Mindsets:
Helping Our Children Reach Their
Potential
Carol S. Dweck
Self-Theories:
Their Role in Motivation,
Personality, and Development
Other Work
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Brainology® Program (along with Lisa Sorich Blackwell, Ph.D)
“I don’t divide the world into the
weak and the strong, or the successes
and the failures… I divide the world
into the learners and nonlearners.”
- Benjamin Barber
Yet many of the things we do to help and
to motivate our children make them into
non-learners.
Sometimes we put too much emphasis on
• Labels
• Test scores
• Getting into the right schools
Mindsets
• Fixed Mindset: Intelligence is a fixed
trait
• Growth Mindset: Intelligence is a
malleable quality; a potential that can
be developed
How Do Mindsets Work?
The Mindset Rules
Rule #1
Fixed Mindset:
LOOK SMART OR TALENTED AT
ALL COSTS
Growth Mindset:
LEARN, LEARN, LEARN
How Do Mindsets Work?
Looking Smart is Most Important:
“The main thing I want when I do my school work
is to show how good I am at it.”
Learning is Most Important:
“It’s much more important for me to learn things in
my classes than it is to get the best grades.”
Rule #2
Fixed: DON’T WORK TOO HARD
“To tell the truth, when I work hard at my school
work it makes me feel like I’m not very smart.”
Growth: WORK HARD, EFFORT IS KEY
“The harder you work at something, the better
you’ll be at it.”
Do Geniuses Work
Or Does it Just Come Naturally?
Rule #3
IN THE FACE OF SETBACKS…
Fixed Mindset:
CONCEAL MISTAKES OR DEFICIENCIES
Growth Mindset:
EMBRACE MISTAKES, CONFRONT
DEFICIENCIES
How Do Mindsets Work?
Strategies
Helpless Response:
“I would spend less time on this subject from now on.”
“I would try not to take this subject ever again.”
“I would try to cheat on the next test.”
Mastery Oriented Response:
“I would work harder in this class from now on.”
“I would spend more time studying for the tests.”
Math Achievement in Junior High
School
77
76.5
76
75.5
75
74.5
74
73.5
73
72.5
72
growth
Fixed
Growth
fixed
Fall
Year Spring Year Fall Year Spring Year2
1
1
2
Self-Theories, by Carol S. Dweck
A Summary of Key Ideas
The Theory of Fixed Intelligence and the
Fixed Mindset
The Theory of Malleable Intelligence and
the Growth Mindset
Intelligence is a fixed trait. We all have a
certain amount of it and that’s that. Results
in worrying about how much you have and
how to demonstrate that you have enough.
Intelligence is not a fixed trait that one simply
possesses, but something everyone can
cultivate through learning. Intelligence is
increased through your efforts. Results in
learners wanting to learn.
The Helpless Response
The Mastery Response
A view that once failure occurs, the situation
is out of your control and nothing can be
done. It includes the following reactions:
denigration of your intelligence, plunging
expectations, negative emotions, lower
persistence, blaming, and deteriorating
performance.
A hardy response to failure that allows you to
remain focused on achieving mastery in spite
of present difficulty. It includes: selfinstruction or self-monitoring designed to aid
performance, optimism, positive mood, and
persistence.
“The
fixed mindset
provides no good
recipe for recovering
from setbacks…”
Carol Dweck
How are Mindsets
Communicated?
The Messages We Send
Praise Sends a Message
Intelligence Praise: “Wow, that’s a really
good score. You must be smart at this.”
Effort (Process) Praise: “Wow, that’s a
really good score. You must have tried
really hard.”
Control Group: “Wow, that’s a really good
score.”
“Smart” Praise vs. Effort Praise
MINDSET
GOAL
FIXED
GROWTH
LOOKING SMART LEARNING
AFTER DIFFICULT TRIAL
CONFIDENCE
LOW
HIGH
MOTIVATION
LOW
HIGH
DECREASED
INCREASED
PERFORMANCE
Number of problems solved on
Trial 1 (before failure) and
Trial 3 (after failure).
6.5
6
Effort Praise
Control Praise
Intelligence Praise
5.5
5
4.5
Trial 1
Trial 3
Lying
Students who misrepresented their scores
0.4
p
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Intelligence
Control
Type of Praise Given
Effort
Examples of Process Praise To
Foster A Growth Mindset
Studying
• You really studied for your English test and
your improvement shows it.
• You read the material over several times,
you picked out the main points, and you
tested yourself on them. It really worked!
Persistence
• It was a long and hard assignment,
but you stuck to it until you got it
done.
• That was really hard, but you never
gave up! That’s impressive!
Trying Many Strategies
• I like the way you tried all kinds of strategies
on that math problem until you finally got it.
• You thought of a lot of different ways to do
this problem and found the one that worked!
• That didn’t work. Can you think of another way
to do it? Great!
Praise for Challenge-Seeking
• I like that you took on that challenging
project for your science class.
• Great choice. That project will take a lot of
work—but you’re really going to learn a lot
of wonderful things.
Compare:
• “You did that project beautifully. You see,
you are smart. I’m proud of you”
• “You did that project beautifully. Your
practice and hard work really paid off. Are
you pleased?”
Low Effort Success
• You got an A without working. You must
not be learning much.
• You did that so quickly and easily. I’m
sorry I wasted your time. Let’s do
something you can learn from.
myth of praise
Changing Mindsets
• Stress effort based learning
• Expect ALL students to learn - avoid rescue
mode
• Be explicit with helpless vs. mastery
responses
• Help students set learning goals
• Avoid making performance goals most
important
Types
of
Goals
Performance Goals
Learning Goals
These goals are about winning
positive judgments of your
competence and avoiding
negative ones – wanting to look
smart and avoid looking dumb.
They may be accomplished by
playing it safe and completely
avoiding mistakes or taking on a
harder task that you’re pretty
sure you’ll do well at. The best
tasks for the purposes of
looking smart are ones that are
hard for others but not for you.
These goals are
about increasing
your competence.
It reflects a desire
to learn new
skills, master new
tasks, or
understand new
things – a desire
to get smarter.
Conclusion
A growth mindset allows students to:
• Embrace learning and growth
• Understand the role of effort in creating
talent
• Maintain confidence and effectiveness in
the face challenges and setbacks
Conclusion
A growth mindset allows students to:
• Embrace learning and growth
• Understand the role of effort in creating
talent
• Maintain confidence and effectiveness in
the face challenges and setbacks
…and it can be taught.
EE Action Team Goals
Relentless commitment to effective teaching and
the middle rings to reach educational equity.
Awareness and understanding of the barriers
students experience that negatively impact student
learning.
Develop effective relationship building strategies
that connect parents and students to EVHS.
One Final Note
A Growth Mindset for Educators Too
• As teachers and administrators, we must
constantly be learning and improving—the
world is changing, kids are changing, tools
for acquiring knowledge are changing .
• If we don’t change too, how can we make
sure our children fulfill their potential?
Thank you!