Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Grit
With talk about the ability to genetically alter humans to increase intelligence there is an interesting study that finds that it is not raw intelligence that causes success, but rather a term that psychologists call 'grit'. Grit is the ability to see long-term goals and pursue them with an impressive work ethic and not falter until the goal is accomplished. This idea of old-fashioned elbow grease brings up a new dimension to the ideas of being able to genetically enhance human beings. It is the creatine of the intellectual world. Many studies show that IQ is not a particularly good standard for assessing future success and many are now pushing that grit is more important than raw intelligence. In Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, he describes from a sociologists perspective the influence that the opportunity to do work (and doing that work) contributes to future success. He finds that it is the people that had the most opportunites to do a specific task that become true outliers. He shows that it is hard work and determination for long-term goals that are the factors of perfection and not natural talent. This new spin on the idea of genetically enhancing humans does not fall under Sandel's drive to mastery in the same way that increasing IQ does. If you could find the gene for hard-work would it really be wrong to manipulate it? What is wrong with having people that work harder? Some countries already have a reputation for working harder than others (not to fill into stereotypes) but in the continuance of globalization in the world Americans face an uphill battle as the Chinese and Indians enter the job market and prove to be harder working than their American counterparts. So if hard work and commitment to long term goals really does dictate success than would you have any problem with turning this gene on?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I completely agree with this concept of Grit. Raw intelligence doesn’t necessarily mean that you will accomplish everything you want to do. Sometimes you need a little more umph, more drive. In order to have grit, you must set goals for yourself. Sometimes those who are smart aren’t striving as hard to get to those goals compared to others because knowledge and accomplishment is something that comes so easy to them. Sometimes those who have Grit accomplish greater things because they set there minds on something and are going to do it regardless of any hurdles that may get in their way. So what happens if a person is neither intelligent nor possess grit? It seems that they are stuck, their goals fall at the waist side, and they lose self-esteem. It’s difficult to be hardworking when things have come easy to you your whole life. It’s like playing a sport. You may be in the best on a team at a certain level, but when you move up a level, it’s like a whole new game. You are discouraged by the difficulties you have now encountered because you’ve never faced them before. But it takes this so called grit to accomplish the new level of sport. And do have a better sense of grit, or to possess more if that will ever be a possibility, will increase your chances of mastering the new level. Finding this gene and manipulating it will, in my opinion, be a good thing. Being hard working is never a bad thing, and to increase peoples want and ability to be hard working is something that not only an individual would benefit from, but potentially the entire world
I agree that grit is a better indicator of success than raw intelligence. However, I am not so sure about the gene controlling the sense of grit. In my understanding, grit is more of a person’s estimation of future combined with his stamina and determination to work towards a set goal than an ability that could be indicated by numbers. So the question is: is there a “grit” gene?
A million people can have a million different goals, and the paths they’ve traveled along to reach that goal can have a million versions. Maybe the trait determining the ability to concentrate on a task for a long time can be located on a specific locus of gene, but the formation of grit must take more than things described by a formula. Even if one person has unparalleled talent, intelligence, and concentration, if his wit is not used in the right place or aimed at the right goal, then his overall excellence is a horror to society. Grit depends on one’s family upbringing and sense of value a lot, and can’t be simply summarized by genetic determinism.
Therefore, Sandel’s argument can be strengthened by the theory of grit’s playing a greater role on success than intelligence alone. If one day human beings really started enhancing their offspring’s IQ gene, they might discover with disbelief that success rate is not correlated with enhanced IQ at all. The secret of being success lies still in the unbidden.
Grit has always been one of the most desired traits in athletics. Once athletes reach a certain level, most have about the same level of natural talent and they are able to distinguish themselves from their peers through their hard work and determination to be better than anyone else. While the best athlete will certainly be one who has natural ability and grit, there are those who drive themselves to become great without a lot of talent and often surpass those who squander their immense talent. The same can be said in other areas as well such as IQ and success in the work force. I tend to agree with Peiwen in that I don't think that you could just turn on a gene in order to become a driven individual. Although some may argue that giving everyone grit would be a good thing overall, it would eliminate the ability of those with less talent to surpass those with more talent through drive and determination. It would also represent a human desire to play God, which, according to Sandel, could ruin our human characteristics. As such, we should continue to restrict use of all genetic enhancement so that every individual is unique and is able to prove their worth rather than having a cookie-cutter perfect human being.
Post a Comment