12 Facts About Angela Duckworth

Angela Duckworth is the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studies grit and self-control.

Angela Duckworth is the founder and former CEO of Character Lab, a not-for-profit whose mission is to advance the science and practice of character development.

Angela Duckworth's father Ying Kao Lee was a chemist with DuPont and invented Lucite dispersion lacquer.

Angela Duckworth grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and graduated from Cherry Hill High School East.

Angela Duckworth quit about a year later to become a math teacher at Lowell High School.

Angela Duckworth was the co-host of the podcast No Stupid Questions on the Freakonomics Radio network for its 223-episode run from 2020 to 2024.

Angela Duckworth is best known for her research on grit, a strength she defines as passion and perseverance for long-term goals.

Angela Duckworth developed the Grit Scale, a measure of this construct.

Angela Duckworth has found grit to be a common factor among the high-achievers she has studied.

Angela Duckworth's work suggests that grit is unrelated to IQ but closely related to conscientiousness.

Grit has been studied across the lifespan, but Angela Duckworth focuses primarily on how building grit can help adolescents.

However, Angela Duckworth herself has encouraged caution when applying and, especially, testing character in classrooms.