Outliers Gladwell

The argument developed in Chapter 3 and 4 of the Outliers contends that IQ beyond a point is not a determining factor in success. Gladwell implies that a higher IQ to a certain extent is optimal but once a defined threshold has been achieved, having greater intelligence provides limited or possibly no additional benefits in the attainment of success. An analogy in the book that is used to convince us that opportunity matters more that talent is an example from the studies of Annette Lareau comprised of a group of third graders residing in lower and middle/upper income households. Her studies showed that the middle/upper class students were provided opportunities to cultivate their talent/abilities in a meaningful way along with support and

Malcolm Gladwell insists that IQ is not the determining factor in one’s ability to achieve success because he believes that opportunity and chance play critical roles in one’s journey to achieve success. In Outliers, Gladwell includes Christopher Langan story growing up. Langan has an IQ of one ninety-five, “The average person has an IQ of one hundred… Einstein one fifty” (Gladwell 70). Langan is considered “the smartest man in America” and sometimes “the smartest man in the world”. He is also a college dropout, due to financial difficulty and other factors. Langan has a special ability, but his circumstances held him back from graduating college. Living in a life of poverty growing up, Langan did not have such opportunity that Gates had due to his circumstances. Langan has one of the highest IQ and that did not determine his success because he has not reach the level of success with his ability. What Gladwell means when he suggests that IQ reaches a point of diminishing returns after reaching 130 is after reaching 130 or surpassing it, IQ stop mattering. Having a higher IQ does not matter after 130, having enough does because intelligence has a threshold.

In the novel Outliers, Gladwell argues that individuals who are successful are not just talented, but are shaped by their oppurtunities, lives, culture, and personal advantages. To prove his point, Gladwell frequently uses specific examples to demonstrate how success can be attributed to more than just talent. One of the unique advantages that successful individuals possess is when they were born. Gladwell explains that, “For a young would be lawyer, being born in the early 1930s was a magic time, just as being born in 1955 was for a software programmer, or being born in 1835 was for an entrepreneur” (Gladwell 137). Being born in a specific time period is an advantage to certain people due to the fact that each era has specific

Elements like diction and syntax plays an important role in the development of Malcolm Gladwell's thesis. This summary of his thesis is ‚We are so caught in the myths of the best and the brightest and the self-made that we think outliers spring naturally from the earth. To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and determine success. Gladwell uses diction and syntax to give depth and understanding to the target audience. In Outliers, Gladwell examines several different groups of people or individuals who went from rags to riches. Structure aids and diction help Gladwell describe the amazing chance that shows the outcome of Bill Gates. In chapter two describing these opportunities, Gladwell starts sentences with, "Opportunity number one", "Opportunity number two", and further on. For example Galdwell describes an amount of opportunities that "gave Bill Gates extra time to practice.

Some may argue that, in reality, having 10 years of practice makes a substantial difference in skill development. An example occurs when there are two children in the same regular science class that are both excelling. One child has a parent who pushes him or her in school to be the best and who works with his or her child for many hours. The other child’s parent loves that he or she is doing great in school but does not push him or her to his or her fullest extent. Furthermore, when Gifted testing is right around the corner and all of the children are trying to force year’s worth of information into their heads there is one child that is not at all worried. The time is near, and all of the children are trying to force tons of knowledge

Gladwell found that the most successful people in a wide variety of fields ranging from musicians to programmers put in at least 10,000 hours of practice. The minimum number of hours practiced in order to master the level of success seen in those considered prodigies or in the top of their field is known as the 10,000-hour rule. Gladwell includes multiple studies and examples of the 10,000-hour rule to prove his theory that innate talent plays a small role in the attaining of success. Some people need more hours of practice to master specific skills than others, and although psychologists are still unable to understand why, the 10,000-hour rule supports Gladwell’s claim that the key factors of success are determined by outside features rather than talent

In Gladwell’s best-selling novel, “Outliers”, the belief that 10,000 hours of practice makes a person an expert seems to be a prominent theme. “The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice are required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert–in anything” (Gladwell 40). According to recent research, 10,000 is the number of hours put in by all experts on certain skills, like music, sports, or art. This research is why the majority believes in the rule that Malcolm Gladwell made so famous.

