Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

I got an e-mail from one of my undergraduate students shortly after I had taught her the growth mindset. Here’s how she used to study before: “When faced with really tough material I tend[ed] to read the material over and over.” After learning the growth mindset, she started using better strategies—that worked:

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Professor Dweck:

When Heidi [the teaching assistant] told me my exam results today I didn’t know whether to cry or just sit down. Heidi will tell you, I looked like I won the lottery (and I feel that way, too)! I can’t believe I did SO WELL. I expected to “scrape” by. The encouragement you have given me will serve me well in life.…

I feel that I’ve earned a noble grade, but I didn’t earn it alone. Prof. Dweck, you not only teach [your] theory, you SHOW it. Thank you for the lesson. It is a valuable one, perhaps the most valuable I’ve learned at Columbia. And yeah, I’ll be doing THAT [using these strategies] before EVERY exam!

Thank you very, very much (and you TOO Heidi)!

No longer helpless,

June

Because they think in terms of learning, people with the growth mindset are clued in to all the different ways to create learning. It’s odd. Our pre-med students with the fixed mindset would do almost anything for a good grade—except take charge of the process to make sure it happens.

Created Equal?

Does this mean that anyone with the right mindset can do well? Are all children created equal? Let’s take the second question first. No, some children are different. In her book Gifted Children, Ellen Winner offers incredible descriptions of prodigies. These are children who seem to be born with heightened abilities and obsessive interests, and who, through relentless pursuit of these interests, become amazingly accomplished.

Michael was one of the most precocious. He constantly played games involving letters and numbers, made his parents answer endless questions about letters and numbers, and spoke, read, and did math at an unbelievably early age. Michael’s mother reports that at four months old, he said, “Mom, Dad, what’s for dinner?” At ten months, he astounded people in the supermarket by reading words from the signs. Everyone assumed his mother was doing some kind of ventriloquism thing. His father reports that at three, he was not only doing algebra, but discovering and proving algebraic rules. Each day, when his father got home from work, Michael would pull him toward math books and say, “Dad, let’s go do work.”

Michael must have started with a special ability, but, for me, the most outstanding feature is his extreme love of learning and challenge. His parents could not tear him away from his demanding activities. The same is true for every prodigy Winner describes. Most often people believe that the “gift” is the ability itself. Yet what feeds it is that constant, endless curiosity and challenge seeking.

Is it ability or mindset? Was it Mozart’s musical ability or the fact that he worked till his hands were deformed? Was it Darwin’s scientific ability or the fact that he collected specimens nonstop from early childhood?

Prodigies or not, we all have interests that can blossom into abilities. As a child, I was fascinated by people, especially adults. I wondered: What makes them tick? In fact, a few years back, one of my cousins reminded me of an episode that took place when we were five years old. We were at my grandmother’s house, and he’d had a big fight with his mother over when he could eat his candy. Later, we were sitting outse on the front steps and I said to him: “Don’t be so stupid. Adults like to think they’re in charge. Just say yes, and then eat your candy when you want to.”

Were those the words of a budding psychologist? All I know is that my cousin told me this advice served him well. (Interestingly, he became a dentist.)

Can Everyone Do Well?

Now back to the first question. Is everyone capable of great things with the right mindset? Could you march into the worst high school in your state and teach the students college calculus? If you could, then one thing would be clear: With the right mindset and the right teaching, people are capable of a lot more than we think.

Garfield High School was one of the worst schools in Los Angeles. To say that the students were turned off and the teachers burned out is an understatement. But without thinking twice, Jaime Escalante (of Stand and Deliver fame) taught these inner-city Hispanic students college-level calculus. With his growth mindset, he asked “How can I teach them?” not “Can I teach them?” and “How will they learn best?” not “Can they learn?”