I recently read a column in Slate, in which an extremely intelligent mother was afraid that her young daughter would be ostracized for being smart. The woman explained how her own life was turned upside down when everyone found out that she was a genius. She was so worried about her daughter’s newly established intellect that she wanted to hide her daughter from everyone.

IQ testing has always been controversial, but I never really thought about the effects of IQ testing on the gifted. It definitely is a touchy subject to dwell on, even if one finds themselves scoring in the average range. I know it affected me when I took a competitive exam and scored lesser than my older brother did, even though no one dared talk about our intelligence and our grades.

So what does happen when a really smart person’s IQ score is made public?

There are several advantages and disadvantages that come up when we talk about testing IQ in the gifted. For one, most gifted children are reportedly quiet and withdrawn. Ensuring that the child is actually gifted and not suffering from ADHD is a definite advantage with early IQ testing. Furthermore, children who are gifted may often get bored with studying in a normal school like Yoffe suggests, so it’s advisable to consider options that will encourage the child to grow beyond their inherent intellectual capacities.

The disadvantages with IQ testing are plenty. No one likes being left out because they’re “too smart”. A lot of people tend to immediately judge others based on their IQ score — teachers, parents, friends. The number not only affects how others perceive people, but also how the person perceives himself or herself. The columnist from Slate, Emily Yoffe (“Prudence”) cites Carol Dweck’s mindset theory that states that people are more likely to grow and succeed with a “growth mindset” than a “fixed mindset”. Clearly then, the knowledge of IQ scores can affect the gifted’s desire to put in effort when working or studying.

Yoffe does answer the worried mother’s question, simply by asking the mother to “forget labels”.

Can we though, when we’re presented with mixed evidence for IQ testing in the gifted?