There is a lot of misinformation disseminated by “experts” in giftedness, says Post PhD in neurosciences, Dr. Fabiano de Abreu Agrela
By Dr. Fabiano de Abreu Agrela.
Giftedness has never been so much on the agenda and all this repercussion on the topic helps to draw attention to a condition that, for a long time, was left aside. However, there are still many myths about giftedness, as stated by Post PhD in neurosciences, specialist in genomics and member of the Royal Society of Biology in the United Kingdom, Dr. Fabiano de Abreu Agrela .
“Giftedness has become a ‘viral’ topic, which on the one hand helps to spread knowledge about the topic, but on the other hand it also spreads a lot of misinformation, for example, ‘experts’ always appear to talk about the topic who don’t really have a deep knowledge, which contributes to distorting details about the condition”, he explains.
What is giftedness?
According to Dr. Fabiano de Abreu , giftedness has several influencing factors that generate high abilities.
“ Giftedness refers to individuals with above-average intellectual performance, creativity, and academic abilities in specific skills. Typically they have diverse and deep interests in certain subjects ”.
“ It is influenced by several factors, but it has a strong relationship with genetics and can be proven through supervised IQ tests or genetic intelligence tests, the latter is infallible and free from doubt, it will be the most used mechanism soon” , states.
Most common myths about giftedness
01 – All gifted people are autistic:
“ There may be, in some cases, the presence of giftedness and autism, but this is far from being the rule, it is even related to cause or necessity. The disclosure of a minority that has both conditions can generate a distorted notion that this is the rule ”, highlights Dr. Fabiano de Abreu .
02 – Does every gifted person have a disorder ?
“ Replicated studies provide solid evidence that highly intelligent individuals do not have more mental health disorders than the average population. In fact, intelligence appears as a protective factor for mental disorders. This means that there are gifted people with disorders, yes, but it would not be a majority ”, he states.
03 – Is giftedness a spectrum ?
“ This distortion has been widespread nowadays, as the term ‘spectrum’, despite being able to be applied in different contexts, ends up conveying the wrong idea that giftedness is a disorder, as well as other terms such as AHSD or double exceptionality, which induce a wrong association between giftedness and disorders ”, he highlights.
About Dr. Fabiano de Abreu Agrela
Dr. Fabiano de Abreu Agrela has a Post PhD in Neuroscience and is a biologist who is a member of the main scientific societies such as SFN – Society for Neuroscience in the United States, Sigma XI, a scientific society where members must be invited and which has more than 200 Nobel Prizes and the RSB – Royal Society of Biology, largest biology society based in the United Kingdom. He is a member of 10 high IQ societies, including Mensa, Intertel, ISPE, Triple Nine Society, Intertel Brazil coordinator, international director of the IIS Society and president of ISI and ePiq society, all societies restricted to people with high IQ proven in tests supervised. He created the first genetic report that estimates IQ scores through DNA testing and the GIP project – Genetic Intelligence Project with genetic and psychological studies on high IQ with volunteers. Author of more than 50 studies on intelligence, he volunteered in supervised IQ tests, genetic intelligence tests and neuroimaging studies as he achieved the maximum score in more than one IQ test in more than one country, corroborating the other genetic results and of neuroimaging.
