The Hidden Talents Framework: Implications for Science, Policy, and Practice

Early-life adversity can undermine healthy development, but an evolutionary-developmental perspective suggests that children growing up in harsh environments may develop intact or enhanced skills for solving problems in high-adversity contexts. The hidden talents model proposes that stress-adapted skills represent a form of adaptive intelligence enabling individuals to function within the constraints of harsh environments. This Element situates the hidden talents model within a larger interdisciplinary framework and discusses potential applications to education, social services, and juvenile justice. It concludes that the hidden talents approach offers exciting directions for research on childhood adversity and translational implications for leveraging stress-adapted skills to tailor education, jobs, and interventions to fit the needs of individuals from diverse life circumstances.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 75 pages
Publication date: 06 April 2023
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Early-life adversity can have a detrimental impact on healthy development, but an evolutionary-developmental perspective suggests that children growing up in challenging environments may actually develop unique skills for problem-solving in high-adversity situations. This concept is known as the hidden talents model, which is positioned within a broader interdisciplinary framework. The hidden talents model summarizes theory and research on hidden talents, proposing that stress-adapted skills constitute a form of adaptive intelligence that enables individuals to thrive in harsh environments. It explores potential applications of this perspective to various sectors concerned with youth from challenging backgrounds, such as education, social services, and juvenile justice. The model also compares the hidden talents approach with contemporary developmental resilience models and concludes that it offers exciting directions for research on childhood adversity, with translational implications for leveraging stress-adapted skills to tailor education, jobs, and interventions more effectively to meet the needs of individuals from diverse life circumstances.

ISBN-13: 9781009350068