Sources

Research

Some items here are peer-reviewed studies; others are books or history. Observational findings are marked as such. This is education, not medical advice.

1. 01

   Book · retrospective interviews

   Bloom, B. S. (Ed.). (1985). Developing talent in young people. Ballantine Books.

   Finding. Interviews with 120 high achievers described early playful learning, followed by more focused practice and changing teachers as skill developed.

   Limitation. Looking back at people who already succeeded cannot show what would have happened on a different path or establish what caused their success.

2. 02

   Peer-reviewed study · observational findings

   Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363–406.

   Finding. Higher-skilled musicians reported more accumulated deliberate practice, and the best violinist groups also reported more sleep and naps than less-skilled peers.

   Limitation. These comparisons and retrospective practice estimates do not prove causation or promise that a set number of practice hours will produce expertise.

   https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.100.3.363
3. 03

   Peer-reviewed study · four experiments

   Oppezzo, M., & Schwartz, D. L. (2014). Give your ideas some legs: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(4), 1142–1152.

   Finding. Walking improved divergent creative thinking in short tasks compared with sitting, but did not improve tasks with a single correct answer.

   Limitation. The experiments involved short tasks in adults, mostly university students, not lifelong creativity or achievement.

   https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036577
4. 04

   Peer-reviewed study · observational findings

   Waldinger, R. J., & Schulz, M. S. (2010). What's love got to do with it? Social functioning, perceived health, and daily happiness in married octogenarians. Psychology and Aging, 25(2), 422–431.

   Finding. Time spent with others and the quality of close relationships were linked with daily happiness in older married couples.

   Limitation. This observational study of older married couples cannot establish cause or show that the same pattern applies to everyone.

   https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019087
5. 05

   Longitudinal research · observational findings

   Harvard Study of Adult Development

   Finding. Following people over decades has linked close, good-quality relationships with happier and healthier lives.

   Limitation. Observational patterns do not prove that relationships alone cause a long, happy life, and the original cohorts do not represent everyone.

   https://www.adultdevelopmentstudy.org