38: Discussing the nature of childhood prodigies

The Psychology Podcast

iHeartPodcasts

Social Sciences, Science

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2016

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this episode of the psychology podcast, we gain insight into the fascinating and mysterious psychology of prodigious children. Kimberly Stephens recently co-authored a book investigating the link between autism and extraordinary childhood talent called The Prodigy's Cousin, which had made her an excellent source of knowledge. We discuss the extraordinary working memory, attention to detail, passionate interest, talent development and parenting styles that tend to characterize incredible childhood skill. We also cover an interesting genetic component; research suggests that autism tends to be present in the families of prodigies. The conversation is a celebration of the high achievement, intense interest and quirky personalities expressed by prodigies like Jonathan Russell, who has been known to pass the time recreating music with household items like blenders and washing machines! It’s a fun discussion and we’re excited to share it with our listeners. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the psychology podcast with Dr Scott Barry Kaufman where we give
0:05.2	you insights into the mind, brain behavior and creativity. Each episode will feature a new
0:09.8	guest who will
0:13.0	stimulate your mind and give you a greater understanding of yourself,
0:13.6	others, and the world we live in.
0:15.3	Hopefully we'll also provide a glimpse into human possibility.
0:18.6	Thanks for listening and enjoy the podcast. Together with Joanne Ruth Sats, she is
0:44.0	co-author of the book The Prodigy's Cousin, The Family Link between
0:47.1	autism and Extraordinary Talent. Thanks Kimberly for being on the show with me today.
0:50.8	Thanks for having me. What a fascinating book.
0:54.0	I've been, you know, very endlessly fascinated with prodigies and their extraordinary capabilities
0:59.4	and you provide a lot of new insights in this book on what some of these causes could be.
1:04.0	Could you first of all tell me what's your relationship with Joanne Ruth's at and how did you both
1:09.2	decide to go through this investigation? Well that's easy she's my mom so you know I know her quite well and you know she really
1:19.4	started on sort of the prodigy path when she was in graduate school.
1:25.0	She was at Case and she was in her last year.
1:28.0	And she'd been studying expertise and kind of extraordinary performers.
1:32.2	And just sort of on a whim she learned a child
1:35.0	prodigy in Louisiana and so she and my dad went down there to see him and she
1:41.5	had this theory about what might be behind adult expertise and she
1:45.9	wanted to see if it would you know hold for a child who could do incredible things
1:49.8	with you know musically at two years old three old, and by this time he was six.
	...

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