The Future of Self-Improvement, Part I: Grit Is More Important Than Talent

In the late ’60s, Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel performed a now-iconic experiment called the Marshmallow Test, which analyzed the ability of four year olds to exhibit “delayed gratification.” Here’s what happened: Each child was brought into the room and sat down at a table with a delicious treat on it (maybe a marshmallow, maybe a donut). The scientists told the children that they could have a treat now, or, if they waited 15 minutes, they could have two treats. All of the children wanted to wait. When the researchers subsequently checked in on these same children in high school, it turned out that those with more self-control — that is, those who held out for 15 minutes — were better behaved, less prone to addiction, and scored higher on the SAT. Instead of getting obsessed with the marshmallow — the “hot stimulus” — the patient children distracted themselves by covering their eyes, pretending to play hide-and-seek underneath the desk, or singing songs from “Sesame Street.” Related: mental

The secret of self-control In the late nineteen-sixties, Carolyn Weisz, a four-year-old with long brown hair, was invited into a “game room” at the Bing Nursery School, on the campus of Stanford University. The room was little more than a large closet, containing a desk and a chair. Carolyn was asked to sit down in the chair and pick a treat from a tray of marshmallows, cookies, and pretzel sticks. Carolyn chose the marshmallow. Although Carolyn has no direct memory of the experiment, and the scientists would not release any information about the subjects, she strongly suspects that she was able to delay gratification. Footage of these experiments, which were conducted over several years, is poignant, as the kids struggle to delay gratification for just a little bit longer. Most of the children were like Craig. The initial goal of the experiment was to identify the mental processes that allowed some people to delay gratification while others simply surrendered. Mischel was born in Vienna, in 1930.

Graphene loudspeaker could rival commercial speakers and earphones Researchers in the US have made a graphene loudspeaker that has an excellent frequency response across the entire audio frequency range (20 Hz–20 kHz). While the speaker has no specific design, it is already as good as, or even better than, certain commercial speakers and earphones in terms of both frequency response and power consumption. Loudspeakers work by vibrating a thin diaphragm. These vibrations then create pressure waves in surrounding air that produce different sounds depending on their frequency. "Thanks to its ultralow mass, our new graphene loudspeaker fulfils this important requirement because it has a fairly flat frequency response in the human audible region," says team leader Alex Zettl of the University of California, Berkeley. Because the graphene diaphragm is so thin, the speaker does not need to be artificially damped (unlike commercial devices) to prevent unwanted frequency responses, but is simply damped by surrounding air. High-fidelity sound

True Grit: The Best Measure of Success and How to Teach It Can you predict academic success or whether a child will graduate? You can, but not how you might think. When psychologist Angela Duckworth studied people in various challenging situations, including National Spelling Bee participants, rookie teachers in tough neighborhoods, and West Point cadets, she found: One characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. Why is Grit So Important? Using the Grit Scale that Duckworth developed with Chris Peterson, they found that grit is a better indicator of GPA and graduation rates. Add to this the findings (from Bowen, Chingos and McPherson's Crossing the Finish Line) that high school grades have a more predictive value of college success than standardized tests, and you may just see a shift from standardized test scores to high school GPA by some college admissions officers. What is Grit? Some would argue that grit is inherent in Albert Bandura’s research on self-efficacy, and that resilience is also part of it. Can Grit be Taught? 1.

work Neuroplasticity: Learning Physically Changes the Brain How lessons and experiences can shape and grow your students' brains over time. Credit: iStockphoto "There are a few broad principles that we can state come out of neuroscience," says Kurt Fischer, education professor and director of the Mind, Brain, and Education Program at Harvard University. Translation: All those little brains in your classroom are physically growing and changing every time they learn something. Despite the fact that the concept of neuroplasticity is broad, vague, and hardly new (the theory was born in the mid-1800s and was heavily researched throughout the 1990s), it is one of the most reliable and fundamental discoveries about the brain that we have to date. Your Brain on Learning According to neurologist and educator Judy Willis (and suggested by a research-rich chapter in the second edition of Developmental Psychopathology, among many other publications), neuroplasticity is defined as the selective organizing of connections between neurons in our brains.

Test Kangoo Electrique Test d'une voiture électrique "La Kangoo Hybride" - Mois de mai 2005 Les chapitres 2005: Prologue l'achatUtilisation: mai - juin - juillet - août - septembre - octobre - novembre - décembre2006: janvier - février - mars - avril - Rallye Phébus - mai - Rallye 21 - juin - Le record - juillet - Août - Septembre - Octobre - Novembre - Décembre2007: janvier - février - mars - avril - Rallye Monte-Carlo - mai - Phébus 2007- juin juillet août - septembre 2ème traversée - octobre nov - décembre2008: janvier - Epilogue Toujours Contente - Août 2008 Naissance de l'Auto-Magique - septembre - octobre novembre - décembre 20082009: janvier février - Mars - Avril - Mai 13 mai 2005, Livraison du véhicule Chapeau à toute l'équipe Renault! Ma Kangoo est bien là, super équipée et ma surprise a été totale en constatant que le gros poque est devenu un tout petit poque de rien du tout, Merci! Premier objectif, vérifier que mon installation électrique permet bien de recharger le véhicule. + objectif technique:

The Science of Developing Mental Toughness in Health, Work, and Life Have you ever wondered what makes someone a good athlete? Or a good leader? Or a good parent? Why do some people accomplish their goals while others fail? What makes the difference? Usually we answer these questions by talking about the talent of top performers. But I think we all know there is more to the story than that. In fact, when you start looking into it, your talent and your intelligence don’t play nearly as big of a role as you might think. What makes a bigger impact than talent or intelligence? Research is starting to reveal that your mental toughness — or “grit” as they call it — plays a more important role than anything else for achieving your goals in health, business, and life. Why is mental toughness so important? Let’s talk about that now. Before we talk about how to get started, though, I wanted to let you know I researched and compiled science-backed ways to stick to good habits and stop procrastinating. Mental Toughness and The United States Military —Angela Duckworth 1.

self improvement Download "Hacktivism & The Future of Political Participation" May 10, 2006 I'm making my complete dissertation, Hacktivism and the Future of Political Participation, available for download as of today. Depending on your interests, you might want to download the complete manuscript (284 pages) or to look at selected chapters: You can still access chapter summaries and references (with hyperlinks to sources, where available) by using the drop-down menu at top left.

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