ABSTRACT
Sandra Scarr has devoted her career to bringing the science of human individuality to bear on lifespan developmental issues (Scarr, 1992, 1996; Scarr & McCartney, 1983). Shining a light on the science of human individuality and the dierential outcomes revealed by the study of human psychological diversity has not always been easy (Scarr, 1992, 1998), but it has almost always been useful for both applied and basic psychological science (Lubinski, 1996, 2000; Underwood, 1975), as well as for developing meaningful public policies focused on changing human behavior (Scarr, 1996). Still, the psychological import of valid measures of human individuality and the scientic knowledge gleaned by assessments thereof are routinely denied or neglected. In this chapter, our objectives are twofold. First, we will document the extent to which ndings about human individuality are frequently dismissed or ignored in the social sciences, and how this hobbles the identication and development of truly exceptional human capital and modeling extraordinary human accomplishment. Second, we outline the usefulness of Scarr’s ideas about niche building and selection (Scarr, 1996; Scarr & McCartney, 1983), and how the study of environments from a psychological perspective informs the creation of more
optimal learning opportunities for students with exceptional abilities (Benbow & Lubinski, 1996; Benbow & Stanley, 1983; Benbow & Stanley, 1996; Stanley, 2000). Doing so simultaneously aords insight into their lifelong learning.
