When the going gets tough: Grit predicts costly perseverance

In this research, we investigate how grittier individuals might incur some costs by persisting when they could move on. Grittier participants were found to be less willing to give up when failing even though they were likely to incur a cost for their persistence. First, grittier participants are more willing to risk failing to complete a task by persisting on individual items. Second, when they are losing, they expend more effort and persist longer in a game rather than quit. Gritty participants have more positive emotions and expectations toward the task, which mediates the relationship between grit and staying to persist when they are losing. Results show gritty individuals are more willing to risk suffering monetary loss to persist.