Chapters 9-10 Summary

In addition to interest, practice and purpose, grit requires hope, a belief in one’s ability to make tomorrow better than today. Duckworth points to her own experience of taking failing grades in neurobiology as a reason to major in the subject. She cites the work of her mentor, Marty Seligman, with dogs that have “learned helplessness,” a response to suffering that is thought to be beyond one’s control. Later studies by Seligman indicate that people can learn optimism and pessimism and that both are rooted in mindset rather than experience. Gritty people have learned to be optimistic about their ability to affect future outcomes. A growth mindset results from the belief that failures occur but that they are not defining. Improving self-talk can effect changes in the way a person thinks, feels and acts in adversity. In this respect, hope can be learned. She provides this formula: growth mindset > optimistic self-talk > perseverance over adversity.

Chapter 10 begins the book’s Part 3, “Growing Grit from the Outside In.” Duckworth asks what type of parenting leads to children with grit. She finds that parents need to be both tough and loving, as well as child-centered, though they may enact these traits in different ways. Duckworth refers to “wise parents” who provide an environment of “support, respect, and high standards.”

Chapters 9-10 Analysis

Chapter 9 differentiates between the popular notion of “hope” as wishful thinking and the kind of hope that informs grit: the belief that tomorrow will be better because of personal resolve to make it so. If the reader doubts that Duckworth is herself a paragon of grit, this chapter confirms it. When she found herself failing a class, she resolved to major in the subject, an experience that parallels a classic psychology experiment. Both Duckworth and one-third of the dogs in the experiment “held fast to hope” that their suffering was linked to mistakes they could avoid in the future. Duckworth’s personal example takes the psychology experiment out of the laboratory and into real life.

The idea that a person’s perceptions influence behavior contrasts with behaviorist perspectives that humans are merely responders to stimuli. Research on fixed and growth mindsets is a critical link in understanding grit. Gritty people think differently about how the world works. Individuals, particularly children, can be influenced to have a more hopeful, growth-oriented mindset due to the input from others—a topic Duckworth explores in subsequent chapters.

Chapter 10 begins the final section of the book on developing grit from the outside in. She first focuses on those most likely to influence children—their parents. Duckworth engages readers by asking, “What type of parent promotes grit?” At this point, Duckworth admits another limitation of her current research: she has not yet researched parenting and grit. Because quantitative data do not exist, Duckworth seeks qualitative data by talking with exemplars. She concludes that, as long as parents are both demanding and supportive, grit can grow.