Im currently going to school for psychology and health sciences and also work in education and have been studying it long before I was enrolled in school. I’ve worked with a few gift kids before. I’ve worked with parents who said their child was gifted but they were just satisfactory in their academics.

Gifted kids are very few but they are there. Most individuals who really take ownership of the label can possibly be of what you described. Their environment, people in, and the way a person has dealt with previous situations can mold the way they perceive themselves later in life.

This can be related to personality theorie s and how well someone is able to grasp information/apply it/judge it(intelligence), and early childhood/adolescent development.

Now if they are raised in an environment where they do not determine their self efficiency (look up in terms of five factor personality model/trait theories ) they may have a peculiar way they perceive themselves and their capabilities. Good or bad. It is entirely dependent on the reinforcement they had growing up and the way they speak to themselves now.

Also, intelligence is measured in various ways such as the “book” smart and “street” smart phrase. Spearman’s Factor touches about the different types of intelligence if you’re curious.

It is also definitely likely parents/guardians who put a massive emphasis on success/grades on their children can cause a child to become a harsh critic of themselves. Once they age and make mistakes inevitably, that damages the self esteem tremendously and in turn , depending on each individual, has a high likelihood of establishing a form of learned helplessness.

As a former gifted kid, that burnout was such a thing. I thrived in my academics since I was a child. I was the one who won contests. I was in gifted programs as far as I can remember. I was the one who did not need to study and still get an A+. If I “failed”? It was a A-.

I held a 4.0 without trying. Then one day, I failed due to an array of things and those around me were disappointed. I went from 4.0 to nothing. From As to Fs. It stayed that way because I thought oh I must not be enough. I am always going to fail. That was years ago.

It wasn’t until my age now where I realized that the self esteem had more to do with the rewards:lack thereof whether physical or emotional from my environment that fueled that depressive academic toll on me. And I let it. I was burnt out because my environment compared my value to my success. As I aged, I’m back at the level I was as a child except without the insurmountable fear of not being enough.