Full PreFrontal: Exposing the Mysteries of Executive Function Ep. 69: Professor Anders Ericsson - Experts Are Made, Not Born
In 2018, John Legend became the 13th and the youngest winner of "EGOT" which stands for the big-four possible outstanding awards in the entertainment industry: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. An awe worthy accomplishment certainly points out the talent in John Legend, but is it cultivated? There are those who do things, those who do it well, and those who do it exceptionally well. An expert performer produces superior or exceptional performance without an exception. The journey to gain expertise however, is far from simply being effortful.
On today’s podcast, Professor Anders Ericsson, and co-author of the book Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise, will discuss how particular skill-sets and particular mindsets shapes the mastery of skills, which are attainable to all. At the heart of superior Executive Function is goal-directed actions and tolerance for discomfort and annoyances that interfere while building skills. So through focused effort to strengthen Executive Function, one can easily forge the path towards developing expertise.
About K. Anders Ericsson
K. Anders Ericsson, PhD, is presently Conradi Eminent Scholar and Professor of Psychology at Florida State University. After his Ph. D. in Sweden, he collaborated with the Nobel Prize winner in Economics, Herbert A. Simon on verbal reports of thinking leading to their classic book “Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data” (1984). Currently he studies the measurement of expert performance in domains, such as music, chess, nursing, law enforcement, and sports, and how expert performers attain their superior performance by acquiring complex cognitive mechanisms and physiological adaptations through extended deliberate practice.
He has edited several books on expertise, the influential “Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance” consisted of over 40 chapters and 900 pages and the recent “Development of Professional Expertise, which appeared in 2009. His most recent book (2016) “Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise” was co-authored with Robert Pool. His research has been featured in cover stories in Scientific American, Time, Fortune, Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
He has been invited to give keynote presentations at conferences of surgeons, musicians, teachers, clinical psychologists, athletes, and coaches as well as professional sports organizations, such as Philadelphia Eagles (American football), San Antonio Spurs (basketball), Toronto Blue Jays (baseball) and Manchester City (soccer).
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About Host, Sucheta Kamath
Sucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.