Beautiful Minds

Musings on Intelligence and Creativity in Society

Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D. is a Visiting Scholar at NYU. His latest book is The Psychology of Creative Writing. See full bio

June 17, 2008

Attaining musical genius: Is practice enough?

Can anyone be a Mozart? New research sheds some light on this question, by suggesting that while practice is certainly an important factor in music achievement, other factors may play as much, if not more of a role. Read More

June 7, 2008

On Innate Talent

Given intense commitment and practice, is anyone capable of anything, regardless of innate endowment?

The answer lies in what is common between my grandfather and Kobe Bryant.

May 27, 2008

Is every child gifted? Probably not.

Every parent wants to think his or her child is special. And rest assured, parents—your child is special. At least, there is no other child on earth with the same precise mix of genes, experience, and pattern of strengths and weaknesses. But is every child gifted? Probably not. Read More

May 16, 2008

What is giftedness?

Johnny, a 9-year-old elementary school student, has an IQ of 140, which would qualify him as "gifted" by virtually any IQ-based definition of giftedness anyone might use. Johnny has few friends, in large part because he has very poor social skills. Johnny has no hobbies to speak of, and is unengaged in significant extracurricular activities outside of school. And despite his IQ, Johnny is a good, but not great, student. Read More

May 9, 2008

Introducing Beautiful Minds

When I was a kid, I was very good at frustrating my school psychologists. When I was 10, my parents wanted me to try out private school since I didn't seem to be receiving much enjoyment from the public school I was attending. They consulted a school psychologist to determine the best placement. I remember the day quite vividly, the day when I took an IQ test. Read More

Books by Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D.

The Psychology of Creative Writing

Creativity Basics

Even those of us not in explicitly creative fields must come up with new ideas and insights in order to move ahead. How can we shake up our thinking patterns?

Go to the Creativity Basics page for more on Creativity including: