Duckworth, Angela Lee
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Publication Personality Measurement and Assessment in Large Panel Surveys(2011-04-01) Roberts, Brent; Jackson, Joshua J; Duckworth, Angela Lee; Von Culin, KatherinePersonality tests are being added to large panel studies with increasing regularity, such as the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). To facilitate the inclusion and interpretation of these tests, we provide some general background on personality psychology, personality assessment, and the validity of personality tests. In this review, we provide background on definitions of personality, the strengths and weaknesses of the self-report approaches to personality testing typically used in large panel studies, and the validity of personality tests for three outcomes: genetics, income, and health. We conclude with recommendations on how to improve personality assessment in future panel studies.Publication An Opportunity Cost Model of Subjective Effort and Task Performance(2013-12-01) Duckworth, Angela Lee; Kurzban, Robert; Kable, Joseph W; Myers, JustusWhy does performing certain tasks cause the aversive experience of mental effort and concomitant deterioration in task performance? One explanation posits a physical resource that is depleted over time. We propose an alternative explanation that centers on mental representations of the costs and benefits associated with task performance. Specifically, certain computational mechanisms, especially those associated with executive function, can be deployed for only a limited number of simultaneous tasks at any given moment. Consequently, the deployment of these computational mechanisms carries an opportunity cost – that is, the next-best use to which these systems might be put. We argue that the phenomenology of effort can be understood as the felt output of these cost/benefit computations. In turn, the subjective experience of effort motivates reduced deployment of these computational mechanisms in the service of the present task. These opportunity cost representations, then, together with other cost/benefit calculations, determine effort expended and, everything else equal, result in performance reductions. In making our case for this position, we review alternative explanations for both the phenomenology of effort associated with these tasks and for performance reductions over time. Likewise, we review the broad range of relevant empirical results from across sub-disciplines, especially psychology and neuroscience. We hope that our proposal will help to build links among the diverse fields that have been addressing similar questions from different perspectives, and we emphasize ways in which alternative models might be empirically distinguished.Publication Temperament in the Classroom(2012-07-01) Duckworth, Angela Lee; Allred, Kelly MSome students fare better than others, even when researchers control for family background, school curriculum, and teacher quality. Variance in academic performance that persists when situational variables are held constant suggests that whether students fail or thrive depends on not only circumstance but also relatively stable individual differences in how children respond to circumstance. More academically talented children, for instance, generally outperform their less able peers. Indeed, general intelligence, defined as the "ability to understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experience, to engage in various forms of reasoning, to overcome obstacles by taking thought" (Neisser et a!., 1996, p. 77), has a monotonic, positive relationship with academic performance, even at the extreme right-tail of the population (Gottfredson, 2004; Lubinski, 2009). Much less is known about how traits unrelated to general intelligence influence academic outcomes. This chapter addresses several related questions: What insights can be gleaned from historical interest in the role of temperament in the classroom? What does recent empirical research say about the specific dimensions of temperament most important to successful academic performance? In particular, which aspects of temperament most strongly influence school readiness, academic achievement, and educational attainment? What factors mediate and moderate associations between temperament and academic outcomes? What progress has been made in deliberately cultivating aspects of temperament that matter most to success in school? And, finally, for researchers keenly interested in better understanding how and why temperament influences academic success, in which direction does future progress lie?Publication Self-Regulation and School Success(2013-01-01) Duckworth, Angela Lee; Carlson, Stephanie MSome children fare better academically than others, even when family background and school and teacher quality are controlled for (Rivkin, Hanushek, & Kain, 2005 ). Variance in performance that persists when situational variables are held constant suggests that individual differences play an important role in determining whether children thrive or fail in school. In this chapter, we review research on individual differences in self-regulation and their relation to school success.