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The SAGE Handbook of Industrial, Work & Organizational Psychology, Volume 1: Personnel Psychology and Employee Performance 2nd Edition Deniz S. Ones (Editor)
Why is performing under pressure often so difficult? What strategies can help us deliver our best performance? How can we boost our self-confidence?
The Psychology of Performance explores the key psychological factors that affect our ability to cope under pressure, whether it’s competing in a sport, appearing in front of an audience, or meeting a tight deadline. It looks at how we develop skills through learning and practice, and how self-confidence and decision-making can be sharpened to boost our expertise. The book explains how to develop the best mindset for performance, and shows how factors such as sleep, nutrition, and rest and recovery can influence our moods and how we function.
When we need to perform a task with little room for error, The Psychology of Performance helps us to understand how to do this to the best of our ability.
Stewart T. Cotterill is a Consultant Sport and Performance Psychologist, and a leadership and performance researcher at the AECC University College, UK.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EVERYTHING
The Psychology of Everything is a series of books which debunk the myths and pseudo-science surrounding some of life’s biggest questions.
The series explores the hidden psychological factors that drive us, from our sub-conscious desires and aversions, to the innate social instincts handed to us across the generations. Accessible, informative, and always intriguing, each book is written by an expert in the field, examining how research-based knowledge compares with popular wisdom, and illustrating the potential of psychology to enrich our understanding of humanity and modern life.
Applying a psychological lens to an array of topics and contemporary concerns – from sex to addiction to conspiracy theories – The Psychology of Everything will make you look at everything in a new way.
Titles in the series:
The Psychology of Grief
Richard Gross
The Psychology of Sex
Meg-John Barker
The Psychology of Dieting
Jane Ogden
The Psychology of Performance
Stewart T. Cotterill
The Psychology of Tr ust
Ken J. Rotenberg
The Psychology of Working Life
Toon Taris
The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories
Jan-Willem van Prooijen
The Psychology of Addiction
Jenny Svanberg
The Psychology of Fashion
Carolyn Mair
The Psychology of Gardening by Harriet Gross
The Psychology of Gender by Gary W.Wood
For further information about this series please visit www.thepsychologyofeverything.co.uk
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERFORMANCE
STEWART T. COTTERILL
First published 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
The right of Stewart T. Cotterill to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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ISBN: 978-1-138-21919-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-21920-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-43601-2 (ebk)
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PREFACE
The ability to perform when it matters is a key characteristic of many performance domains within human existence. Individuals and groups who have competed in sport, appeared in front of an audience, performed on a stage, had a tight deadline to meet, or performed a task with little room for error will appreciate the impact that pressure can have on the ability to perform. Those individuals who are successful, and successful on a regular basis, have developed strategies to cope with and excel under pressure, and achieve high levels of performance. Instead of existing in isolation the psychological approaches to preparation and performance adopted across these different domains are very similar. The main reason for this is that the underpinning structures and processes are the same for this ‘performance psychology’ regardless of the performance settings. Building upon this crucial point, The Psychology of Performance seeks to provide an overview of key psychological factors that both influence and determine performance across a diverse range of settings, providing the reader with a solid foundation from which to better understand these psychological factors and their underpinning mechanisms.
The book will also consider some practical strategies that can be applied to enhance the likelihood of achieving positive outcomes in performance domains. In terms of the structure of the book, The
Psychology of Performance first considers how the development of expertise takes place, and how key motor (movement) skills are developed and enhanced. Building upon this core aspect of performance, The Psychology of Performance considers the impact of decision-making on performance, and how to ensure individuals make the right decisions when it counts. The book progresses to consider key factors that both influence and determine psychological performance under pressure before focusing on how best to practice and prepare for a range of real performance environments. For anyone interested in developing a strong appreciation of the key factors determining performance under pressure, The Psychology of Performance is the book for you.
