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Annotations on talent & expertise

by Ben Wilbrink

Talent

• Charness, Krampe, Mayr: The role of practice and coaching in entrepreneurial skill domains: an international comparison of life-span chess skill acquisition.
• Starkes et al: Deliberate practice in sports: What is it anyway?
• Sloboda: The acquisition of musical performance expertise: deconstructing the 'talent' account of individual differences in musical expressivity.
• Patel, Kaufman, Magder: The acquisition of medical expertise in complex dynamic environments.
• Richman, Gobet, Staszewski, Simon: Perceptual and memory processes in the acquisition of expert performance: The EPAM Model.
• Wagner, Stanovich: Expertise in reading.
• Simonton: Creative expertise: a life-span developomental perspective.
• Howe: The childhoods and early lives of geniuses: Combining psychological and biographical evidence.
• Winner: The rage to master: The decisive role of talent in the visual arts.
• Glaser: Changing the agency for learning: Acquiring expert performance.
• Holmes: Expert performance and the history of science.
• Shea, Paull: Capturing expertise in sports. Shriffin: Laboratory experimentation on the genesis of expertise.

K. Anders Ericsson & Jacqui Smith (Eds) (1991). Toward a general theory of expertise. Prospects and limits. Cambridge University Press.

• Naar gebieden van expertise: schaken; natuurkunde; geneeskunde; sport, dans; muziek; schrijven. expert judgment; representation.

H. Howison (1826). The contest of the twelve nations; or, a view of the different bases of human character and talent. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.

G. Rˇvˇsz (1952). Talent en genie. Grondslagen van een psychologie der begaafdheid. Brill.

Calvin W. Taylor & Frank Barron (Eds) (1963). Scientific creativity: Its recognition and development. Selected papers from the proceedings of the first, second, and third University of Utah conferences: 'The identification of creative scientific talent'. John Wiley.

Wolfle, Dael (Ed.) (1969). The discovery of talent. The Walter van Dyke Bingham lectures on the development of exceptional abilities and capacities. Harvard University Press.

• Lewis M. Terman: The discovery and encouragement of exceptional talent.
• Donald G. Paterson: The conservatio of human talent.
• Cyril Burt: The inheritance of mental ability.
• Edward K. Strong, Jr.: Satisfaction and interests.
• J. P. Guilford: Three faces of intellect.
• Dael Wolfle: Diversity of talent. John M. Stalnaker: Recognizing and encouraging talent.
• Donald W. MacKinnon: The nature and nurture of creative talent.
• Edwin E. Ghiselli: Managerial talent.
• Norman H. Mackwordth: Originality.
• Philip E. Vernon: Ability factors and environmental influences.

Lewis Wolpert & Alison Richards (1997). Passionate minds. The inner world of scientists. Oxford University Press.

Csikszentmihalyi, M., Rathunde, K., & Whalen, S. (1993). Talented teenagers. The roots of success and failure. Cambridge University Press.

