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How the coronavirus has upended college admissions
Morning Edition (NPR)

How the coronavirus has upended college admissions

Angela Duckworth of the School of Arts & Sciences spoke at the annual conference for the Common Application about factoring “personal qualities” into the admissions process. "Whatever you call them, the take-home message is these things matter, and in some cases matter as much as IQ," she said.

Talking positive psychology and COVID-19 with Larry King
Close-up images of three people. On the left is journalist Larry King, wearing a black shirt, a red tie and red suspenders. In the center is James Pawelski, a Penn researcher, wearing a blue blazer and blue shirt. On the right is actor Kevin Bacon, weather a blue and black button down shirt.

Talking positive psychology and COVID-19 with Larry King

In a free video series co-hosted by James Pawelski, King interviews researchers about coping during the pandemic. In a June 11 event, they’ll speak with actor Kevin Bacon about philanthropy, arts and culture’s role in well-being, and the importance of open dialogue.

Michele W. Berger

Six tips to stay calm, positive, and resilient in trying times
A close up of a plant growing from the cracks of a cement sidewalk.

Six tips to stay calm, positive, and resilient in trying times

The situation around COVID-19 can be overwhelming, but experts from Penn’s Positive Psychology Center offer advice to get through—or at the very least, get by.

Michele W. Berger

Scientists look to West Point to better understand what it takes to succeed
Forbes

Scientists look to West Point to better understand what it takes to succeed

A team of researchers led by Angela Duckworth of the School of Arts and Sciences examined data from thousands of West Point cadets to assess the attributes that were most predictive of success. Their results “suggest that both cognitive and non-cognitive attributes matter in different ways and at different times,” they wrote.

What factors predict success?
A person sitting at a desk covered in papers, with a computer screen in the background. Four people are blurry, in the foreground. They are all engaged in conversation.

The findings of this latest work add to the canon of overall knowledge about what factors predict success. They also strengthen Duckworth’s original theories about grit and, at the same time, highlight other attributes key to long-term achievement.

What factors predict success?

New research from Angela Duckworth and colleagues finds that characteristics beyond intelligence influence long-term achievement.

Michele W. Berger

How reading a good book can make you a better person
Philadelphia Inquirer

How reading a good book can make you a better person

Angela Duckworth of the School of Arts and Sciences wrote about the human capacity for empathy. “True, human beings tend to be egocentric, experiencing and reacting to the here-and-now of our lives,” she wrote. “But also true, and out of all species perhaps uniquely so, we’re capable of mentally untethering ourselves from our own narrative and imagining what it is like to walk a path entirely different than our own.”