Gifted, But Stuck: Why Exceptional Minds Struggle to Soar

Aspects of Giftedness That Make a Journey to Self-Actualization More Difficult - Part 2 of this Inner Growth Issue

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Being highly gifted usually means you spend much of your life, and certainly most of your school years, being different from many of the other people around you. Reactions to this differ, of course, with some feeling superior and misunderstood and yet others feeling something is wrong with them somehow. It may be a result of feeling like an outsider — and often being treated as an outsider — that many, but not all, Level II reasoners from the study don’t have a lot of friends. Many talk about other people in a critical, un-empathetic manner. The tone of their complaints indicates both a disapproval of others and an apparent belief that others could easily change if they would only try. It is possible — even likely — that for some highly gifted people, feeling too different and too alone — like an outsider — is a significant hurdle to overcome on the path to self-actualization.

Can We Identify Developmental Potential?

In this re-examination of the Highly Gifted Cases, the goal is to identify possible precursors or predispositions to advanced development as well as possible outside influences or support that increase the chances a person will self-actualize.

Dabrowski Level Two Subjects

Part of fitting Level II means the subjects do not give evidence of self-actualizing behaviors, whereas Level III subjects give indications of experiencing positive disintegrations and are on the path to self-actualizing growth. What does this transition look like and can we identify who among Level II people are most likely to transition to Level III? Does the transition happen naturally or are there things that happen — experiences, other people, world events — that trigger a new outlook and an openness to change? Are some people simply more resilient and more open to change? Do early bad experiences cause either getting “stuck” at a conventional level or having the drive to move on?

Nineteen subjects, 7 women and 12 men, nearly half of the highly gifted group, had case material judged as belonging within Level II: Stereotypical Roles (see Tables 1 and 2).

Stereotypical Roles: Highly influenced by others, values introjected from parents, church, etc., relativistic, situational values, conflicted feelings, contradictory actions, desire for acceptance, feelings of inadequacy compared to others, lack of hierarchy of values.

Dabrowski’s Level II, similar to Kohlberg’s Conventional Level, describes people who tend to function well in society. It’s about societal norms and such norms are what give many people a guide to what is right or wrong, good or bad. Level II people understand and generally abide by the rules, stated and unstated. They understand the culture of their society and try to fit in and show pride and pleasure when they do. Positive feedback that they have succeeded to meet or exceed society’s norms is often important and encouraging to them.

Remember, there are many, including the author of the DIT, who believe that education increases moral reasoning. There certainly is a correlation between educational level and DIT scores, but once we remove the intelligence and education factors, we no longer see this correlation. By remove, I mean all the subjects here have both high educational levels and high intelligence. And yet they diverge in their inner growth and self-actualization levels.

Despite their high intellectual ability, 24 of the 41 participants in the full study appeared to reason and operate at stages that are conventional or lower, which certainly suggests that neither intellectual nor educational level guarantee more advanced emotional or moral development. So, what other factors might contribute to highly gifted adults at mid-life remaining at a conventional or stereotypical level? And can we spot indicators that some of these people still show potential for self-actualizing behaviors and thinking — for advanced development?

See the previous posts for set-up information if you haven’t already. I used numbers to identify the subjects and maintain their anonymities. All files for the study have been shredded.

What Characteristics Do the Level II Subjects Share?

All Level II cases are listed as Nonsearchers or Not Clear. Nonsearchers make statements that indicate their need to be in control of their environments and particularly themselves within their environment. The Not Clear (formerly Neutral) people — those who were not clearly Searchers or Nonsearchers — do not clearly indicate as strong a need for such control. They write that they were and are highly influenced by others. “Others” included not only their parents and church but societal rules, laws, and possible rewards. They were motivated by positive feedback from others about their actions and accomplishments. This stood out when compared with people at higher emotional levels.

The details of the personal backgrounds of each subject are available in the original study (1998). Selected statements reveal how a person views his or her life. As we seek to identify developmental potential in our sample of highly gifted adults, we note common characteristics of Level II cases that are not shared with Level III cases. In the final section we will discuss what incidents, experiences, opportunities, or times in life seem to lead some — but not all — to grow toward self-actualizing behaviors and attitudes.

Dependence on External Validation

We all need some external validation in order to validate that how we conduct our lives is going in the right direction, but we see a significant dependence on external validation among many Level II people. These are people who “know” what a good person is and many of them admit they care very much about positive attention and approval of others — especially people in authority — to acknowledge their goodness and their good works. Many of the subjects from this group report that they did not receive sufficient emotional support during their childhoods. Many consistently tried to be good and to please others hoping to receive positive emotional feedback. Such a need was perhaps the impetus for high career success in a number of the subjects. As highly and profoundly gifted people, they could almost always do whatever work or jobs that needed to be done better than most of the people they knew. Many were outwardly successful. They achieved self-actualization in their careers without undergoing the inner changes of inner self-actualization. Most had high Tone scores and were happy with their lives.

Here are a few typical examples from the cases that show evidence of a need for external validation, i.e. feedback and acknowledgment that they are a good person who adheres to societal norms.

#31F reported that many people in her career field strongly encouraged her. She won numerous community, state, and even national awards for her work. She said that all of these contributed to her drive to succeed, contribute, and make a difference.

#2F admitted to having a great need to please others and to be accepted by others, distinctly Level II issues.

#28M spent time doing things that gave him little satisfaction because, “I thought I had to, that’s what you are supposed to do.”

Acceptance of Status Quo

People in Level II tend not to question the status quo even when they don’t like it. That’s the way it is and you have to adjust and accept it.