Talent: definition, types, what they are, list of examples

When applying the concept of “talented” to a particular person, people often mean that she has certain abilities that set her apart from others. However, the nature of “talent” is much more complex and multifaceted. In this article I will describe in detail the definition of the word “talent”, tell you what it is, whether every person really has it and what meaning it has.

In psychology

I, as a psychologist, put into this term a successful combination of a number of data, predispositions and conditions for the realization of an individual’s creative or other aspirations. Thus, to reveal the inclinations, a confluence of certain circumstances related to the environment in which the object is located is necessary: ​​social, cultural and historical. We are talking about extraordinary potential, which manifests itself in the process of gaining experience and allows you to achieve success in a particular business. In other words, about what you do better than most ordinary people.

What is the essence

Talent is not only a special talent, but also an individual’s unconscious craving for a specific type of activity. At the same time, he strives for what attracts a person no matter what. Often these abilities are identified in childhood. Outstanding scientists show an unhealthy interest in studying the world around them (bugs, plants, technical instruments); future high-class mathematicians learn to count early and quickly. The age of disclosure is different for everyone. But from an early age, a talented child stands out among his peers in some way.

First edition

Gosha K. - helping visionaries with activitiesDec 12, 2016 · 4 min read

! I recommend reading the second edition of this article.

Recently, a friend told me his observations of himself over the course of one day. He monitored whether he was happy and noticed that he enjoyed life in only 2 short moments throughout the day. This is a clear example of life and activity that is in no way based on a person’s personal talents.

1. Have you ever experienced a situation where you skillfully did some work, were engaged in some activity, investing personal energy in it, but this did not give you absolutely no internal drive ? Did you get good results and your product was called genius? If you remember such a case, then let's call it: THE CASE OF MANIFESTATION OF ABILITIES.

2. Has it ever happened to you that something in your activity and life sparked you and your interest for a long time? Did it lift you into a state of endless inspiration? Are you driven? If you remember this, then let's call it: MANIFESTATION OF TALENTS.

What is the difference? Talents are NOT the same as Abilities. And abilities are NOT the same as Skills. There is a gradation:

Talent is a natural ability that a person is BORN with.

Why is this the case?

Because talents are directly related to the personal and real goals of an individual. We can say that talents are personal tools for achieving your goal.

And goals, in turn, are a strong catalyst that activates a person’s super abilities and talents.

Constant inspiration , or any state even better than inspiration, is the main indicator that a person is living his talents and not passing them by in life.

A well-rounded individual can do many things well and competently.

There are people who are equally good with both texts and graphic design, and can write great music, as well as manage the development of projects well.

Extraordinary abilities can be trained. Abilities are the product of training and a lot of practice. Talents too, but there is one difference:

By training something without inspiration, simply at an analytical level of awareness, you will only gain ability, and it will not rise to talent, no matter how much time is devoted to gaining mastery.

You can train something code-named “A” for 1,000,000 years, and train something called “B” for the same amount of time. Will these things remain only genius abilities, or will they become personal talents - depends solely on whether there is inspiration and a state of “flow”?

Can you type on a keyboard? Great, you have the skill! The same can be said about the ability to walk, think, turn a computer on and off, and use the Internet.

Is your ability to do this extraordinary, in extraordinary ways, and indicative of super-competent results super-quickly? If yes, then this is an Ability!

Is this or that skill or ability an activator of your personal inspiration or drive, the state of “flow”? If yes, then there is some talent behind it!

A person has Talents, Abilities, and Skills.

1st option: a person often bases his activities and life on his Skills or Abilities... 2nd option: ... but you can lay your Talents as the basis of your activity.

Theory of heredity

Giftedness is often associated with genetic predispositions. However, there is no exact answer to the question of a hereditary predisposition to talent. Genes that contribute to the physical strengthening of the body form a predisposition to exercise. The basis for the development of mental abilities can also be inherited. But still, one genome is not enough to reveal individual characteristics. What is important is the practical realization of potential under living conditions conducive to this.

Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language, Dal Vladimir

talent
m. weight and coin among the ancient Greeks and Romans; natural gift, human talents and ability to do what. Talented, gifted, with natural abilities. Talent, happiness, luck; rock, fate, destiny; profit, profit vyat. perm.; find tamb. Talan to the Maidan! Hello to those who play for money. Our talent is with a bag in the yards. My talent went to the mountains (ate by a sheep). You can't sew talent to the skin. It’s not our talent to find, but ours to lose. Luckily for my daughter, I sold the horse. God gave five rubles to Talan, profit. Whoever has the talent will be the ataman. Our Ivan has no talent anywhere. Well done to everyone, but no talent in the family. Hud talan, if the pocket is simple (empty). If you don’t take it with goods, you won’t take it with your talent (or with your god). Ovoy has a talent, Ovoy has two (increase: if you don’t have a talent, you can’t sew it on a sundress). Talan is not fog, he is not passing by. Like fog in a field, so is his happiness, talent! (words of the midwife, over porridge) To know from everything that there is no talent. Someone else's talent quickly grows, but ours neither crawls nor climbs! Talented, related to talent. Stepmother's talented child! If you are talented, you will sleep in the baths (i.e. without shelter). Talented, happy, successful, who is lucky. Did you have a dream? And you will be happy and talented. talk fortune teller. The guy is talented, but the dream is not selfish! Talent someone, impersonal. to be happy, to be lucky, to be happy, to succeed. He's talented in everything. A thief is a thief, sib. pleases, strives, or indulges. The fishermen got caught, they were lucky. My talent is worn out! There was happiness, and the village was gone. It took him about a year. It didn't work out for me. Talent, distorted. to banish.

Read also: History of the creation of signal troops

Inclinations, talent and genius - differences

Speaking about natural rudiments, we mean a person’s innate predisposition to a certain activity. They may appear and fade over time, depending on whether the individual has put in enough effort to develop them. For example, if from birth a child has a wide vocal range and keen hearing, it will be easier for him to become a musician by learning this skill. However, inclinations alone are not enough to talk about an individual’s giftedness. Natural qualities can only bear fruit if you work hard at them.

Another concept - abilities - is defined as the individual characteristics of a person, which are prerequisites for him to carry out outstanding activities. At the same time, the usual functionality inherent in every human being cannot be classified in this category (speech, the ability to walk, work), since it is not unique and is of a general nature. It is important that a person capable of anything has the ability to quickly acquire the knowledge and skills she needs for development.

Giftedness is a set of innate inclinations that serve as one of the conditions for the emergence of abilities. It presupposes that an individual has a strong desire for a particular occupation and has great potential for outstanding achievement in the chosen field. For example, if a child has been interested in fine arts since childhood, the prerequisites for the development of talent will be indicated by his developed imagination, the ability to see color and light subtleties, and also to find beauty in everything that surrounds him. With all this, the young talent must also have a need for self-expression.

Psychologist Daria Milai

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Talent, as mentioned above, presupposes that an individual has a certain platform for development under the appropriate favorable circumstances and persistent, long-term work. Genius represents the highest level of talent, which is characterized by an extreme degree of productivity, as well as the ability to create something fundamentally new, previously non-existent and unique. It is expressed not only as a result of the activity performed, but also by the power of its impact on the surrounding world and society.

Aphorisms

1. “Talent without work never blossoms, and work without talent does not even sprout,” said Russian philosopher and writer Gennady Matyushov. In his opinion, in order for talent to manifest itself, one must make an effort, and in order for work to produce the desired result, one must have some kind of talent.

1. “Talent is like a thoroughbred horse, you need to learn how to control it, and if you pull the reins in all directions, the horse will turn into a nag,” wrote Russian writer Maxim Gorky. He believed that any talent must be managed like a thoroughbred horse, otherwise it can be ruined.

1. “Talent is the ability to do something that no one taught us,” said Polish fiction writer Alfred Konar. He called talent abilities given from above, skills that no one has ever taught a person.

