-specific expertise is…

Review of the research literature on the characteristics of creative individuals finds them to be concentrated in artistic and investigative occupations. Individuals in different arts and investigative fields differed considerably in personality traits, and more creative individuals did not differ from the less creative in the same ways across…

The review examines characteristics of entrepreneurs and suggests that they share personality traits (such as risk taking and lack of conformity) with the mildly sociopathic. (DB)

The author shares insights distilled from years of working with people who must be creative for a living. Includes a list of distinctive traits of creative people, blocks to creativity, and advice for rekindling the fires of creativity. Points out that creativity cannot be taught, but can be rediscovered. (JOW)

Two dimensions of Carl Jung's psychological system (preference for information and choice of decision making processes) are applied to creativity research. Examples of four personality types (sensing- thinking, sensing-feeling, intuition-feeling, and intuition-thinking) are represented by prominent social scientists. A systems model of science is…

Factors affecting creativity are environment, personality and motivational traits, biographical characteristics, and creative abilities. Creativity stems from both nature and nurture. (SK)

Outlines 10 tasks for a workshop in which participants (1) establish definitions of creativity; (2) identify creative traits and behaviors; (3) compare the traits and behavior of themselves, their supervisors, or their supervisees to those identified; and (4) explore ways to bring out creativity in others and improve their organization's climate…

Three case studies of young Japanese adults who fell ill with Minamata disease (a form of methyl-mercury poisoning) are presented and the adjustment of the individuals to the disease is analyzed in terms of a model of creativity. The model distinguishes three types of creativity: identificational (in which one identifies with old ideas and…

This paper explores child humor from the early years to adolescence. The immature child's humor is crude, rude, and hostile and gradually evolves into sophisticated, socially acceptable adult humor in the same way that the immature child in general evolves into the sophisticated adult, becoming decreasingly creative along the way. (JDD)