Angela Duckworth

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Angela Duckworth
Angela Duckworth, 2017 (cropped).jpg
Angela Duckworth, in 2017
Born1970 (age 53–54)
Bangkok, Thailand
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Harvard College
University of Oxford
University of Pennsylvania
Spouse
Jason Duckworth
​
(m. 1998)​
Children2
Awards MacArthur Fellowship
Marshall Scholarship
Scientific career
Fields Psychology

Angela Lee Duckworth (born 1970) is an American academic, psychologist, and popular science author. She is the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studies grit and self-control. She is also the Founder and former CEO of Character Lab, a not-for-profit whose mission is to advance the science and practice of character development.

Contents

Life

Duckworth was born in 1970 to Chinese immigrants. [1] Her father Ying Kao Lee (1933-2020) was a chemist with DuPont and invented Lucite dispersion lacquer. [2] She grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey [3] and graduated from Cherry Hill High School East. [4]

Duckworth earned a B.A. in Neurobiology at Harvard College in 1992. [5] She then graduated from the University of Oxford in 1996 with an M.Sc. in neuroscience on a Marshall Scholarship, and from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006 with a Ph.D. in psychology. [6] [7] She was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2013. [7]

After obtaining a master's degree, Duckworth was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. She quit about a year later to become a math teacher at Lowell High School (San Francisco). [8]

Duckworth's first book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, was released in May 2016. [9] It stayed on TheNew York Times bestseller list for 21 weeks. [10] A review of the book in The New York Times called Duckworth "the psychologist who has made 'grit' the reigning buzzword in education-policy circles." [11]

Duckworth is currently the co-host of the podcast No Stupid Questions on the Freakonomics Radio network. [12] [13]

Grit

Duckworth is best known for her research on grit, a strength she defines as passion and perseverance for long-term goals. [1] [14] [15] She developed the Grit Scale, a measure of this construct. [15] [16]

Duckworth has found grit to be a common factor among the high-achievers she has studied. [15] Her work suggests that grit is unrelated to IQ but is closely related to conscientiousness. [14] [15] Grit has been studied across the lifespan, but Duckworth focuses primarily on how building grit can help adolescents. [9] This falls under the umbrella of character education and the movement to expand school instruction beyond solely cognitive factors.

Since the introduction of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015, there has been a growing call for effective ways to measure character strengths. [17] However, Duckworth herself has encouraged caution when applying and, especially, testing character in classrooms. [18] One reason is that existing measures were designed for scientific purposes, and so as yet there are no reliable ways to measure grit in high-stakes situations, like college admissions or job applications. [19]

Some claim that focusing on grit would lead to the neglect of other important factors, like the positive socio-economic prerequisites necessary to deploy it. [20] Duckworth has acknowledged the importance of environmental factors, saying that it's not that one matters more than the other but rather that they both matter: "The question is not whether we should concern ourselves with grit or structural barriers to achievement. In the most profound sense, both are important, and more than that, they are intertwined." [21]

Grit has had its share of critics. A 2017 meta-analysis found that "grit is only moderately correlated with performance and retention," and that it had not been adequately distinguished from several previously studied constructs, including conscientiousness, persistence, and industriousness. [22] In a 2021 article, Duckworth acknowledged that she had misinterpreted the psychometric properties of her Grit scale. [23]

Related Research Articles

Emotional intelligence (EI) is defined as the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions. People with high emotional intelligence can recognize their own emotions and those of others, use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, and adjust emotions to adapt to environments.

Positive psychology studies the conditions that contribute to the optimal functioning of people, groups, and institutions. It studies "positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions... it aims to improve quality of life."

