Exploring the Overexcitabilities of High-IQ People

Source: Andrew George/Unsplash

This post is Part 3 of a series (see Part 1 for recent, peer-reviewed studies supporting the prevalence and nature of overexcitabilities).

Do you know a child, student, or someone else who is particularly smart, and you suspect their imagination is supercharged (just as their high-IQ brain is supercharged)? You could be correct. The same is true if that intellectually gifted person is you.

Imaginational overexcitability is one of the five intensities that Polish researcher Kazimierz Dabrowski (1902–1980) found in intellectually gifted individuals. People with an IQ of 130 or above, his research suggests, may have at least one of the five overexcitabilities—emotional, imaginational, intellectual, psychomotor, and sensual—with individuals having two to five, although they vary in dominance. Part 1 of this series introduced the concept of overexcitability, and parts 2 through 6 delve into each type individually. Here, we will explore the imaginational in detail.

What is imaginational overexcitability?

The markers of someone with imaginational overexcitability are:

• daydreaming
• difficulty focusing when bored
• dislike for tasks that don’t engage creativity
• elaborate dreams
• imaginary friends or worlds
• highly creative
• keen ability to visualize
• storytelling ability
• very active imagination

However, a gifted individual need not display every characteristic associated with the imaginational overexcitability to have it, and some aspects of the overexcitability can be more apparent than others (this is true of all five). For example, a gifted person might exhibit all of the characteristics listed above except “elaborate dreams” or “imaginary friends or worlds,” yet still have the imaginational overexcitability.

What strategies can parents and teachers use to help gifted youth?

The following strategies may facilitate positive thinking, behavior, and outcomes:

• Encourage the child to propose an unconventional, unique way they can complete an assignment, such as drawing illustrations of literary components instead of pasting pictures to illustrate the components.
• If the youth struggles with daydreaming rather than focusing on learning tasks, note that unfocused doodling can help some gifted children remain attentive (just as chair leg bands can help psychomotor, overexcited students expend energy and remain on task).
• Ask the student for suggestions on ways class routines can be made more interesting or fun.
• Though all assignments should ideally give students differentiated options from which to choose, assignments for imaginationally overexcitable students should be adjusted as needed to provide at least one option to engage one’s imagination.
• If the student struggles with traditional systems for organization (messy backpack, cubby, or desk), help them develop systems for organizing these spaces in ways that will specifically work for them.

The above strategies can also help the student or child practice controlling the intensity of their excitability, leading to long-term success. Try the strategies as appropriate for the youth’s particular characteristics.

What comes next?

In Part 4, we will explore intellectual overexcitability, and subsequent posts will cover the psychomotor and sensual types. Though the five share a commonality that high-IQ individuals may experience, each has a unique profile, and the specific strategies that teachers and parents can employ when working with gifted individuals may differ.

Continue to Part 4.