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Using wise interventions to motivate deliberate practice.
Lauren Eskreis-Winkler1, Elizabeth P Shulman2, Victoria Young1
1Psychology Department, University of Pennsylvania.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|October 21, 2016
Summary
Psychologically wise interventions can motivate students to engage in deliberate practice, improving academic achievement. These "wise" strategies proved more effective than standard study skills or general motivation discussions.
Area of Science:
- Educational Psychology
- Intervention Science
Background:
- Deliberate practice is crucial for achieving expertise across various fields.
- Understanding the psychological antecedents of effortful behaviors is key to enhancing performance.
- Previous research has not explored the impact of
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if psychologically
Main Methods:
- Developed and validated a novel task measure for deliberate practice.
- Conducted four longitudinal, randomized-controlled field experiments.
- Intervened with lower-achieving students in 5th, 6th, and 7th grade, and undergraduates.
Main Results:
- Wise deliberate practice interventions improved math performance and grades for students.
- Interventions showed benefits over standard study skills and general motivation controls.
- Improvements in beliefs and practice were observed for up to one month post-intervention.
Conclusions:
- Deliberate practice follows similar principles to other effortful behaviors.
- Wise interventions can foster adaptive beliefs, increase deliberate practice, and boost achievement.
- These findings offer preliminary support for using targeted psychological interventions to enhance learning.
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