In psychology, trait theory is an approach to the study of human personality. Trait theorists are primarily interested in the measurement of traits, which can be defined as habitual patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion. According to this perspective, traits are aspects of personality that are relatively stable over time, differ across individuals, are relatively consistent over situations, and influence behaviour. Traits are in contrast to states, which are more transitory dispositions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Personality test</span> Method of assessing human personality constructs

A personality test is a method of assessing human personality constructs. Most personality assessment instruments are in fact introspective self-report questionnaire measures or reports from life records (L-data) such as rating scales. Attempts to construct actual performance tests of personality have been very limited even though Raymond Cattell with his colleague Frank Warburton compiled a list of over 2000 separate objective tests that could be used in constructing objective personality tests. One exception however, was the Objective-Analytic Test Battery, a performance test designed to quantitatively measure 10 factor-analytically discerned personality trait dimensions. A major problem with both L-data and Q-data methods is that because of item transparency, rating scales and self-report questionnaires are highly susceptible to motivational and response distortion ranging all the way from lack of adequate self-insight to downright dissimulation depending on the reason/motivation for the assessment being undertaken.

Conscientiousness is the personality trait of being careful or diligent. Conscientiousness implies a desire to do a task well, and to take obligations to others seriously. Conscientious people tend to be efficient and organized as opposed to easy-going and disorderly. They tend to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for achievement; they display planned rather than spontaneous behavior; and they are generally dependable. Conscientiousness manifests in characteristic behaviors such as being neat, systematic, careful, thorough, and deliberate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Five personality traits</span> Personality model consisting of five broad dimensions

The Big Five personality traits, sometimes known as "the five-factor model of personality" or "OCEAN model", is a grouping of five unique characteristics used to study personality. It has been developed from the 1980s onward in psychological trait theory.

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The Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS) is a widely used measure of impulsiveness. It includes 30 items that are scored to yield six first-order factors and three second-order factors.

Character education is an umbrella term loosely used to describe the teaching of children and adults in a manner that will help them develop variously as moral, civic, good, mannered, behaved, non-bullying, healthy, critical, successful, traditional, compliant or socially acceptable beings. Concepts that now and in the past have fallen under this term include social and emotional learning, moral reasoning and cognitive development, life skills education, health education, violence prevention, critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and conflict resolution and mediation. Many of these are now considered failed programs, i.e. "religious education", "moral development", "values clarification".

Agreeableness is a personality trait referring to individuals that are perceived as kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm, honest, and considerate. In personality psychology, agreeableness is one of the five major dimensions of personality structure, reflecting individual differences in cooperation and social harmony.

Psychopathy is a mental health condition characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been used throughout history that are only partly overlapping and may sometimes be contradictory.

Practice is the act of rehearsing a behavior repeatedly, to help learn and eventually master a skill. The word derives from the Greek "πρακτική" (praktike), feminine of "πρακτικός" (praktikos), "fit for or concerned with action, practical", and that from the verb "πράσσω" (prasso), "to achieve, bring about, effect, accomplish".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Determination</span> Positive emotional feeling

Determination is a positive emotional feeling that promotes persevering towards a difficult goal in spite of obstacles. Determination occurs prior to goal attainment and serves to motivate behavior that will help achieve one's goal.

In psychology, grit is a positive, non-cognitive trait based on a person's perseverance of effort combined with their passion for a particular long-term goal or end state. This perseverance of effort helps people overcome obstacles or challenges to accomplishment and drives people to achieve.

In psychology, manipulation is defined as subterfuge designed to influence or control another, usually in a manner which facilitates one's personal aims. The methods used distort or orient the interlocutor's perception of reality, in particular through seduction, suggestion, persuasion and non-voluntary or consensual submission. Definitions for the term vary in which behavior is specifically included, influenced by both culture and whether referring to the general population or used in clinical contexts. Manipulation is generally considered a dishonest form of social influence as it is used at the expense of others.

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Academic buoyancy is a type of resilience relating specifically to academic attainment. It is defined as 'the ability of students to successfully deal with academic setbacks and challenges that are ‘typical of the ordinary course of school life '. It is, therefore, related to traditional definitions of resilience but allows a narrower focus in order to target interventions more precisely. The academic buoyancy model was first proposed by psychologists Andrew Martin and Herbert W. Marsh, following the identification of significant differences between classic resilience and the day-to-day setbacks experienced by students.