• p. 7-8: But knowing about personality, habits, and families and schools is still not enough to understand motivation. Whether a teenager will want to devote a great deal of time to studying chemistry or music depends also on the quality of the experience he or she derives from working in the lab or practicing an instrument. The sum of momentary experiences adds up either to enjoyment or to boredom and anxiety; which of these prevails will to a large extent decide a young personÕs future involvement.
• p. 9 One of the reasons motivational issues are rather low on the formal educational agenda is that in the past few decades cognitive psychologists have applied the computer analogy of information processing to human learning a bit too easily. (...) Pursuing the analogy between computers and the human brain, the same considerations of clarity and rationality have become the main goals of educators designing school curricula and instruction. But the analogy misses the fact that students, as distinct from computers, will not process information presented to them unless they are motivated to do so. It is not enough for the information to be clear and rational; it also has to be interesting. Learning has to be engaging and rewarding for students to learn.
• p. 242 We feel that the most remarkable conclusion we have drawn from our investigation is the unity that underlies the diversity of particular patterns of data. Stated in its simplest form, what we have come to realize is the importance of psychological complexity as the organizing principle for making sense out of the multitude of factors affecting the development of talent. Complexity - or the simultaneous presence of differentiating and integrating processes - distinguishes the personalities of talented teens, their families, and their approach to learning. We found the same operation of differentiation and integration underlying the later development of talent. (dit is het brede theoretische kader dat de auteurs trekken: integratie en differentiatie, complexiteit. Daar heeft flow ook weer mee te maken: flow is mogelijk wanneer een en ander geen grenzen van verveling of sspanning overschrijdt).
• p. 242 De auteurs pushen hun begrip ŌcomplexiteitÕ tegenover de kunstmatige tegenstellingen die psychologen cre‘ren tussen bijvoorbeeld intrinsieke en extrinsieke motivatie: These and many other opposites are reconciled in talented people and in their environment. Based on this insight, we can build a model of optimal human development - one that turns out to have been anticipated by some of the great psychologists of the past, inpaticular Wlliam James and John Dewey.
• p. 243 Potentieel talent moet herkend worden voordat het kan worden ontwikkeld - en dat herkennen hangt af van wat in de cultuur belangrijk wordt gevonden. Every potential talent needs to be cultivated and nurtured with great discipline for many years if it is to be applied usefully. [Daar komt het belang van de school om de hoek kijken: als die gelegenheid niet wordt geboden, blijft de potentie onontwikkeld].
• p. 243 Talented students have personality traits conducive to concentration (e.g. achievement and endurance) as well as to being open to experience (e.g. awareness, or sentience, and understanding). These four characteristics distinguish both talented males and females from average teenagers. [het gaat dus om jongeren die hun talent verder hebben ontwikkeld?]
• p. 244: While openness to experience helps them recognize new challenges, endurance and achievement orientations are essential for sustained application of skills.
• p. 244 Talent development is easier for teens who have learned habits conducive to cultivating talent. Het gaat vooral om gewoonten die versnippering van tijd voorkomen, zoals met vrienden hobbies bedrijven ipv rondhangen, weinig belast met klusjes of baantjes, een rustige omgeving thuis. De auteurs signaleren dat de ene thuisomgeving gunstiger is dan de andere, maar dat neemt niet weg dat deze principes overeind blijven.
• p. 246 A fourth finding - also relevant to the economy of attention - is that talented teens are more conservative in their sexual attitudes and aware of the conflict between productive work and peer relations.
• p. 247 A fifth conclusion is that families providing both support and challenge enhance the development of talent.
• p. 248-9. Even the best home environment may be undermined, however, by negative learning experiences at school. A sixth finding of the study is that talented teenagers liked teachers best who were supportive and modeled enjoyable involvement in a field.
• p. 249-50. An experimental public school in Indianapolis, the key School, which we have observed for several years, has taken several steps in this direction. Teachers work with the same students for 2 years instead of 1, and they aintain closer contact than usual with other teachers of the same grade level. All teachers must organize some of their daily lessons around schoolwide themes. Teachers must therefore be creative and work harder as individuals, and must collaborate more with their co-workers. Many successes have resultd from this approach. Students can move from geography to art to music to science and still be studying the same topic - for instance, rain forests. At three points in the school year students are allowed to choose a project of their own that is related to the schoolwide theme. Their own interests are thus given full expression (i.e., an opportunity for differentiation is used), and they are connected like branches to the trunk of the school theme (i.e., they are integrated).
• p. 250 Talent development is a process that requires both expressive and instrumental rewards. Involvement with the arts (music/athletics/art) tended to evoke strong positive feelings in the students, or expressive involvement; involvement with the sciences (including math), on the other hand, tended to be judges as useful to future goals, that is, offered instrumental incentives. However, talent development in either area required the synergistic combination of these rewards. In other words, successful young artists showed some of the quelities that typified young scientists, and committed young scientists felt the way artists usually feel about their work. Deze stand van zaken is ook bepaald door de schoolcultuur waarin de kunstzinnige vakken marginaal zijn, de harde vakken serieus. Hier formuleren de auteurs nog eens hun ideaal, met de aantekening dat dit voor leraren met grote klassen zeker moeilijk te raliseren zal zijn (laat staan met vastgelegde curricula zoals in Nederland): (p. 252) If a teacher 9or parent) can observe what draws a childÕs attention and discover her or his special leverage point, exercise a bit of iamgination, and do the necessary work to prepare a course of studies, the teacher (or parent) may start the child on a self-directed course of learning.
• p. 252 This brings up the final conclusion concerning the factors that facilitate talent development. Everything we have said up to now reinforces this final point: A talent will be developed if it produces optimal experiences. That optimal experience contributes to talent development was clearly documented by the results presented in chapters 10 and 11. For instance, whether students experienced flow in their talent area was significantly related to engagement, and it was the only predictor related to all four engagement variables: teacherÕs ratings, grades in talent class, subjective commitment, and highest talent level reached. Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude test scores and complex families were the best predictors of suc external standards as teachersÕ ratings and grades, but flow was the strongest predictor of subjective engagement and how far the student progressed in the schoolÕs curriculum in her or his talent. Furthermore the most committed students in the group (i.e., those who were working every day and planning to major in their area in college) more often perceived skills and challenges to be high and balanced when they were working in their talent area. Other ESM variables showed that quality of experience facilitated engagement, as is suggested by flow theory. Some of the strongest experiential predictors were feeling open, cheerful, strong, excited, unself-conscious, intrinsically motivated, successful, and skillful and feeling that one was working toward long-range goals. We can say with some certainty that enjoyment of a studentÕs talent-related work as one of the most important determinants of whether the student developed her or hs talent. This was true even when taking into account other factors, such as se, socio-economic status, and academic aptitude. Some of the other factors dicsussed above that were also important, such as ability, personality, productive habits, and an autotelic family and school context, reinforce this notion. In other words, all of these factors positively influence the quality of subjective experience. It is in this sense that the various findings in the study are of a piece. Unformtunately, many adults who have not been able to pursue a vocation that they enjoy will be reluctant to accept this general conclusion. They will tend to see interest and effort, and play and work, as separate realms because that is how they normally experience them in their own lives. Yet most people remember a time, no matter how brief, when they were swept along by a sense of effortless control, clarity, and concentration on an enjoyable challenge.
• p. 253 Optimal experiences are important to talent development partly for this reason: Memories of peak moments motivate students to keep improving in hopes aof achieving the same intensity of experience angain. One of the strongest predictors of angagement - whether students reported that their talent had been the source of flow - supports this interpretation. De summary op p. 254 is korter dan het bovenstaande, maar misschien ook wat cryptischer, dus hier niet overgenomen.
• p. 260: All too often these days our notions as to what constitutes the best context for groth oscillate between endorsing a rigid sense of discpline and coformity on the one hand and a completely unfettered personal freedom and independence on the other. It seems to be either the three RÕs or do your own thing. Yet those who have thought about such matters at least since Aristotle have realized that ideal growth involves a personÕs achieving excellence relative to her or his unique potential. Yet excellence cannot be idiosyncratic; it depends on the recognition and approbation of a community. Hence the ideal must involve a struggle to express oneÕs individuality in ways that are meaningful to others. Malmberg annotatie: Dit onderzoek gaat over kansen, en hoe deze onnodig verloren kunnen gaan; daarmee wijst het ook op omstandigheden die voor risico-jongeren de risicoÕs onnodig zouden kunnen aanscherpen. De auteurs hanteren een breed begrip ŌtalentÕ, in het voetspoor van onder andere Howard GardnerÕs Multiple intelligences, maar zonder enige nadruk op intelligentie te leggen. Highschool-leerlingen die door leraren als op enigerlei wijze getalenteerd waren aangewezen, zijn vier jaar intensief gevolgd met interviews en dagboekaantekeningen die op door de onderzoekers bepaalde tijdstippen werden gemaakt. Onderzocht is hoe het komt dat sommigen van deze getalenteerde leerlingen met hun talent verdergaan, en anderen niet. Veel hangt ervan af of de omgeving, zowel thuis als school, gelegenheid biedt voor Ōoptimale ervaringenÕ waarbij dat talent een rol speelt. Over Ōoptimale ervaring,Õ of flow : Yet most people remember a time, no matter how brief, when they were swept along by a sense of effortless control, clarity, and concentration on an enjoyable challenge. Deze optimale ervaringen worden door de teens in het onderzoek gerapporteerd. Het is duidelijk dat er thuis, maar zeker op school, makkelijk gelegenheden voor dergelijke optimale ervaringen verloren kunnen gaan omdat er geen gelegenheid is of wordt genomen om bij de specifieke talenten van individuele leerlingen passende studieprogrammaÕs te ontwikkelen. Dat is dan een dubbel verlies, omdat juist deze optimale ervaringen in hoge mate motiverend werken, en voorspellend zijn voor de verdere ontwikkeling van talenten. De auteurs vinden dat een goede combinatie van uitdagingen en vaardigheden de sleutel vormen, dus de leerling als uitgangspunt, niet, in Nederlandse verhoudingen, allereerst het examenprogramma. De auteurs noemen de Key School in Indianapolis als voorbeeld van een school waarin de aanbevelingen uit deze studie al zijn toegepast.

