Progress-focused

Mary Murphy , professor of psychology at Indiana University, has published the book Cultures of Growth . In 2006, she was a student of Carol Dweck , the founder of mindset theory. Dweck's previous work showed that people with a growth mindset are more likely to take on challenges, learn from mistakes, and achieve more in the long run than people with a fixed mindset. Murphy suggested that not only individuals but also environments embody a mindset. Nearly two decades later, Murphy and her colleagues have conducted extensive research in numerous organizations. Cultures of Growth reports on this.

A growth mindset is the belief that abilities can change. Having a growth mindset is beneficial for motivation and seeking challenges. But more and more researchers are concerned about the existence of a false growth mindset. Does it indeed exist? If so, what are its meaning, causes and relevance?

Broadly speaking, there are two ways to think about the malleability of our traits and capabilities. When we have a growth mindset , we see traits and abilities as developable. In a fixed mindset we see them as not or hardly capable of development. In addition to individual mindsets, there are also mindset cultures . Researchers Wallace et al. (2023) explored the impacts of these cultures, uncovering three findings about growth mindset cultures in organizations and classrooms.

Carol Dweck's mindset theory is usually associated with individuals: do they see individual abilities and traits as malleable or not? But there is also such a thing as a mindset culture. A mindset culture reflects shared ideas in an organization about the malleability of capabilities. In a fixed mindset culture there is the belief that abilities cannot be developed. In a growth mindset culture, there is a belief that abilities can be developed through effort. Organizational mindsets can affect the thinking and acting of individuals in those organizations in important ways.

The growth mindset is the belief that personal characteristics such as intellectual abilities can be developed through effort and strategy. David Yeager and Carol Dweck have written an article which addresses four critical questions about the growth mindset:  Does a growth mindset predict student outcomes?  Do growth mindset interventions work and do they work reliably?  Are the effect sizes meaningful enough to merit attention?  Can teachers successfully be taught a growth mindset and instill a growth mindset in their students?  Below I summarize the article without going into all the finer points and arguments in the original article. Think of my summary as an introduction to the article and do read the article itself to get the details behind the arguments and conclusions of the authors. 

Two concepts are central to the progress-focused approach : the growth mindset and autonomous motivation. These theories form important pillars of our approach, which is aimed at sustainable effort and meaningful progress. But do growth mindset and autonomous motivation have anything to do with each other? Don't the concepts come from very different research schools? The answer is yes, they are definitely related. In this article, I look at some studies that show there is an interesting interplay between growth mindset and autonomous motivation.

The Coronacrisis is challenging for almost everyone and therefore particularly a period that requires a growth mindset.

In this article I explain why the growth mindset is an important pillar of the progress-focused approach . Next, I describe five ways in which the growth mindset is relevant to health care professionals.

Many see the growth mindset as an important concept for education. However, recent studies show relatively modest effects of growth mindset interventions on school outcomes. New research by Tieme Janssen and Nienke van Atteveld (2022) shows a specific improvement of growth mindset interventions. They not only explained to students about neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to constantly change, but also let them experience these changes themselves through neurofeedback. Below I briefly describe their research.

The Growth Mindset © 2006, Coert Visser Carol Dweck is a professor of Psychology at Stanford University. She is a leading expert in the field of human motivation and intelligence and through the years she has developed an extensive body of theory and research. This year, she has published a remarkable book called Mindset: The New Psychology of Success . The book is a true gem, not only because of the clarity of the writing and structure but also, and foremost, because of its important and useful message. This message is that the way you view your own intelligence largely determines how it will develop. In this interview I ask Carol Dweck about the book and about what the practical implications of her work are for managers. I’d like to start off with a question about the intriguing title of your new book ‘Mindset: The New Psychology of Success’. Can you explain what the importance of mindset is for success?

Today, many people see stress mainly as something negative. But recent research by Alia Crum and her colleagues shows that our perception of stress can make a significant difference. Furthermore, it shows that training our metacognition – our thinking about thinking – can help us change our stress mindset from negative to positive. In this article, we first examine what a stress mindset entails and why it is important. We then describe Crum's research and delve into three recent experiments exploring the power of metacognition in stress management. The Importance of a Stress Mindset Research by David Yeager and colleagues has already shown that our perception of stress matters a great deal ( read more ). How we look at our own stress response in challenging circumstances plays a crucial role. A negative stress mindset interprets your own stress as an indication that you are going to fail. This mindset amplifies your stress, undermines your motivation and performance, and can inc...

The mindset theory was developed by the famous psychologist Carol Dweck . The growth mindset is a way of thinking where individuals believe that their intelligence, knowledge and skills can be developed through hard work, dedication and perseverance. People with a growth mindset are open to challenges and feedback, and see mistakes as opportunities to learn and grow. In contrast to this is the fixed mindset , in which people believe that their qualities are fixed and cannot be changed.

The mindset theory and the self-determination theory are two important pillars of progress-focused work. Within the progress-focused approach, we see both theories as important and complementary frameworks for understanding commitment, progress, and well-being. A new study also looks at the relationships between these two theories, in particular the interplay between mindset and basic psychological needs.

The mental health of pupils and students has become an important topic of concern in recent years. The pressure to perform, social expectations, and learning challenges can place a heavy burden on young people. A recent study by Kroeper et al. (2024) provides insight into a crucial factor contributing to this stress: the perception of mindset in the classroom. They discovered a vicious circle of mindset and psychological stress.

How mindset interventions can improve adolescent mental health. A new paper by David Yeager and Carol Dweck raises the idea that adolescents have different perceptions of their personal qualities, and that changing these perceptions can lead to better coping with challenging situations and improved mental health. The paper presents both theory and data that support this idea.

  Mindset is about more than learning and performing. A new paper by Seo, et al. (2020) shows how the relationship between a fixed mindset and internalizing symptoms (such as depression) comes about.

Perhaps a growth mindset sounds attractive. But perhaps it also sounds to good to be true. Therefore, let's have a look at what a growth mindset is and what it is not. Briefly put, a growth mindset is the belief that you can change your abilities though the investment of effective effort. People do not simply either have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. Mindset is not like a switch with just two modes: fixed or growth. Instead, there are many degrees possible. It is better to think of mindset as a continuum than as a switch. Furthermore, mindset can be subject to fluctuations. Influences from our environment continuously act on how we think about the malleability of our abilities. In addition to that, it is normal to have different mindsets with respect to different topics. We may believe that we are able to develop certain abilities but may never improve other abilities.

In this article I describe new research by David Yeager and his colleagues into how mindsets about abilities and mindsets about stress can reinforce each other, in a positive and negative sense.

Cameron Hecht and colleagues have written an article about the importance of cultivating a growth mindset for reducing inequality in education. It provides an up-to-date insight into what growth mindset researchers are currently focusing on. Here are some key points from the article.

A new study ( Vermote et al., 2020 ) examines how the motivation and mindset of higher education teachers (N = 357) relates to their teaching styles. This research is interesting for the following reasons: It investigates the circumplex model of motivational styles . Aelterman et al. (2019) have previously investigated and confirmed the circular structure in secondary schools. The current study does this in higher education,  It looks at the separate relationship between motivation and mindset on the one hand and teaching styles on the other.  Does teacher motivation predict their teaching style? Does the mindset of teachers predict their teaching style? Read answers to these questions below.