Mindset · editorial rating
Angela Duckworth
Duckworth is on the Penn faculty, and the 2007 studies found a real grit signal, about 4% of the variance, beyond IQ and conscientiousness (S1, S5). Later synthesis and her own multivariate models put that signal in a small range and mostly inside conscientiousness, with the passion half doing less work (S6, S9, S10).
Editorial opinion: SG Score 76 out of 100. Verdict: EVIDENCE-BACKED. This is not a customer star rating and not a finding by a court.
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Books
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- Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance Angela Duckworth
Free resources
These are the guru's own free pages. SuccessGuru does not endorse them, and they do not change an SG Score.
- Grit ScaleFree 12-question scale on her site, meant for research and self-reflection.Tool
- Grit Lab 101Free 13-week high school course. Educators sign up with an institutional email.Course
- Character Lab PlaybooksFree playbooks on the legacy site of the nonprofit she co-founded.Guide
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Strengths
- A Penn professor and MacArthur Fellow whose peer-reviewed grit studies find a real, small signal beyond IQ (S1 S17 S5 S6)
- She has written that schools should not be rewarded or punished on character scores, that no available measure suits between-school accountability, and that the Grit Scale is for research and self-reflection (S14 S11 S3)
- The paperback lists at $19.99, the Grit Scale and the 13-week Grit Lab 101 course are free, and Character Lab's free playbooks stayed online after it closed in June 2024 (S4 S3 S13 S16 S19)
Weaknesses
- A meta-analysis of 66,807 people did not confirm the two-part grit trait, found only a moderate tie to performance and retention, and found a very strong overlap with conscientiousness (S6)
- In her own 2014 models, grit's unique share was 1.84% in special-forces completion and 0.50% in Chicago graduation, below fitness and test scores, and a UK twin summary found a 0.5% add-on after personality (S10 S9)
- The book page still calls grit the secret to outstanding achievement and says it can grow, though she agreed the West Point '99% more likely' line meant 98% versus 95% completion (S3 S8)
Claims
partly. The secret to outstanding achievement is not talent but a special blend of passion and persistence she calls grit.
The 2007 paper found that grit accounted for an average of 4% of the variance in outcomes such as educational attainment, Ivy League grades, West Point retention, and spelling bee rank, and that it still predicted those outcomes beyond IQ and conscientiousness, while correlating highly with conscientiousness (S5). A 2017 meta-analysis of 584 effect sizes, 88 samples, and 66,807 people did not confirm grit as a higher-order trait, found only a moderate link to performance and retention, and found a very strong link to conscientiousness (S6). NPR reported that analysis put the correlation with academic success at 0.18, and Duckworth told NPR the independent impact is small to medium (S8).
partly. In her TED talk, across West Point, tough teaching jobs, and sales, one characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success, and it was grit rather than IQ, looks, or physical health.
The 2007 paper did find prediction beyond IQ, and a 2014 paper she coauthored still found grit predicting special-forces completion after intelligence and fitness (odds ratio 1.32) and Chicago on-time graduation after test scores (odds ratio 1.21) (S5 S10). In those same models grit's unique share was 1.84% for special-forces completion and 0.50% for Chicago graduation, against 7.28% for physical fitness and 4.03% for achievement tests (S10). She later told NPR the independent effect is small to medium, and she agreed with a critique that a paper line calling grittier cadets 99% more likely to finish summer training described about 98% completion versus 95% (S8).
partly. She's also found scientific evidence that grit can grow.
In her 2013 TED talk she said she did not know how to build grit in kids and pointed to growth mindset, whose programs show small average effects (S7 R07). Crede's meta-analysis concluded that interventions to enhance grit may have only weak effects on performance, and a twin study summary of about 4,500 sixteen-year-olds found grit added 0.5% to GCSE prediction after personality and urged more research before concluding grit training raises achievement (S6 S9).
Also in Mindset
- Carol S. Dweck (76, EVIDENCE-BACKED)
- Mel Robbins (61, MIXED)
- Jay Shetty (50, OVERSTATED)
Sources
- S1 Angela Duckworth faculty profile. University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychology. https://psychology.sas.upenn.edu/people/angela-duckworth
- S2 Angela Duckworth, Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor. Penn Arts and Sciences Endowed Professors. https://web.sas.upenn.edu/endowed-professors/duckworth/
- S3 Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. Angela Duckworth. https://www.angeladuckworth.com/grit
- S4 Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. Simon & Schuster. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Grit/Angela-Duckworth/9781501111112
- S5 Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals. PubMed / Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17547490/
- S6 Much Ado About Grit: A Meta-Analytic Synthesis of the Grit Literature. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Ovid). https://www.ovid.com/journals/jpspy/abstract/10.1037/pspp0000102~much-ado-about-grit-a-meta-analytic-synthesis-of-the-grit
- S7 Is Having Grit the Key to Success? (TED Radio Hour transcript). NPR. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/240779578
- S8 MacArthur 'Genius' Angela Duckworth Responds To A New Critique Of Grit. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/05/25/479172868/angela-duckworth-responds-to-a-new-critique-of-grit
- S9 Grit adds little to prediction of academic achievement. King's College London. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/archive/news/ioppn/records/2016/february/grit-adds-little-to-prediction-of-academic-achievement
- S10 The grit effect: predicting retention in the military, the workplace, school and marriage. Frontiers in Psychology. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00036/full
- S11 Measurement Matters: Assessing Personal Qualities Other Than Cognitive Ability for Educational Purposes. Educational Researcher (PubMed Central). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4849415/
- S12 Megastudies improve the impact of applied behavioural science. Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04128-4
- S13 Grit Lab 101. Angela Duckworth. https://www.angeladuckworth.com/gl101
- S14 Don't Grade Schools on Grit (New York Times op-ed, reprinted). Larry Cuban / New York Times. https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2016/04/09/dont-grade-schools-on-grit-angela-duckworth/
- S16 Celebrating Character Lab. Character.org. https://character.org/2024/04/celebrating-character-lab/
- S17 Angela Duckworth, 2013 MacArthur Fellow. MacArthur Foundation. https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2013/angela-duckworth
- S18 Grit: The power of passion and perseverance. TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance
- S19 Character Lab home. Character Lab. https://characterlab.org/
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