Gritty people try harder: Grit and effort-related cardiac autonomic activity during an active coping challenge

Abstract

Grit, a recently proposed personality trait associated with persistence for long-range goals, predicts achievement in a wide range of important life outcomes. Using motivational intensity theory, the present research examined the physiological underpinnings of grit during an active coping task. Forty young adults completed the Short Grit Scale and worked on a self-paced mental effort task. Effort-related autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity was assessed using impedance cardiography, which yielded measures of sympathetic activity (pre-ejection period; PEP) and parasympathetic activity (respiratory sinus arrhythmia; RSA). Multilevel models revealed that people high on the Perseverance of Effort subscale showed autonomic coactivation: both PEP and RSA became stronger during the task, reflecting higher activity of both ANS divisions. The Consistency of Interest subscale, in contrast, predicted only weaker sympathetic activity (slower PEP). Taken together, the findings illuminate autonomic processes associated with how “gritty” people pursue goals, and they suggest that more attention should be paid to the facets’ distinct effects.

Reflecting on past failures leads to increased perseverance and sustained attention

“…Although previous research has found that the two different facets of grit correspond differently to behaviour (see Silvia et al, 2013), a betweensubjects ANOVA yielded similar differences among groups both on the Perseverance of Effort, F(2, 138) = 5.17, p = .007, g 2 p = 0.25, and Consistency of Interest subscales, F(2, 138) = 4.69, p = .011, g 2 p = 0.17), with similar least squares difference test results across groups. Similar to the findings reported by Duckworth and Quinn (2009), the two subscales were highly correlated in our sample (r = .41, p < .001), though our sample scored significantly higher on the Perseverance of Effort subscale (M = 1.88, SD = 0.35) than the Consistency of Interest subscale, M = 1.51, SD = 0.33 t(140) = 11.75, p < .011.…”

“…For example, Duckworth and Quinn (2009) found that Consistency of Interest was strongly predictive of career consistency, whereas Perseverance was predictive of GPA. Furthermore, recent work in regards to psychophysiological measures found that greater physiological expenditure was positively correlated with scores on the Perseverance of Effort subscale, whereas these measures were negatively correlated with the Consistency of Interest subscale (Silvia, Eddington, Beaty, Nusbaum, & Kwapil, 2013).…”

Effort deficits and depression: The influence of anhedonic depressive symptoms on cardiac autonomic activity during a mental challenge

“…This task is challenging because ignoring centrally-presented words is hard and making parity judgments is unusual (Aquino & Arnell, 2007; Harris & Pashler, 2004). This task has been effective in our past research (Silvia, Eddington, Beaty, Nusbaum, & Kwapil, 2013; Silvia & Phillips, 2013). …”

“…As in our past work (Silvia, Eddington et al, 2013), the parity task was “unfixed” in difficulty (Wright et al, 2002). Each trial remained on the screen until people responded and then terminated immediately, so people could work at their own pace.…”

Individual differences in exploration and persistence: Grit and beliefs about ability and reward

“…Previous research has demonstrated that individuals who score highly on measures of grit, and who persevere in the face of difficult tasks, are often more successful in a variety of domains including health, education, and finances [20,22,23,35,36]. It remained unclear whether grittier individuals persist because they believe there are more likely/larger rewards available in the environment than do individuals with less grit, or if instead gritty and non-gritty individuals both make similar inferences regarding what rewards are available in the environment, but gritty individuals infer that they are more likely to actually reach those rewards.…”