Showing papers by "Michael Schneider published in 2022"

Deliberate practice in music: Development and psychometric validation of a standardized measurement instrument

Abstract: Practice is the process through which musicians improve their performance abilities and increase their level of expertise. Deliberate Practice (DP) is a theory of expertise based on the concept that interindividual differences in the level of proficiency in a specific domain can be mostly explained by interindividual differences in the amount of deliberate practice; despite its popularity, subsequent studies have demonstrated several critical issues in Ericsson’s DP concept, due to its vagueness in definitions, arbitrary measurements of expertise, and inability to account for the possible role of genes. The present project aimed at creating a new questionnaire, capable of measuring practice quality in terms of deliberate practice for the music domain, regardless of the instrument and musical genre played, at any level of expertise. Based on data from a sample of 1,558 musicians, ranging from amateurs to world-renowned soloists, the Deliberate Practice in Music Inventory (DPMI) was created, a self-report questionnaire and measurement instrument for practice quality consisting of a main DP scale and four subscales: Process improvement, Practice competences, Mindless practice (inverted scale), and Task decomposition. Results indicated that musicians who implement effective practice habits are focused on solving problems related to music playing and often refine their practice routines to increase their effectiveness. In addition, musicians who usually exhibit high amounts of DP behavior often decompose long and complex tasks into shorter and simpler elements, aiming to master them more easily and in shorter time. The DPMI instrument shows good convergent validity with measures related to expertise in music as well as good predictive validity for performance improvement. The DPMI generates new perspectives for the field of musical expertise research.

Concurrent and predictive relations of multidimensional perfectionism with test anxiety in secondary school students

Abstract: ABSTRACT Background and Objectives. Perfectionism is a multidimensional personality trait often viewed as a risk factor for developing test anxiety. A recent meta-analysis showed positive correlations of perfectionism facets with test anxiety dimensions. However, all previous research into the perfectionism-test anxiety relation has been cross-sectional. Thus, it is unclear whether perfectionism facets longitudinally predict test anxiety. Design. In this study, we investigated concurrent and predictive relations of two perfectionism facets with cognitive test anxiety (worry) and affective test anxiety (emotionality) in secondary school students (N = 478, mean age at T1 = 11.95 years). At T1, participants completed self-report measures of text anxiety and perfectionism. Almost five years later, participants again reported their test anxiety levels (T2). Results. Concern over mistakes and doubts correlated positively with current worry and emotionality. Personal standards correlated positively with current worry. Neither concern over mistakes and doubts nor personal standards significantly predicted later test anxiety beyond baseline. Conclusions. Perfectionism and test anxiety share common manifestations. Yet, this study raises the question whether perfectionism truly influences test anxiety development or whether other factors (e.g., construct overlap) may explain the identified cross-sectional correlations. Future research is needed to provide more nuanced insights into perfectionism-test anxiety associations.