Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Grit and conscientiousness

Grit and conscientiousness:
What are the similarities and differences between grit and conscientiousness and what are the implications?

Multimedia presentation (3 min)

Overview

Scenario Rachel, a third-year law student, faces immense pressure as she balances her studies, full-time work and a busy personal life. Rachel has also recently moved out of home and maintains a clean and tidy home. On top of full-time study, work and domestic duties, Rachel plays netball once a week. Despite Rachel's overwhelming workload, she consistently performs well, driven by her passion and desire to be a lawyer.

Grit and conscientiousness are personality traits that work together to achieve success. Grit is the perseverance and passion for long-term goals, allowing individuals to push through challenges. Conscientiousness, on the other hand, describes the degree of organisation, responsibility and discipline necessary to help individuals to consistently achieve their goals.

• Define grit as perseverance and passion for long-term goals.
• Define conscientiousness as a personality trait characterised by organisation, responsibility and self-discipline.
• Emphasise the importance of understanding how grit and conscientiousness influence success.
• State the focus which is comparing and contrasting grit and conscientiousness.

Focus Questions How is grit and conscientiousness reflected in Rachel's life? What are the key similarities and differences between grit and conscientiousness in this context? How do psychological theories explain the relationship between grit and conscientiousness? What are the implications of these traits for Rachel's future professional success? How can understanding these traits help others in similar situations?

This template provides tips for the topic development exercise. Gradually remove these suggestions as the chapter develops. It is OK to retain some of this template content for the topic development exercise. Also consult the book chapter guidelines.

The Overview is typically consists of one to four paragraphs inbetween the scenario and focus questions. Suggested word count aim for the Overview: 180 to 330 words

Suggestions for this section: Engage the reader with a scenario, example, or case study, and an accompanying image Explain the problem and why it is important Outline how psychological science can help Present focus questions

Defining grit and conscientiousness

• Opening paragraph with definitions of grit and conscientiousness.
• Discuss/link to TED talk (Duckworth, 2013).
• Both traits contribute to achievement but operate through different mechanisms.

Characteristics of grit

• Grit is characterised by perseverance and passion for long-term goals (Duckworth et al., 2007).
• Highlight how grit manifests in sustained effort.
• Discuss Duckworth's research on grit and its relevant/connection to achievement in challenging situations.

Characteristics of conscientiousness

• Conscientiousness is associated with being organised, responsible, and dependable (Roberts at al., 2014).
• Connect conscientiousness to the Five Factor Model.
• Discuss how conscientiousness influences daily behaviours, decision-making and goal achievement.
• Why are some people more conscientious than others?

Comparing grit and conscientiousness

• Explain how both traits contribute to longterm success by promoting goal-oriented behaviours.
• Discuss the role of self-regulation in both grit and conscientiousness.
• Grit is a personality trait which manifests in the ability to demonstrate passion and perseverance towards goals in the face of challenges and obstacles whilst conscientiousness describes the desire to complete tasks well and take obligations seriously.

Similarities between grit and conscientiousness

• Similarities: Both traits are linked to self-discipline and long-term success (Ponnock et al., 2020).
• Both are a combination of passion and perseverance to achieve goals.
• Each require resilience and courage.

Differences between grit and conscientiousness

• Differences: Grit emphasises persistence in the face of challenges, while conscientiousness focuses on diligence and reliability in daily tasks (Schmidt et al., 2018).
• Emphasise that grit is more about passion and perseverance over tine, while conscientiousness focuses on attention to detail and reliability in tasks.
• Discuss instances where one trait may be more influential than the other (e.g. grit in overcoming challenges, conscientiousness in consistent achievement).

The interplay of grit and conscientiousness

• Understanding these differences is crucial for tailored personal development strategies.
• Consider how the similarities and differences impact strategies for personal and professional development.
• Examine how grit and conscientiousness can complement each other in achieving goals.
• Discuss potential disadvantages when one trait is more prominent.
• Consider how these traits contribute to resilience and goal achievement together,
• Can you have one without the other?

Psychological theories and research

Theoretical perspectives on grit

Figure 1. The Five Factor Model.

• Theoretical Perspectives on Grit: Grit is rooted in theories of perseverance and passion, particularly in challenging situations (Jachimowicz et al., 2018).
• Discuss research linking grit to success in education and sports.
• Highlight how intelligence is less of a predictor in success in students than grit is.

