OUTLIERS EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 2024|GUARANTEED SUCCESS

INTRODUCTION In what ways do the Italian immigrants bring their home with them? They brought their culture (language, food, religion, values, multiple generations living under 1 roof) 6 Ways to Show Appreciation for Your Child's Teacher 0:03 / 0:54 a. What does Gladwell include at the beginning of the book? b. Why do you think he includes it? a.- The definition of an outlier b-To state what an outlier is so the reader knows what the book is about Why were the residents of Roseto, Pennsylvania, all from the same region of Italy? At first a small group went to the New World and found work in Pennsylvania then they sent word back home and their loved ones came and this cycle repeated. Who is Stewart Wolf and why did he come to Roseto? He was a physician & he taught at the university of Oklahoma medical school. He spent his summer in Pennsylvania. A colleague told him that he rarely saw anyone from Roseto with a heart attack- this was unheard of in the 50s so wolf investigated How was the study of Roseto conducted? They analyzed medical records and death certificates & invited the entire town to do blood work and EKGs What did sociologist John Bruhn and the graduate students discover? - Virtually no one under 55 died of a heart attack or had heart disease - No suicide - No alcoholism - No drug addiction - very little crime * the people were just dying from old age How did Wolf explain the healthiness of the Rosetans? They were outliers (medically & geographically speaking there was no logical explanation the only explanation) *The only explanation for their health was their culture Why was the medical establishment reluctant to accept Wolf's explanation? "no one was used to thinking about health in terms of community" They weren't defending their conclusions with charts and data, they were arguing that their culture is what kept them healty Why does the author include the story of Stewart Wolf and Roseto in the introduction? The author wants to set up what the book is talking about- cultural influences & outliers It was tricky for the doctor to accept "culture" as the explanation for the lack of heart attacks, but it is true. The story displays an example of an outlier & sets up what the book will talk about CHAPTER 1 Why is the hockey game between the Medicine Hat Tigers and Vancouver Giants significant? The teams were the 2 best teams in the league (future stars) Why is Canadian hockey a meritocracy? The most talented get put in the best leagues and the best leagues get the best coaches and more training so they are more successful. What is the typical "profoundly wrong" way people make sense of success? Gladwell argues that "people don't rise from nothing" He disagrees that you are born with talent or achieve it solely on your own What is Gladwell's argument about explanations for success? Successful people are "beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies" "It makes a difference where and when you grew up" "The culture we belong to and the legacies passed down by our forebears shape the patterns of our achievement in ways we cannot begin to imagine" Identify and explain extended metaphor the author uses about the growth of a tree. The tallest oak tree in the forest is the tallest because no other tree blocked the sunlight, the soil around it was good, no rabbit chewed it up, no lumberjack cut it down... Gladwell is saying that the road to success has to do with a lot more than just working hard- it involves opportunity & luck what pattern can be found in the 2007 player roster of the medicine hat tigers? They were mostly all born in Jan, Feb or March. how does gladwell alter the recounting of the play-by-play of the game and what purpose does this serve? He reads the play by play and instead of saying their names, he says their birthdays. This shows us that the best ones were born early in the year. what is the reason for the relative age phenomenon in hockey? The eligibility cutoff for age-class hockey is in January so the kids with early birthdays can begin playing at a younger age. How does a "self-fulfilling prophecy" cause the boys identified as the most talented hockey players in their age range to become the best players? Canadians start with a false definition of who the best nine and ten year old hockey players are, but the way they treat those "all-stars" ends up making their false judgement look correct. in whcih sports is relative age not a factor and why Relative age is not a factor in US football and basketball because they don't select, stream, and differentiate as drastically. relative age bias is a concern in what area other than sports academics what research does gladwell discuss to quantify the relative age bias that exists outside of sports? Gladwell looks at math and science tests of young children and he also looked at college grades vs. ages and found the same issue relating to cutoff dates. why is the phenomenon of "accumulative advantage" called the "matthew effect"? The verse in Matthew says " for unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that half shall not be taken away even that which he hath." Meaning that the most successful get the most opportunities. what are the implications of systems that are skewed based on relative age? The most Successful people are the ones born very soon after the cutoff date, meaning they are the most physically or mature for their age group. what does gladwell suggest to alleviate the matthew effect Gladwell suggests seperate hockey leagues divided up by birth month, and also splitting up Jan-April students from May-August, and September-December so that kids can learn at their own levels. How do Gord Wasden's comments about his son, a player of the medicine hat tigers, reinforce gladwells argument? Wasden's son was born within 4 days of the absolute perfect birthday for an elite hockey player. CHAPTER 2 What was special about the University of Michigan's Computer Center? -"The university's enormous mainframe computers stood in the middle of a vast white room, looking, as one faculty member remembers, "like one of the last scenes in the move 2001: A Space Odyssey." -Dozens of keypunch machines (early version of computer terminals) Who is Bill Joy? -Awkward teenager that came to the University of Michigan in hopes of becoming a biologist or mathematician. -Stumbled across the new Computer Center and was hooked. -Got phD from University of California at Berkeley What are some of Bill Joy's accomplishments? -Rewrote UNIX, a software system developed by AT&T for mainframe computers -Cofounded Sun Microsystems (critical player inn computer revolution) -Rewrote Java -"Edison of the Internet"