David Hambrick

{{Short description|American psychologist}}

{{Infobox scientist

| honorific_prefix =

| name = David Z. Hambrick

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| citizenship = American

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| fields = Cognitive psychology
Experimental psychology

| workplaces = Michigan State University

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| education = Methodist University (BS, 1994)
Georgia Institute of Technology (MS, 1997; PhD, 2000)

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| thesis_title = Effects of domain knowledge, working memory capacity and age on cognitive performance

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| thesis_year = 2000

| doctoral_advisor = Randall Engle

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| known_for = Research on practice and the 10,000-Hour Rule

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| awards = James McKeen Cattell Award for Outstanding Dissertation in Psychology from the New York Academy of Sciences (2001)

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David Zachary (Zach) Hambrick is a psychology professor at Michigan State University, known for his research on the effects of practice on proficiency in various skills. Hambrick's research has concluded that practice is important in explaining ability in fields such as chess, music, and academics, but less so than argued by other psychologists, notably K. Anders Ericsson.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/science/which-matters-more-talent-or-practice.html |title=How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall? Talent |last=Carey |first=Benedict |date=2014-07-15 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2018-08-29 |language=en |author-link=Benedict Carey}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/a-top-psychologist-says-theres-only-one-way-to-become-the-best-in-your-field-but-not-everyone-agrees-a7376711.html |title=A top psychologist says there's only one way to become the best in your field — but not everyone agrees |last=Lebowitz |first=Shana |date=2016-10-23 |work=The Independent |access-date=2018-08-29 |language=en-GB}}{{Cite news |url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140310-gladwell-expertise-practice-debate-intelligence/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314065016/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140310-gladwell-expertise-practice-debate-intelligence |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 14, 2014 |title=Are Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 Hours of Practice Really All You Need? |last=Vergano |first=Dan |date=2014-03-12 |work=National Geographic |access-date=2018-08-29}} Hambrick contends that, in addition to amount of practice, working memory capacity is associated with better performance on a wide variety of tasks.{{Cite press release |title=Psychologists Defend The Importance Of General Abilities |date=2011-10-20 |url=https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/psychologists-defend-the-importance-of-general-abilities.html |language=en-US |access-date=2018-08-29 |work=Association for Psychological Science}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2011/10/msu_research_intelligence_not.html |title=MSU research: Intelligence, not practice, makes perfect |last=Howell |first=Brandon |date=2011-10-06 |work=MLive |access-date=2018-08-29 |language=en-US}}