7.1 Growth Mindset and College

Mindsets (the power of people’s beliefs) are ways in which we formulate our thoughts about our abilities, relationships, and personality that influences our behaviors and how we feel. Students with a fixed mindset believe that their own intelligence and talent are innate traits that don’t change. For example, they might say, “I just can’t learn math.” These students typically worry about not looking smart, get upset by mistakes, and give up sooner on tough tasks. With this mindset, people are more likely to attribute their successes to natural talent. Appearing smart, rather than learning, is more highly valued with this type of mindset in education and in the workplace.

Students with a growth mindset believe that ability can change as a result of effort, perseverance, and practice. They frequently say, “Math is hard, but if I keep trying, I can get better at it.” Students with a growth mindset see mistakes as ways to learn, embrace challenges, and persist in the face of setbacks (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck 2007). With a growth mindset, a person is more likely to believe that their successes are achieved through determination and hard work, the use of good strategies, and feedback from others. In education and the workplace, learning, rather than appearing smart, is more highly valued with this type of mindset (Dweck, 2006; Dweck 2016).

While our personalities and experiences can make us predisposed to a certain mindset, we can still develop and reshape our mindset (Aldhouse, 2008). 

Why This Matters

A growth mindset may contribute to better grades in school and a willingness to take on new challenges

1. Lower Failure Rates: Low-achieving students at 13 California high schools failed 7% fewer courses and improved their GPAs by .18 grade points after a one-period class designed to boost growth mindset (Yeager, Walton, & Cohen, 2013).

2. Improved Scores: When a group of struggling 7th grade students in New York City learned to 1) think of their brains as muscles that grow with exercise and 2) visualize new connections developing within their brains, their motivation and math scores improved at a time when math achievement typically declines (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck 2007).

3. Increased Effort: Seventh-grade students receiving growth-mindset feedback (“I’m giving you these comments because I have high standards and know that you can meet them.”) were twice as likely to revise and resubmit an assignment compared to students who received generic feedback (Yeager, Walton, & Cohen, 2013).

4. More Problems Solved: Students who saw a growth mindset-related message (e.g., “When you learn a new kind of math problem, you grow your math brain!”) correctly solved 3-5% more online math problems compared to those who didn’t see growth mindset-related messages. The effect carried over to the next math topic the students tackled (Yeager, Walton, & Cohen, 2013).

Students with a fixed mindset often do not realize that they can change their mindset and settle with an attitude that they cannot do better. But with a growth mind set attitude students can do anything they want as long as they work hard and consistently until they reach their goals (Figure 1).

The following TED talk from Carol Dweck explains further. 

As you start or continue your college education, consider what your mindset you may have with college, writing, and learning. Keep in mind that you may have a growth mindset in one area and a fixed mindset in another. A student who has excelled at sports may recognize that hard work, practice, and listening to their coaches helps them improve. But that same student may also hold the believe that they are a "bad writer" or just "can't learn math." Once you recognize your various mindsets, you can then begin the work to reshape your mindset to better embrace challenges. 

References

Aldhous, P. (2008). Free your mind and watch it grow. New Scientist, 199(2670), 44-45.

Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child development, 78(1), 246-263.

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Ballentine.

Yeager, D. S., Walton, G., & Cohen, G. L. (2013). Addressing achievement gaps with psychological interventions. Phi Delta Kappa, 94, 62-65.

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Adapted from "Mindset & Grit" from Psychology of Human Relations. Psychology of Human Relations Copyright © by Stevy Scarbrough is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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Kannangara, C. S., Allen, R. E., Waugh, G., Nahar, N., Khan, S. Z. N., Rogerson, S, & Carson, J. (2018). All That glitters Is not grit: Three studies of grit in university students. Frontiers in Psychology, 9:1539. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01539