If ‘smart’ is really just a frame of mind When I was in comp sci tutes, I'd spend almost all my time helping other students. I got the very strong impression t

If ‘smart’ is really just a frame of mind When I was in comp sci tutes, I'd spend almost all my time helping other students. I got the very strong impression that my confidence was the crucial difference. Although I did have much more prior experience (in a different language), and lots of evidence that I was smart, the way I helped them solve problems that they couldn't solve, was by looking - whereas they didn't look. My extra experience really only helped in the sense of knowing to look at all places for the bug (not just where you think it is). What operationally made the difference in practice, was the confidence to look. Of course, this is not scientific: maybe I just knew more and was smarter. But my impression does fit with the scientific study you cite.