Thinking success, behaving successfully: The relation between hypothetical thinking strategies, effort towards goal attainment and grit

Abstract

This thesis examined the relation between hypothetical thinking strategies and grit defined as the “perseverance and passion for long-term goals” (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007, p. 1087). The scale measuring grit was translated using parallel blind technique, in order to examine grit in a Norwegian population, and administered to 143 participants at UiT recruited online (study 1). Two further studies were conducted to test the relation between grit and hypothetical thinking strategies. Study 2 (N=117) used scenario descriptions of imagined negative outcome and found support for grit being associated with hypothetical thinking strategies, and different strategies were preferred by the high and low grit sample, but the association did not persist across scenarios. Study 3 (N=432) examined actual behavior on an anagram task where likelihood at success was manipulated (low likelihood/high likelihood and control) and estimated and real effort was measured before and after negative feedback. The results indicated that grit predicted perceived effort levels before task but not real effort levels. The same strategies associated with grit in study 2, was also related to grit in study 3. Implications and limitations of the findings were discussed and further research suggested.