08-11-2011, 10:50 AM
Angus,
One of the points of the article is that there is good scientific evidence for the way people react to being praised in one way or another: have you watched the utube video of the kids making up patterns with play bricks?
One must think carefully about why so many players that initially shine do not progress through to senior level. As an example ,off the top of my head, I do not think anyone in the top junior age group (J16/J17/J18) won the Primary residential. I would not suggest that having the wrong mindset is the sole explanation and even necessarily the major one, but it is a factor.
My feeling is that people are indeed born or develop with different strengths and weaknesses and some do appear more able to pickup and understand chess than others. However their talent is not so much their ability to play chess immediately rather their ability to learn to play. And indeed most studies do show a strong correlation between the amount of work the young star has done and the level achieved.
If in later years they are given the strong message that they were somehow born with that ability to play, it denies the fact that they achieved that ability through hard work: which I think is probably the greater talent. This is not to suggest that all children can obtain the same levels by doing the same amount of work: there is no doubt in my mind that some are born with or develop an aptitude for for an activity. The question is, assuming that all the players in a group have an aptitude why do some progress while others do not?
You are quite correct that kids need to have self-belief: they need to know that if they put in the effort the results will follow.
I find amusing that you go on about the negative affects of labeling yet deny the possibility that labeling someone as naturally talented may have a negative impact!
In reality there is no claim that anyone's mindset is 100% fixed or 100% growth, rather it will be a complex mix of the two. Equally one can think of situations where a fixed mindset may well benefit you however one must remember it is not about how one becomes the top 12 year old rather its how all those 12 years progress and develop into successful 22 year olds.
You seem to have it in for coaches but can you name any number of top performers that managed to get to the top, and stay there, without one? Even Mozart had his father!
One of the points of the article is that there is good scientific evidence for the way people react to being praised in one way or another: have you watched the utube video of the kids making up patterns with play bricks?
One must think carefully about why so many players that initially shine do not progress through to senior level. As an example ,off the top of my head, I do not think anyone in the top junior age group (J16/J17/J18) won the Primary residential. I would not suggest that having the wrong mindset is the sole explanation and even necessarily the major one, but it is a factor.
My feeling is that people are indeed born or develop with different strengths and weaknesses and some do appear more able to pickup and understand chess than others. However their talent is not so much their ability to play chess immediately rather their ability to learn to play. And indeed most studies do show a strong correlation between the amount of work the young star has done and the level achieved.
If in later years they are given the strong message that they were somehow born with that ability to play, it denies the fact that they achieved that ability through hard work: which I think is probably the greater talent. This is not to suggest that all children can obtain the same levels by doing the same amount of work: there is no doubt in my mind that some are born with or develop an aptitude for for an activity. The question is, assuming that all the players in a group have an aptitude why do some progress while others do not?
You are quite correct that kids need to have self-belief: they need to know that if they put in the effort the results will follow.
I find amusing that you go on about the negative affects of labeling yet deny the possibility that labeling someone as naturally talented may have a negative impact!
In reality there is no claim that anyone's mindset is 100% fixed or 100% growth, rather it will be a complex mix of the two. Equally one can think of situations where a fixed mindset may well benefit you however one must remember it is not about how one becomes the top 12 year old rather its how all those 12 years progress and develop into successful 22 year olds.
You seem to have it in for coaches but can you name any number of top performers that managed to get to the top, and stay there, without one? Even Mozart had his father!