In psychology, Genius is a term popularly used to describe a person of unique achievement in the arts or sciences. Some psychologists also use the term to describe a person who has achieved something far in excess of his normal day-to-day ability. Other psychologists, notably Lewis Terman, have used the term to describe the intellectual potentiality of a person. A person scoring 140 or over on an intelligence test is said to be capable of acts of genius.
Although some writers claim that the products of genius are solely the result of superior ability, some psychologists believe that genius varies from the normal in much the same way as do neurosis and psychosis. An act of genius is said to be the working out of emotional conflicts of a person of superior ability. Genius, neurosis, and psychosis all derive from internal conflict, but the genius resolves conflicts in ways that are socially useful, while the psychotic and the neurotic attempt to solve their conflicts in ways that have no social value or that may even be antisocial.