Being called gifted can become a lasting part of someone's identity. New MyIQ findings suggest that the pressure to live up to that label may influence which opportunities adults are willing to pursue.
Being willing to look inexperienced is part of learning a new skill or moving into an unfamiliar role. For adults who grew up being called gifted, the possibility of performing poorly can carry a more personal significance. Online conversations about “gifted kid burnout” have made the pressures of childhood praise recognizable, while drawing attention to a less visible consequence: opportunities people avoid because they fear discovering they are not good at something.
Among more than 2,000 MyIQ users across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Latin America, and the European Union who were told they were gifted as children, 58% reported avoiding something, including a job, degree, or hobby, because they feared they would not be good at it. Respondents were self-selected test-takers, so the findings describe that group rather than the wider population.
The label frequently originated outside formal assessments. Only 19% said they had been formally evaluated before being called gifted; most recalled hearing the description from a teacher or parent. Yet 64% still thought of themselves as “the smart one” at least sometimes, while 36% no longer identified with it. A judgment made during childhood had remained part of many respondents' understanding of their abilities.
That persistence creates a particular vulnerability when an adult encounters something unfamiliar. A job application that is never submitted produces no rejection. A course never attempted yields no disappointing result. Both leave the outcome unresolved, allowing a person's sense of their own potential to remain unchallenged. The survey cannot establish that protecting this identity caused the reported avoidance, although it documents how frequently respondents associated missed opportunities with fear of performing poorly.
The pattern was particularly pronounced among younger participants. 67% of Gen Z respondents said they had avoided something for this reason, compared with 56% of millennials and 41% of adults aged 45 and over. The differences could reflect changing attitudes toward achievement or the experience accumulated with age. The findings cannot distinguish between those explanations, but they show that fear of underperforming was substantially more common among younger respondents.
The more complicated finding concerns how participants understood the effect of the label itself. 38% said being called gifted had harmed them, while 29% believed it had helped. The remaining 33% reported neither outcome. That assessment is striking alongside the much larger proportion who acknowledged avoiding opportunities. The survey does not establish how the groups overlap, but the difference suggests that fear-driven decisions and a negative judgment of childhood praise should not automatically be treated as equivalent.
The distinction helps explain why the experience resists a simple account of childhood expectations turning into adult disappointment. Someone may value being regarded as intelligent while feeling uncomfortable in situations where competence is uncertain. The same label can provide reassurance in familiar settings and become harder to reconcile with the possibility of struggling elsewhere.
The findings also expose a limitation in how achievement is usually understood. Completed qualifications and successful career moves leave visible evidence. Opportunities never attempted are harder to account for, particularly when the decision can be explained as a matter of preference.
For adults who continue to define themselves through an early assessment of their intelligence, the willingness to be inexperienced may deserve as much attention as the abilities they already possess. The survey leaves open whether childhood praise produced that reluctance, but it makes clear that, for many respondents, the fear of falling short has already influenced what they chose to attempt.
About MyIQ:
MyIQ was launched in 2024 and is used by over a million individuals worldwide. It is a digital self-knowledge platform that offers more than an IQ score, with over 9 million completed tests across the various test categories: cognitive, personality, and relationships, all with personalised, actionable insights. The platform offers over 25 brain games, more than 150 intelligence puzzles, over 20 hours of expert video content, and 300+ available lessons on emotional intelligence, problem-solving, innovation, confidence-building, and decision-making. Through its IQ test, full-spectrum personality assessment, and relationship insight quiz, MyIQ delivers structured, personalized feedback that helps individuals better understand their inner world and behaviour.
MyIQ was launched in 2024 and is used by over a million individuals worldwide. It is a digital self-knowledge platform that offers more than an IQ score, with over 9 million completed tests across the various test categories: cognitive, personality, and relationships, all with personalised, actionable insights. The platform offers over 25 brain games, more than 150 intelligence puzzles, over 20 hours of expert video content, and 300+ available lessons on emotional intelligence, problem-solving, innovation, confidence-building, and decision-making. Through its IQ test, full-spectrum personality assessment, and relationship insight quiz, MyIQ delivers structured, personalized feedback that helps individuals better understand their inner world and behaviour.