TDC – Den Hartigh (Lecture 1)
A Dynamic Network Model to Explain the Development of Excellent Human
Performance
• authors propose novel perspective on excellence and its development, which builds upon the
traditions of the dynamic systems approach to social and developmental psychology, in
combination with more recent applications of network approaches
◦ excellent performance does not reside in specific underlying components but rather in
the ongoing interaction among the components
Previous and Current Attempts to Capture Excellence
• Galton → nature
• De Candolle → nurture (people of excellence were raised in beneficial environmental
circumstances e.g. high-quality education)
• 3 different views:
(a) domain-specific genetic endowment: individuals who ha a domain-specific gift have the
potential to reach excellent performance
(b) individuals development of excellent performance can be supported (or limited) by the
(e.g. home) environment
(c) great amount of effort is required to become an excellent performer (Ericsson – 10 year
rule)
• consensus that excellence is multidimensional and it emerges (and probably changes) across
life span
• person-environment interaction: emergence of excellence cannot be explained by linear
additions of various personal and environmental components over time
• various researchers propose that excellence emerges out of the multiplicative interactions
among the components
• authors argue that the model of excellent human performance should first and foremost fit
with properties that are universal across the literature on domain-specific excellence:
◦ model is a dynamic network model of ability growth → ability to develop excellent
performance is embedded in a network of mutually interacting dynamic variables
Development Properties of Excellence across Domains
• time frame for development of excellence begins when domain-specific ability starts to
grow up to the point that superior performance is demonstrated (repeatedly)
• qualitative properties characterizing growth of abilities leading to excellence:
(1) early indicators are rare but as performers grow or develop within their particular
domain of performance, later excellence becomes an increasingly predictable feature
(r.g. in education test scores of 12-14 years olds had predictive value for later education-
vocational achievement across larger group of children)
(2) in different individuals a similar ability level may emerge at different ages
(3) the underlying constituents of a particular ability can change during persons life span
(4) level of domain-specific ability is not necessarily monotonically rising or stable
→ (2) – (4) indicate that idiosyncratic nature of the pathways to excellence (individuals
may have diverse ways to achieve similar performance levels)
Excellent Performance Across Domain-Specific Populations
• authors definition of ability: a domain-specific ability is a recurrent and specific pattern of
coordination and development of skills, psychological components, social components etc.
that are required to demonstrate a particular form and level of performance
, TDC – Den Hartigh (Lecture 1)
• excellent abilities are domain-specific and that they are manifested in, and measured by,
performance accomplishments
• in various domains performance accomplishments can be operationalized by individuals
productivity: consensual assessment
• implies that well-specified forms of human performance can be judged by independent
domain expert and/or based on countable expressions of particular excellent abilities
(e.g. produced scientific articles, musical compositions, goals made during soccer
match)
• product distributions in populations of performers are highly skewed to the right (and not
bell-shaped) across many achievement domains
Product Distribution in Soccer
• number of goals & number of inter-country matches is reflection of excellence
• first analyzed product distribution of the two indicators of excellent soccer performance in
the population of (former and current) Dutch internationals
• the power law model for the relationship between the number of goals scored or matches
play, and the corresponding number of players, is expressed in the following equation:
• f(n) is the number of players who made n goals or played n matches, c is the
number of players who made one goal or played one match, n the number of
goals or matches, p a power parameter
• as 91 players made one goal c can be set as 91 and p reveals a value of 1.18, therefore, if all
frequencies are represented as proportions of the number of players who made one goal
(91), the distribution model amounts to the simple function
• power not always bet possible fit for skewed distribution,
therefore they proposed an alternative equation (produces curved instead of linear log-log
plots):
A Dynamic Network Model to Explain the Development of Excellent Human
Performance
• authors propose novel perspective on excellence and its development, which builds upon the
traditions of the dynamic systems approach to social and developmental psychology, in
combination with more recent applications of network approaches
◦ excellent performance does not reside in specific underlying components but rather in
the ongoing interaction among the components
Previous and Current Attempts to Capture Excellence
• Galton → nature
• De Candolle → nurture (people of excellence were raised in beneficial environmental
circumstances e.g. high-quality education)
• 3 different views:
(a) domain-specific genetic endowment: individuals who ha a domain-specific gift have the
potential to reach excellent performance
(b) individuals development of excellent performance can be supported (or limited) by the
(e.g. home) environment
(c) great amount of effort is required to become an excellent performer (Ericsson – 10 year
rule)
• consensus that excellence is multidimensional and it emerges (and probably changes) across
life span
• person-environment interaction: emergence of excellence cannot be explained by linear
additions of various personal and environmental components over time
• various researchers propose that excellence emerges out of the multiplicative interactions
among the components
• authors argue that the model of excellent human performance should first and foremost fit
with properties that are universal across the literature on domain-specific excellence:
◦ model is a dynamic network model of ability growth → ability to develop excellent
performance is embedded in a network of mutually interacting dynamic variables
Development Properties of Excellence across Domains
• time frame for development of excellence begins when domain-specific ability starts to
grow up to the point that superior performance is demonstrated (repeatedly)
• qualitative properties characterizing growth of abilities leading to excellence:
(1) early indicators are rare but as performers grow or develop within their particular
domain of performance, later excellence becomes an increasingly predictable feature
(r.g. in education test scores of 12-14 years olds had predictive value for later education-
vocational achievement across larger group of children)
(2) in different individuals a similar ability level may emerge at different ages
(3) the underlying constituents of a particular ability can change during persons life span
(4) level of domain-specific ability is not necessarily monotonically rising or stable
→ (2) – (4) indicate that idiosyncratic nature of the pathways to excellence (individuals
may have diverse ways to achieve similar performance levels)
Excellent Performance Across Domain-Specific Populations
• authors definition of ability: a domain-specific ability is a recurrent and specific pattern of
coordination and development of skills, psychological components, social components etc.
that are required to demonstrate a particular form and level of performance
, TDC – Den Hartigh (Lecture 1)
• excellent abilities are domain-specific and that they are manifested in, and measured by,
performance accomplishments
• in various domains performance accomplishments can be operationalized by individuals
productivity: consensual assessment
• implies that well-specified forms of human performance can be judged by independent
domain expert and/or based on countable expressions of particular excellent abilities
(e.g. produced scientific articles, musical compositions, goals made during soccer
match)
• product distributions in populations of performers are highly skewed to the right (and not
bell-shaped) across many achievement domains
Product Distribution in Soccer
• number of goals & number of inter-country matches is reflection of excellence
• first analyzed product distribution of the two indicators of excellent soccer performance in
the population of (former and current) Dutch internationals
• the power law model for the relationship between the number of goals scored or matches
play, and the corresponding number of players, is expressed in the following equation:
• f(n) is the number of players who made n goals or played n matches, c is the
number of players who made one goal or played one match, n the number of
goals or matches, p a power parameter
• as 91 players made one goal c can be set as 91 and p reveals a value of 1.18, therefore, if all
frequencies are represented as proportions of the number of players who made one goal
(91), the distribution model amounts to the simple function
• power not always bet possible fit for skewed distribution,
therefore they proposed an alternative equation (produces curved instead of linear log-log
plots):