1. “Great talents incur hatred, just as iron rusts; mediocrity alone has no enemies,” wrote Jean Léron d’Alembert, a French philosopher and scientist. He believed that great talents were talked about at all times, they incurred hatred, were criticized, just as iron is subject to rust. And no one ever speaks ill of mediocre people.

1. “Talent is a developed natural inclination,” said the French writer Honore de Balzac. According to the great classic, talent is a unique gift of nature that a person notices and develops in time.

1. “Talent is the ability to understand something about the creator, the ability to see a miracle,” says Russian writer, poet and journalist Alexander Kruglov. He noted that talent is skills that ordinary people are not capable of: for example, the ability to understand God or the ability to see a miracle.

1. “As soon as an outstanding talent appears in any profession, immediately all the mediocrities of this profession try to hush up the matter and by any means deprive him of the opportunity and the opportunity to become famous and declare himself before the world, as if he were planning an attack on their inability, banality and mediocrity.” , wrote the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. In his opinion, talented people have always been envied by mediocre people, so they tried by all means to deprive the gifted of any opportunity and any opportunity to express themselves.

1. “I saw with my own eyes how wealth ruined the talent of more than one musician and artist. This fate can only be avoided by those who, having become rich, continue to work in the same way as in times of poverty,” said the French writer Andre Maurois. He shares his thoughts that many talented people are spoiled by wealth, which is achieved thanks to talent, because, having become rich, a talented person stops working, which means he stops there and stops developing his talent.

1. “Talent is not everything. The moral qualities of a person and his worldview are what determine the face of a real scientist,” Russian scientist, teacher Ivan Sechenov. According to the famous scientist, a real scientist has not only talent, but also moral human qualities. Such a person will direct his talent to benefit humanity.

1. “Without reveling in words, life convinces us again: talents must be helped, mediocrity will find its way on its own,” said the Russian Soviet poet and translator Lev Ozerov.

Types of talent and examples from life: what kind of talent a person can have

There are 7 types of talent. Later, this list was updated and supplemented with several more items that correspond to modern realities:

• Verbal-linguistic.
• Logical-mathematical.
• Bodily-kinetic.
• Interactions with nature.
• Auditory.
• Emotional.
• Spatial.
• Interpersonal.

People can be classified into one category or another if they have the aspirations and capabilities to master a certain type of activity, as well as their ability to learn quickly and master the necessary skills.

Interpersonal type

A person with an interpersonal type of talent is better than anyone else at communicating with other people, understanding them and finding a common language with them. Such a person is distinguished by unique charisma, as well as the ability to feel other people’s emotions and sincerely share them and empathize. People with such talent become excellent psychologists, business coaches, marketers, and public figures. People with the interpersonal type of talent include such famous personalities as Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, Louise Hay, Tony Robbins, etc.

What talents does a person have: list

• Verbal-linguistic. Characterized by excellent command of written and oral communication. Such people, as a rule, achieve success in philology, journalism, literary creativity and jurisprudence. They are good at writing poetry and prose, speaking in public, and various techniques of verbal and nonverbal communication. Such talented individuals include V. Ovchinnikova, a Soviet essayist and orientalist, G. Aldred, a famous American lawyer (one of the top 5 most successful lawyers in the world).
• Digital. Assumes outstanding mathematical and analytical abilities. A person with this type of giftedness easily carries out calculations, builds logical connections, and perceives the world more through the prism of numbers than through its artistic component. A great mathematician is L. Euler, who combined algebra, analysis and trigonometry and compiled general theories and laws.
• Spatial. It represents outstanding architectural and artistic data. This category includes artists, designers, sculptors, and architects. For example, the Spaniard A. Gaudi y Cornet, who knows how to work with the most daring forms in architecture.
• Physical (bodily-kinetic). Determined by aspirations for sporting achievements, as well as a predisposition to the dance field. As a rule, owners of this type of talent have natural endurance, flexibility, strength and energy, which allows them to more easily endure stress and strive for the highest results. Examples: basketball player L. James, golfer T. Woods, track and field athlete W. Bolt.
• Intrapersonal (emotional) talent manifests itself in a penchant for philosophy, self-development, and immersion in the inner world. These are deeply reflective people, mostly self-absorbed. They are prone to meditation, mastering spiritual practices, achievements regarding personal development and growth.
• Interpersonal. Reveals itself in interaction with others. These are public figures who know how to establish contact with the audience or its individual representatives. Good psychologists who have special charisma and empathy, feel the interlocutor and find the right approach to him. This category also includes politicians, actors, and entrepreneurs.
• Environmental talent. It includes those who develop themselves in agronomy, training, veterinary medicine and other areas of activity related to nature, caring for plants or animals. Like the British woman K. Drew-Baker, thanks to whom (or rather, her research on marine flora and fauna) the production of nori seaweed was established.
• Auditory (musical). Inherent in those who have a special relationship with the world of sounds. Such individuals have almost perfect pitch and feel music. Outstanding composers, singers, conductors, and musicians have such data.

