FIXED AND GROWTH MINDSET THEORY

CAROL S. DWECK’S
 Dr. Dweck’s contribution to social psychology relates to implicit theories
of intelligence with her book, Mindset.
 According to Dr. Dweck, individuals 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.
 Dr. Dweck described people with two types of mindnset.
FIXED MINDSET

Fixed-mindset individuals dread failure because it is negative statement in

their basic abilities. People who believe that success is based on their
innate abilities have “fixed” theory of intelligence. In 2012, Dr. Dweck
described the fixed mindset as in students believe their abilities, their
intelligence, their talents are just fixed traits, they have a certain amount
and that’s that, and their goal becomes smart all the time and never look
dumb.
EXAMPLES

 Mentally/Emotionally  Physically
1. I am a failure 1. I hate my body
2. Things will never get better 2. I am ugly
3. I will probably fail this test 3. I can never find the time to sleep
 Socially
1. I can’t make friends
2. Everyone around me is fake
3. I can’t trust anyone
GROWTH MINDSET

 People who believe that success is based on hardwork, learning, training, and
perseverance have growth theory of intelligence. Individuals do not mind or fear
failure as much because they realize their performance can be improved and learning
comes from failure. In 2012, Dr. Dweck said that individuals with growth mindset are
more likely to continue working hard despite setbacks while individuals with fixed
mindset can be affected by subtle environment cues.
EXAMPLES
INSTEAD OF…
 I’m not good at this
 I give up
 It’s good enough
 I can’t make this any better
 This is too hard
 I made a mistake
 I just can’t do this
 Plan A didn’t work
TRY THINKING…
 What am I missing?
 I’ll use a different strategy
 Is this really my best work?
 I can always improve
 This may take some time
 Mistakes help me to learn
 I am going to train my brain
 There’s always Plan B