In 2006 verscheen het Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance. De algemene tendens van onderzoek naar expertise is dat expertise vrijwel zonder uitzondering ontstaat door enorme inzet. En vooral ook slim en doelgericht trainen. Anders Ericsson, een van de toonaangevende wetenschappers op dit terrein zegt:
“I think the most general claim here, is that a lot of people believe there are some inherent limits they were born with. But there is surprisingly little hard evidence that anyone could attain any kind of exceptional performance without spending a lot of time perfecting it.”
A Star Is Made By Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt – May 7, 2006, New York Times
“It’s complicated explaining how genius or expertise is created and why it’s so rare. But it isn’t magic, and it isn’t born. It happens because some critical things line up so that a person of good intelligence can put in the sustained, focused effort it takes to achieve extraordinary mastery. These people don’t necessarily have an especially high IQ, but they almost always have very supportive environments, and they almost always have important mentors. And the one thing they always have is this incredible investment of effort.”
How to be a genius, By David Dobbs – September 13, 2006, NewScientist
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