Very high cognitive intelligence
Explore the possibility of High Intellectual Potential before possible WAIS-IV testing.
Take the HIP screening test →Gifted adults · High Intellectual Potential · HIP
Identifying High Intellectual Potential in adults
In adults, High Intellectual Potential means very high cognitive intelligence. Assessment can establish whether this level of ability is present and help explain how it fits into the person’s broader psychological functioning.
Discovering High Intellectual Potential can make sense of a long-standing feeling of being different, a distinctive way of thinking, or difficulties that were previously misunderstood. The point is not only to obtain a number, but to understand how this difference can become a resource.
Cognitive intelligence in gifted adults
The WAIS-IV assesses adult cognitive intelligence
Intellectual giftedness is assessed psychometrically. In adults, the WAIS-IV examines several components of cognitive functioning and provides a much richer profile than a single Full Scale IQ score.
Testing is available from age 16. It can highlight cognitive strengths, possible discrepancies between index scores and the way different intellectual abilities are organised.
What IQ score indicates HIP?
130 is a useful reference point, not the whole story
A Full Scale IQ around 130 or above is the conventional reference point for High Intellectual Potential.
Clinical interpretation should also consider confidence intervals, testing conditions and possible unevenness across cognitive indices. Some people also have one cognitive ability at an exceptional level even when the overall IQ is below 130: this can be described as local giftedness.
Functioning and personality
High Intellectual Potential does not define one personality type
Gifted adults differ greatly from one another. Some characteristics are nevertheless often described by people seeking assessment: creativity, emotional or sensory reactivity, empathy, perfectionism, associative thinking, feeling out of step with others, impostor feelings or excessive adaptation to social expectations.
These characteristics are not diagnostic criteria for HIP. They can, however, be highly relevant for understanding the person’s experience and the reasons they seek assessment.
CreativitySensitivityEmpathy
PerfectionismAssociative thinkingFeeling different
Impostor feelingsMasking / adaptation
Another form of High Potential
High Emotional Potential
For some people, it is emotional intelligence that is at an exceptionally high level. This is referred to here as High Emotional Potential (HEP).
HEP is not simply high sensitivity: it refers to exceptionally high emotional intelligence. It can be evaluated in a scientifically grounded way through an emotional and personality assessment.
After identification
What can you do with giftedness?
Identifying High Potential is only a first step. The more important question is how this way of functioning affects work, relationships, self-esteem, learning, life choices and any difficulties the person may experience.
Assessment can help transform what was experienced as unexplained difference or distress into a clearer understanding of oneself and practical ways to use one’s strengths.
Where should you start?
HIP and HEP answer two different questions
Exceptionally high emotional intelligence
Explore the possibility of High Emotional Potential before an emotional and personality assessment.
Take the HEP screening test →Does this description resonate with you?
You can begin with the HIP screening test or schedule psychometric testing directly.
