One of the biggest buzzwords in education these days is “mind-set” — the notion that some students are held back by a belief that they don’t have what it takes, especially in math and science.
The mind-set theory says that once students see themselves as able to learn, rather than fixed in their abilities, they actually go much further.
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One of the biggest buzzwords in education these days is “mind-set” — the notion that some students are held back by a belief that they don’t have what it takes, especially in math and science.
The mind-set theory says that once students see themselves as able to learn, rather than fixed in their abilities, they actually go much further.
The leading researcher in this area is Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University. Her book has sold more than a million copies. A recent article about the CEO of Microsoft noted that he has it on his shelf. Ms. Dweck’s TED talk has been viewed more than four million times.
Of course, the idea of mind-set sometimes is overstated, and it can sound a little simplistic.
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So I was glad to recently get a chance to sit down with Carol Dweck and get a clearer sense from her of her theory and how it does and doesn’t work. She also shared with me some of her untested theories, which she’s using on herself and her husband.
Q. What is it about mind-set that’s most misunderstood?
A. Well, I originally thought it such a straightforward concept. You believe talents and abilities can be developed, or you believe they’re carved in stone. We were quite clear about the concept. I was really surprised to find many people misinterpreting them.
One thing is that a lot of people just take what they like about themselves: “I’m open-minded.” They call it a growth mind-set. In fact, you hear a lot of people, “Oh, I have an open mind-set.” I’m happy for you, but it’s not a growth mind-set if you start straying from the core definition, that idea that talents and abilities can be developed. You start losing the benefits.
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Other people go on a praise-the-effort craze. Effort is part of building your abilities, but I find now that many educators are praising effort that’s not effective. A student is trying hard but not getting anywhere. They want to make the student feel good, so they praise the effort, but at the same time, what are they doing? They’re settling for poor performance. It’s almost a fixed mind-set — assuming the child can’t do any better.
Q. They’re pretending to reward a growth mind-set, but they’re not.
A. Yes, exactly. Kids know that you think they can’t do better when you give them that kind of effort praise. It really backfires.
Q. I’ve heard criticism of the philosophy, too. I’ve seen it called “academic homeopathy.” Why do you think it sometimes generates a little bit of criticism?
A. I think people may see it as a magic bullet. We’re not saying it is, by any means. As if you just tell kids they can get smarter and off they go. That’s really hard to believe. You shouldn’t believe that that’s all it is. We have programs. They can be relatively short, but boy, we work on them for years, to have all the ingredients where students feel honored and respected by the program. We have exercises so they internalize. We show them how to apply it to their schoolwork. We make them not ashamed to go for help if they need it. We have testimonies from advanced students who have gone for help — who have gotten tutoring in new strategies and so forth. I would wince, too, if I heard, “Oh, for a few hours they did this. Then they achieve better, and it lasted for X amount of time.” That doesn’t sound plausible. But when you think about how we’ve studied for over 20 years — that we spend a great deal of time crafting our programs to really connect with the students’ psychology — it becomes more plausible.
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Carol Dweck, a psychologist at Stanford U., examines “the whole question of why some people take on challenges and see them through.” Charles Sykes, NBC, NBCU Photo Bank, Getty Images
Q. How did you get into this? What were you working on that suddenly shifted you toward mind-set?
A. I’ve been working on this forever. Since graduate school. Not the mind-sets, per se, but the whole question of why some people take on challenges and see them through. Others who are just as, quote, smart, or quote, talented, are afraid to do something difficult and wilt at the first sign of setbacks. That was my dissertation topic in graduate school.
Q. What was it that even got you excited about this topic to begin with?
A. Well, there were two things. One was there was new animal research on learned helplessness that showed that animals who had certain experiences weren’t able to escape shocks or help themselves. Even when that became possible.
And we have a term in psychology called “me search.” There’s research and there’s “me search.” I realized that this was an issue of tremendous personal importance because I had been called a smart person. My sixth-grade teacher seated us around the room in IQ order. I was in the first seat.
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Q. IQ order, great.
A. Yeah, what was that about? I don’t know what she was hoping to accomplish, but I had the seat of honor. It could have scarred me for life. It did, for a while, make me afraid of challenges, but it also probably set me on this course of studying that.
Q. But, of course, mind-set can only go so far in helpless students. There are a lot of other issues out there. Poverty, how well prepared the students are.
A. Obviously, if there’s a school that’s not functioning and no teaching is going on, a mind-set that makes a child better prepared to learn is not going to work. There has to be something going on that they can apply it to.
Q. You said you started into this because you yourself found it useful. Are there some growth-mind-set interventions that you play on yourself these days?
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A. Oh, yes. A colleague of mine in Australia named Susan Mackie identifies this idea of finding your mind-set triggers. First of all, to say we’re all a mixture. Anyway, who says, “I’ve always had a growth mind-set. I have a total growth mind-set. I have a growth mind-set all the time.”? False. We’re all a mixture. We all have triggers, things that put us into more of fixed mind-set and make us anxious about our abilities or worried about struggling. It could be a certain area, but it could be whenever we have setbacks.
Many people have episodes. Identify those triggers. Start noticing how you feel, and think when your fixed mind-set is triggered. Then Susan Mackie said -- and I saw her working with banking executives doing this -- “give your fixed mind-set persona a name.”
Q. Nice.
A. I heard a banking executive say, “Yeah, when I’m in a crunch. I have a deadline. Dwayne shows up.” This is what Dwayne does, and how Dwayne makes me feel. This is how Dwayne effects people around me.
Then the final step is talk to Dwayne. Get Dwayne on board with your growth-mind-set goals. Don’t try to get rid of Dwayne. Don’t disrespect him, but whatever you name your fixed-mind-set persona, say, “Thank you for your input.” Or, “I appreciate your contribution, but why don’t we try it this way? Why don’t we take on that challenge?”
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There’s a setback, Dwayne comes rushing back, laughing at you. You say, “OK, that’s one way to look at it, but I think I learned something from that setback. What if we try this other strategy? Dwayne, you think you can bear with me on that?”
I’ve tried it out. I tried it out on my husband the other day. It’s interesting. It’s something we want to subject to rigorous research to see if this is really a powerful mind-set-change technique. But I know for a fact that just getting people to acknowledge that they have fixed-mind-set triggers is powerful.
Q. It sort of reminds me of having an imaginary friend when you’re a kid.
A. Yes, but now your imaginary friend is not so helpful all the time. Means well. Wants to protect you, but that protection is limiting you.
Jeffrey R. Young contributed to this article.
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The veteran reporter Goldie Blumenstyk writes a weekly newsletter, The Edge, about the people, ideas, and trends changing higher education. Find her on Twitter @GoldieStandard. She is also the author of the bestselling book American Higher Education in Crisis? What Everyone Needs to Know.