This reminded me of Carol Dweck’s study: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/february7/dweck-020707.html
It is about having a fixed vs. growth theory of intelligence. If you think that your intelligence is fixed, you will avoid challenging tasks in order to preserve your self-image, whereas people with growth mentality will embrace it in order to improve. Important: never tell a child that it is intelligent.
I second the idea of super-votes. IMHO you(EY) should be allowed to super-vote how much you want since I trust your judgement as do most of the others, I suppose.