This article, translated from French, addresses a popular French concept that doesn’t have an exact equivalent in English. In France, HPI (haut potentiel intellectuel/ high intellectual potential) is used to describe a person with above-average intellectual ability (an IQ above 130).
Next week sees the broadcast of the new season of HPI, TF1’s hit series. It’s a good opportunity to dispel the myth of the unhappy, unsociable, brainiac and perhaps put an end to the lucrative business associated with it.
Morgane Alvaro, the main character, is a relatively dysfunctional gifted woman who, thanks to her analytical skills, has been discovered by the Lille Criminal Investigation Department, and is brought in to work with them on investigations.
The well-crafted series is entertaining and a pleasure to watch. It would be a nice series if its success didn’t contribute to the black legend of giftedness (1), and to the very real and serious repercussions it has in everyday life.
HIP, HIQ, etc.
There are many names used in the media to describe people with above-average intelligence: giftedness, intellectual precocity, HIP (High Intellectual Potential), HIQ (High Intelligence Quotient), zebra, gifted, etc. They are generally described as curious about everything, seeking complexity, having a fairly well-developed intuition, great creativity, emotional hypersensitivity, and high perfectionism.
They are generally described as curious about everything, seeking complexity, having a well-developed intuition, great creativity, emotional hypersensitivity and a high level of perfectionism. All of this is coupled with difficulties at school and then at work, as their atypical functioning often leads them to failure…
« He’s a neurotypical! »
Does that sound like an insult? Coming from one of my clients, it was.
Unhappy to have received feedback indicating that he needed to work on a number of points to better support his team and improve their performance, he turned to a firm specializing in « high intellectual potential » leaders.
Their conclusion: the problem was not the unhappy leader, but rather his team, and in particular, a workshop manager whose behavior was « so neurotypical » as to be « incapable of understanding » (2).
This is just one illustration of the « misunderstood » posture that is problematic for everyone, the gifted (real or imagined) and the rest.
In the series, Morgane Alvaro may be gifted, but she’s above all an impulsive, rude pain in the ass. Giving her intelligence as an excuse doesn’t help her to have a more fulfilling life. On the contrary, it locks her into an antisocial personality and creates a gulf between the gifted and the rest of the population.
An enduring myth
This « black legend » of giftedness has been thoroughly examined by cognitive scientist Franck Ramus and mathematician and statistician Nicolas Gauvrit (3). This legend is all the more surprising given that a century of research into general intelligence has shown that IQ scores systematically show « positive correlations with academic success, job performance, income, health and life expectancy. In other words, intelligence seems to be a generally positive factor in people’s lives, regardless of the specific aspect of life considered (4). »
Gifted, real or imagined…
For example, some large companies have encouraged the creation of internal clubs for gifted people, so that they can discuss their professional difficulties with each other. These clubs are often a mix of people with very real disorders (Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Disorder, etc.) and self-declared gifted people who feel misunderstood.
Most gifted groups require no proof of IQ to join. Corporate clubs, social networking groups, associations of parents of gifted children… it’s enough to recognize oneself in the general description (5).
In France, as in other countries, we don’t have a systematic campaign to test the population to identify people with high IQs. Reputable IQ tests are not free of charge (6), so French people are often tested only following the recommendation of specialized psychologists.
The vast majority of gifted people in France don’t know they’re gifted. Happy and with no particular problems, these « invisible » gifted people have never felt the need to take a test.
Real suffering
If intelligence isn’t the issue, does that mean we should dismiss the suffering expressed by some? Absolutely not. Difficulty managing hypersensitivity, racing thoughts and hyperactivity are all elements to be taken seriously.
The difficulties described in articles about the distress of people with high IQs are linked to another cause. This has nothing to do with IQ levels and can also be observed in the general population.
Difficulties often stem from untapped talents
It’s a scientifically-established fact that we’re all unique (7). Not only in our physical appearance, but also in our character traits and natural aptitudes.
We all possess a unique combination of natural talents, which is one of the foundations of our personality.
This uniqueness is immeasurable, because you’d have to visit tens of thousands of planets as populated as Earth to have any chance of meeting someone with the same personality.
Yet this uniqueness is rarely or never taken into account in French society, whether at school or in the workplace, and many of us lack the tools we need to make the most of our natural talents (8).
Often this poses little or no problem. Our talents are often easy to master and don’t give rise to major interpersonal misunderstandings.
However, there are a small number of talents which are just as interesting and useful as the others, but which are more difficult to master when they have not been identified.
For example, the talent of being at ease with problems and having the creative energy to solve them, the talent of being able to calculate scenarios in complex situations, the talent of feeling other people’s emotions as if they were your own, the talent of driving people to action, and so on.
These skills, like all talents, can be great qualities if mastered, or serious flaws if ignored.
If they are not mastered, the talents listed above will make people grumpy, procrastinators, hyper-emotional, hyperactive, etc.
When an individual possesses one or two of these talents, he or she often gets by without difficulty, but when their number increases, it can become complicated to get along well with others. Gifted or not.
We all have great natural talents that need to be understood and mastered, so as to keep only the good aspects.
Understanding what makes each of us both a human being like all the others, and a unique being different from all the others, is a promising way to finally put an end to the black legend of the gifted.
(1) Named after Franck Ramus and Nicolas Gauvrit’s 2017 book « La légende noire des surdoués », followed in April 2023 by the article « La légende des Surdoués, suite et fin ».
(2) Knowing this workshop manager, he is human and efficient, gifted in particular with a great talent for anticipating risks and putting repetitive elements into routine to gain in performance. A valuable link for the company in question. The story has a happy ending: he kept his job and the « misunderstood gifted » has since left the company.
(3) Franck Ramus is a researcher in cognitive science and director of research at the CNRS. He heads the « Cognitive Development and Pathology » team in the Cognitive Science and Psycholinguistics Laboratory at the École normale supérieure in Paris, and much of his work can be found on his blog https://ramus-meninges.fr. Nicolas Gauvrit is a French academic and mathematician specializing in cognitive science and psychology.
(4) For the full text of the studies, please refer to the article La pseudoscience des surdoués, published on February 3, 2017 on https://ramus-meninges.fr, which is the unabridged version of an article published in La Recherche in March 2017.
(5) Some associations make membership conditional on taking an IQ test and achieving a minimum score. Examples include Mensa and the Triple Nine Society ( https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensa or https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Nine_Society ).
(6) Only licensed psychologists can certify reliable results. A typical assessment costs 350 euros.
(7) « We are all unique » is the opening sentence of the permanent exhibition at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris, written on a huge white wall.
(8) A talent is a natural human ability to perceive, act, think, influence and interact, which, when applied productively, brings pleasure and performance. Each individual possesses a unique combination of talents. Definition Anne WEBER 2013 (Evolution of Markus Buckingham & Vosburgh’s 2001 definition as cited in Pierre-Michel Menger’s Le talent en débat).
