Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset
When talking about Fixed and Growth Mindsets, the term “mindset” is used to describe how people think about ability and talent (Spencer, 2017). The Fixed Mindset suggests one’s abilities and intelligence are innate and unchangeable; therefore, individuals with this mindset view failure as permanent, and believe if they fail a task, they are incapable of improvement due to their fixed abilities (Spencer, 2017). Comparatively, the Growth Mindset suggests intelligence is “malleable and improvable” (Ng, 2018, p. 2). Unlike the Fixed Mindset, learners with a Growth Mindset view failures as part of the learning process, and as an opportunity to improve and grow (Ng, 2018). In fact, in a study conducted by Blackwell et al., results revealed students with a Growth Mindset outperformed those with a Fixed Mindset, and this was attributed to their increased desire and motivation to learn (2007). For a more in-depth review of the differences between both mindsets, please watch the video linked below.
My Experience with Fixed and Growth Mindsets
Although I consider myself as someone with a Growth Mindset, I have been in situations where I had a Fixed Mindset. During my first year at UVic, I signed up for a computer science (CSC) class which focused on coding. At the beginning of the semester, I was able to keep up with the material relatively well, and possessed a sufficient understanding of the basic concepts; however, as the term progressed, I found myself increasingly struggling to comprehend the course material, and had difficulty completing my assignments. Once my progress in the class began to dwindle, I started to believe my brain was “not wired” for coding, and I accepted failure as my only outcome. Looking back on that class now, I no longer believe my abilities for coding were fixed. Rather, my mindset prevented me from progressing in the class: I felt defeated by failure, and therefore considered my intelligence as stagnant. Currently, I would say I possess a Growth Mindset towards learning. For instance, while taking a statistics class at UVic, I did not perform as well on an assignment as I would have liked to. Instead of enforcing the belief that I did not have the innate intelligence required to successfully complete the assignment, I used the assignment as a learning opportunity to develop my abilities further. At the end of my statistics course, I was able to achieve a grade I was satisfied with; however, had I adopted a Fixed Mindset after performing poorly on one assignment, it is unlikely I would have arrived at the same outcome.
Promoting a Growth Mindset
To determine if you possess a dominantly Fixed or Growth Mindset, take this quiz. My results indicated I have a dominant Growth Mindset; however, during my educational experience, I do not recall any of my instructors explicitly encouraging students to have a Growth Mindset. Regardless, a study conducted by O’Rourke et al., revealed an online educational game, which encouraged perseverance and incentivized effort, helped low-performing students develop a Growth Mindset (2014). Given this, it is likely my previous instructors implicitly promoted a Growth Mindset through various class activities and exercises. Additionally, if your quiz results indicated you have a dominantly Fixed Mindset, the study by O’Rourke et al., suggests a Growth Mindset can be developed with the appropriate support and resources (2014).
References
Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: a longitudinal study and an intervention. Child development, 78(1), 246–263. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.00995.x
Ng, B. (2018). The neuroscience of growth mindset and intrinsic motivation. Brain sciences, 8(2), 20. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci8020020
O’Rourke, E., Haimovitz, K., Ballweber, C., Dweck, C., & Popović, Z. (2014). Brain points: a growth mindset incentive structure boosts persistence in an educational game. In CHI 2014: One of a CHInd – Conference Proceedings, 32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 3339-3348). (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems – Proceedings). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557157
Piccard, P. (2018, September 23). [Characteristics of a growth mindset]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/150885343@N04/43058632290
Spencer, J. [John Spencer]. (2017, Mar 26). Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/M1CHPnZfFmU
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