Fall 2014: Learning to Fulfill Your Potential.

Why are some students able to meet academic challenges with tenacity and determination, and other students slowly give up the challenge and lower their aspirations?  Dr. Carol Dweck has studied this issue and has identified two different perspectives that have been shown to impact how people lead their lives, how they handle challenges, and ultimately whether or not whether they are able to fulfill their potential.

Before reviewing the two perspectives, complete the following quiz to help you identify which perspective dominates your thinking. Decide if you agree or disagree with the following statements:

1. The amount of intelligence a student has is something that cannot be changed very much.
2. Students who have achieved a high GPA have more intelligence than most other students.
3. People can learn new things, but you can’t really change how much ability you have.
4. No matter how intelligent a student is, they can always become more intelligent.
5. If you have a high ability you should not need much effort or help in learning new materials.

*quiz adapted from Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck, PhD.

At the end of this article is a scoring key. Please score your answers before reading the rest of the article.

Dr. Dweck has identified the two perspectives that shape how we approach our lives as the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. Your perspective has a powerful impact on how you approach your studies and most importantly how you confront the inevitable challenges that accompany an academic degree. To follow is a brief description of each mindset.

1. The Fixed Mindset: When people have this viewpoint, they see ability (such as intelligence, or athleticism, or artistic abilities) as being a fixed amount. This mindset considers that some people are born as being more gifted, or smarter, or more artistic than others and that there is little a person can do to change the amount of ability he or she has. When people have the fixed mindset they believe that if they are smart, learning should be easy. Dweck argues that when people believe ability is seen as a fixed amount, it becomes difficult for them to take risks in learning because they are uncomfortable with making mistakes, looking foolish, or appearing less intelligent. People with this perspective consider the student who needs to study hard and get extra help as being less intelligent.

2. The Growth Mindset. This viewpoint considers ability (intelligence, athleticism, leadership, etc.) as something that can be developed and grown. Students who have a growth mindset view intelligence as something that can be developed through effort and through learning new skills and new approaches to learning. When people with a growth mindset encounter a challenge, they typically view it as an opportunity to learn.

Impact of Perspective on Students Approach to Studies

Dr. Dweck’s research has focused on how students’ mindsets can impact their approach to their academics . The following study illustrates how the difference in mindset influenced how students handled academic disappointment and challenges. Grant and Dweck (2003) studied how premed students approached taking a difficult chemistry course. Many students had difficulty with the course and did not perform well during the first midterm. The average for the first midterm was C+, which was a low mark for most of these students who were used to getting As. All of the students were highly motivated to do well in the course as it was a prerequisite for entry into the Medicine program. The researchers found that students who had a fixed perspective of intelligence had difficulty handling the disappointing midterm mark and continued to do poorly on subsequent exams. These students experienced a loss of interest in the course and made excuses to explain why they had not done well on the exams.   This is contrasted with the behaviour of students who had a growth perspective of intelligence. The growth perspective students worked to find ways to learn deeper study strategies and to increase their motivation to learn from the course. They spent time considering how they could improve their understanding of the material. Their efforts led to increased performance on subsequent exams. The growth perspective students talked about how they were determined to meet the challenge offered by the course.

Dweck argues that studies such as this one show that if a student believes their ability is fixed, they are more likely to give up when they hit a difficult challenge. It is likely the students with a fixed ability perspective would agree with this statement “Because ability is fixed, when you don’t do well, you mustn’t have enough ability.”   The growth perspective leads people to believe that they can increase their ability and thereby improve their performance. It is the students with the growth perspective that are able to persevere through challenges and disappointments. It is this ability to persevere despite setbacks that allows people to meet their learning, personal, and professional goals and in doing so fulfill their potential.

What about Child Prodigies?

Our society loves stories about child prodigies that are able to go to Medical School at age 12, or play a violin concerto at age 6. It is true that some children are born with amplified abilities. Dweck makes the point (based on research by Ellen Winner in her book Gifted Children), that in addition to special ability, these children demonstrate a relentless pursuit of learning and challenge.

Can you change your mindset? Dr. Dweck has completed many studies where she has shown that students can be successful in changing their fixed mindset to a growth oriented mindset.   She has also shown that by changing their mindset (to a growth perspective) students were able to significantly increase their ability to meet their academic goals.

Here are some suggestions as to how to change your mindset:

1. Learn about how the brain continues to grow and develop throughout our lives. Realizing that your brain is not a finished product can help you consider the importance of continuing to challenge and teach your brain how to learn.
2. Become aware of how you view your successes, challenges, and mistakes. Challenge yourself to have more of a growth perspective by becoming aware of your internal dialogue. If your internal dialogue is saying things that are from a fixed perspective, challenge yourself to consider what the growth perspective would say.
3. The next time you encounter a problem or challenge, notice whether you are having difficulty maintaining your motivation to keep working through it.   The fixed mindset dislikes being challenged and believes learning should be easy. Try reminding yourself that when you are working through something difficult, this is when you are learning and creating new neural pathways. Challenge yourself to be persistent noting that you are growing your ability to solve this problem and it may mean trying many different ways to solve it.
4. Learn about people who have accomplished something you have admired. Work to get the real story, not the story that reinforces the myth that genius is born. Dweck argues that people who are seen as great successes have developed their abilities through hard work and commitment to learning and not simply because they were born with talent.  Some examples include Michael Jordan, Jackson Pollack, Thomas Edison, Mia Hamm, Charles Darwin, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
5. For more ideas about how you can challenge your mindset consider reading Dr. Dweck’s book or check out her website.

“Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration” Thomas Edison

For more information read:

• Dweck, C.S. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House. (It is available in the U of C library)
• Dweck, C. S. & Master, A. (2008). Self-theories motivate self-regulated learning. In D. H. Schunk & B. J. Zimmerman (Eds.), Motivation and self-regulated learning: Theory, research and applications (pp.31-51). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Dweck, C. S. (2009). Can we make students smarter? Education Canada, 49(4), 56-61.
• There are a number of YouTube videos where Dr. Dweck talks about the theory of mindsets:
  • Carol Dweck Mindset Interview
  • Brain Research at Stanford: Mindsets

Visit Dr. Dweck’s website for more information.

by Carolyn Claire, R. Psych

Score whether you have more growth or more fixed answers.

1. Agree – fixed. Disagree – growth
2. Agree – fixed. Disagree –growth
3. Agree – fixed. Disagree – growth
4. Agree – growth. Disagree – fixed
5. Agree – fixed. Disagree – growth