Talent is waaaaaaay overrated. According to the research of psychologist Anders Ericcson, experts are no more talented, intelligent, or capable than the rest of us. Instead, these skilled performers -- ranging from professional stockbrokers, hockey players, concert violinists, cardiac surgeons, and writers -- benefit enormously from 10+ years of deliberate practice.
So what is deliberate practice? Well, it's more than just repeating the same exercise over and over. Deliberate practice involves setting specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback, and focusing on process rather than outcome (source). Exceptional performers all benefit from these environmental advantages.
Still, there are no shortcuts -- everyone have to work hard (and work smart) to become exceptional. Even so-called "child prodigies" like Bobby Fisher and Tiger Woods required the same amount of training as their peers; they just started much earlier (source).
For further reading, check out kottke's collection of links on deliberate practice along with another related topic, relaxed concentration.
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Monday, May 17, 2010
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Fear is Contagious
Scientists at Stony Brook University in New York have the first preliminary evidence that suggest people unconsciously detect fear.
The experiment scanned the brains of volunteers breathing the secretions of people in a state of fear and compared those to the brains of volunteers breathing the secretions of people in a state of calm.
Absorbent pads were used to collect the sweat from 20 first-time skydivers. For comparison, sweat was also collected from the same skydivers when they ran on a treadmill. The sweat was then nebulized,and volunteers unknowingly breathed the secretions while hooked up to a brain scanner.
The brain scans revealed that the volunteers' amygdala and hypothalamus -- brain regions associated with fear -- were more active in people who breathed the "fear" sweat. People, however, were unable to consciously distinguish the two types of sweat.
Dr. Liliane Mujica-Parodi said, "We demonstrate here the first direct evidence for a human alarm pheromone ... our findings indicate that there may be a hidden biological component to human social dynamics, in which emotional stress is, quite literally, 'contagious'."
Scientists believe that many animals -- including all mammals -- have this internal alarm system, since it is favorable to detect fear in others for one's own survival.
Read the full article on the Guardian website.
The experiment scanned the brains of volunteers breathing the secretions of people in a state of fear and compared those to the brains of volunteers breathing the secretions of people in a state of calm.
Absorbent pads were used to collect the sweat from 20 first-time skydivers. For comparison, sweat was also collected from the same skydivers when they ran on a treadmill. The sweat was then nebulized,and volunteers unknowingly breathed the secretions while hooked up to a brain scanner.
The brain scans revealed that the volunteers' amygdala and hypothalamus -- brain regions associated with fear -- were more active in people who breathed the "fear" sweat. People, however, were unable to consciously distinguish the two types of sweat.
Dr. Liliane Mujica-Parodi said, "We demonstrate here the first direct evidence for a human alarm pheromone ... our findings indicate that there may be a hidden biological component to human social dynamics, in which emotional stress is, quite literally, 'contagious'."
Scientists believe that many animals -- including all mammals -- have this internal alarm system, since it is favorable to detect fear in others for one's own survival.
Read the full article on the Guardian website.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)