Growth Mindset Vs Fixed Mindset

Mindsets

Why do some people avoid challenges and languish when faced with difficulties, while others thrive and achieve their true potential?

Our mindset is our perceptions or beliefs about our abilities and qualities. Dr. Carol Dweck (2006), a leading authority in motivation and personality, has discovered that our mindset is not a trivial oddity of our character; it creates our entire perception of attainable opportunities.

Our mindset determines whether we are optimistic or pessimistic. It shapes our attitude and is the ultimate factor in determining our success or failure. Dr. Dweck believes that we either have a fixed mindset, which implies that we think our attributes and abilities are inherently fixed and unchanging, or a growth mindset, which suggests that we believe our talents and abilities can be improved and developed.

Our mindset starts to form in childhood and continues to develop throughout adulthood. In her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Dr Dweck explained how the growth mindset of brilliant masters in music, literature, science, sports, and business enabled them to achieve the incredible results we know them for.

Most importantly, she has shown how we can change our mindsets to achieve success and fulfilment at any stage. Dr. Dweck’s work is about the power of beliefs, beliefs we may or may not be aware of having, but they strongly affect our success.

In fact, much of what we think as our personality, drive or setbacks actually grows out of our mindset. In a fixed mindset, the aim is to achieve validation and endorsement. The person constantly tries to prove himself and is highly sensitive to being wrong or making a mistake. So, failure brings them doubt, demeans their character, and destroys their confidence. As a result, people with a fixed mindset always feel anxious and are vulnerable to setbacks or criticisms.

On the other hand, a growth mindset is about achieving mastery and competence. People with a growth mindset believe that superb personal qualities can be learned, developed or cultivated. Therefore, she views failure only as feedback about her performance and does not judge her personality, potential or value. Hence, a person with a growth mindset feels eager to learn to boost their performance and enjoys exploring, experimenting and stretching herself. They are not sensitive to criticism, and setbacks don’t hurt them much.

Research has shown (Yeager & Dweck, 2012) that what makes students succeed is quite different from their cognitive abilities or the quality of the instructions they receive. Their success depends on their belief in their intelligence and their capabilities. In other words, their success depends on their mindset. When they believe that their intelligence is predetermined, limited and unchangeable (fixed mindset), they doubt their ability, undermining their resolve, resilience, and learning. However, students show perseverance and willingness to learn when they have a growth mindset and believe that their abilities can be developed. Moreover, they achieve remarkable results even in the face of hardship and difficulties.

Researchers also showed that youngsters who believed (accepted) that their personal characteristics could be developed (growth mindset) had notably lower aggressive tendencies and felt lower stress in response to the pressures from their peer group. The growth mindset also improved their academic performance (Yeager & Dweck, 2012).

Moreover, Dweck et al. showed that accepting (learning) that intelligence is fixed and unchangeable makes students think that their difficulties are signs of their intellectual deficiencies and makes them feel dumb.

In experiments with school children, Dr Dweck found a surprising result. Praising children’s talent or intelligence reduces their motivation and academic performance. Of course, praising children’s talent will make them happy and proud, but only for a short while. As soon as they face a challenge or a setback, their confidence fades away because if success is a sign that they are smart, failure should mean they lack talent and prove them dumb (fixed mindset). Dr Dweck suggests that we should avoid praising our children’s talent or intelligence and instead praise them for their diligence, effort and conscientiousness (to boost their growth mindset).

People's mindsets are not totally one type or the other. There may be a few extreme cases, but most lie somewhere between the two bounds. Moreover, our mindset does not always remain constant. We show different mindsets in different situations, depending on our beliefs about our abilities. Nevertheless, the first step in changing our fixed mindset to a growth mindset is to recognise our fixed mindset in action.

Fixed mindsets don’t come with a label attached to them, but they reveal themselves when we are about to quit trying or avoid something we know is good for us. These are the moments when we suddenly feel bored, tired, anxious, uncomfortable or even hungry and want to stop trying or taking the necessary action. Such feelings may seem to have a valid source, but before you surrender to them, carefully question them. Put yourself in a growth mindset and question your reaction to the situation.

Think of your effort as a sign of your strength, not as a confirmation of your shortcomings. Think of learning as a joyful and constructive process rather than a chore that exposes your inadequacies.

Dr Dweck suggests that we think of a role model who has achieved what we value. Then we should ask ourselves, have they achieved that extraordinary ability with little effort because of their innate talent, or have they worked very hard for it? Dr Dweck tells us, “Go and find out”. Without fail, you will discover that they worked very hard to accomplish what we admire about them. This would make us respect our role model even more, but more importantly, it will show us the power of adopting a growth mindset.

References

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY, US: Random House.

Yeager, D. S. & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindsets That Promote Resilience: When Students Believe That Personal Characteristics Can Be Developed. Educational Psychologist, 47(4), 302–314, 2012.