Theoretical perspectives on conscientiousness

• Conscientiousness is derived from the Five Factor Model of personality, emphasising structure and reliability.
• Research shows that both traits are predictors of success, but in different contexts and via different processes (Ponnock et al., 2020).
• Highlight the Five Factor Model (see Figure 1), including sub traits of conscientiousness like self-discipline and competence.
  

Quiz

1 Question #1 goes here: True False 2 Question #2 goes here: True False

Implications of grit and conscientiousness on personal and professional development

Grit in goal achievement

• Highlight how grit facilitates achieving goals.
• Give examples of how grit can be used in educational and personal development settings.

Conscientiousness in workplace success

• Highlight conscientiousness in professional settings, especially in jobs that require reliability and attention to detail.
• Emphasise strategies that enhance conscientiousness in the workplace.
• How does time management and organisation equal conscientiousness?

Practical implications and strategies

• Detail ways to balance and develop grit and conscientiousness for personal and professional growth.
• Discuss the role of grit and conscientiousness in preventing burnout and promoting sustained success.
• Advice for integrating grit and conscientiousness into goal-setting and achievement strategies.

Conclusion

• Recap the definitions, comparisons and implications of grit and conscientiousness.
• Recap psychological theories.
• Reinforce the idea that understanding both traits is essential for achieving success.
• Encourage readers to reflect on these traits in their own life.
• Highlight how these traits can apply to the reader's life and goals.
• Suggest ideas for further research.

• The Conclusion is arguably the most important section
• Suggested word count: 150 to 330 words
• It should be possible for someone to only read the Overview and the Conclusion and still get a pretty good idea of the problem and what is known based on psychological science

Suggestions for this section: What is the answer to the sub-title question based on psychological theory and research? What are the answers to the focus questions? What are the practical, take-home messages? (Even for the topic development, have a go at the likely take-home message)

See also

Provide internal (wiki) links to the most relevant Wikiversity pages (esp. related motivation and emotion book chapters) and Wikipedia articles. Use these formats:

• Conscientiousness and motivation (Book chapter, 2020)
• Grit (Book chapter, 2016)
• Grit and achievement (Book chapter, 2023)
• Grit (Wikipedia, 2024)
• Conscientiousness (Wikipedia, 2024)

Suggestions for this section: Present in alphabetical order Use sentence casing Include the source in parentheses

References

Credé, M., Tynan, M. C., & Harms, P. D. (2017). Much ado about grit: A meta-analytic synthesis of the grit literature. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(3), 492–511. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000102

Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087–1101. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087

Duckworth, A. L. (2013). Grit: The power of passion and perseverance [Video]. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance?subtitle=en

Ponnock, A., Muenks, K., Morell, M., Yang, J. S., Gladstone, J. R., & Wigfield, A. (2020). Grit and conscientiousness: Another jangle fallacy. Journal of Research in Personality, 89, 104021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2020.104021

Roberts, B. W., Lejuez, C., Krueger, R. F., Richards, J. M., & Hill, P. L. (2014). What is conscientiousness and how can it be assessed? Developmental Psychology, 50(5), 1315–1330. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031109

Schmidt, F. T., Nagy, G., Fleckenstein, J., Möller, J., & Retelsdorf, J. (2018). Same Same, but Different? Relations between Facets of Conscientiousness and Grit. European Journal of Personality, 32(6), 705–720. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2171

Suggestions for this section: Important aspects of APA style for references include: Wrap the set of references in the hanging indent template. Use "Edit source": {{Hanging indent|1= the full list of references}} Author surname, followed by a comma, then the author initials separated by full stops and spaces Year of publication in parentheses Title of work in lower case except first letter and proper names, ending in a full-stop Journal title in italics, volume number in italics, issue number in parentheses, first and last page numbers separated by an en-dash(–), followed by a full-stop Provide the full doi as a URL and working hyperlink The most common mistakes include: Incorrect capitalisation Incorrect italicisation Citing sources that weren't read or consulted

External links

Provide external links to highly relevant resources such as presentations, news articles, and professional sites. Use sentence casing. For example:

• Angela Duckworth's research on grit (Angela Duckworth)
• The science of conscientiousness (Psychology Today)
• Success: got grit? (Psychology Today)

Suggestions for this section: Only select links to major external resources about the topic Present in alphabetical order Include the source in parentheses after the link