Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Master of Science

Program

Psychology

Supervisor

Evans, M. Blair

Abstract

The groups we belong to and people we surround ourselves with can influence our goal pursuit through the types of goals we pursue and effort we put into pursuing them. Grit is one psychological construct encompassing passion and perseverance for goals that has yet to be thoroughly examined as it emerges across specific contexts. This thesis explored how perceptions of the group environment and group member goal interest and perseverance interact to influence individual context-specific grit. Study 1 examined a student club sample to investigate between-person associations of variables across groups exhibiting different levels of perceived interdependence. Study 2 aimed to explore within-person variability in associations by employing an intensive longitudinal design with competitive rowers. Results across both studies found club members’ and rowers’ grit for group-related goals were predicted by their perceptions of group members’ grit. Findings support tenets of theoretical models explaining how people pursue goals within groups.

Summary for Lay Audience

It is widely accepted that the people we surround ourselves with and the groups to which we belong to can influence us. Thinking specifically about goal pursuit, our peers and coworkers can impact how dedicated we are in working toward our goals or even the types of goals we aspire to in the first place. Grit is described as the maintenance of interest and persistence of effort over time while pursuing goals, and we know relatively little about how group settings play a role in shaping a person’s grit. Two studies explore how someone’s grit when pursuing goals within groups is related to their perception of other group members’ grit and how much they feel as though they rely on other group members.

The first study sampled students who belong to clubs at Western University and asked them to fill out one survey about their grit thinking about club-related goals as well as how they view other group members’ grit. The second study sampled competitive rowers and asked them to fill out eight identical weekly surveys over the course of two months on their grit for rowing goals, their teammates’ grit for rowing goals, and what their training was like each week. Both studies also asked participants about how much they rely on other members to execute tasks that are a part of group membership.

Overall, it was found that when people feel that peer group members or teammates are highly interested in group-relevant goals, they report more interest in these goals themselves. Similarly, when people report other group members as perseverant, they also report being more persistent for their own goals. Importantly, these relationships were most noticeable when individuals felt interdependent with group members to perform group-relevant tasks or to achieve in their own goals. This research suggests that when we think about how groups influence our goal pursuit, grit might be an especially important factor. When we view others in our group as being particularly ‘gritty’ in pursuing group-relevant goals, we may feel more interest or perseverance toward our own pursuits.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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