This book is aimed at a global audience who are looking to better understand factors influencing performance, and more specifically the key psychological factors both influencing and determining performance. The Psychology of Performance serves as a great introduction to undergraduate students across a diverse range of performance and learning-focused disciplines. The book will further appeal to coaches, educators, and teachers involved in developing individuals who thrive under pressure. Finally, the book is written to be accessible to nonacademic groups and anyone with an interest in performance under pressure.
Each chapter in The Psycholo gy of Performance contains a brief discussion of the main psychological topics relevant to that specific section. Each chapter then considers a range of approaches that can be adopted to further enhance performance. Finally, The Psychology of Performance provides expert advice on key psychological issues and mental skills pertinent to successful performance when it counts. In achieving these aims, the book offers a great introduction to the field of performance psychology.
The Psychology of Performance is a great introductory text to this growing area of interest within the field of psychology, and provides a strong foundation upon which to build further knowledge, expertise, or performance.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stewart T. Cotterill, PhD, is Head of School for Health, Wellbeing, and Performance, and sport and performance psychology consultant at AECC University College. He is a British Psychological Society (BPS) Chartered Psychologist and a Registered Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
Stewart has extensive applied experience across multiple performance domains ranging from sport to medicine. His current research interests include the psychology of performance, leadership in sport, and factors determining team performance under pressure. He is also author of several other books including: Performance Psychology, Team Psychology in Sports, and Sport and Exercise Psychology: Practitioner Case Studies.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank everyone at Routledge Books for their support in undertaking this project. In particular, thank you to Russell George who has been very supportive on this and other book projects. I would also like to thank all of the performers across different performance domains that I have met along the way; and in particular thank them for developing my understanding of what they do and what is required for success.
INTRODUCTION
As a branch of psychology, the psychology of performance is pretty much what the title suggests: a domain within psychology that focuses on the way the mind works (or needs to work) to be able to perform at a high level when it counts time after time. The ability to perform when it matters is a key characteristic of many performance environments within human existence including: sport, business, surgery, the emergency services, the military, and aviation.Those performers who are successful, and successful on a regular basis, across these domains have developed specific strategies to cope with and excel under the pressure that is associated with performance at the highest level. The psychological strategies utilized to perform when it counts are similar across many performance-focused domains. While the context is different each performance environment is ‘pressured’ and the key psychological skills and abilities that separate the successful from the unsuccessful are similar across the board.This chapter will seek to introduce this domain by clarifying what performance and performance psychology are, and by outlining key psychological factors that underpin successful performance.
WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?
In order to understand what the psychology of performance is, it is important to first re-clarify what we understand by psychology, and
how the psychology of performance or ‘performance psychology’ exists as a subcomponent of the broader field of psychology. At a very simplistic level psychology is a science of the mind and human behaviour, though it does not occupy a completely distinct position as a field of study as there are ‘crossovers’ around the periphery of the field with other disciplines, including biology, medicine, neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and artificial intelligence. The field of psychology is multifaceted and includes many subdisciplines including cognitive, developmental, clinical, evolutionary, forensic, health, occupational, social, biological, and sport and exercise psychology. Of fundamental importance to the field of psychology is developing an understanding of the individual’s thoughts and behaviours: how these thoughts and behaviours are developed, and how they change; and by understanding the influence of a broad range of personal, interpersonal, and environmental factors on how individuals and groups think and behave.
WHAT IS PERFORMANCE?
Successful performance across a range of performance domains is not just about having good technical movement skills; good decisionmaking is crucial as well (knowing when and how to execute these skills). So good performance is not simply about executing your skills, it is also about executing the right skills at the right time. Indeed, in seeking to further conceptualize performance, sport psychology researchers Jerry Thomas, Karen French and Charlotte Humphries (1986) developed a specific definition that suggests performance is “a complex product of cognitive knowledge about the current situation and past events, combined with a player’s ability to produce the sport skill(s) required” (p. 259). This definition emphasizes the same two important components of performance: mental (knowledge and decision-making) and motor (executing the required skills).
