The Psychology of High Performance PDF 2019

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was profoundly influenced by two psychologists, both of whom inspired our choice to explore the realm of high-performance psy- chology. Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues conducted a wholly original cross-domain retrospective study of world class athletes, artists, sc...

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was profoundly influenced by two psychologists, both of whom inspired our choice to explore the realm of high-performance psy- chology. Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues conducted a wholly original cross-domain retrospective study of world class athletes, artists, scholars, and professionals. The work, published in 1985, remains a valid and elegant reporting of the developmental stages of instruction experienced by his study participants. What was missing from this tremendous contribution, a gap we hoped to fill, is an explicit description of psychosocial dimensions of eminent achievement. The second person we wish to acknowledge is Abraham Tannenbaum. His conceptual framework identifies five variables that transform child- hood abilities into adult creative contributions. Those five variables— general ability, special abilities, psychosocial dimensions, opportunity, and chance—are all embedded in our framework for high performance. Tannenbaum presented his model as descriptive, and we seek to add a developmental perspective to this work through the chapters in this volume. The following psychologists’ work is also reflected brightly in our megamodel, which serves as one of the underpinnings of the performance xi psychology presented in this volume. Robert Sternberg’s contribution to our thinking is two-fold. First, his focus on practical intelligence highlights the important role played by insider knowledge in widening achievement and success gaps among different groups of talented children, youth, and adults. Each section of this book addresses some of the insights regarding tacit knowledge and psychosocial skills that outstanding performers and creators have learned are important to movement within their domains. In addition, Sternberg’s stages of expertise development have been enormously helpful in framing talent trajectories as moving from abilities, to competencies, to expertise. Jane Piirto is a pathbreaking scholar who retrospectively analyzed the experiences of eminent creative artists and scientists, including their schooling and family life. This fascinating work helped to fill in necessary gaps on components that make for creative performance and products in adulthood. Of critical importance to our thinking, Joseph Renzulli’s focus on creative achievement as the outcome of gifted education, his inclusion of attributes beyond IQ in his definition of giftedness, and his focus on a progression of instruction laid the foundation for our work and that of others on talent development. Some important relationships have also shaped the direction of our thinking, and those contributions are reflected in many of the chapters. The Coalition for the Psychology of High Performance, originally funded by the American Psychological Foundation, served as the Petri dish for many projects, most especially this one. The Coalition is made up of representa- tives from various American Psychological Association divisions, as well as the Center for Psychology in Schools and Education. Finally, the staff of the Center, first Geesoo Maie Lee and now Maha Khalid, have provided invaluable assistance to us in terms of logistics, ideas, editing, and general good cheer. xii       acknowledgments The Psychology of High Performance