Introduction to mindset: Description of growth and fixed mindsets
In her research, Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, has uncovered just how our beliefs about success and failure create a mindset that profoundly affects our psychology and how we lead our lives. Some of us
believe that our basic abilities are innate and immutable-they are fixed. Others believe that our basic qualities
can be cultivated through our efforts-we can grow our abilities.
The main difference between a growth and a fixed mindset can be summarized in the response to a question posed by Dr. Dweck: Is success about learning--or proving you're smart? The way a person attributes the reason for success, or lack thereof, greatly affects how willing that person is to take on future challenges.
Fixed Mindset
Students with a fixed mindset have belief systems about success with some or all of the following characteristics.
Growth Mindset
Students with a growth mindset attribute their success to their effort and good use of strategies. When they are unsuccessful they use those experiences to reassess their skill levels, use that assessment knowledge to develop new strategies, and commit the effort needed to be successful. Students with a growth mindset have belief systems about success with some or all of the following characteristics:
The link below will connect you to a video where you can see a demonstration of how powerful the impact of mindset can be--even at a very young age.
believe that our basic abilities are innate and immutable-they are fixed. Others believe that our basic qualities
can be cultivated through our efforts-we can grow our abilities.
The main difference between a growth and a fixed mindset can be summarized in the response to a question posed by Dr. Dweck: Is success about learning--or proving you're smart? The way a person attributes the reason for success, or lack thereof, greatly affects how willing that person is to take on future challenges.
Fixed Mindset
Students with a fixed mindset have belief systems about success with some or all of the following characteristics.
- Success is based on how smart or talented I am.
- People are born smart and talented or they are not, there is nothing I can do about it.
- Being smart and talented means that I should be able to succeed with little or no effort.
- If effort is required, it must mean that I am not smart or talented.
- I am proud of how smart I am.
Growth Mindset
Students with a growth mindset attribute their success to their effort and good use of strategies. When they are unsuccessful they use those experiences to reassess their skill levels, use that assessment knowledge to develop new strategies, and commit the effort needed to be successful. Students with a growth mindset have belief systems about success with some or all of the following characteristics:
- Success is based on how hard I work and whether I use good strategies.
- If I am not successful, I can use what I learned in my first attempt to be more successful in my next attempt.
- People can always increase their knowledge, improve their skills, and become better thinkers if they put in the
effort. - My brain grows stronger the more I use it to solve challenging problems.
- I am proud of what I have accomplished.
The link below will connect you to a video where you can see a demonstration of how powerful the impact of mindset can be--even at a very young age.
The link below takes you to Dr. Dweck's website: Mindset. It provides excellent introductory material on the concept. It also has a page designed for you to test your mindset and another on strategies for changing your mindset.
One of our students interviews her teacher about mindset
This video provides an example of how understanding mindset can affect the classroom. It shows MacKenzie interviewing her remarkable teacher, Ms. Buhner, about mindset and how it affects her teaching. Ms. Buhner also shares some of her strategies for embedding support for growth mindset into instruction. |
Using the Blogs
The Let's Chat blog gives you an avenue for joining the conversation about gifted learners. This blog allows you to join the general discussion about gifted education on the Conversations: The Gifted Learner website. This website is operated and maintained by the Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development for Virginia Beach City Public
Schools. |
References
Dweck, C. (2010). The Effect of Praise on Mindsets. Retrieved from the Vook Online Web site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTXrV0_3UjY
Dweck, C. (2010). Mindset. Retrieved from the Mindset Online Website: http://mindsetonline.com/index.html
Dweck, C. (2010). Mindset. Retrieved from the Mindset Online Website: http://mindsetonline.com/index.html