A second fundamental aspect of performance relates to the ability to ‘perform’ under pressure. It is one thing to be able to execute your skills and make the right decisions in practice/training but can
this be achieved under pressure? As a result, the performance of the relevant skills and undertaking the required decision-making processes in themselves are not always enough (although it is a good start). Being able to perform under pressure is crucial in ultimately determining how you will perform in real performance settings (the real world). Understanding what performance is and the factors that determine its outcomes are important because these factors should determine what practice for performance looks like and what factors are included in practice design.
PERFORMANCE PSYCHOLOGY
The field of performance psychology is concerned with understanding the psychological factors that both influence and determine performance. There has been an increasing interest in the psychological factors influencing performance across a diverse range of performance domains in the last 10–15 years, which in turn has seen the development of this hybrid field within psychology. Specifically, performance psychology has been defined as “the mental components of superior performance, in situations and performance domains where excellence is a central element” (Hays, 2012, p. 25). The ability to flawlessly execute complex skills under pressure when the stakes are high is a crucial characteristic of a number of performance environments of human endeavour. It is also true that many of the underpinning psychological factors that determine the degree of success achieved are also similar across these performance domains. The psychological demands are similar because broadly speaking the key characteristics of a range of different performance environments are similar. Specifically:
• Limited time (time pressures)
• Uncertain outcome(s)
• Successful perfor mance dependent on high skill level and near flawless execution
• A desired outcome
• The existence of perceived pressure
Due to the similarities in the constraints of these environments there are also similarities in the techniques and approaches adopted by performers across these environments to ensure they are able to perform effectively when needed. Another important aspect of performance, and performance psychology, is the preparation that is required to underpin performance. Preparation that focuses solely on technical motor skills is not enough for individuals to consistently perform to a high level. There also needs to be practice of the psychological skills required, and practice for the performance environment. The closer the practice environment replicates the performance environment the more likely it is that successful outcomes will be achieved on a regular basis. Key factors to consider when developing expert performers who deliver under pressure include: understanding how expertise is acquired (how you move from a novice to an expert); appreciating the impact of confidence on performance; understanding the process underpinning decision-making; and understanding key psychological skills that enhance performance.
KEY CONCEPTS WITHIN PERFORMANCE PSYCHOLOGY
As an emerging field, authors to date have explored performance psychology from a range of different perspectives. One of the earliest books that explicitly focused on performance was Human Performance: Cognition, Stress, and Individual Differences written by Gerald Matthews, Roy Davies, Stephen Westerman, and Rob Stammers in 2000. In this book the authors considered a broad range of psychological factors linked to human performance, including the underpinning cognitive architecture and key subsystems (including memory and attention). The book also considered a range of relevant related factors including: skilled performance, human error, stress and arousal, fatigue, individual differences, and ageing. More recently in Performance Psychology: A Practitioner’s Guide, edited by Dave Collins, Angela Button, and Hugh Richards (2011), four specific aspects of performance were considered: preparation, provision (of support), practice, and performance. Across these four broad sections the book considers the following: the
development of expertise; the identification and development of talent; the development and organization of the environment in which performance is expected to develop; skill acquisition; and mental practice and decision-making. The book then considers key performance ‘skills’ including coping, emotional control, attention, and dealing with pressure. Markus Raab, Babett Lobinger, Sven Hoffmann, Alexandra Pizzera, and Sylvain Laborde, in their 2016 book titled Performance Psychology: Perception, Action, Cognition, and Emotion, adopted a slightly different approach to understanding performance. Raab and colleagues adopted a very ‘cognitive’ perspective on performance, exploring factors such as action-cognition coupling, expectations and performance failure, motor imagery and performance, perception, attention and errors, and emotion and performance. The authors also sought to consider these cognitive-perceptual factors in different performance domains.
