This is an article worth reading in the Chronicle of Higher Ed by David DeSteno, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University and Director of its Social Emotions Group, who also recently published a book on the same topic called Emotional Success: The Power of Gratitude, Compassion, and Pride. I actually just finished reading Professor’s DeSteno’s book and it’s a good one. Essentially, he argues that relying on executive function to “will” ourselves through situations that require perseverance and “grit” is a doomed strategy that flies in the face of our evolutionary programming. Instead, we should finds ways to leverage pro-social emotions and motivations grounded in gratitude, compassion and pride. You can read another short piece from the New York Times where Professor DeSteno describes his theory of  emotional based perseverance and grit here.

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