Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
106 (2014): 148–68.
I wish I could take credit for the expression, “character is plural.” I cannot. Many others have made the same
observation, including Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman in 
Character Strengths and Virtues
(New York: Oxford University
Press, 2004), 10.
Daeun Park et al., “A Tripartite Taxonomy of Character: Evidence for Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and
Intellectual Competencies in Youth,” (manuscript under review, 2015). Note that these same three virtue clusters correspond, roughly,
to the Big Five personality dimensions of conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to experience.
:
I see self-control as related but distinct from grit. You can be self-controlled about a goal that is not your
top-level, ultimate concern. And self-control isn’t directly related to overcoming setbacks and failures. However, both grit and self-
control are about achieving valued goals. See Angela L. Duckworth and James J. Gross, “Self-Control and Grit: Related but
Separable Determinants of Success,” 
Current Directions in Psychological Science
23 (2014): 319–25. I personally believe that
self-control is an extraordinarily important virtue, and to learn more about strategies that facilitate it and their benefits, see Walter
Mischel, 
The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control
(New York: Little, Brown, 2014), and Roy F. Baumeister and John
Tierney, 
Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength
(New York: Penguin, 2011).
David Brooks, 
The Road to Character
(New York: Random House, 2015), xi.
:
I haven’t touched upon creativity in this book. In many endeavors, creativity is absolutely essential, and I direct the
interested reader to Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire, 
Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind
(New York: Perigee Books, 2015).

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:
Park et al., “Tripartite Taxonomy.”
“Advice on Writing from the 
Atlantic
’s Ta-Nehisi Coates,” Atlantic video, September 27, 2013,
http://www.theatlantic.com/video/archive/2013/09/advice-on-writing-from-i-the-atlantic-i-s-ta-nehisi-coates/280025
.
:
“Journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2015 MacArthur Fellow,” MacArthur Foundation video, posted September 28, 2015,
https://www.macfound.org/fellows/931
.

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INDEX
A note about the index:
The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number
will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations
of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
Academy Awards, 
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), 
Age and grit,–
Airborne Rangers,, 
Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation,Allen, Woody, 
Amazon.com
, 
America’s Got Talent
(television program),Anderson, Chris, 
Angelou, Maya, 
Animal experiments. 
See
Dogs, experiments on; Rats, experiments on
Anxiety, 
Apatow, Judd,Aristotle, 
, 
Army Special Operations Forces. 
See
Green Berets
Army Ten-Miler, 
Asemani, Kayvon,–
Attribution retraining program, 
Attrition model, 
Authoritarian parenting, 
, 
, 
Authoritative parenting. 
See
Wise (authoritative) parenting
Autonomously motivated goals, 
n
Bacon, Francis,Baime, Michael, 
–
Baldwin, James, 
Basketball, 
Beast Barracks, 
–
, 
characteristics of successful cadets, 
–
diminished attrition rate in, 
typical day at, 
Beck, Aaron, 
, 
Beep Test, 
–
Berg, Justin,