Finally, Stewart Cotterill (2017), in his book titled Performance Psychology: Theory and Practice, offered a more applied conceptualization of performance psychology, considering the factors that both influence and determine performance under pressure. Cotterill’s book starts by providing an overview of factors limiting human psychological performance (such as the nervous system, diet, and rest and recovery). The book then explores key factors that influence performance including cognition, perception, and action; pressure; the decision-making process; the role of emotion in performance; resilience; ageing and experience; and confidence, as well as considering how motor skills are developed; how expertise is achieved; psychological strategies to enhance performance under pressure; and how to practice for performance. The book is organized based on a model of performance psychology the author presents at the start of the text. This model is split into four sections. The first highlights individual characteristics that influence the individual performer’s ability to perform, including age and experience, resilience, skill level, strengths, predispositions, and personality. The second section of the model highlights a number of factors determining performance including the quality of performance preparation, environmental factors, state factors (such as sleep and nutrition), personalized performance strategies, and
cognition (including decision-making, motivation, problem-solving ability). The third part of the model highlights the impact confidence and coping strategies have on performance, with the final section of the model stating that perceptions of preparedness ultimately determine the degree to which there are positive or negative performance outcomes.
These different texts outline a broad range of topics under the umbrella term of performance psychology. However, while this is the case there are some relatively consistent factors that emerge from various sources, which will form the main focus for the current book.
OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK
The remaining chapters of this book seek to provide an introduction and overview of key concepts that form the bedrock of the psychology of performance domain. Chapter 2 focuses on how individuals learn to perform and achieve high levels of both performance and consistency. In particular, the chapter introduces the concept of learning, outlining both traditional (cognitive) and ecological dynamics approaches to understanding the learning process. The chapter also considers the role of deliberate practice in the development of expertise, and considers the psychological differences between novice and expert performers.
The third chapter focuses on the importance of confidence for successful performance in both individual and team contexts. Central to this area of understanding are the related concepts of self-efficacy and collective efficacy. Building upon this knowledge base the chapter also considers how to both develop and enhance efficacy beliefs as well as explores the emerging concept of resilient confidence.
Chapter 4 explores the process of decision-making and how the choices individuals and teams make impact upon performance. The chapter considers classical, naturalistic, and ecological approaches to conceptualizing the decision-making process. The chapter also explores factors that influence the decision-making process including the influence of emotions and risk-taking. The chapter also explores
how teams develop a ‘shared’ approach to decision-making in the formation of shared mental models.
The fifth chapter considers a range of factors that both influence and determine psychological performance. Of primary importance in this chapter is the mindset adopted, and understanding how to develop an optimal mindset for performance. The chapter also considers a range of factors that can limit performance, including sleep, rest, and recovery; nutrition and hydration; and the experience of pressure. Linked to the concept of pressure is the ability to cope, and understanding the coping strategies and techniques that can be applied. The chapter finishes by considering a range of ‘psychological skills’ that can be developed and applied including goal-setting, relaxation techniques, imagery, self-talk, and the development of preperformance routines. Finally, the chapter also considers team-related factors including role clarity, leadership, cohesion, and team emotion.
The final chapter focuses on how best to prepare for the performance environment. In order to do this the chapter considers what preparation is, and how effective performance habits can be developed. The chapter also considers how the way that you prepare impacts your performance, and strategies that can be adopted to better prepare for successful performance. The chapter also considers how to enhance team performance through focusing on the development of a supportive team performance environment.
At the end of the book there are also recommendations for further reading. This section considers books that either offer the next step in terms of understanding, or provide greater clarity regarding some specific concepts.
SUMMARY
The mind and psychological performance can have a significant impact upon overall performance outcomes and the likelihood of a successful performance outcome. Understanding the factors that both influence and determine this psychological performance are important if you want to maximize the potential for performance
success. Historically this understanding has been limited to some specific fields of expertise. However, the recent development of the field of performance psychology offers the potential for individuals and teams across different performance domains to better and more broadly understand the nature of performance rather than simply limited to their specific performance domain. This development in turn opens the door to future elevation in performance levels through the sharing of best practice and understanding.
