Is it born talented or is done?

When we think of someone with talented, figures such as the artist Picasso, the Kasparov chess, athletes such as Messi or Rafael, scientists like Einstein and endless names that stand out within various disciplines that stand out within various disciplines that stand out within various disciplines. When thinking about them, we can have the feeling that their achievements are very far from us, that is, what they have achieved is something that we would never have been able to achieve. But what's true in it? What is talent? Is it born talented or is done? Let's investigate what can be hidden from talent. 

Content

• Talent
  • The unique intelligence problem
• Multiple intelligences
• Deliberate practice
  • Go further
  • We can all?
• Genes
• Final discussion
  • References

Talent

Before entering into the matter, it is important to stop for a moment and ask what talent is. What do we understand by talent? As the first meaning of the SAR means "intelligence (ability to understand)". The second definition describes it as "aptitude (capacity for the performance of something). The third meaning defines it as "intelligent or suitable person for a certain occupation". The fourth and last meaning has nothing to do with what concerns us.

The concept of intelligence in this case will have to be treated are very care since it can lead to confusion and generalizations. On the one hand, there is a general definition of intelligence. The psychologist Rubén Ardila collects in his 2011 article "Intelligence, what do we know and what we need to investigate?"The most accepted definition of intelligence:

Intelligence is a set of cognitive and behavioral skills that allow adaptation
efficient to physical and social environment. Includes the ability to solve problems, plan, think abstractly, understand complex ideas, learn from experience. It is not identified with specific knowledge or specific skills but is general cognitive ability, of which specific capacities are part.

The unique intelligence problem

Through this definition we can get a good idea of ​​what is understood by intelligence. However, to define talent you can stay a little fuck because if we investigate the life of the most talented we will see that they were not in everything they did. It is known that Einstein, the most popular scientist in recent years, had certain social difficulties. If we take it to a more personal plane We can think about what we have talent and what we would describe as authentic disasters. So if we "enjoy" intelligence for one aspect, why not for everyone?

Multiple intelligences

The psychologist Howard Gardner was struck by the fact that some people stand out in one area and not in another, as well as the fact that someone was a genius of mathematics but an inept in the language. What could be due? Gardner, in 1983, introduced multiple intelligences, which addressed this phenomenon. Postulated that there was no single intelligence, but seven. These are: mathematical, linguistic, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal (social) and body -inethetic intelligence. Subsequently, naturalistic intelligence and existence would be added. Like the unique theory of intelligence, this theory is also subject to criticism, however, since then it enjoys very good acceptance in psychological discipline.

This theory would clarify the horizon on talent a little more, since as we observe, I could give an explanation that someone can stand out in mathematics but not in language and vice versa. For example, in the case of many athletes, special intelligence would come into play, so it could be explained that they are very good in their sport but can falter in other disciplines. Even so, although intelligence is an important factor, it is not decisive.

Deliberate practice

At this point, we enter a fundamental aspect to have talent. Suppose we have been equipped "standard" with an extra mathematical and spatial intelligence but we do not have a stimulating environment. Most likely, mathematics and certain sports can be done well but we do not develop all our talent, all our potential. The Professor of Psychology Anders Ericsson goes further and ensures that intelligence does not influence talent, but what he calls deliberate practice. Anders ensures that elite performance is due to deliberate practice, which It consists of a systematic practice and with a purpose.

Deliberate practice has several characteristics that, according to Anders, the difference from others. In the first place, it is a practice restricted to fields in which there is previously accumulated knowledge of effective training activities. Secondly, it involves a teacher or coach. And thirdly, it requires immediate and processable comments. For this practice, focused attention is necessary and the objective is to improve specific performance.

Go further

As Anders himself states: "What you are trying is to do something you can't do. And that really is like stretching you. It is very different from the idea of ​​naive practice in which you try to do the best you can with the skills you have ". Deliberate practice tries to identify something that we are not able to do and try to achieve it. Therefore, a great effort is important so that, little by little, we achieve that new objective that at first seemed alien to us.

We can all?

According to Anders We could all achieve talented performance in the disciplines that we propose as long as there are certain variables that are met. An important reason why not everyone reaches an elite level is because practice is difficult, boring and repetitive, so not everyone is willing to carry it out and end up opting for the usual practices.

On the other hand, There is the factor of physical, mental and health conditions. To this are gathered possible diseases and disorders. As Anders himself states, although we have enviable health, height and body size are important, for example, if we were born with a soprano voice it will be a challenge to sing low. In this case, genes seem to collect a relevant role.

Genes

The psychologist and geneticist Robert Plomin assures that talent depends on our DNA. PlOM. He wonders how it is possible that they could be so talented so young. For plomin, it is almost impossible to explain from training, since Being so young, how have they been able to carry out such an intense training? Tiger Woods started in the golf at 3 years of age and won three open ones in the United States before he turned 20 years old. Mozart has already composed musical works with 5 years. Magnus Carles, current chess world champion, was a great teacher at age 13 and achieved the world championship at age 22.

However, although DNA can help, as plomin, In all cases of prodigy children, they had a father or a mother helping. The age of onset is usually 2 or 3 years and one of the parents usually worries about the young man through supervised and rigorous training. According to Pomin, with proper training, average children can play the same pieces as Mozart and even more complex pieces.

Final discussion

Throughout the article there has been a small tour of the different variables that can influence developing a talent to the point of reaching the elite. As a summary we find three aspects that become important: multiple intelligences, deliberate practice and our DNA. At this point it is important to note that sometimes many professionals and researchers can lean for a theory rejecting the others. And this can be a very reductionist, On many occasions, what is behind an event are several explanations. That is, with the information of the article, the reader may think that a theory is final, but it may also conclude that talent depends on these three variables at the same time.

However, despite being able to enjoy a DNA that predisposes us to an activity or to have an extraordinary type of intelligence, The most important thing is external stimulation. As seen, a deliberate practice and the stimulation of the capacities we want to develop, it will be essential for us to achieve our full potential.

References

Ardila, r. (2010). Intelligence. What do we know and what we need to investigate? Magazine of the Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences, 35 (134), 97-103.