References

  1. 1 2 Denby, David (2016-06-21). "The Limits of "Grit"". The New Yorker. ISSN   0028-792X . Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  2. ↑ "Ying Kao Lee, DuPont inventor of lacquer that kept cars shiny, dies at 87". 15 April 2020.
  3. ↑ Hartnett, Kevin (2012). "Character's content" (PDF). The Pennsylvania Gazette. May–June: 58–63.
  4. ↑ Del Giudice, Marguerite. "Grit Trumps Talent and IQ: A Story Every Parent (and Educator) Should Read; Angela Duckworth and her team devise strategies to help students learn how to work hard and adapt in the face of temptation, distraction, and defeat.", National Geographic , October 14, 2014. Accessed February 12, 2020. "Angie's favorite teacher at Cherry Hill High School East was Matthew Carr, who taught English and has just retired after 40 years."
  5. ↑ "Psychology Professor Angela Duckworth to Give Penn's 2017 Baccalaureate Address". Penn Today. 13 April 2017. Retrieved 2020-03-11.
  6. ↑ "Angela Duckworth". University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychology. Retrieved 2013-11-07.
  7. 1 2 "Angela Duckworth". MacArthur Foundation. 2013-09-25. Retrieved 2013-11-07. Age: 43
  8. ↑ Duckworth, Angela (2016). Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. Scribner.
  9. 1 2 Cocozza, Paula (2016-05-07). "Is grit the true secret of success?". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2020-03-11.
  10. ↑ "Paperback Nonfiction Books - Best Sellers - Feb. 3, 2019 - The New York Times". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  11. ↑ Shulevitz, Judith (May 4, 2016). "'Grit,' by Angela Duckworth". The New York Times. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
  12. ↑ "No Stupid Questions". Freakonomics. Retrieved 2021-03-20.
  13. ↑ "The best job interview question, according to Angela Duckworth of "Grit" fame". Quartz at Work. 21 August 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-20.
  14. 1 2 Engber, Daniel (2016-05-08). "Is "Grit" Really the Key to Success?". Slate. ISSN   1091-2339 . Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Duckworth, Angela L.; Peterson, Christopher; Matthews, Michael D.; Kelly, Dennis R. (2007). "Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 92 (6): 1087–1101. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087. ISSN   1939-1315. PMID   17547490. S2CID   11159170.
  16. ↑ Duckworth, Angela Lee; Quinn, Patrick D. (2009-02-17). "Development and Validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit–S)". Journal of Personality Assessment. 91 (2): 166–174. doi:10.1080/00223890802634290. ISSN   0022-3891. PMID   19205937. S2CID   15232924.
  17. ↑ "ESSA Law Broadens Definition of School Success". Education Week. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
  18. ↑ Duckworth, Angela (2016-03-26). "Opinion | Don't Grade Schools on Grit". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-03-05.
  19. ↑ Duckworth & Yeager (2015). "Measurement matters: Assessing personal qualities other than cognitive ability for educational purposes" (PDF). Educational Researcher. 44 (4): 237–251. doi:10.3102/0013189x15584327. PMC   4849415 . PMID   27134288.
  20. ↑ Rose, Mike (May 14, 2015). "Why teaching kids to have 'grit' isn't always a good thing". Washington Post.
  21. ↑ "Angela Duckworth". Angela Duckworth. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
  22. ↑ Credé, M.; Tynan, M.C.; Harms, P.D. (September 2017). "Much ado about grit: A meta-analytic synthesis of the grit literature". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 113 (3): 492–511. doi:10.1037/pspp0000102. PMID   27845531. S2CID   24361685.
  23. ↑ Duckworth, A.L.; Quinn, P.D.; Tsukayama, E. (July 2021). "Revisiting the Factor Structure of Grit: A Commentary on Duckworth and Quinn (2009)". Journal of Personality Assessment. 103 (5): 573–575. doi:10.1080/00223891.2021.1942022. PMID   34254861. S2CID   235808561.
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