2023-2024 Awards for Excellence in Research winners
Senior Division
Harrison J. Kell, PhD, “Wrecked by Success? Not to Worry” Perspectives on Psychological Science" Perspectives on Psychological Science, June 2022 (Co-authors Kira O. McCabe, David Lubinski, and Camilla P. Benbow)
Abstract: We examined the wrecked-by-success hypothesis. Initially formalized by Sigmund Freud, this hypothesis has become pervasive throughout the humanities, popular press, and modern scientific literature. The hypothesis implies that truly outstanding occupational success often exacts a heavy toll on psychological, interpersonal, and physical well-being. Study 1 tested this hypothesis in three cohorts of 1,826 high-potential, intellectually gifted individuals. Participants with exceptionally successful careers were compared with those of their gender-equivalent intellectual peers with more typical careers on well-known measures of psychological well-being, flourishing, core self-evaluations, and medical maladies. Family relationships, comfort with aging, and life satisfaction were also assessed. Across all three cohorts, those deemed occupationally outstanding individuals were similar to or healthier than their intellectual peers across these metrics. Study 2 served as a constructive replication of Study 1 but used a different high-potential sample: 496 elite science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) doctoral students identified in 1992 and longitudinally tracked for 25 years. Study 2 replicated the findings from Study 1 in all important respects. Both studies found that exceptionally successful careers were not associated with medical frailty, psychological maladjustment, and compromised interpersonal and family relationships; if anything, overall, people with exceptionally successful careers were medically and psychologically better off.
David Lubinski, PhD, “Composing Meaningful Lives: Exceptional Women and Men at Age 50?” Gifted Child Quarterly, July 2023 (Co-authors Camilla P. Benbow, Kira O. McCabe, and Brian O. Bernstein)
Abstract: To understand divergent and remarkable lives lived, we examined the accomplishments, family dynamics, life orientation, psychological well-being, and definition of a meaningful life among two exceptional groups at age 50: top science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) doctoral students (270 males, 255 females, originally surveyed in their mid-20s) and profoundly gifted adolescents (263 males, 71 females, top 0.01% in ability, first studied at age 12). The creativity and occupational stature of both cohorts were extraordinary and commensurate. Life priorities, time allocation, and breadth of interests created paths that differed for women and men, resulting in contrasting, but equally exceptional, life outcomes across career, life, and relationship satisfaction. Distinct constellations of personal attributes of intellectually and scientifically brilliant women, relative to such men, operated to form satisfying and productive lives that differed for the women and men as a whole. Findings cast light on the participation of women and men in STEM and conceptually demanding leadership positions.
Junior Division
Sue-ann Lim, “Effectiveness of Invention Tasks and Explicit Instruction in Preparing Intellectually Gifted Adolescents
for Learning” Instructional Science, February 2023 (Co-authors Jae Yup Jung and Slava Kalyuga)
Abstract: Solving a novel problem has recently garnered some attention as a viable alternative to traditional explicit instruction in the preparation of students for learning. This study investigated the effectiveness of introducing problem-solving tasks and worked examples prior to explicit instruction, along with the use of contrast, for gifted and non-gifted adolescents. One hundred and ninety-nine students from academically selective government and Independent high schools participated in this study. The 2 × 2 × 2 research design that was used examined the effects of giftedness (i.e., gifted vs. non-gifted), instruction-type (i.e., problem-solving vs. worked examples), and structure (i.e., high vs. low contrast materials) on the learning outcomes of transfer and procedural knowledge. The study also examined the impact of explicit instruction and invention-first instruction strategies on non-performance variables — self-efficacy, extraneous load, experience of knowledge gaps, and interest. The results of the study suggested that invention-first instruction may be more effective than example-first instruction in transfer, and that gifted students may benefit more from invention-first instruction than example-first instruction. The use of contrast materials was not found to affect performance. Furthermore, instruction was found to have no significant effects on the investigated non-performance variables. Collectively, these findings challenge the conventional teaching modality of explicit instruction in gifted education and put forward the possibility of the invention-first strategy as an effective instructional strategy for gifted students.
Matthew H. Lee, PhD, “Initial vs. Retest GRE Performance: A Study of One Million Graduate Record Examination Test-Retest Observations” Personality and Individual Differences, June 2023 (Co-author Jonathan Wai)
Abstract: A large test preparation industry has arisen around the popular idea that students can dramatically improve their scores. However, can students greatly improve their scores when they test more than once? Understanding this variation in retesting helps testing reliability of measures, expectations of validity and prediction, and also provides bounds and realistic expectations within which test preparation is potentially impactful. Using a sample (N = 689,063) of Graduate Record Examination test-takers with at least two GRE general test observations between 2015 and 2020, we identified 978,334 test-retest pairs and analyzed the relationship between initial and retest scores within the three subtests. Initial and retest scores were highly correlated (0.91 for Quantitative, 0.82 for Verbal, and 0.78 for Analytical Writing), and retest scores were 1.43 points higher for GRE-Q and 1.49 points higher for GRE-V on average but with wide variation. We did not find evidence that test score changes varied meaningfully by length of time between test observations. Finally, we found evidence of regression to the mean, with test-takers with initial scores in the top or bottom bracket scoring closer to the mean on retest. These results provide evidence of the reliability of the GRE over time as a test of academic skill.
Furkan Atmaca, PhD, “The Two Sides of Cognitive Masking: A Three-Level Bayesian Meta-Analysis on Twice-Exceptionality” Gifted Child Quarterly, July 2022 (Co-author Mustafa Baloğlu)
Abstract: We compared the Wechsler scores of individuals with twice-exceptionality (2e) and giftedness using a three-level Bayesian meta-analysis. Ninety-five effect sizes were calculated from 15 studies (n = 2,106). Results show that individuals with 2e who have learning disabilities perform lower than individuals with giftedness in FSIQ (g = -0.62), working memory (g = -0.79), and processing speed (g = -0.75). Individuals with 2e who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have a distinct profile in which only processing speed differs from individuals with giftedness (g = -0.55). Results suggest that using a single IQ score in the identification process will be misleading. Moreover, IQ may mask the strengths or weaknesses of individuals with 2e.
The Mensa Foundation’s Awards for Excellence in Research are given internationally for outstanding research on intelligence, intellectual giftedness and related fields. Papers must be published in a peer-reviewed journal or presented at a peer-reviewed conference. Senior investigators received their degrees more than five years ago and have since been active in their fields. Junior investigators include graduate students, researchers who have earned their degrees within the past five years and those who have previously earned degrees in other fields and entered their present field within the past five years.