Asian mindsets
Dr Rob Waring
North East Asia
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Two basic mindsets – ‘fixed mindset’ and ‘growth mindset’
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Fixed mindset
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Adults and children
Very common beliefs
We aren’t all of one or all of another but
Fixed mindset
Belief that one’s basic abilities are fixed
you have a certain amount
Growth mindset
The ‘fixed’ mindset beliefs ..
• We have a certain amount of ability or talent and these are fixed
traits
• People are talented or they are not talented and are often revealed
in these ways
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Sue is smart because she gets good grades, I never do, so I’m not smart
Ken went to University X and it means he’s smart
I’m just not a musical person. I’ll never be able to do x
I’m too old to do learn something new
• They don’t want to risk failure and stay within their abilities that
don’t stretch them
• So they never want to look dumb or stupid because they don’t want
people to look down on them
• They believe, if you are good at something you don’t need to try
hard, but if you have to try hard, then you are not smart, so they
believe even effort makes them feel stupid
The ‘fixed’ mindset beliefs ...
• They worry about the next test of their abilities
• They avoid challenges or risks that may show their lack of
abilities
• They give up easily
• They don’t like criticism (they may cry or get upset)
• A lot of disruptive classroom behavior comes from kids who
are trying not to reveal their fears about their perceived
inabilities
• So often students stop trying because they don’t want to look
or feel stupid, or they cause problems to deflect attention
away from their abilities
Growth mindset beliefs ….
• My core abilities and talents can be developed by myself, good
strategies, help from others, hard work
• My education is journey and I don’t know where I’ll end up
• My potential cannot be known from today’s tests
• Tests say nothing about my character, determination to work hard,
ability to take risks, willingness to take on challenges, an a never
give up attitude
• I enjoy effort; I like to persevere if I meet problems; I like to take
risks, I like challenges
• I’m not concerned with current abilities but with growing their
abilities in the future
• I’m not afraid of bad test results
• It does not mean I can a super athlete, or Einstein, but I can develop
in that direction
Teachers and parents with a fixed mindset
believe….
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Students can be sorted into categories
IQ tests and other tests reveal students’ abilities
Students can be ranked from high to low
Tests reveal their current ability as well as their potential
Some students will never understand something, or won’t
understand it well, because they aren’t built that way
These mindsets become self-fulfilling prophesy because research
shows the children develop a fixed mindset “I’m good at English”,
“I’m not good at English”
Teachers and parents with a growth mindset
believe….
• We don’t sort people into categories
• We don’t judge them on todays’ tests
• We take every chance to develop their abilities, and suppor
them
• They sky is the limit
The comfort zones are different
• Fixed mindset
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Don’t look stupid
Stay within my abilities so I don’t risk failure
I don’t want to try because I know I’ll fail and look stupid
Failure is when I do badly
• Growth mindset
– I want to push my ability levels
– If I’m not challenged I’m not satisfied
– Ask for new and difficult things to challenge and develop new
connections in the brain
– If I do poorly, it doesn’t matter because I’m still learning
– Failure is when I don’t try
Compare the labels
I’m not good at this.
She’s smart.
He’s a very kind boy.
Kim is so stupid.
I’m not good at this, yet.
That was a smart thing to do.
He does many kind things.
Kim does some stupid things.
Benefits of the growth mindset
• Some students don’t do well because they don’t get the right
support, or don’t know how to study something
• With teaching and encouragement the students can grow
• The students have unseen capability and the teacher’s role is
to help students to find their abilities
• A growth mindset changes the way people think about
success
– A fixed mindset says I did better on a test than others (the goal is the test score). They
try to out-do others
– A growth mindset says I did better on this test that the last one, but I’m still not good at
this YET. It says although I did better than others it doesn’t matter, it’s about how I’m
improving that matters – how much I’m learning
How do we develop the growth mindset?
• Praise well. Don’t praise ability only. Praise effort,
determination, time put in as well
• Give opportunities, and resources and time to develop
• Don’t expect immediate results
• Develop a sense that they can learn only from doing hard
things
Negative stereotypes lead to poor results
• Some groups believe their group or race has a certain negative trait e.g.
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Asians are smart;
people from my neighborhood don’t go to university;
Thais don’t read;
people from poorer families are poor because they aren’t smart; etc. etc.
• A negative stereotype says the ability is fixed and your group doesn’t have
it
• People with the negative stereotype tend to perform to that perceived
negative stereotype
• People with a growth mindset don’t do worse on tests because they
believe the past performance of my group is irrelevant to my ability
because what I’m learning
• If students believe their teacher or parent has a fixed mindset, they feel
they can’t improve so much
• If students believe their teacher or parent has a growth mindset, they feel
they are supported and can grow
Mindset isn’t everything …
• Not all students have the same opportunities, the same
resources, the same teachers
• Mindset and access to resources, opportunities
• It doesn’t mean everyone should be going to university, but
should be doing the thing they love – the world needs
hairdressers, carpenters, taxi drivers etc.