Our latest “Freakonomics” column in the New York Times Magazine, which is about how people get good at whatever they’re good at, is as of this moment No. 5 on the list of most e-mailed articles in the Times. Here’s our webpage with further information about the psychology professor Anders Ericsson and other researchers in the Expert Performance Movement. [P.S.: as of Monday morning, the column had hit No. 1 on the Times list. Three cheers for Anders Ericsson.]
Not That We’re Counting, But …
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It brings to mind the old joke about how many psychologists it takes to change a light bulb.
The research with sequences of digits also brings to mind the work of Simon and Newell on cognitive psychology of chess.
It was pretty easy to anticipate that clustering of early year birth dates among elite soccer players resulted form the the Jan 1 age cutoff affects in youth soccer. Hockey USA changed the age cuttoff from (I think) end of June to end of December several years ago. My observation was that It changed the relative ranking of the players. I don’t have any statistics handy, but it there is a substantial data trove available should someone wish to mine it.
It’s not just attention from the coaching staff as seemingly implied in the article (a factor I hadn’t thought about). Players who excel are more likely to enjoy the game and thus more likely to invest time in practice.
It brings to mind the old joke about how many psychologists it takes to change a light bulb.
The research with sequences of digits also brings to mind the work of Simon and Newell on cognitive psychology of chess.
It was pretty easy to anticipate that clustering of early year birth dates among elite soccer players resulted form the the Jan 1 age cutoff affects in youth soccer. Hockey USA changed the age cuttoff from (I think) end of June to end of December several years ago. My observation was that It changed the relative ranking of the players. I don’t have any statistics handy, but it there is a substantial data trove available should someone wish to mine it.
It’s not just attention from the coaching staff as seemingly implied in the article (a factor I hadn’t thought about). Players who excel are more likely to enjoy the game and thus more likely to invest time in practice.
Ericsson says in his article: “…individual differences in ultimate performance can largely be accounted for by differential amounts of past and current levels of practice.”
Eleven men have won the last 16 Boston Marathons. Of these 11 men, 9 were from Kenya. And in this competition, which attracts runners from all over the world, that is because of deliberate practice?
I am not an economist or statistician, but to say something is a necessary condition does not make it sufficient. Additionally, the argument that talent is fixed is unproven.
Ericsson says in his article: “…individual differences in ultimate performance can largely be accounted for by differential amounts of past and current levels of practice.”
Eleven men have won the last 16 Boston Marathons. Of these 11 men, 9 were from Kenya. And in this competition, which attracts runners from all over the world, that is because of deliberate practice?
I am not an economist or statistician, but to say something is a necessary condition does not make it sufficient. Additionally, the argument that talent is fixed is unproven.
I found that all during high school I was told to chase after my dreams and do what I love because I would enjoy it and benefit from that decision for the rest of my life. This was great advice. However, I always found it a bit morbidly funny that I was told this while being made to take classes that I have yet to find useful in my life (even remotely). Moreover, this advice became a mantra in the educational facilities I came up in, even while they crushed and belittled the dreams of some others.
Take students who have a fascination with cars and mechanical devices, for instance. While mechanics can actually make a decent living and an even better one with starting a good business of their own, this is never and would never be promoted in our society’s education. It’s a blue collar job, or so many believe, and so we wouldn’t dare want to promote it to what we believe should be a society filled with white collar workers and CEOs.
Boys (or girls) with this example fascination are instead told “that’s a nice thought, but…”, and then society proceeds to put them through four years of English, trigonometry, Spanish, etc. By the time they’re 18, and decide whether or not they’re going to try to attend college, they’ve already had four years of learning that will likely never come in handy in terms of the things they love. They never got the option to be apprenticed in things they actually enjoyed. They could have been preparing, at least some, for the things they loved. And it helps to have those with experience train you, but good luck getting that if your fascination isn’t among the norm of society.
Is it not obvious that our mindset holds back millions of people? No child left behind, right? I think it’s more “no child should deviate the norm.”
It’s hard to follow what you love when few people are in support of it. You’ll find that many (though, granted, not all) of the people who “make it” to where they wanted to go usually had a good support system somewhere along the lines.
I found that all during high school I was told to chase after my dreams and do what I love because I would enjoy it and benefit from that decision for the rest of my life. This was great advice. However, I always found it a bit morbidly funny that I was told this while being made to take classes that I have yet to find useful in my life (even remotely). Moreover, this advice became a mantra in the educational facilities I came up in, even while they crushed and belittled the dreams of some others.
Take students who have a fascination with cars and mechanical devices, for instance. While mechanics can actually make a decent living and an even better one with starting a good business of their own, this is never and would never be promoted in our society’s education. It’s a blue collar job, or so many believe, and so we wouldn’t dare want to promote it to what we believe should be a society filled with white collar workers and CEOs.
Boys (or girls) with this example fascination are instead told “that’s a nice thought, but…”, and then society proceeds to put them through four years of English, trigonometry, Spanish, etc. By the time they’re 18, and decide whether or not they’re going to try to attend college, they’ve already had four years of learning that will likely never come in handy in terms of the things they love. They never got the option to be apprenticed in things they actually enjoyed. They could have been preparing, at least some, for the things they loved. And it helps to have those with experience train you, but good luck getting that if your fascination isn’t among the norm of society.
Is it not obvious that our mindset holds back millions of people? No child left behind, right? I think it’s more “no child should deviate the norm.”
It’s hard to follow what you love when few people are in support of it. You’ll find that many (though, granted, not all) of the people who “make it” to where they wanted to go usually had a good support system somewhere along the lines.
ok, that’s now only something for soccer-fans. but:
maybe the german soccer youth players are mostly born at the beginning of the year. but the biggest stars in german soccer-history were nearly all born at the end of the year:
fritz walter: oct. 31
frank beckenbauer: sept.21
gerd müller: nov. 3
uwe seeler, nov. 5
günther netzer: sept. 14
paul breitner, nov. 5
karlheinz rummenigge sept. 25
and international there are also some “late-bloomers”. especially between oct. 23 and nov. 5th you have stars like:
pele: oct. 25
garrincha: oct 28
maradonna: oct. 30
marco van basten: oct. 31
fritz walter: oct. 31
gerd müller: nov. 3
uwe seeler: nov. 5
paul breitner: nov. 5
do you get any better soccer stars in an 11 day period? i doubt it!
conclusion: maybe talent is still more important than an age-bracket…
ok, that’s now only something for soccer-fans. but:
maybe the german soccer youth players are mostly born at the beginning of the year. but the biggest stars in german soccer-history were nearly all born at the end of the year:
fritz walter: oct. 31
frank beckenbauer: sept.21
gerd müller: nov. 3
uwe seeler, nov. 5
günther netzer: sept. 14
paul breitner, nov. 5
karlheinz rummenigge sept. 25
and international there are also some “late-bloomers”. especially between oct. 23 and nov. 5th you have stars like:
pele: oct. 25
garrincha: oct 28
maradonna: oct. 30
marco van basten: oct. 31
fritz walter: oct. 31
gerd müller: nov. 3
uwe seeler: nov. 5
paul breitner: nov. 5
do you get any better soccer stars in an 11 day period? i doubt it!
conclusion: maybe talent is still more important than an age-bracket…