Research Project on Persistence

Happiness and success, we all want it. What does it take to get it? Yes, intellect is one thing. There is that other thing that pushes us to do more. Persistence! Many of us have it within while others have to push a little harder. Persistence, what is it really? How does it affects us?
C. Robert Cloninger’s Theory of Temperaments and Character Traits describes seven natural, heritable and psycho biological mechanism that are separated into two groups. Four of them are temperament trait and three are character traits. Persistence is a fourth one as temperament trait. Based on his theory persistence is “Independently heritable, manifested early in life, and involve preconceptual biases in perceptual memory and habit formation.” People high in persistence are described as perfectionists, ambitious, work hardened, eagerness of effort. Gautam, Sandeep. “Cloninger’s Temaparements and Character Traits: Room for a Behaviorist View?” The Mouse Trap. N.p., 19 Sept. 2008. Web. 07 Mar. 2014. Persistent people are described as determined and ambitious because of their passion for hard working and better which often leads them into overachievers. They tend to push harder because at the end of each obstacle there is an award. It doesn’t have to be continuous or big each time but for them it is a goal to reach. Challenge and obstacle makes them more eager to push themselves. Although they are very hard working, they tend to be perfectionists that are discontented with anything that is less from perfect. People who are highly persistent feel that they have to be the best at whatever they are doing. This mixture of ambition, enthusiasm and perfection can easily push over to cruel judgment of themselves and others. It can also create self-doubt. Cloninger, C.R., et al., The psychological costs and benefits of being highly persistent: Personality pro-files distinguish mood disorders from anxiety disorders, J. Affect. Disord. (2011), doi:10.1016/j.jad.2011.09.046.
Based on Cloningers research persistent people are not always more successful from less persistent ones. He quotes: “People low in persistence may be more successful than those who are highly persistence when reward contingencies are rapidly changing over time because highly persistent people are overly influenced by past conditioning that is no longer predictive of current outcome.” (Cloninger et al., 1994)