Talent

Talent, like giftedness, is a term that lacks common understanding and agreed-upon meaning. Talent's original meaning was that of a weight, especially of gold or silver. Talent's original meaning is ancient and describes a unit of mass, value, weights, or money. The word derives from the Latin talentum, which in turn comes from the Greek τάλαντον, meaning scale or measuring balance. Usually talent was used to describe a talent's worth of gold or silver, which was about that of an average person's weight in one of these precious metals. This term for large quantities of monetary riches became associated with human performance later in history.

In common usage, talent and giftedness mean essentially the same thing. The national definition is an example of this commingling of the terms. Other conceptions of talent distinguish it from gifts in terms of the domain where the high-level performance occurs. For some, talent refers to artistic, creative, intellectual, or athletic excellence whereas giftedness in this conception is defined as the overall ability of the person. Talent then would develop in areas of specific aptitude that were valued and rewarded by society and where significant practice occurred to develop high-levels of specific performances. Others see talent as the outcome of developed natural abilities regardless of the talent domain. Talent has been proposed as a more useful and less offensive concept than giftedness. Talent seems to reflect hard work over time, whereas giftedness suggests unearned largess. Talent in this understanding can be defined in terms of performance criteria whereas giftedness is seen as a personal characteristic. This entry describes various aspects of talent, especially in comparison with giftedness.