mindset

Born Smart?

Mindset

Related to belief about ability

creates a whole mental world to live in

FIXED mindset - ability cannot change

GROWTH mindset - ability can change (Dweck, 1999)

Measuring mindset(Dweck, Chiu & Hong, 1995)

You have a certain amount of intelligence, and you can’t really do much to change it

You can learn new things, but you can’t really change how intelligent you are

Motivational framework: goals

(e.g. Dweck & Elliot, 1983; Dweck

1986,1990,1991)Learning goals vs

performance

mastery and competence OR demonstrating intellect

grades and marks reflect how people are doing NOW OR grades predict the future

increased performance and enjoyment OR shy away from

challenges

Response to setbacks and failures

(e.g.Diener & Dweck, 1978, 1980)

Resilient vs helpless

Pay attention to learningFocus on what they are learning rather

than feelingAttempt new ways to do things

Use self-motivating statements such as ‘I can’

When faced with impossible to pass tests they will factor in other reasons

for failure

Mindset, brain and feedback (Mangels et al, 2006)

each time participants got a wrong answer they were given the correct

answerThey got an unexpected retest

afterwards

People oriented differently towards negative feedback

fixed mindset showed less attention to the formative information and

more to how they feltThose with a growth mindset did

better on the re test

Effort effect ( e.g. Legget & Dweck, 1986; Mueller & Dweck,

1997)

reflection of low intelligence OR necessary part of success

Hard work means ‘I don’t get it’ OR means I need to try

harder

effort = lack of ability OR effort = success

Growth mindset

more open to learning willing to confront challenges, able to stick at difficult tasks and bounce back from failures

(Dweck, 1999)

Better performance

school transitions (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007)

demanding business tasks (Kray, 2007)

difficulties in relationships (Kammrath & Dweck, 2006)

Can mindset change?

(Bergen, 1992) people who read a growth

mindset article changed their mindset and their persistence

in the face of setbacks

Can mindset be taught?

(Blackwell, Trzesniewski, and Dweck, 2007)

8 session built around study skills

the growth mindset group also learned about the brain and how the brain is like a muscle; the more you use it the more connections it makes

improved in motivation (greater conscientiousness, and more effort into the classroom learning) and grades

Math Achievement

Can mindset be taught? (Aronson, Fried & Good

2002)

watching a video about the brain and its huge potential

writing a letter to struggling younger student

more enjoyment of learning at University and better grades

Other ways to change a mindset

feedback

Tutor, teacher, parent belief about young person ability

Feedback (Mueller & Dweck, 1998)

Praised for Praised for efforteffort Praised for Praised for abilityability

goalsgoals 90% of the 90% of the group created group created learning goalslearning goals

66% of the 66% of the group createdgroup createdperformance performance goalsgoals

enjoymentenjoyment continuedcontinued decreaseddecreased

persistencepersistence continuedcontinued decreaseddecreased

performanceperformance improvedimproved declineddeclined

lied about lied about scoresscores

one individualone individual 40%40%

Number of problems solved before failure

Pygmalion effect (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968)

Teacher expectancy effect

teachers were told that tests indicated that some children would bloom over the coming school year ( pupils were randomly assigned)

The bloomers group made greater gains in achievement over the year

Similar findings have emerged in other areas; university, business, military, banking (e.g. Eden, 1990)

Managers beliefs(Heslin, Wanderwalle & Latham, 2006)

Managers who adopt a fixed mindset are less good at recognising real changes in staff members

they are less likely to help those they are managing

teaching mindset changed beliefs and behaviour; managers gave more and better suggestions to employees during appraisals and were more likely to notice improvements

Born smart?

mindset has a significant impact on motivation and

performance,

Beliefs can be changed

Thanks!

Link and further reading

http://www.centreforconfidence.co.uk/pp/overview.php?p=c2lkPTEz

Dweck, C.S., (1999) Self theories: Their Role in Motivation and Personality