Peak Ch. 7

Question 1

Laszlo and Klara Polgar chess study

Answer 1

the Polgars tested theories of expertise on their three daughters and all of them became world-renowned chess experts

Question 2

Benjamin Bloom’s stages of expert development

Answer 2

1. Children are introduced to their field of interest through play
2. Becoming serious
3. Commitment
4. Pathbreakers

Question 3

play stage

Answer 3

• Parents play a crucial role in development at this stage
• Parents play with their children and gradually reveal the real purpose of the toy
• Parents motivate their children through praise
• Parents encourage their children to develop similar interests to their own, simply by interacting with kids
• Children usually come up with activities that are part play part training
• Children tend to be motivated by their older siblings’ accomplishments in a given field and try to emulate them

Question 4

becoming serious stage

Answer 4

• Children take lessons from a coach
• The coach doesn’t have to be the best, but they should be good at working with children
• Practice becomes about work
• Parents play an important role in encouraging practice

Question 5

commitment stage

Answer 5

• Occurs in the early to mid-teens
• Students will seek out the best teachers, even if it means moving across the country
• The student does as much as humanly possible to improve
• Motivation lies solely in the student, though the family may play an important support role

Question 6

pathbreakers stage

Answer 6

• Experts who lead their field into new territory
• They were expert performers before becoming groundbreakers
• Involves creativity

Question 7

achievement of younger vs. older siblings

Answer 7

Younger siblings tend to achieve more than older siblings

Question 8

why do younger siblings tend to achieve more?

Answer 8

• Parents learn from their experience with the older siblings and do better with the younger ones
• A younger sibling may become interested in an activity earlier on
• The older sibling can teach the younger one
• Competition among siblings benefits the younger one

Question 9

how do parents of future mathematicians teach their children?

Answer 9

Parents of future mathematicians don’t teach their children math at a young age; they teach them the importance of education and expose them to intellectually stimulating activities

Question 10

financial commitment of expert performance

Answer 10

Very few families can afford to have their children pursue expert performance

Question 11

time commitment of expert performance

Answer 11

It can be almost a full-time job for a parent to support a child in their expert performance

Question 12

can adults achieve expert performance?

Answer 12

• We can acquire new skills as we age but the specific way we acquire them changes as we get older
• There are relatively few limitations on what it is possible to achieve for people who begin training as adults

Question 13

physical abilities and age

Answer 13

• Physical abilities peak at age 20 and then gradually deteriorate
• However, much of age-related deterioration happens because people decrease or stop their training

Question 14

is it possible to be unable to develop a skill in adulthood?

Answer 14

• Yes, some skills simply can’t be developed to expert levels if one doesn’t start working on them in childhood
• Ex. the classic turnout in ballet dancers must be developed before the knee and hip joints calcify to reach expert performance

Question 15

size of various brain regions in musicians study

Answer 15

• Many regions of the brain are larger in musicians than nonmusicians, but only if they started training before a certain age
• These regions tend to be related to muscle control

Question 16

example of the way we acquire skills changing as we age

Answer 16

Language learning early in life takes place by adding more grey matter, but by getting rid of grey matter later in life

Question 17

adaptability of the brain

Answer 17

The brain is constantly changing and adapting as we go through the first few decades of life

Question 18

Paul Brady perfect pitch study

Answer 18

• In 1969, Paul Brady taught himself perfect pitch by doing the right kind of practice
• But, he didn’t get much attention because he was only one person and experimented on himself

Question 19

Mark Alan Rush perfect pitch study

Answer 19

In the mid-1980s, Mark Alan Rush provided evidence for developing perfect pitch in some adults

Question 20

creativity and deliberate practice

Answer 20

Creativity goes hand in hand with the ingredients of deliberate practice

Question 21

the Nigel effect

Answer 21

when the emergence of a new pathbuilder leads other experts to devise new techniques to match or surpass them

Question 22

what is the Nigel effect named after?

Answer 22

Named after Nigel Richards, a Scrabble expert, who came out of nowhere and surpassed the competition