Intrinsic factors critically considered when people think about the main components of success. However, Malcolm Gladwell, a famous writer, contradicts this tendency through the book, Outliers. The book, Outliers insists that extrinsic factors define success rather than the intrinsic ones. Nonetheless, Gladwell himself goes against the topic of Outliers in his assertion: “if you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires (Gladwell, 2008).” The assertion implies that individuals could achieve success only with those intrinsic factors. Gladwell’s assertion is wrong because people can’t achieve success without an opportunity of relative age, an opportunity to have practical

behavior, learning and memory of an individual ( 1). While Dr. Noble noted the more affluent children possessed larger hippocampuses than their disadvantaged counterparts (Brain Trust 47), Hanson notes that the lifestyle of less affluent families affect the hippocampus negatively. For instance, maternal separation can negatively impact the hippocampus, I.e. working mother's. The lower the income a household has, the more stress it faces. Outstanding stress can have long-lasting negative effects on the hippocampus (1.). Hanson found that poor children had less gray matter within the hippocampus (5). Hanson concluded that “higher levels of chronic stress” could result in small hippocampal volumes into adulthood and other “early environment” factors, such as

America’s high schools are in desperate need of help. Students should feel there is a purpose in going to school and getting an education. They need to be more motivated to go to school. The amount of tests students take in High School is ridiculous. Students need to take less standardized tests. As said in the article The Secret To Fixing Bad Schools “students need to become thinkers not test takers.” They should be able to take more classes they are interested in rather than classes they need just for graduation required credits. Schools need to have more academic achievement appreciation rather than only appreciating the athletic students. Although Bostein points out America’s education system seems to be the main issue in preparing our children for the future, he is a bit too extreme with this ideas.

In the story "Outliers", Malcolm Gladwell uses a series of experiments and logical reasoning to clarify that practice determines the success of one's destiny. "In fact, by the age of twenty, the elite performers had each totaled ten thousand hours of practice. By contrast the merely good students had totaled eight thousand hours" (Gladwell 12). The experiment showed that the students that excelled had practiced a lot more than the merely good proving more practice determines success. In addition, the studies found from the experiment reveal that there were no "naturals" with the innate talent to be an elite performer. There is a direct correlation between practice and success, but not between naturally good and success. This shows that even though Thomas was able to succeed mass of success is straight from the amount of practice. Comparatively, Gladwell uses Mozart as another example. "Since he didn’t produce his greatest work until he had been composing for more than twenty years" (Gladwell 13). Mozart wasn’t able to just walk up to a podium and make a magical music. He had to practice and prepare for many years. Lastly, Neurologist Daniel Levitin states, "researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours" (Gladwell 12). Scientist believe that any person has the ability

Gladwell does not believe anyone can be a self-made man. He believes people are successful because of their families and circumstances while growing up. I understand how he would have formed this conjecture, but I disagree with his

In "Outliers: The story of success", Malcom Gladwell explained and gave examples of ways to be successful. There are many ways that Gladwell mentioned, such as luck, practice, background, family, and culture. There are many more of course, but I will save time. There are three of which I think are the most important, these being Intelligence, Social Skills, and Location; and these are explanations as to why I think these are the most important.

The Author and His Times - Malcom Timothy Gladwell was born on September 3, 1963 in Fareham, Hampshire. Gladwell has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996 and has written four other books besides Outliers which all were put on The New York Times Best Seller list. Gladwell has stated before that his mother is his inspiration as a writer. Gladwell moved to Elmira, Ontario at the age of six from Southampton and would later go to Ontario High School in Kingston, Ontario for high school, and would graduate with a major in History from the University of Toronto, Trinity College, Toronto, in 1984. Gladwell identifies himself as a Christian, his family would attend Above Bar Church in Southampton, UK, and would later attend Gale Presbyterian

Carol Dweck, the author of the book entitled “Mindset”, did a great job of portraying her inquisitive thoughts throughout the book. Also, the book was informative and made me wonder about my “mindset” and my life in the future. Dweck, throughout the book, explains that mindsets start early as a child and perseveres into adulthood. She explains that this mindset can drive many aspects of our lives going from parenting and being in relationships to sports, school, and work. Most of the book which stands out to me, is the author’s encouragement to her readers, that anyone can change their mindset at any time, age, or state of mind in their life. It may be very difficult for some people, but it can be done and it is well worth it.