LEARNING THE ROPES
Becoming an expert
The first aspect of any performance that needs to be mastered is the development of the relevant skill set to perform the required movements and actions. Understanding the process through which learning and development takes place is important to first develop, then to maximize skill execution for performance. It is important for performers to develop consistent skills that can elicit consistent levels of performance. Without consistent expertise in this area performance is ultimately doomed to failure. This chapter explores the process of learning and the development of expertise and expert performance. The chapter will also consider the role and effect of deliberate practice on expertise development, and crucially explore the differences that exist between expert and novice performers, and how this information can be used to facilitate the development of expert performers.
WHAT IS LEARNING?
Learning can be broadly conceptualized as a change in behaviour, knowledge, or cognition. As a result, the outcomes of learning are often communicated in some sort of measurable index of behaviour change, changes in reportable knowledge, or changes in cognition. This conceptualization suggests that a learner (after learning) can
do something, knows something, or thinks something that they did not before. This psychological change is described as being ‘relatively permanent’, suggesting that it is neither transitory (will disappear quite quickly) or fixed (will always be there). Also, it is important to recognize that these changes might not take place immediately after the learning experience. The changes that take place are a result of experience and/or practice; these experiences must be continually reinforced for learning to take place. As such, experiencing something once does not count as learning. Recent advances in the understanding of learning, or at least its conceptualization, have been offered from the field of neuroscience. This field has helped to establish a fundamental concept, that learning equals a change in the organization of the brain. This statement is literally true, with learning resulting in changes in brain microstructure and function. To be more technical these changes are usually observed in the organization, complexity, and robustness of neural networks. When the brain learns something new it establishes new connections among neurons to represent what it has learnt. It is also important to acknowledge that this learning does not necessarily take place at pre-designated times for learning (e.g., a training session or class). Learning is predominantly a function of repetition and reinforcement. Whenever this repetition takes place, the brain is learning. As a result, adopting a broader perspective on what an individual is learning is important if you are going to understand (and as a result try to mould) human behaviour.
An important related concept of particular importance to performance and performers is the notion of learning from failure. Theories about failure suggest that the core of learning in this context is to understand why the gap between performance and preceding expectations has occurred. Through reasoning as well as trial and error, new insights into potential solutions can be created. Cognitive psychologists Alexander Wilhelmsson, Sidney Dekker, and Daniel Hummerdal (2013) specifically described learning from failure as “the act of creating a difference between what was known before and after failure. These differences are often formalized in abstract knowledge and made available for future remembrance” (p. 1). This learning
from failure enables the individual to identify faulty parts of the performance process, and then redesign or modify their performance in an attempt to maximize the possibility of successful performance outcomes.
MOTOR SKILL ACQUISITION
Linked to the broad concept of learning is the notion of the ‘acquisition of skill’ which is of particular importance when considering performance across domains ranging from sport to surgery. This process of acquiring skill has broadly been described as a relatively permanent change in performance resulting from practice or past experience (Kerr, 1982). While this process might appear straightforward, the way we acquire skills and then perform these skills under pressure has produced very different theoretical explanations. Broadly speaking these ‘theoretical’ explanations can be categorized as being either ‘traditional’ (information processing) or ‘ecological dynamics’ approaches.
