Running head: 2111 FIXED MINDSETS

Fixed Mindsets
Savannah Barron
The University of Memphis

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2
Fixed Mindsets

Mind-sets are a range of beliefs held centered around ones self. With a fixed
mindset, people hold the belief that their traits such as intelligence or talent are fixed
characteristics. So rather than spending time focusing on growing their strengths they center
their time around striving for success and avoiding failure as a way of maintaining their
sense of self. Success therefore, is the product of those inherent intelligences and your future
is already carved in stone. This is one of two mindsets that shapes our lives.
The problem with a fixed mindset is that it disallows any possibilities of growth. You
only have a certain amount of intelligence, you already hold a certain personality, and your
moral character is already concrete. A person with this type of mindset ends up having to
prove themselves over and over again because with only a perceived certain amount of talent
at their fingertips it can sometimes feel like it needs to be proven.
This type of mindset can be a damaging one to hold. According to Mindset and
Standardized Testing Over Time people who hold this type of mindset generally have lower
achievement especially when facing academic tasks since a fixed belief inhibits their abilities
at overcoming academic obstacles. (Dweck, 2006; Dweck & Molden, 2005) People with
this mindset would view risk as a potential inadequacy.
There is also the belief that intellectual growth is something you have to work for.
With a growth mindset students believe that their abilities can change through effort. The
main difference between these two mindsets centers around the idea of change. One,
disallows it and the other finds strength in change. When students believe their potential can
be further developed through work they have a higher feeling of self-control over the

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outcome of their goals. Mindsets arent necessarily a mirror for the overall self. One can
hold separate mindsets for different domains, such as one mindset for science and one for
music.
The current study examines growth and fixed mindsets in separate domains of
learning, for math and reading as these two subjects are often used to measure a students
academic achievement on standardized testing. It seeks to evaluate the relationship between
mindset and achievement. Students with a fixed mindset might struggle to achieve in areas
where they feel they are weaker intellectually while students with a growth mindset are more
suited to take on challenges within a classroom. Growing from this, there is a glance at the
interaction between the initial mindset and scoring of standardized testing. A glimpse into
the relation between mindset and classroom location is also reviewed.
The research was performed through seven different elementary schools using four
hundred and nineteen children in the study. The study began by the students answering
questions about their current mindsets related to math and reading in the fall and spring
semesters. The purpose in asking students questions on multiple subjects was to make it
easier to track a change in mindset for multiple domains. The procedure for the study had
students taking online questionnaires during routine hours of study for their computer
classes. Academic achievement scores were also collected for each student in the survey to
compare scores by those involved in the questionnaires. The achievement scores were
collected four times during a two-year period then analyzed with consideration for the
questions previously answered in the survey.
Analysis was completed to assess the students initial mindset on math and reading
and how this mindset affected their achievement tests. What this longitudinal study found

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was that there was an interaction in achievement scores and the childs mindset. Students
who were found to have a fixed mindset typically experienced a steeper decline than those
with a growth mindset. There is also some evidence from previous studies that their might
be higher levels of determination in children with a growth mindset. According to a study by
L. S. Blackwell in 2007, This determination in growth mindsets, as well as focus on
learning, may be helping slow the rate of decline. (Blackwell, L. S., et al., 2007)
Overall conclusions for the study are exploring the relationship between scholastic
achievement and how a childs mindset on subjects might affect their ability to learn. The
results showed for both types of mindsets that there was a decline in academic achievement
over the two year period of the study. While the decline was steeper in children with a fixed
mindset, in my opinion decline is decline. While the results might indicate to some that
having a growth mindset can lead to a period of less rapid decline ultimately the decline is
still going to occur.
One thing that we learned over the last few chapters is that standardized testing and
IQ testing are false forms of testing. So, here is my underlying issue with this study. I wish
there had been a different route to testing the mindsets than standardized testing because not
all children test well, regardless of their mindset. I also think that because both mindsets
experienced decline it should draw the conclusion that neither mindset really matters.
Theres no real evidence here. I wouldve also liked to see the research go a bit further and
attempt to change the mindsets of those with a fixed view. It seems that the researchers are
making huge efforts to reach what they view as struggling learners, which is commendable,
however I think the focus on mindsets might be used as some sort of justification for why
students arent learning when it could be so much more than that.

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I think that while there is some correlation between effort and outcomes there is also
talent to be considered. What this study seems to me to have been testing would be a case of
the world as we would want it to be. In a perfect world, hard work and determination are all
it would take to succeed. Furthermore, the educational evidence used is far from what I
would consider to be evidence. I think a huge amount of ability is inherited and while we
can teach children to be determined in their learning capacities, born talent does exist. Some
students are naturally better writers and others are naturally better linguists or
mathematicians. While it doesnt mean that a student should give up on these subjects or try
less-hard, I feel as though the growth mindset as a whole might be the next learning styles
which has been proven as false. I didnt like this study because no child should be told or led
to believe that maybe they didnt do well on a standardized test because they didnt try to
learn hard enough, which in the simplest terms is what a growth mindset is, the belief that a
student can extend their learning. We should avoid theories like this and handle oversimplifications with care.

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References

McCutchen, K. L., Jones, M. H., Carbonneau, K. J., & Mueller, C. E. (2016). Mindset
and standardized testing over time. Learning and Individual Differences, 45208-213.
doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2015.11.027

[Mangnun-Jackson, Susan Ph.D] (2016). [Testing Issues], in D.L.Winsor, V.S.

Murrell, & S. Magun-Jackson (Eds.) Lifespan development: An educational
psychology perspective (3rd ed). (pp. xx-xx). New York: Pearson.

Blackwell, L. S., & Trzesniewski, K. H. (2007, January). Implicit Theories of

Intelligence Predict Achievement Across an Adolescent Transition: A Longitudinal
Study and an Intervention. Child Development, 78(1), 246-263. Retrieved November
1, 2016.