Self-discipline trumps IQ
If you’re so smart, why aren’t you disciplined?
Duckworth and Seligman conducted a two-year study of eighth graders, combining several measures of self-discipline for a more reliable measure, and also assessing IQ, achievement test scores, grades, and several other measures of academic performance. Using this better measure of self-discipline, they found that self-discipline was a significantly better predictor of academic performance 7 months later than IQ. […] Most impressive was the whopping .67 correlation between self-discipline and final GPA, compared to a .32 correlation for IQ.
The blog entry I’m quoting is titled “High IQ: Not as good for you as you thought.”
I went to an engineering school. I’ve spent a lot of time around a lot of very high IQ people. These results aren’t in the slightest surprising to me, nor do I imagine they would be to anyone else who’d done so.
If scoring well on standardized tests were actually a valuable life skill, I’d be a much more successful person by now.
If scoring well on standardized tests were actually a valuable life skill, I�d be a much more successful person by now.
Amen to that. Damn. Thanks for the link.
Now how does one build self-discipline. . .and why don't they sell little flashcards for that at yuppie baby stores?
Posted by Saheli on February 2 2006 23:36
Depends how you define success, too. Good grades and high income aren't everything.
As Robert Heinlein said, "Geniuses and super-geniuses make their own rules."
Posted by Jimcat on February 3 2006 16:40
So, do you think that if you'd had more self-discipline, you'd be a more successful person by now?
Posted by Ted on February 3 2006 22:27
=v= Interesting article by Malcolm Gladwell from a few months ago, which sort of dovetails with this:
http://www.newyorker.com/critics/content/articles/051010crat_atlarge
Posted by Jym on February 4 2006 01:34
Geniuses and super-geniuses make their own rules.
Psychopaths, too.
Do you think that if you'd had more self-discipline, you'd be a more successful person by now?
I wouldn't use the word self-discipline, which is too easily read as a propensity for gritting one's teeth and doing something one doesn't want.
But I do think that if I hadn't had a pronounced propensity to procrastinate, then, yes, I would be a more successful person by now.
Interesting article by Malcolm Gladwell...
That article has been on my back-burner as the subject of a post.
Posted by Zed on February 5 2006 17:47
That article has been on my back-burner ...
=v= Well, when you get around to turning up the heat, here's an even earlier (and germane) Gladwell piece that rocked my world:
http://www.gladwell.com/2001/2001_12_17_a_kaplan.htm
Posted by Jym on February 6 2006 21:10