Practice is Not Enough to Make You Perfect, Scientists Find

Lisa Franchi May 23, 2013

Tweet

They say ‘practice makes perfect’. But according to a new study led by Michigan State University, practising is not enough to predict a person’s mastery of various skill sets, such as chess and music.

According to the lead author Zach Hambrick, it takes more than hard work to become an expert. Natural talent and other factors likely play a role in mastering a complicated activity, he said.

For more than a century, scientists from various parts of the world have debated over how people become experts in their fields. Some believe that spending thousands of hours practising a skill is enough to achieve an ‘elite’ status. But Hambrick argues that it isn’t really the case. He said there is clear evidence that some people reach an elite status without copious practice whilst others could not do so despite putting so much effort practising and mastering their craft.

How did Hambrick arrive to his findings?

Together with his colleagues at MSU, Hambrick analysed 14 studies of chess players and musicians to measure how practice affects the performance of the participants. And just like what they thought, practice only accounts for one-third of the differences in the skill of the chess players and musicians.

What made up all the difference? Hambrick explained that other factors, such as intelligence and or innate talent may have a significant role in having an elite status. He also cited age and how early a person started mastering his or her craft as other contributing factors. In his previous research, Hambrick suggested that the working memory (which is also a part of intelligence) may sometimes be a deciding factor between being good and being great.

No reason to lose hope

Just because you are born without an innate inclination to a certain field doesn’t mean you can never be great at it. Hambrick said there is a silver lining" to the research. He explained that if people are given accurate assessment of their natural abilities and the likelihood of achieving their goals given those abilities, they have a great chance of becoming experts through deliberate practice.

The report appears in the journal Intelligence.

Source of this article:

Practice makes perfect? Not so much