Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

After exploring mindsets, the worldviews these perspectives create, and the consequences each one has on real people, Dweck dives into where the mindsets come from and why some people might have a growth mindset when others cling to a fixed one. She views the social world as steeped in both fixed- and growth-mindset messages.

Praise is a source of one type of messaging, and Dweck cites her series of seven experiments on children before concluding that praising the fixed trait of intelligence actively harms motivation and performance. She points out that this also happens to be the kind of praise children like most, because it gives them a short-term confidence boost; it is also the type of praise parents and teachers give most often. Dweck notes that this praise is tied to the short-term, highly visible moment or performance, not the longer, less-visible process of getting there. The best remedy, she says, is to replace praise that focuses on talent, ability, or intelligence with affirmation of new or creative strategies and honest effort. She also suggests tempering children’s need for praise altogether by encouraging them to seek out challenges and commit to learning in all that they undertake. Another strategy she suggests is to ask questions instead of praising, which sends the message that adults value the thoughts and processes behind the work a child has done.

Failure is another arena for messaging that Dweck explores. The cultural belief that children must be protected from failure and disappointment not only sends a fixed-mindset message but actively undermines a child’s ability to build resilience skills. To grow and develop, Dweck points out, children need adults to show them where they failed and to provide feedback that shows them how to do better next time. Harsh or judgmental criticism, however, can reinforce fixed-mindset beliefs, because it reduces mistakes to character flaws. Harsh discipline similarly backfires because it sends the message that faults should be punished, rather than providing strategies to improve or make amends. Judgments not only send fixed-mindset messages but also undermine relationships because children begin to believe that offers for help or support are really just disguised opportunities to be judged. Dweck also observes that children pass on adults’ messaging to others, citing a study that asked second graders to give advice to a fictional peer who was struggling in math. The fixed-mindset children had little to say, whereas their growth-minded peers offered many workable solutions.

Dweck points out that the stakes of fixed-mindset messaging can be measured in student mental health and well-being. Parents with fixed mindsets, Dweck observes, may push ideas onto their children and pigeonhole them into pursuing interests that support the parents’ sense of validation. This leads to children who have no room to be themselves. Parents might also tie performance to love, sending a message that it is contingent upon the child’s success, which creates pressure and anxiety. The stakes are also high when teachers and coaches transmit their own fixed mindsets to students. Teachers with fixed mindsets create cultures of judgment by reinforcing stereotypes, emphasizing talent over effort, and focusing less on students with lower initial performance. Dweck says fixed-mindset teachers don’t believe children can improve, so they spend less time with lower performers. This creates the conditions for self-fulfilling prophecies. By contrast, Dweck observes that growth-minded teachers and coaches create cultures of trust, rather than cultures of judgment, by de-emphasizing talent and combatting stereotypes. They maintain high standards while providing all students with the steps and strategies to reach them, and they help their charges embrace failure as the catalyst for deeper learning.

Dweck acknowledges that teachers and others have used her mindset theory in unintended ways. She cautions against the “false growth mindset” that can arise from misunderstanding mindset theory (214). Growth mindset, Dweck says, is not about being open-minded; it is about being growth-oriented. Likewise, it is not about just any effort but focuses on sustained effort in the pursuit of growth and learning. Praising effort as a consolation for a loss or failure, especially when no effort was made, does not promote a growth mindset; nor does simply telling students they need to work harder without providing the feedback or resources for them to grow from the work. This process requires helping students learn the skills and access the resources needed to achieve their goals. Finally, Dweck emphasizes that teachers and coaches who shame students for having a fixed mindset or believe a student is unreachable simply reinforce that child’s views, as well as their own.

In the end, Dweck encourages teachers, coaches, and parents to consistently deliver process-oriented praise, respond proactively to mistakes and failures, keep high standards, and teach for deeper understanding rather than for memorization and performance. She invites the reader to reflect on their own upbringing and mindset messaging with exercises at the end of the chapter. Firm, nurturing, growth-minded parents, coaches, and teachers uplift and teach children, give them space to explore and stretch their interests, provide honest feedback, and maintain high expectations for everyone, regardless of initial performance.