Originally Posted by Bostonian
Originally Posted by madeinuk
And it also shows that while the 'magic ingredient' might be innate intelligence; curiosity, drive and self discipline are substantial factors also.

You put the "innate" modifier only in front of intelligence, but I suspect, based on both reading and paternal experience, that curiosity, drive, and self-discipline are also tough for parents or teachers to change, and even for people to change themselves through force of will. A recent book I am reading is "Willpower", by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney.


While I think that there may be differences between individuals in terms of the innate 'ceiling' for these qualities, I do believe that unlike 'g' these the other qualities can be learned and are largely based on level of maturity.

From my own personal experience I know that I would only apply myself as a youngster if I found the teacher engaging and the topic at hand interesting. Only later did I learn that to sometimes you do have to do stuff because you have to do it. There is a strong cultural component too - I do not think that Chinese, Korean and Japanese overachievement in this country is entirely genetic, for instance.

Become what you are