Extraordinary Minds

Howard Gardner (1997)

Chapter OneCIntroduction: Toward a Science of Extraordinariness

Rationale of the Study: We can learn about ourselves from examining the extraordinary. "No absolute divide separates the Ordinary from the ExtraordinaryCwe are all human and can be explained by the human sciences" (p. 5). Gardner as a Constructivist: "I stress that all individual growth reflects constant and dynamic interaction between an organism, with its internal programs, and the environment, whose constituent properties are never wholly predictable. I stress, further, that these dynamic interactions continue throughout active life, giving shape and meaning to an individual's existence and ultimate accomplishments" (p. 10). Four Types of Extraordinariness (Gardner's examples):

Master (Mozart): ". . . individual who gains complete mastery over one or more domains of accomplishment; his or her innovation occurs within established practice" (p. 11). Maker (Freud): ". . . individual [who] may have mastered existing domains, but he or she devotes energies to the creation of a new domain" (p. 12). Introspector (Woolf): "Of primary concern to this individual is an exploration of his or her inner
life: daily experiences, potent needs and fears, the operation of consciousness (both that of the particular individual and that of individuals more generally" (p. 12).

Influencer (Ghandi): "Such a person has as a primary goal the influencing of other individuals"
(p. 12).

Chapter 2COrdinary Development

Distinction between "expert" and Extraordinary: "Expertise is not extraordinariness. Most individuals . . . do not [produce] superlative and innovative performances. Nor do most individuals go on to challenge practices and norms . . . most individuals lack the propensity to rebel, to become Makers of domains . . . As for extraordinariness, we can leave that option to others" (p. 31).

Chapter 3CExtraordinary Development

Nature/Nurture Debate: "If we want to understand how some individuals manage to become exceptional in a positive sense by the age of five, we will need to know more about brain and biology; but we will equally need to know more about the experiences that pluck a few of us out of the crowd and give us the opportunity to become a special kind of person" (p. 49).

Chapter 4CMaster: The Case of Mozart

Kinds of Creative Mastery (pp. 60-61): % producing permanent works in a genre % formulating a general framework or theory % executing stylized performances % executing performances of high stake % solving recognized problems Impact of Mozart as a superior Maker: "Mozart set the stage for musical revolution . . . by so exhausting the existing lines of creation as to make it essentially impossible for those who succeeded [him] to follow in [his] footsteps" (p. 67).

Chapter 5CMaker: The Case of Freud

"Makers cannot succeed unless there exists a domain that is waiting to be alteredCin this case, the domains of psychiatry and psychology had clear gaps that Freud helped to address" (p. 81). Fruitful Asynchrony (pp. 84-85): Means by which creative individuals can turn to advantage their discrepancy from others in their time and in their domain.

Chapter 6CIntrospector: The Case of Woolf

" . . . many individuals devote themselves to Introspection, but only a few can convincingly convey to others the core processes and insights of their introspections" (p. 88). The Introspector's primary challenge is "to peer deeply into his own psyche, to understand himself in a way that others do not routinely understand themselves, as individuals, as members of a group, or as human beings" (p. 96). Mental Illness as Advantage: "Each aspect of her marginality contributed to the specialness of Woolf's voice and her visionCin our terms, she was able to exploit her asynchronies in a fruitful way. I maintain, however, that extra leverage on the nature of conscious experience came from her immersion in the world of madness" (p. 101).

Chapter 7CInfluencer: The Case of Ghandi

The Role of Story: "The principal vehicle of influence is the story; an Influencer achieves effectiveness by embodying in his or her life the story that he or she relates . . . Their dramatic story is most likely to be effective if they do not merely relate the story with effectiveness, but if in some sense their own lives capture the essence of that story and convey in convincingly to others (p. 108).

Chapter 8CVarieties of Extraordinariness

We may say, then, that extraordinary individuals make two choices, more or less consciously: whether to focus on persons or on objects, and whether to invest in the perfection of domain practices or attempt to overthrow them (p. 125). Extraordinary Deviations: . . .as the concept of fruitful asynchrony intimates, the combination of powers and deficits sometimes turns out to be productive. . . a deficit in one cognitive or affective area may go hand-in-hand with the capacity to develop other kinds of strength (pp. 133-134).

Chapter 9CLessons Reflecting: Extraordinariness, then, is most likely to emerge if aspiring individuals are exposed to extraordinary models; ponder the lessons embodied in those models; and have the opportunity to enact critical practices in a relatively protected setting (p. 145). Leveraging: . . . I refer to the capacity of certain individuals to ignore areas of weakness and, in
effect, to ask: In which ways can I use my own strengths in order to gain a competitive advantage in the domain in which I have chosen to work?'. . . The more that an individual can make use of his unique strengths in attacking a problem, the more likely that he will arrive at an approach that holds special, hitherto unanticipated promise for illuminating that problem (pp. 148-149)

Framing: . . . the capacity to construe experiences in a way that is positive, in a way that allows
one to draw apt lessons and, thus freshly energized, to proceed with one's life (p. 149).