Giftedness: speed in the mind, slowness in the system

Sybille Beyer likes to speak quickly. She reads three or four books at once, jumping between topics. While watching TV, she crochets or knits at the same time. However, she recently had to turn off a nature documentary. "The presenter spoke so slowly," Sybille Beyer recalls. "I thought my head was going to explode." The brain needs to be kept busy. Otherwise, thoughts wander.

Sybille Beyer now knows that she is highly gifted – and that her brain is particularly well-connected. After reading a book on the subject, she became suspicious late in life. At 53, she dared to take an IQ test. It confirmed her above-average intelligence. "I was so happy," Beyer recalls. "Not because I was particularly smart. But because I finally knew why I couldn't adapt so that I didn't stand out."

Even as a student, Sybille Beyer felt alien and different. "I thought it was my fault," she recalls. She was considered a nerd, a know-it-all. She could write before she even started school. But when she was asked to practice writing individual letters hundreds of times in first grade, like all the other children, she refused to do the task. "I could already do it."

That was the first time she heard that she wasn't finishing things properly. But she was just interested in a lot of topics. People recognized that she was good, but despite reports, they didn't take her in class. She always knew everything anyway. 'Do you think you're better than anyone else?' – Sybille Beyer heard this saying again and again. She could only follow the lessons, with all their routines and repetitions, by drawing alongside them. "My teachers couldn't understand it," says the now 60-year-old. Concentrate on what was being said, they would tell her. She found it easy to absorb the material. But as an unrecognized gifted student, she didn't develop any learning strategies.

Sybille Beyer only learned about her giftedness late in life.

Source: Private

"It's tragic when a gifted individual is misjudged," says Tanja Gabriele Baudson. The professor of differential psychology at the Charlotte Fresenius University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden knows that giftedness can manifest itself in more complex ways than common clichés. For example, that of the early child prodigy who plays the piano perfectly at the age of three. Or the intellectual math genius. Many people only discover their high intelligence in late adulthood – and are therefore unable to fully realize their potential in school and professional life. A career in the traditional sense is then denied to them.

Sybille Beyer also caused controversy in her professional life. She was repeatedly punished for ignoring the status of superiors, suggesting unconventional solutions to problems, jumping back and forth between topics, and thinking and speaking particularly quickly. Her behavior disrupted hierarchies, she was considered difficult to get along with—and ultimately, she repeatedly and involuntarily changed jobs.

To find the right fit, she completed three apprenticeships: as a journalist, an IT clerk, and a carpenter. She internalized: I'm wrong the way I am. "Giftedness in itself is a wonderful thing," Beyer says today. "But the reaction of those around her is often problematic." She often felt guilty and went through several bouts of depression.

"The notion that gifted people can do everything on their own simply because they're so smart isn't true," says psychology professor Baudson, who conducts research specifically on intelligence and giftedness. As a board member of the gifted association "Mensa," she is also responsible for the science and research department, among other things.

According to estimates, around two percent of people in Germany are above average in intelligence. There are no clear scientific definitions of giftedness, and they vary depending on the cultural context. However, the intelligence quotient (IQ) serves as a suitable indicator for assessing cognitive abilities, explains Baudson. In this country, an IQ of 130 or higher is considered gifted.

Why are some people more intelligent than others? Researchers haven't yet fully understood this. The brain functions more efficiently, and there are fewer disruptive factors when information flows. Estimates assume that around 50 to 70 percent of the intelligence spectrum is inherited. However, how this potential unfolds over the course of a person's life depends heavily on the environment, explains Baudson. And this environment often doesn't do justice to gifted individuals.

Research certainly shows that skipping grades, enrolling children with above-average intelligence early, offering additional in-depth courses, and learning together with other gifted students can sometimes have a positive impact on performance. "Being among people of similar intelligence also has an effect on emotional and social well-being," says Baudson. This is especially important during adolescence, when personality is at its peak.

In workplace contexts, too, giftedness should naturally be a part of diversity management, Baudson demands. Workplaces, for example, should be designed to meet employees' needs in order to be creative, to be able to delve into a topic. An open-plan office? That, for example, is often unsuitable. However, the promotion of gifted people in schools and companies is currently the exception. "The current inclusion debate focuses more on deficits, while giftedness is still seen as a kind of luxury problem," Baudson criticizes.

When Sibylle Beyer was in school in the early 1970s, the topic of giftedness received little attention in education. She wished she had known earlier why she fell through the cracks. Today, Sybille Beyer isn't looking for any major career changes. "But I'm living my life a little more happily now." Historical research, sewing for historical displays: A second job as a museum guide is working quite well for her at the moment. She's also a spokesperson for the Association for Gifted Children, and the exchange with like-minded people is beneficial. Knowing she's not the only one whose potential remains untapped is liberating.