Summary Talent Development & Creativity
Content
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, The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance
(Ericsson, Krampe & Tesch-Römer, 1993)
Abstract
The framework presented by Ericsson et al. explains expert performance as the end result of
individuals' prolonged efforts to improve performance while negotiating motivational and external
constraints. Most individuals begin in their childhood a regimen of effortful activities (deliberate
practice) designed to optimize improvement. Many characteristics once believed to reflect innate
talent are actually the result of intense practice extended for a minimum of 10 years.
Historical background
Galton --> eminence (exceptional performance) must be transmitted from parents to their offspring.
Eminence is a consequence of inherited ‘natural ability’, which is the conjunction of three elements:
1. Innate capacity.
2. Zeal.
3. Power to do very laborious work.
Natural abilities and other stable characteristics
If genetic factors rigidly determine maximal performance, it is reasonable to assume that these
genetic factors cannot be influenced by practice and training and hence remain stable across time.
But, unique environmental conditions and parental support, rather than talent, may be the
important factors determining the initial onset of training and ultimate performance.
Does practice and experience inevitably lead to maximal performance?
To reach the status of an expert it is sufficient to master existing knowledge and techniques. To make
an eminent achievement one must first achieve the level of an expert and then surpass achievements
of already recognized eminent people and make innovative contributions to the domain. In sum, the
belief that a sufficient amount of experience or practice leads to maximal performance is incorrect.
Preparation time required for attainment of exceptional performance
Expert performance is acquired slowly over a long time as a result of practice and the highest levels
of performance appear to require at least around 10 years of intense prior preparation.
- But, the relation between acquired performance and the amount of practice and experience
was found to be weak to moderate because the current definition of practice is vague.
Characteristics of deliberate practice
Conditions for optimal learning and improvement of performance:
- The motivation to attend to the task and exert effort to improve performance.
- The design of the task should take into account the preexisting knowledge so that the task
can be correctly understood after a brief period of instruction.
- The subjects should receive immediate informative feedback and knowledge of results of
their performance.
- The subjects should repeatedly perform the same or similar tasks.
When these conditions are met, practice improves accuracy and speed of performance.
Comparison of deliberate practice to other types of domain-related activities
Three general types of activities:
- Work --> public performance, competitions, and other activities directly motivated by
external rewards.
, o Constrained in time and require that individuals give their best performance at a
given time.
o External rewards include social recognition, money and prizes, which enables
performers to sustain a living.
- Play --> activities that have no explicit goal and that are inherently enjoyable.
- Deliberate practice --> activities that have been specially designed to improve the current
level of performance.
o It requires effort and is not inherently enjoyable.
Theoretical framework for the acquisition of expert performance
The framework explains how differential levels of performance are attained as a function of
deliberate practice.
Basic assumption (the monotonic benefits assumption) → the amount of time an individual is
engaged in deliberate practice activities is monotonically related to that individual's acquired
performance.
Maximization of deliberate practice extends over a period of at least 10 years and involves
optimization within several constraints:
1. The resource constraint --> deliberate practice requires available time and energy for the
individual as well as access to teachers, training material, and training facilities.
2. The motivational constraint --> engagement in deliberate practice is not inherently
motivating. Performers consider it instrumental in achieving further improvements in
performance.
3. The effort constraint --> deliberate practice is an effortful activity that can be sustained only
for a limited time each day during extended periods without leading to exhaustion.
o Disregard of the effort constraint leads to injury and even failure.
Attaining expert performance
Three phases of development toward adult expertise (Bloom):
1. Begins with an individual's introduction to activities in the domain and ends with the start of
deliberate practice.
2. Begins with an extended period of preparation and ends with the individual's full-time
commitment.
3. Begins with full-time commitment to improving performance and ends when the individual
either can make a living as a professional performer or terminates full-time engagement.
4. Ericsson et al. added a fourth phase to accommodate eminent performance --> individuals go
beyond the knowledge of their teachers to make an innovative contribution to their domain.
Implications for empirical studies
The theoretical framework made three types of predictions:
1. Predictions about the developmental history.
o First, past amount of deliberate practice is directly related to current performance.
Expert performance is not reached with less than 10 years of deliberate practice.
o Second, deliberate practice starts at low levels and increases slowly over time.
2. Predictions about current levels and habits of practice.
o First, the highest improvement of performance is associated with the largest weekly
amounts of deliberate practice. Elite performers practice at a constant level from day
to day to maximize improvement over extended periods of time.
o Second, the daily periods of deliberate practice should be of limited duration with
rest periods in between.
, 3. Predictions about experts' evaluations regarding the nature and role of deliberate practice.
o Deliberate practice will be rated very high on relevance for performance, high on
effort, and comparatively low on inherent enjoyment.
Two studies will be mentioned below:
- Study 1 compared the current and past levels of practice in three groups → elite violinists
with careers and two groups of less accomplished expert violinists.
- Study 2 replicated the results of the first study by comparing expert and amateur pianists.
Summary of results of study 1
The violinists in all groups rated practice alone as the most relevant activity for improving violin
performance. The good violinists had accumulated fewer hours of practice alone by age 18 compared
to the best young violists. Violinists rated sleep as highly relevant for improvement of performance.
Summary of results of study 2
Large differences in the histories of deliberate practice for expert pianists and amateurs. The expert
pianists started 4 years earlier than amateurs. Their average amount of practice increased each year
until it attained its current level, whereas the amateurs maintained their early levels until adulthood.
The framework applied to several domains of expertise
Central thesis of the framework --> expert performance is the result of an extended process of skill
acquisition mediated by large, but not excessive daily amounts of deliberate practice.
Demonstrations of retaining or regaining skill without recent practice are relevant to the framework
of Ericsson et al. for two reasons:
1. Such demonstrations might appear to show a complete dissociation of current practice and
performance. Given that acquired skill resulting from prior accumulated practice cannot be
observed, it could be incorrectly attributed to native talent.
2. The relatively small amount of practice required to maintain or regain a previously acquired
level of performance is different from the massive amount of practice required originally to
attain that level or improve even more. Ericsson et al. assume that the amount of deliberate
practice necessary to specifically maintain earlier attained levels of performance is negligible
for active young experts.
Relation between starting age and performance
The higher the level of attained elite performance, the earlier the age of first exposure as well as the
age of starting deliberate practice.
— = performance associated with an early starting age and a high level of practice.
- - = performance for an equally high level of practice but with a later starting age.
.… = performance associated with the same late starting age and a lower level of practice.