Traditional approaches
These approaches have predominantly focused on a ‘top-down’ approach where the individual needs to develop a model of performance that can only be acquired through repetition. The best known of these models is Paul Fitts and Michael Posner’s (1967) stages of learning model. Fitts and Posner, both eminent psychologists, suggested that the learning of a movement progresses through three sequential and interrelated phases: the cognitive phase, the associative phase, and the autonomous phase. The cognitive phase involves the performer identifying and developing the specific components of a skill. The associative phase involves the linking of these component parts into a smooth action, in a process involving deliberate practice. The autonomous phase involves continued rehearsal of the skill so it becomes automatic. While this is probably the best-known model there are others. For example, Antoinette Gentile (1972), a professor
of psychology and physical education, proposed a two-stage model. In the first stage the individual works to develop a movement coordination pattern to learn to differentiate between regular and irregular conditions. In the second stage individuals adapt their movement patterns, increase the consistency of goal achievement, and ultimately perform with an economy of effort. Extending this line of thought, Brothers Stuart and Hubert Dreyfus (1986) suggested a five-stage model of skill acquisition in adults including: novice, advanced beginner, competence, proficiency, and expertise. Novices seek to decompose the task environment into context-free features. The novice then develops rules for determining action based on these features. Advanced beginners utilize monitoring to ensure behaviours increasingly conform to the established rules. Competence relates to the individual understanding the environment (which is no longer context-free) by developing ‘aspects’ which are then associated with specific actions. Proficiency involves exposing the learner to a wide variety of ‘whole’ situations. Each whole situation is linked to a long-term goal. Expertise sees a significant improvement of mental processing. The learner develops an analytical principle (rule) to connect understanding of the situation to a specific action.
In recent years the simplicity of these traditional views has been questioned. In particular the proposed shift from cognitive control to automatic processing, and the view that the two states are mutually exclusive. In response to this criticism Wayne Christensen, John Sutton, and Doris Mcilwain (2016) suggested a hybrid model that they called ‘Mesh’, where cognitive control is used to focus on strategic aspects of performance with automatic processes more concerned with the implementation of movement and performance. The Mesh approach suggests that ‘Mesh’ cognitive control contributes directly to skill execution by way of the influence of situation awareness on action. The influence of cognitive control on skill execution is not through the ‘step-by-step’ control of the movement but through the selection of the type of action required, linking the right movements with the relevant perceptual skills, and through determining what the rules are governing the execution of the movement. Christensen and
colleagues cited the presence of action slips (unintended behaviours that result from a lack of attentional focus) an increased attentional focus, and an increase in cognitive effort as indicators of cognitive (rather than automatic) control.
Ecological dynamics approach
The ecological dynamics approach is broadly contradictory to the traditional view of skill acquisition in that it suggests that information about what to do and how to do it emerges from the environment rather than being determined by higher order cognitive processes (thinking and repetitive learning). The information required to drive movement emerges from the interaction between the individual, the task, and the environment rather than a top-down, rules-based system.
Ecological dynamics is a theoretical perspective that seeks to understand the complexity of the interactions that take place between the individual performer, the environment they are performing in, and the task(s) they are required to perform.
According to Nikolai Bernstein (1967), a Russian neurophysiologist, the acquisition of movement coordination is “the process of mastering redundant degrees of freedom of the body, and transforming them into a controllable system” (p. 127). Degrees of freedom in this context refers to the fact there are multiple ways to perform a movement to achieve the same outcome goal. As such there is no one movement solution to a particular problem. In this case the process of learning is about continued exposure to environmental cues so the individual can begin to formulate preferred responses. Also, early on in this process the learner ‘freezes’ degrees of freedom to reduce the complexity of the movement and as a result enhance movement control. While this approach can be effective it also makes movement rigid and jerky. As such, the theory of ecological dynamics suggests that the relevant scale of analysis for understanding performance behaviour is the performer-environment relationship, and not the description of the environment or the activities of the learner,
separately. The practical implication of this perspective is that in order to enhance performance the individual needs continuous interaction with the performance environment, rather than focusing on separate skill development.
James Gibson (1986), an American psychologist specializing in visual perception, suggested that individuals are surrounded by ‘banks’ of energy flows (information) that act to provide the context and guidance for the coordination of movement in performance environments. He suggested that this critical information that is inherent in the environment around us serves to continuously shape decision-making, planning and organization, and goal-directed (performance-focused) behaviour. This approach suggests that skill acquisition programmes across performance domains should aim to develop an enhanced ‘coupling’ of an individual’s perception and the execution of required motor skills. One of the ways in which this can be achieved is to help the individual to understand the information sources available to them and how to harness these sources for action. From the ecological dynamics perspective, the development of expertise requires the individual to learn how to identify and use the opportunities for action that the environment presents them with to then achieve their performance goals. Crucial in the designing of practice from this perspective is how ‘representative’ the design of the learning environment is. Higher levels of representation equate to the practice environment being more closely aligned to that experienced where real performance is required.
