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Jane Golden
Steve Maier is a highly influential neuroscientist who studies how the brain reacts to stress. He and Marty Seligman developed the concept of “learned helplessness” through electroshock experiments on dogs in the 1960s. In a later experiment, Maier found that rats who can control the electric shocks they receive as adolescents grow into more courageous and resilient adults. Duckworth cites Maier’s research to explain how people can develop the hope that is crucial to grit.
Steve Maier Quotes in Grit
The Grit quotes below are all either spoken by Steve Maier or refer to Steve Maier. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 9: Hope
Quotes
Collectively, the evidence I’ve presented tells the following story: A fixed mindset about ability leads to pessimistic explanations of adversity, and that, in turn, leads to both giving up on challenges and avoiding them in the first place. In contrast, a growth mindset leads to optimistic ways of explaining adversity, and that, in turn, leads to perseverance and seeking out new challenges that will ultimately make you even stronger.
growth mindset optimistic self-talk perseverance over adversity
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Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Steve Maier Quotes in Grit
The Grit quotes below are all either spoken by Steve Maier or refer to Steve Maier. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 9: Hope
Quotes
Collectively, the evidence I’ve presented tells the following story: A fixed mindset about ability leads to pessimistic explanations of adversity, and that, in turn, leads to both giving up on challenges and avoiding them in the first place. In contrast, a growth mindset leads to optimistic ways of explaining adversity, and that, in turn, leads to perseverance and seeking out new challenges that will ultimately make you even stronger.
growth mindset optimistic self-talk perseverance over adversity
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
