Lecture 14a, Conditions of Practice I

Question 1

Which of the following would best predict someone’s proficiency in a sport/physical skill?
A. Amount/degree of motivation
B. Teacher’s expertise
C. Starting age
D. Practice time accumulated
E. Parental/financial support

Answer 1

all of these are factors but practice time accumulated is a really critical factor in predicting the proficiency someone achieves

Question 2

Deliberate Practice

Answer 2

not just practice but purposeful practice to improve performance
deliberate practice (goal = improve performance) ≠ play (goal = enjoyment)

Question 3

What four things are required for Deliberate Practice?

Answer 3

1) activities designed to improve the current level of performance
2) requires effort/concentration
3) not inherently enjoyable (not the reason it is done - the reason is to train to win in the future)
4) planned by knowledgeable couch/instructor (trained with someone who is knowledgable)

Question 4

After what amount of time does expertise develop?

Answer 4

~10 years, ~10,000 hours of practice (average estimate of what it takes to be “good”)
predictions:
1) in expert, deliberate practice activities increase in a “monontonic” fashion with age & experience (gradual incremental fashion)
2) performance can be predicted from hours accumulated in deliberate practice activities