Duckworth Presentation

8/19/2019 Duckworth Presentation

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Beyond Talent: The role ofself-control in achievement

Angela Lee DuckworthPresentation to Evergreen School

November 2009


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Overview

• Self-control, intelligence, and achievement

• Gender differences in self-control• Self-control in adolescence

• Building self-control in our children


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self-control =the regulation of emotions,

attention, and behavior in theservice of a valued goal

*also referred to as self-discipline,self-regulation, effortful control,

willpower


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“One of the most significant

contrasts among the factorsresiding within the individual is

that between capacity andindustry”

Clark Hull, 1928


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Intelligence andwillingness to workare not yoked.

Figure reproduced from Lubinski and Benbow (2006)


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Peak skill is reached

after years of practice

S k i l l

Age (years)Figure adapted with permission from “The scientific study of expert levels of performance” by K.A. Ericsson, p. 90, © 1998


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“…many who are capable of the higherpleasures, occasionally, under the

influence of temptation, postpone them to

the lower. But this is quite compatible witha full appreciation of the intrinsic

superiority of the higher. Men often, frominfirmity of character, make their electionfor the nearer good, though they know it

to be the less valuable…”

--John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism


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Marshmallow Test

• Four-year old preschoolers

• One marshmallow now vs. two later

• Wait time in seconds predicts SAT scores more than 10years later, as well as a range of social-cognitive,personal and other competencies.(explains 18% of variance in verbal SAT and 32% of variance inmath SAT scores)


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Study 1: self-control OutdoesIQ


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A prospective longitudinal study

of college-bound adolescents• Eighth graders (N = 164) at urban school

• Self-control and IQ measured in the fall• Academic performance measured in the

spring – GPA

– Achievement test scores

– Attendance

– Studying and lifestyle habits


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Questionnaires

• Brief Self-Control Scale (Tangney,

Baumeister, & Boone, 2004) – Example item: “Pleasure and fun sometimes

keep me from getting work done.”

– Completed by students, parents, homeroomteachers

• Eysenck Impulsiveness Scale – Example item: “Do you save regularly?”

– Completed by students


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Monetary Choice Questionnaire

Figure adapted from Green, Frey, and Myerson, 1994

kD

AV

+

=

1

Subject 1

Subject 2

Subject 3

V a l u e

Delay


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Choice Delay Task

• Participants are given

a $1• The choice is posed:

$1 now or $2 in a

week• About 20% of

participants choose$1 now

( )d k A

V +

=

1

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Un_dollar_us.jpghttp://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Un_dollar_us.jpghttp://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Un_dollar_us.jpghttp://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Un_dollar_us.jpghttp://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Un_dollar_us.jpghttp://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Un_dollar_us.jpghttp://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Un_dollar_us.jpghttp://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Un_dollar_us.jpghttp://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Un_dollar_us.jpg


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A composite self-control score

predicted academic performancebetter than did IQ


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Self-control also predicted gains in

GPA over the school year


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Study 1 findings

• Self-control explained more of the

variation in academic outcomes than didIQ

• More importantly, because self-controlwas not strongly related to IQ (r = .13, ns),self-control provided incremental

predictive validity over and beyond IQ


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Study 2: Self-Control Gives

Girls the Edge


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Underprediction

• Girls earn higher grades than boys in all

subjects at all grade levels• Girls do not consistently outperform boys

on standardized tests of achievement oraptitude

• Hence, standardized tests tend tounderpredict grades earned by girls and tooverpredict grades earned by boys


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Girls in our study earned

significantly higher grades but notachievement test or IQ scores


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Girls were more self-controlled

f


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An advantage in self-control

partially explains superior reportcard grades

Gender

self-control

GPAß = .26***

ß’ = .12*

ß = .20** ß = .64***

(c.f. gender)


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Adolescence is the perfectstorm


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The enigma of adolescence

“I would there were no age between sixteen

and three-and-twenty, or that youth wouldsleep out the rest; for there is nothing inthe between but getting wenches withchild, wronging the ancientry, stealing,

fighting…”

-Shakespeare, Winter’s Tale


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Sensation seeking peaks in

adolescence


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Fostering self-control


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William James

• “Psychology is a

science, and teachingis an art; andsciences never

generate arts directlyout of themselves. Anintermediary inventive

mind must make theapplication.”-Talks to Teachers, 1899


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Self-control may be more teachable

• Personality changes more across the life coursethan IQ

• Personality may be less heritable


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Strategy = a plan or method

originally from the Greek strategia formilitary general


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Insights from the marshmallow

studies• Strategic use of distraction

– Not looking at the marshmallow• Cognitive transformation

– Thinking of the marshmallow as a fluffy, whitecloud

• Repeating the contingency

– “If I wait, then I’ll get two!”

• Temptations are idiosyncratic


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Applying these lessons

• Strategic use of distraction

– Keep the wii out of sight and out of mind• Cognitive transformation

– Is homework a chore, a duty, or anopportunity?

• Repeating the contingency

– If I turn this project in on time, I will improvemy grade

• Temptations are idiosyncratic – Identifying Achilles' heel temptations


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If-then planning

• Self-control is not helped much by “Try your

best!” exhortations – Specific goals are more effective (e.g., “Completeyour math homework every day.”)

– When goals are specific, feedback is possible.• An if-then plan specifies where, when, and how

you will accomplish your goal

– “If it is a weekday at 6pm, I will go to my room andopen my book bag to do my work.”

– And, “If my brother bothers me, I will…”


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From strategies to habits

• “Our virtues are habits asmuch as our vices…our

nervous systems havegrown to the way in whichthey have been

exercised, just as a sheetof paper or a coat, oncecreased or folded, tends

to fall forever afterwardinto the same identicalfolds”

--William James (1899)


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Summary

• Self-control and IQ are not highly related

• Self-control can be more important toacademic achievement than IQ

• Girls seem to have a slight advantage inself-control

• How can self-control be cultivated?Strategies – tools of the mind – can betaught.


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Thank you!

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