http://beteronderwijsnederland.net/node/6439#comment-51617

http://www.nrc.nl/wetenschap/article1917130.ece/Talent_bestaat_niet

Expertise

K. Anders Ericsson, Neil Charness, Paul J. Feltovich & Robert R. Hoffman (Eds) (2006) The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance. Cambridge University Press. http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=052184097X

K. Anders Ericsson (Ed.) (2009). Development of professional expertise: Toward measurement of expert performance and design of optimal Learning Environments. Cambridge University Press.

S. Kalyga, P. Ayers, P. Chandler & J. Sweller (2003). The expertise reversal effect. Educational Psychologist, 38, 23-31. http://www.cs.pitt.edu/~chopin/references/tig/kayluga_ayres.pdf.pdf

• “Instructional techniques that are highly effective with inexperienced learners can lose their effectiveness and even have negative consequences when used with more experienced learners. ”

Robert Sternberg (2003). What is an 'expert student?' Educational Researcher, 32, #8, 5-9.

• Other articles in the same journal:
• Patricia A. Alexander (2003). The development of expertise: The journey from acclimation to proficiency. 10-14
• Philip L. Ackerman (2003). Cognitive ability and non-ability tratit determinants of expertise. 15-20
• Susanne P. Lajoie (2003). Transitions and trajectories for studies of expertise. 21-25

Chi, M.T.H. (In press). Two approaches to the study of experts' characteristics. In N. Charness, P. Feltovich, & R. Hoffman (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance.Ź Cambridge University Press. pdf

      http://www.benwilbrink.nl/literature/talent.htm