Creating capabilities.duckworth.042410

Strategia: An approach to cultivating self-control Angela Lee Duckworth Department of Psychology University of Pennsylvania

“ One of the most significant contrasts among the factors residing within the individual is that between capacity and industry ” Clark Hull, 1928

Effort/ Practice SKILL Latent Talent

Skill as a function of deliberate practice Skill Age (years) Figure adapted with permission from “The scientific study of expert levels of performance” by K.A. Ericsson, p. 90, © 1998 Less talented individual?

Effort/ Practice SKILL Latent Talent Intrinsic interest Grit Self-efficacy Self-control Goal choice and commitment

Deliberate practice ≠ immediate gratification

Students “beeped” while doing homework or studying say…it’s not enjoyable or easy … but it’s important to their long-term goals

Deliberate Practice SKILL Latent Talent Intrinsic interest Grit Self-efficacy Self-control Ability to regulate behavior after goals have been selected

Learnable, teachable strategies facilitate self-control

The “marshmallow test”
Four-year old preschoolers
One marshmallow now vs. two later
Wait time in seconds predicts SAT scores more than 10 years later, as well as a range of social-cognitive, personal and other competencies. (explains 18% of variance in verbal SAT and 32% of variance in math SAT scores)

Is it really self-control?

Is it actually IQ?

What NCLB leaves behind

Insights from the marshmallow studies
Temptations were somewhat idiosyncratic
Children can learn to identify the types of temptations that are “hottest” for them
Strategic use of distraction
Out of sight, out of mind
Cognitive transformation
Fluffy white clouds are not tempting

Cognitively transforming an angry memory… … Replay the event as it unfolds in your imagination through your own eyes. … Replay the event as it unfolds in your imagination as you observe your distant self. VS

… reduces negative affect

If-then planning
Self-control is not helped much by “Try your best!” exhortations
Specific goals are more effective (e.g., “Complete your math homework every day.”)
When goals are specific, feedback is possible.
An if-then plan specifies where, when, and how you will accomplish your goal
“ If it is a weekday at 6pm, I will go to my room and open my book bag to do my work.”
And, “If my brother bothers me, I will…”

From strategies to habits
“ Our virtues are habits as much as our vices…our nervous systems have grown to the way in which they have been exercised, just as a sheet of paper or a coat, once creased or folded, tends to fall forever afterward into the same identical folds” --William James (1899)

Creating capabilities.duckworth.042410

by Creating Capabilities on May 04, 2010

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