Remaining committed to goals is necessary (albeit not sufficient) to attaining them, but very little is known about domain-general individual differences that contribute to sustained goal commitment. The current investigation examines the association between grit, defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, other individual difference variables, and retention in four different contexts: the military, workplace sales, high school, and marriage. Grit predicted retention over and beyond established context-specific predictors of retention (e.g., intelligence, physical aptitude, Big Five personality traits, job tenure) and demographic variables in each setting. Grittier soldiers were more likely to complete an Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) selection course, grittier sales employees were more likely to keep their jobs, grittier students were more likely to graduate from high school, and grittier men were more likely to stay married. The relative predictive validity of grit compared to other traditional predictors of retention is examined in each of the four studies. These findings suggest that in addition to domain-specific influences, there may be domain-general individual differences which influence commitment to diverse life goals over time.

Self-control refers to the alignment of thoughts, feelings, and actions with enduringly valued goals in the face of momentarily more alluring alternatives. In this review, we examine the role of self-control in academic achievement. We begin by defining self-control and distinguishing it from related constructs. Next, we summarize evidence that nearly all students experience conflict between academic goals that they value in the long run and nonacademic goals that they find more gratifying in the moment. We then turn to longitudinal evidence relating self-control to academic attainment, course grades, and performance on standardized achievement tests. We use the process model of self-control to illustrate how impulses are generated and regulated, emphasizing opportunities for students to deliberately strengthen impulses that are congruent with, and dampen impulses that are incongruent with, academic goals. Finally, we conclude with future directions for both science and practice.

Abstract. The construct grit originates from positive psychology and describes an individual’s tendency to persistently pursue long-term goals despite challenges or obstacles. Previous research has shown that domain-general grit is a predictor of educational and vocational success. The present research aimed to establish and validate a German version of the Short Grit Scale by Duckworth and Quinn (2009) , named the BISS-8 ( Beharrlichkeit and Beständiges Intere sse) Scale, and to test for the domain specificity of grit in an educational context. We conducted three studies to investigate the BISS-8 Scale: in Study 1 ( N = 525 university students) confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) replicated a two-dimensional higher-order structure for the scale. Study 2 ( N = 173 university students) investigated the correlations of grit with external criteria such as grade point average (GPA), generalized self-efficacy, general academic self-concept, and personality traits. Finally, in Study 3 ( N = 271 high school students), we found differential correlations with school achievement for domain-specific grit. Moreover, the validity of the BISS-8 Scale was also supported for adolescents by replicating the measurement model. All in all, our results indicate the validity of the BISS-8 Scale and show the importance to account for grit in different domains.

Milkman et al.

Our society celebrates failure as a teachable moment. Yet in five studies (total N = 1,674), failure did the opposite: It undermined learning. Across studies, participants answered binary-choice questions, following which they were told they answered correctly (success feedback) or incorrectly (failure feedback). Both types of feedback conveyed the correct answer, because there were only two answer choices. However, on a follow-up test, participants learned less from failure feedback than from success feedback. This effect was replicated across professional, linguistic, and social domains—even when learning from failure was less cognitively taxing than learning from success and even when learning was incentivized. Participants who received failure feedback also remembered fewer of their answer choices. Why does failure undermine learning? Failure is ego threatening, which causes people to tune out. Participants learned less from personal failure than from personal success, yet they learned just as much from other people’s failure as from others’ success. Thus, when ego concerns are muted, people tune in and learn from failure.