DailyDirt: Are Our Minds Made Up?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

There are all sorts of correlations to be made between various personality aspects with success or enviable skill. No one discounts the hard work and roughly 10,000 hours needed to achieve some degree of mastery at a task, but on top of the blood, sweat and tears, there's always the nagging concern that a special gene or innate trait is necessary to achieve the greatest rewards. Determinism oftentimes creeps into our interpretations of scientific studies, and here are just a few examples to ponder.

• The Marshmallow Test is flawed in a way -- a single test of a toddler's ability to delay gratification doesn't predict as much as people may have thought. A simple change to the original 'Marshmallow Test' can significantly change how long a toddler is willing to wait for his/her sugary treat. [url]
• A test for "game intelligence" could predict successful soccer players -- but the conclusion is based on just 57 elite soccer players from Sweden who happen to do better on a standardized test for executive functions. These cognitive tests could be useful as a tool for developing better soccer players -- or they could create players who are just good at taking tests. [url]
• Novelty-seeking personalities have been correlated with some aspects of long term well-being. Neophilia also correlates with attention deficit disorder, compulsive spending and gambling... so a balance of personality traits seems to be optimal as usual. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

Filed Under: game intelligence, marshmallow test, neophilia, personality traits, success