COGNITIVE SKILL ACQUISITION
The development of cognitive skills has at least in part been linked to some of the theoretical grounding advocated for motor skill acquisition. When individuals practice cognitive skills the process usually requires the use of a prescribed set of mental operations to obtain solutions and performance improvements. Like motor skill acquisition the learning process takes repetition and practice. In this context though the focus is on practicing cognitive rather than motor
challenges. This practice can involve continued exposure to a particular problem to facilitate development of more effective solutions. One explanation for this process was offered by psychology professor Gordon Logan (1988) in his instance theory. In this theory Logan suggested that there is a shift in how problems are solved as a function of repetitions of problem instances. For many cognitive tasks initial performance is poor because of the reliance on an execution algorithm. As the number of repetitions of the problem increase, though, instance theory suggests that there will be an increase in the probability that solutions will be retrieved from memory rather than deliberated.
There is also a long-standing view within the broader psychology literature that cognitive ability is a key determinant of performance. Indeed, over 100 years of research has supported cognitive ability as a key determinant of skilled performance across a broad range of environments, including work performance, career achievements, and academic performance. However, while this is true there is also a more recent view that under some conditions higher levels of cognitive ability can actually be detrimental to performance. In particular it has been suggested that higher ability performers are less adaptable than lower cognitive ability individuals in dynamic performance environments.
THE ROLE OF DELIBERATE PRACTICE
Anders Ericsson, a Swedish psychologist, and colleagues introduced the psychological concept of deliberate practice (1993), suggesting that it was not simply practicing that leads to performance improvements but engagement in a ‘deliberate’ practice designed to achieve specific outcomes. Ericsson suggested that it was this deliberate practice that allows individuals to attain expertise and ultimately achieve higher levels of performance. Deliberate practice in this context refers to activities that require cognitive or physical effort, that do not lead to immediate personal, social, or financial rewards, and are undertaken with the purpose of improving performance. Although the concept
of deliberate practice was originally suggested using data from musicians, Ericsson and his colleagues have indicated that using practice in this way applies to the acquisition of expertise in all areas of human endeavour, with the domain of sport often used as an example of the relationship between types of practice and attainment. In particular, this group of psychologists suggested that between-group differences in skilled performance (e.g., expert compared to less-expert groups) are predominantly related to differences in the amount of deliberate practice accumulated over long periods of time.
In order to provide support for this perspective, Ericsson and colleagues (1993) recruited musicians with different levels of accomplishment and asked them to estimate the amount of deliberate practice they had engaged in per week for each year of their musical careers. On average, the total amount of practice was much higher for the most-accomplished groups of musicians when compared to the data from less-accomplished groups. One example of this finding was the violinists that Ericsson and colleagues collected data from. The better violinists in the study reported over 10,000 hours of deliberate practice compared to the 7,800 hours reported by the violinists described as being ‘good’, and 4,600 for the ‘less accomplished’ violinists. Ericsson felt that the findings were so conclusive that he suggested that the individual differences in ultimate performance can largely be accounted for by the level of time spent engaging in deliberate practice. This perspective suggested that the differences between expert performers and normal adults reflects a life-long period of deliberate effort to improve performance in the specific domain of performance. While the volume of deliberate practice was cited as crucial by Ericsson and colleagues they did also acknowledge the importance of specific influencing factors that they broadly grouped into three categories: resources, effort, and motivation. Specific resources highlighted include significant others (e.g., coac hes and parents), the developmental context (e.g., culture, size of birthplace, and relative age), commitment, and enjoyment. Effort relates to how much energy is invested, and, crucially, where that effort is invested. It has been suggested that the most effective performers maximize their practice
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