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.
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.
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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.
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.
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Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Maslow's hierarchy of needs, represented as a pyramid with the more basic needs at the bottom[1] Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" in Psychological Review.[2] Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans' innate curiosity. His theories parallel many other theories of human developmental psychology, some of which focus on describing the stages of growth in humans. Maslow used the terms "physiological", "safety", "belongingness" and "love", "esteem", "self-actualization", and "self-transcendence" to describe the pattern that human motivations generally move through. Maslow's theory was fully expressed in his 1954 book Motivation and Personality.[5] The hierarchy remains a very popular framework in sociology research, management training[6] and secondary and higher psychology instruction. Hierarchy Physiological needs Safety needs Safety and Security needs include:
COMPASS
