correlation between the rank of a mastery goal statement (wanting to learn or
practice new skills or repertoire) and the frequency of current practice, as well
as a negative correlation between practice and the rank of a performance–
ego-oriented goal statement (wanting to be better at playing music than other
students). It should be noted that while the sizes of the correlations were
fairly small, the conditions of the study were perhaps not ideal for detecting
these effects—neither practice time nor goal orientations were measured di-
rectly. However, one study that rectified these problems produced contradic-
tory results. O’Neill (1999) found a negative relationship between mastery
goal orientations and quantity of practice: students who exhibited mastery-
oriented responses to experimentally induced failure tended to practice less
during the subsequent year than those who exhibited performance-oriented
responses. In order to explain this unusual finding, O’Neill suggested that the
mastery-oriented music students may have made more effective use of their
practice time than the performance-oriented students and were thus able to
accomplish similar goals in shorter durations. Smith (2003) provided data
that are somewhat consistent with this explanation. Smith asked a large sam-
ple of college music majors to complete measures of goal orientation and an
index of practice strategies. Smith found significant relationships between
mastery– task orientation scores and self-reported frequencies of effective
practice strategies, though the magnitudes of the correlations were fairly
small and the predicted negative relationships with the performance–ego
goal-orientations were not observed.
Given the discrepancies between the goal orientation studies previously
discussed, and the generally small effects in each study, it is it is probably the
case that like personality traits, goal orientations may have only a secondary
influence on practice and other skill-related behaviors. Yet again, whether or
not their influence is mediated by the more explicit motivational constructs
outlined earlier remains to be explored.
The Power and Problems of Attributed Talent
While our present review has focused primarily on intrapersonal variables,
we would also like to highlight the potential significance of the relationship
between those factors we have identified as intrapersonal and interpersonal
influences on skill acquisition. Of particular concern is the potential role of
attributions of talent (or lack thereof) by meaningful others. There is evi-
dence from recent research to suggest that in spite of substantial weaknesses
in the empirical evidence, the concept of innate talents or giftedness, particu-
larly in domains like music, continues to exert a powerful influence on the
attributional beliefs of parents, teachers, and students (Davis, 1994; Evans,
Bickel, & Pendarvis, 2000; Tremblay & Gagne, 2001). These trends may be
due in part to a broader heuristic in human judgment known as the funda-
312 CHARNESS, TUFFIASH, JASTRZEMBSKI