1997_Emotional Giftedness: An Expanded View

We live in an age of prodigies. Young pianists, violinists, even cellists, age 10, 12, or 14 perform brilliantly and movingly with the world’s great orchestras. Others enter college and complete a Ph.D. or M.D. before their age mates graduate from high school. Rarest of all, two accomplished painters, one in China and one in the U.S., were recognised even before they were 10 years old. A concert performance, a work of art, an advanced degree are easy to notice and applaud. When it comes to gifts of the heart-empathy, compassion, forgiveness, or defending others-the situation is different. There is no wide audience and no TV camera to record and broadcast accomplishment in the emotional sphere, what Annemarie Roeper called being emotionally gifted. This paper expands on Roeper’s original concept to include the sense of justice, moral sensitivity, positive maladjustment, loyalty, resistance to victimisation, forgiveness, and spiritual giftedness.