Carol S.

Dweck`s Fixed and Growth Mindset Theory

Biography
 She is the author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
 She was born on October 17, 1946
 Graduated from Bernard College in 1967 and earned her Ph967 and earned her PhD from
Yale University in 1972
 She taught at Columbia University, Harvard University and University of Illinois before
joining Stanford University in 2004
 She is one of the leading researchers in the field of motivation and is a lewis and Virginia
Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University
 Her research focused on why people succeed and how to foster success.
 She has been elected as one of the outstanding scholars in Social Science at the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Awards
 Book Award for self-theories, World Education Federation
 Thorndike Career Achievement Award in Education at Psychology American
Psychological Association (2010)
 Distinguished Scholar Award Society for Personality and Social Psychology (2013)
 Beckman Mentoring Award, Columbia University (2011)
 Gallery of Scientist, Federation of Association in Behaviors and Brain
Fixed and Growth Mindset
Dr. Dweck’s contribution to social psychology relates to implicit theories of intelligence with her
book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success published in 2006.
Dr. Dweck describes people with two types of mindsets: the fixed and the growth.
People who believe that their success is based on their innate abilities have a “fixed” theory of
intelligence, and goes under fixed mindset.
On the other hand, people who believe that success is based on hardwork, learning, training, and
perseverance have growth theory of intelligence, which goes under growth mindset.
According to Dr. Carol Dweck, people may not necessarily be aware of their own mindset but
their mindset can still be discerned based on their behavior. It is especially evident in their
reaction to failure.
Fixed-mindset individuals dread failure because it is a negative statement on their basic abilities,
while growth-mindset individuals do not mind nor fear failure because as much because they
realize their performance can be improved and learning comes from failure.
These two mindsets play an important role in all aspects of a person’s life. Dr. Dweck argues that
the growth mindset will allow a person to live a less stressful and more successful life.