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Verbal-linguistic type

Such people are distinguished by excellent command of speech, both written and oral. In addition, they often have a talent for languages. The manner in which such people present their own ideas and thoughts is extremely original, high-quality and beautiful. They make first-class writers, journalists, lawyers, speakers, and translators. Among the speakers with this talent are Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Vladimir Lenin, Steve Jobs, etc. Among the artists with this talent are such great writers as Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, William Shakespeare, Homer, etc.

I have no talents: what to do

Giftedness is not characteristic of all people, which makes this phenomenon unique. But everyone has the makings, which are the starting platform for the development of talent. First of all, you need to analyze whether you have a desire for something. Perhaps a particular occupation comes easily to you. Find an area that you are passionate about.

How to discover your abilities

Since this individual feature depends on the innate properties of the personality, its disclosure allows you to find your calling. The sooner you decide on this, the more time you will have for self-realization in your chosen area.

There are several basic techniques to identify hidden potential:

• introspection, childhood research;
• passing tests;
• frank conversation with a loved one;
• constant development of the inner world and worldview;
• increasing the level of expertise in a number of issues of interest, increasing knowledge;
• conducting experiments with different areas, practicing new types of activities.

Remember your childhood interests. What did you want to become in the future? What could you devote all your free time to? This period is the most sincere in life. Unblinded by public opinion and the influence of responsibility, the child intuitively reaches out to what works and brings him pleasure. Remembering the things you loved and valued at an early age can help you discover those same tendencies in yourself as an adult.

How to develop talent

After identifying your abilities, it is important to start “pumping” them. To do this, be sure to practice regularly, increasing your level of professionalism. Discovering your talent is the result of hard work, training, and diligence. By reinforcing willpower and determination, you transform from an ordinary capable person into a talented one.

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You can also follow this algorithm:

• Realize that you have the prerequisites for giftedness.
• Systematically devote time to your inclinations.
• Get out of your comfort zone, do something new, let the world know about your successes.
• Search and accumulate information that relates to your hobby.
• Get a mentor.
• Compete with your competitors periodically.

Remember how important it is to believe in yourself. You can gain a charge of positive energy and learn to move towards your dreams despite obstacles by signing up for my consultation. Don't be afraid if at some point they start criticizing you. Learn to separate subjective opinions from constructive ones and benefit from the feedback you receive. Get started now. Don’t even think about putting off self-development until tomorrow, Monday, the first of the month or the New Year. Postponing the development of your abilities until later means burying your talent deeper and deeper into the ground.

Hidden Features

Sometimes it is not immediately possible to understand what a person is inclined to do. Without using paints, he will never know that he has the makings of an artist. The only way to discover the potential hidden within is to constantly try new things. They will say that this is really “your” activity:

• ease of mastering skills;
• fast and decent results;
• feeling of fullness, no need for additional motivation.

Mastering useful skills only contributes to the development of talent when a person sees the results of his work being of high quality. And for this you need to gain as much experience as possible, train so as not to lose shape.

