Research Paper on:
Personality Development and Overachievement

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
relationship between personality and achievement is highlighted. Bibliography lists 10 sources. SA136ovr.rtf I. Introduction In schools across America, teachers and principals and  parents wonder why one child grows up to achieve great things-and are essentially overachievers-whereas others cannot be motivated to do their homework. What makes the difference? Is it IQ as  many believe, or are personality factors more significant? Obviously, IQ plays a part and helps to define the concepts of over and under-achievement. However, personality also plays a role.  In focusing on overachievement in particular, definitions become important. There does seem to be a group that is about the same size as the underachievers, who should  be labeled overachievers because they seem to be capable of achieving more than what is deemed their achievement level via IQ testing (Plewis, 1991). One can see the problem in  defining overachievement. It threatens the validity of IQ testing in the first place and also, if IQ does fix the limits of achievement, overachievement is a contradiction in terms (1991).  If IQ does not play such a limiting role, then to use such a term seems inappropriate and from a scientific perspective, it is surprising to find so little discussion  about overachievers and their characteristics, especially when compared with the attention given to underachievers (1991). Underachievers are given attention because it is problematic. Achieving more than expected is considered good,  and there is no reward system built into education that would motivate an overachiever. Therefore, one may speculate that overachievement is intrinsic, or a part of the personality.  Much is understood about underachievement. Underachievers do not persist until completion, find it hard to work within time limits and have difficulty functioning independently (Spevak & Karinch, 2000). Overachievers