Skill Development Skeleton Notes 2025 PDF

Genius… Born or Made? Born… expertise in a field is a result of being genetically advantaged (i.e., traits you are born with) Made… expertise in a field is a result of environmental influences (i.e., hard work, coaching)  Short-Term Memory seven items, plus or minus two can you byp...

Genius… Born or Made? Born… expertise in a field is a result of being genetically advantaged (i.e., traits you are born with) Made… expertise in a field is a result of environmental influences (i.e., hard work, coaching)  Short-Term Memory seven items, plus or minus two can you bypass short-term memory limitation? with practice, could you get any better at this?  Skilled Memory Theory The Case of SF average college student (average IQ) initial digit span from memory = 7 250 hours of practice digit span from memory = 82 chunking into meaningful units 3526204571428 3:52.6 (near world mile), 2:04.57 (good marathon) 1:42.8 (near world 800m)  Skilled Memory Theory Why is this important? 1) skill specific give SF words to remember and he returned to “normal” 2) good memory is not a natural gift 3) he could teach his system to other 4) take an average person and with effective practice turn them into an expert  Daniel Tammet Asperger’s Syndrome Recited pi to 22,514 decimal places Savant: profound abilities far in excess of what is considered  What makes an Expert? Chess Study Asked experts and novices to ‘reconstruct’ a chess board novices: number of pieces? experts: number of pieces?  Chess Study Novices 6-8 pieces correctly Experts random placement: 6-8 pieces game position: virtually whole board Expert chess players’ performance: domain specific pattern recognition bypass limitations to short term memory  Expert Chess Players Domain Specificity Pattern Recognition 10,000 hours/10 years  What about Sports? Do experts have faster reaction times? e.g., hockey goalies Do experts have better visual abilities? e.g., batting in baseball  What about Sports? National Field Hockey Players coach believed players had faster reaction time, and better peripheral vision than normal tests showed this to be false What is the difference between experts and  Anticipation Why do experts seem to have all the time in the world? studies using eye tracking devices in hockey, squash, soccer, and tennis experts in their sport anticipate better than the average person technique: advanced cues and pattern recognition = ability to  The Importance of Practice How do experts develop domain specific knowledge? Practice - 10,000 hours worth Anders Ericsson, Florida State University performance in any domain is the result of time spent in training – not genetics or innate abilities  Expert Musicians Best violinists: (international soloists) had spent 10,000 hours practicing by age 20 Good violinists: (concert performers) had spent 8,000 hours practicing by age 20 Average violinists: (training to be music teachers) 5,000 hours practicing by age 20  Deliberate Practice not ‘talent’, but hard work gets you to the top but… the number of hours of practice is not a perfect predictor of expertise the way you practice is just as important as how much you practice What is deliberate practice?  Deliberate Practice Characteristics of Deliberate Practice 1. high in effort and concentration 2. directly relevant to performance 3. ‘not enjoyable’ (?) Takes 10,000 hours of deliberate 4. practice practiceto alone achieve expertise in anything (i.e., sports, music, science)  Deliberate Practice Expert Violinists approx. 51 hrs./wk. in music related activities (e.g., listening to music, playing for fun, giving lessons) 26 of those hours = ‘deliberate Athletes practice’ how much of your practice time could be considered ‘deliberate practice’?  Maximizing Practice Time The Case of Figure Skating (Deakin, Starkes & Allard) Is there a relationship between practice activities and skill in figure skating? Time Motion Analysis Elite Skaters: Active 85% of practice time Intermediates and Novices: active 50% of practice time  Skaters’ Intentions during practice sessions Skaters said: Acquisition and mastery of new jumps essential to success Skaters practiced: Jumps that were already well established their repertoire  Maximizing Practice Time Elite skaters estimated - immediately prior to stepping on the ice: 7 Double jumps 20 triple jumps The Reality: 30 Double jumps 6 triple jumps intermediate and novice skaters were equally inaccurate in their predictions Skaters practiced ‘what they knew, rather than what was new’  Just like us………? started at a very young age considerable advantages with respect to resources both in early 20s before they reached the very top of their profession  How would you test this theory? (since we are generally measuring expertise/skill development after the fact)  The Polgar Sisters Laszlo Polgar Hungarian psychologist author of “Bring Up Genius” “Genius is 1% talent. 99% hard work” “Early, intensive specialization in a subject is the key”  The Polgars Testing the Theory of Deliberate Practice “Advertised” for a mother to conduct his grand experiment Klara: Ukrainian woman of Hungarian descent  The Polgar Sisters Women’s Chess Olympiad Susan: aged 19 Sophia: aged 14 Judit: aged 12 all sisters were home-schooled Susan Polgar ranked #1 female in the world at 15 first woman to qualify for Men’s World Championshi p  Judit Polgar youngest ever Grandmaster at age 15 became #1 ranked female, # 8 ranked ‘male’ first female ranked in the top 10  Extreme Environmentalism The notion that genetics have nothing to do with developing expertise (Anders Ericsson) Positives (1) democratic Anyone can achieve very high skill level with proper training (2) motivating people will work harder if they believe that practice is the key component  Extreme Environmentalism Negatives (1) false hope may give people false hope if genetics does indeed play a role (2) resources puts an emphasis on resources (i.e., coaching training opportunities can be expensive) (3) parental pressure may cause parents to put excessive pressure on child  Genetic Testing predict a child’s ‘natural athletic strengths’ “ACTN3 instructs the body to produce a protein, alpha- actinin-3, found specifically in fast-twitch muscles”  IQ The search for a general notion of intelligence The current debate in motor skills has a long history in IQ circles Innate (born with it) Measurable (through tests) Relatively fixed (training won’t help)  The Politics of Genetics Differences between groups (gender, race, class) are due to genetic factors? Affected immigration policies Promote sterilization of those deemed ‘unfit’ based on IQ testing Cancel programs aimed at helping disadvantaged children Science as a political tool or weapon  The Politics of Genetics Not just an abstract academic debate…. Politics, Psychology, Sociology, Law, Economics, Public policy, Biology…..and so on Real consequences for people  Genetics Environment