This is a question that I have debated endlessly with my friends, but no one has ever come up with a satisfactory answer. Usually, we just end up playing devil’s advocate and switching sides every so often.
So, my question to you: what is baseline ability? Countless studies have shown that racial minorities do better on standardized testing when they are told that their scores do not reflect anything about their abilities. The same studies have shown that the same minorities do poorly when reminded of the racial gap on standardized test scores, but white students do better under those same conditions. Similarly, girls perform less well on math/science testing when reminded of gender gaps, and once again boys do better than if they are not reminded.
Clearly, there is a condition under which some groups do well and a condition under which they do less well. So, you can have specific tests for each group that will cause them to do better or worse. But which should it be?
You can make an argument either way, and really it ends up being pretty arbitrary whether the scores are on average higher or lower. But there are also ethical problems associated with telling white students that they will perform better than black students, and the same with girls and boys. I think it would be great if everyone can achieve their highest score, but at what cost? Discuss!
Tags: baseline ability, discussion, poll, social psychology
So basically, people do well when they expect to do well, and don’t when they don’t. I’m sure you’d get the same results if you said to each student, “These problems shouldn’t be too hard for you” as if you said “A group to which you belong usually does well on these.”
It’s not that shocking to think that self-confidence improves your abilities.
It’s more complex than that. It’s not that the minorities/girls in these experiments were told they were expected to do well. One conclusion drawn from these experiments is that they do better when they don’t think they need to represent anyone with their scores. When reminded that their scores are not finalized (and therefore not representative) they do better.
So no, it’s not really surprising. But what do we do about it?
Referencing “standardized testing” only works when there is a standardized education if such a thing exists. What you’re speaking of above is a person’s ability to reference what he’s been taught and apply that knowledge. As far as RPG’s are concerned that might be a basic wisdom roll or whatever. However the “standards” tested have to do with math, literacy and other subjects which may not exist in your standard fantasy setting.
Here’s some things to consider.
- A “baker’s dozen” is 13 because 250 years ago everyone except those with the money to afford an education struggled to count above 10.
- A single issue of the New York times contains more information than most people 250 years ago would ever learn in their lifetime.
- The vast majority of people would never stray more than 20 miles from their place of birth.
- The only way for a non-noble European to ensure their son learned to read was to “give them to the church”. Priests and monks were taught to read and write so they could read and write the bible (respectively).
So there is no baseline standard of education. Humans with no education must have the ability to put edible things and water inside the hole at the bottom of their face to survive. But that has to be taught through demonstration as well. We don’t actually know how much knowledge we have is instinctual, because humans have to be fed for the first few years of their life, which means they’re instructed to some degree no matter what.
Having said that, there are basic guidelines for how much time it takes to work at something to become competent at it. 100 hours of active practice is generally enough to form a fairly reasonable baseline proficiency at anything, be it throwing a knife, driving a car, or playing chess. I believe mastery is generally considered to be around 10,000 hours of active practice. Which is a lot. Take a look at the quality of work from a master and you can start to understand what that amount of time invested in something can do.