Introduction
A growth mindset is the belief that human capacities are not fixed but can be developed over time.
Mindset research studies the interplay between people’s beliefs, motivation, development, and achievement. This review by Dweck and Yeager covers the development in mindset research over the past decades, especially in the transition from laboratory experiments to larger field studies. Adapting research methodology to fit larger samples and longitudinal designs has proved challenging, but the results highlight new connections between mindset and both interpersonal dynamics and mental well-being.
Early mindset research focused on the dichotomy between fixed and growth mindsets. When people adopt a fixed mindset, they believe that their abilities are innate and cannot undergo much change. When faced with setbacks, they blame their perceived low ability and cease further effort prematurely. Unsurprisingly, this leads to a downward spiral that exacerbates their perceived low ability. In contrast, growth mindsets view challenges more positively: they view the challenge as a learning opportunity, seek strategies to overcome the issue, and treat failure as new information gained.
Why would students of roughly equal ability show such different attributions and reactions?**
One’s mindset has been shown to have causal effects on later development and learning. In a study by Hong et al. (1999), students in the University of Hong Kong who were poor in English and endorsed a fixed mindset were less likely than their growth mindset peers to sign up for a high-quality remedial English course. To paraphrase Dweck, “[people who adopt growth mindsets] seemed willing to expose a deficiency for the sake of correcting it”. Furthermore, data from more than 14,000 9th-grade students in the US revealed an average correlation between fixed mindset and GPA of -0.22—children with fixed mindsets tend to have lower GPAs on average (Yeager, Hanselman, et al., 2019).
Even among students who are already high-achieving, growth-mindset interventions have proved valuable as it promotes healthy attitudes toward learning, alongside challenge-seeking behavior (Yeager, Romero, et al., 2016). Such attitudes can encourage them to develop more technical skill sets or take advanced courses (Yeager, Hanselman, et al., 2019) which might offer payoffs later in their lifelong health or career (Carroll et al., 2017).
Can people look at others through the lens of a fixed mindset or a growth mindset?**
Mindset also plays key roles in social judgement and cohesion. Since fixed mindsets tend to adopt beliefs that people’s characteristics are unchanging, early research sought to investigate whether such labels extend beyond the realm of achievement. Studies across cultures (US and Hong Kong) found that people with fixed mindsets tend to anchor on specific traits in others, leading to stronger beliefs about other’s future behavior (Chiu et al., 1997).
Moreover, when researchers compared mindset to other individual difference variables, mindsets reliably predicted stereotype endorsement above all else. Interestingly, research by Carr et al. (2012) highlights how some subjects even believed prejudice itself was fixed, and appeared to be more worried about discovering their own prejudice—a fear that caused them to avoid interactions with people who differed from them (ethnicity, sexual orientation etc.). These benefits extend to other interpersonal dynamics as well, like conflict resolution and tolerance. Work by Halperin et al. (2011) and Goldenberg et al. (2018) in highlight greater willingness—both in the short-term and long-term—to entertain concessions from opposing parties for mutual peace.
Application and obstacles to teaching growth mindsets
A major obstacle to effective and lasting intervention efforts stems from educators. Those who lack a holistic understanding of growth mindsets may end up equating growth mindsets to mere effort, or fail to inculcate the right strategies and environment for lasting intervention (Levy et al., 2006). Failure to include factors like mentorship, teaching useful strategies, and providing access to resources limits students’ learning outcomes and may even impede the development of a growth mindset altogether. Those who trivialize the concept of growth mindset to the notion that differences in achievement can be ignored risk leaving advanced students bored and their potential undeveloped.
Additionally, Muenks et al. (2018) found that students can recognize educators who adopt a growth mindset, and these differences often lead to higher achievement outcomes among classes taught by such educators. More specifically, STEM professors who are perceived to adopt a growth mindset tend to pay more attention to their students’ progress over time, adapting their teaching accordingly; they communicate positive views of effort regardless of outcome; deliver praise for students’ problem-solving strategies and progress over time. These differences in achievement are most prominent among minority groups between professors who adopt fixed and growth mindsets.
Based on these findings, researchers have developed a template for growth-mindset intervention studies and programs which can be useful for promoting diversity, personal well-being, or developing healthier attitudes toward academic achievement. The first step involves educating subjects on the malleability of the brain and one’s attitudes, followed by self-reflection and brainstorming how one can apply such techniques in daily life.
References
Carr, P. B., Dweck, C. S., & Pauker, K. (2012). “Prejudiced” behavior without prejudice? Beliefs about the malleability of prejudice affect interracial interactions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(3), 452–471. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028849
Carroll, J. M., Muller, C., Grodsky, E., & Warren, J. R. (2017). Tracking Health Inequalities from High School to Midlife. Social Forces; a Scientific Medium of Social Study and Interpretation, 96(2), 591–628. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sox065
Dweck, C. S., & Yeager, D. S. (2019). Mindsets: A View From Two Eras. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14(3), 481–496. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691618804166
Goldenberg, A., Cohen-Chen, S., Goyer, J. P., Dweck, C. S., Gross, J. J., & Halperin, E. (2018). Testing the impact and durability of a group malleability intervention in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(4), 696–701. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1706800115
Halperin, E., Russell, A. G., Trzesniewski, K. H., Gross, J. J., & Dweck, C. S. (2011). Promoting the Middle East Peace Process by Changing Beliefs About Group Malleability. Science, 333(6050), 1767–1769. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1202925
Hong, Y., Chiu, C., Dweck, C. S., Lin, D. M.-S., & Wan, W. (1999). Implicit theories, attributions, and coping: A meaning system approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(3), 588–599. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.77.3.588
Levy, S. R., West, T. L., Ramirez, L., & Karafantis, D. M. (2006). The Protestant Work Ethic: A Lay Theory with Dual Intergroup Implications. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 9(1), 95–115. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430206059874
Muenks, K., Canning, E. A., LaCosse, J., Green, D. J., Zirkel, S., Garcia, J. A., & Murphy, M. C. (2020). Does my professor think my ability can change? Students’ perceptions of their STEM professors’ mindset beliefs predict their psychological vulnerability, engagement, and performance in class. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(11), 2119–2144. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000763
Yeager, D. S., Hanselman, P., Walton, G. M., Murray, J. S., Crosnoe, R., Muller, C., Tipton, E., Schneider, B., Hulleman, C. S., Hinojosa, C. P., Paunesku, D., Romero, C., Flint, K., Roberts, A., Trott, J., Iachan, R., Buontempo, J., Yang, S. M., Carvalho, C. M., … Dweck, C. S. (2019). A national experiment reveals where a growth mindset improves achievement. Nature, 573(7774), 364–369. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1466-y
Yeager, D. S., Romero, C., Paunesku, D., Hulleman, C. S., Schneider, B., Hinojosa, C., Lee, H. Y., O’Brien, J., Flint, K., Roberts, A., Trott, J., Greene, D., Walton, G. M., & Dweck, C. S. (2016). Using Design Thinking to Improve Psychological Interventions: The Case of the Growth Mindset During the Transition to High School. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(3), 374–391. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000098
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