Success in life depends on a lot of things: talent and practice, for sure, and perhaps something called grit, a combination of perseverance and consistent interests over long periods of time. Grit, in fact, has gotten a lot more attention than the other two lately. But a new study suggests the role of grit, in academic achievement at least, might be overstated.
In fairness to Angela Duckworth, the University of Pennsylvania psychologist behind the grit concept, she and her colleagues never really argued otherwise. In the original paper, grit explained only about four percent of the differences between individuals' levels of success, making it an important factor, but hardly the only one. The point wasn't that talent or other factors weren't crucial; it was that grit could help turn natural talent into success.
[For more of this story, written by Nathan Collins, go to http://www.psmag.com/health-an...-grit-really-get-you]
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