The Psychology of High Performance: Developing Human Potential Into Domain-Specific Talent

2020 NAGC Book of the Year Award Winner — ​Finalist in the 2020 PROSE Awards

This volume explores how early potential develops into high performance in five domains: sport (specifically golf and team sports), the professions (medicine, software engineering, and professional teams), academics (mathematics and psychology), the performing arts (dance and acting), and the producing arts (culinary arts and drawing/painting).

The chapters address many questions: What does “raw” potential in a specific domain looks like?  How can those abilities be nurtured and grown, and what psychosocial skills are necessary for this development? The Psychology of High Performance examines similarities and differences within and between domains and includes several personal interviews with “gatekeepers”—experts in a field whose professional judgment determines whether individuals’ developed abilities are good investments for further instruction and coaching. With its mix of scholarship and personal interviews, this book brings new insights based on psychological science and best practice to inform educators, parents, coaches, and psychologists guiding young people on their path to becoming high performers.

Rena F. Subotnik,PhD, is director of the Center for Psychology in Schools and Education at the American Psychological Association in Washington, DC. She is coauthor (with Paula Olszewski-Kubilius and Frank C. Worrell) of the articles “The U.S. Neglects Its Best Science Students” (Scientific American); “Nurturing the Young Genius: Renewing Our Commitment to Gifted Education Is the Key to a More Innovative, Productive, and Culturally Rich Society” (Scientific American Mind); and “Rethinking Giftedness and Gifted Education: A Proposed Direction Forward Based on Psychological Science” (Psychological Science in the Public Interest). She is coeditor of the books Methodologies for Conducting Research on Giftedness (with Bruce Thompson, 2010) and The Development of Giftedness and Talent Across the Life Span (with Frances Degan Horowitz and Dona J. Matthews, 2009).

Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, PhD, is the director of the Center for Talent Development and a professor in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Recent publications include “Minority Achievement Gaps in STEM: Findings of a Longitudinal Study of Project Excite” (with Saiying Steenbergen-Hu, Rhoda Rosen, and Dana Thomson, 2017) in Gifted Child Quarterly and “The Role of the Family in Talent Development,” (with Rena F. Subotnik and Frank C. Worrell, 2018) in the APA Handbook of Giftedness and Talent. She is past-president of the National Association for Gifted Children from which she received the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2009.
 
Frank C. Worrell,PhD, is a professor of school psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. A current member-at-large of the Board of Directors of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Worrell is a former editor of the Review of Educational Research and a 2013 recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award from the National Association for Gifted Children. Recent publications include Achieving College Dreams: How a University-Charter District Partnership Created an Early College High School (with Rhona S. Weinstein, 2016) and “Talent Development: A Path Towards Eminence” (with Paula Olszewski-Kubilius and Rena F. Subotnik, 2018) in the APA Handbook ofGiftedness and Talent.