Talented in everything: looking for the right field

Life values: what they are, what they are, a list with examples.
A child’s ability is noticeable from an early age. Yes, all children dance, draw, run and sculpt from plasticine.

But some do it for fun, while others take their favorite activity seriously and even insatiably - they always miss it.

Artist's talent

The favorite pastime of the future creator is to sculpt, draw, and make appliqués. By expressing himself through his “works,” the child demonstrates his feelings to the world. At the same time, the baby not only reflects the existing objects that surround it, but also abstract phenomena.

A little artist can be recognized by his ability to distinguish more colors compared to his peers, his desire to describe objects in shades and colors, and pay attention to details, including objects located in the background. Acting and writing

Acting and writing

The child, who is inclined to manipulate words, loves everything related to books. He enjoys leafing through anything that has pages with letters on it, and starts reading from a very early age.

Surely such a child can immediately memorize long poems, easily retell what he read or heard from anywhere, and loves to recite texts even in public.

This is a man with a rich imagination who can create his own fascinating stories that have a logical ending. He amazes those around him with his extensive vocabulary, vivid expression of emotions through words and a sincere desire to be heard.

An important argument in favor of a child’s artistic ability is the initiative to imitate his favorite characters, actively using facial expressions and gestures for this purpose.

Musicality

A potential musician can easily reproduce a melody he has heard many times (in exceptional cases, once). He has an innate sense of rhythm and the ability to move to the beat.

Such a baby not only loves sounds in all their manifestations - he willingly reproduces what he hears without falsehood, sometimes imitating exactly what he hears.

The child may also be interested in special instruments and create his own melodies.

Sport

The future champion can certainly be recognized by his excellent physical shape and restlessness, which parents often confuse with hyperactivity. Despite his advanced age, the baby is distinguished by agility, good coordination and endurance.

This is a real energizer, for whom the best relaxation is running, walking, cycling and other means of transportation.

Moreover, he knows how to control his body, knowing everything there is to know about it, so he almost never gets tired of the load.

Even if this happens, the future athlete simply “gets high”, receiving moral satisfaction from the fact that he is exhausted.

Science and technology

From the cradle, the baby shows a genuine interest in the world of numbers

This can manifest itself through special attention to tablets, money, everything related to calculus

It’s easy for the baby to concentrate on little things, so he enjoys playing all types of board games, in most cases beating his peers.

Such a child is interested in the internal structure of all toys, as well as the clear mechanism of their action. He has an excellent sense of time and begins to use watches early, and is interested in the functioning of home appliances.

How to praise talent

Praise and support are a very important tool in developing abilities. If you discover a certain degree of giftedness or uniqueness in a loved one, be sure to show him that you are ready to support him. Let him see that you are also happy when he devotes himself to his favorite activity. Don't be afraid to overpraise him. On the contrary, the stronger your inspiration, admiration and desire to help, the faster he will believe in the correctness of his path. This is especially true for children. Do not under any circumstances ignore their impulses of creativity, but in every possible way contribute to their consolidation.

Do not forget that creative people are most often very vulnerable and impressionable. They worry if others are not interested in their successes. Simple praise can be a very valuable mechanism to push them to achieve. Talent manifests itself only with a favorable combination of the individual’s personal qualities, his inclinations and sociocultural conditions. The best time for the development and discovery of giftedness is considered to be childhood. During this period, the individual is drawn to what truly awakens an emotional response within her. It is important that the environment at home and at school is conducive to the development of the child’s abilities. But even in adulthood, a person can discover a new talent in himself. The only question is motivation, desire to achieve more and hard work.

Personal (emotional) type

Those with this type of talent are adept at developing themselves as individuals. They tend to carefully analyze their own actions and behavior, as well as everything that happens in their lives. In addition to knowing themselves well, such people love to practice various meditative and spiritual practices, and in this they really have no equal. A person with this talent becomes an excellent personal growth coach and philosopher. Among people with an emotional type of talent are Omar Khayyam, Osho, Mahatma Gandhi, etc.