Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The study proposed to investigate why those high in grit tend to be more successful, specifically investigating grit???s associations with stress and task persistence\nPart one explored the possibility that grit allows for a more positive interpretation of stress. It was hypothesized that grit would allow individuals to interpret stress more positively. Part two investigated the relationship between grit and an individual???s ability to be persistent. It was hypothesized that when completing a measure of task persistence, with no framing or framed as a competition, individuals would perform similarly regardless of grit. However, when the task was framed as a stepping stone to one of their long-term goals (graduation), individuals high in grit would outperform their low grit counterparts. \nParticipants (n = 139) completed the short grit scale during pre-screening. Subsequently, in the lab participants were administered the perceived stress scale, life events checklist, then randomly assigned to the control, raffle or goal-directed conditions. Participants then completed a computerized mirror tracing persistence task. Additionally, a second group of participants (??n = 329) were tracked for 11 days measuring grit on day 1 and stress daily.\nResults revealed that gritty individuals experience a similar number of stressors but may interpret those stressors as more positive. Indicating that grit may allow individuals to persevere toward long term goals, in part, by allowing for advantageous interpretations of stress, and not because gritty individuals possess superior task persistence. These findings suggest that there may be an underlying mechanism by which gritty individuals are able to be successful.
Author: Travis Jay Miller
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1155298899