Make Up Your Mind: Benefits of a Growth Mindset

In collaboration with Carmen Latterell, Ph.D.

Psychologists distinguish between “fixed” and “growth” mindsets. As the terms imply, having a fixed mindset means innate and immutable, such that a person with a fixed mindset believes their abilities are what they are, with no opportunity for change. On the other hand, a growth mindset acknowledges flexibility and mutability, such that the person believes abilities can be further developed.

Attributional (Explanatory) Styles

A useful framework for understanding fixed mindsets is Martin Seligman’s description of the pessimistic attributional style, characterized by the individual viewing a negative outcome as internal, unchanging, and global.

For example: “I lost the race because I am a bad runner, will always lose my races, and will also do poorly in other activities.” If this individual had won the race, the explanation would be: “I won the race because there wasn’t much competition, will probably not win another one, and will only do well in other activities if I get lucky.”

Fortunately, Seligman also describes the optimistic attributional style. In the context of the example of the runner, an optimistic way of accounting for a loss might be: “I lost the race because the track was muddy. I will win other races, and I will do well in other activities.”

For this person, winning the race could be explained thus: “I won the race because I trained hard, will continue to win, and will succeed in other activities as well.” Seligman, considered one of the founders of positive psychology, contends that we can learn to be more optimistic—i.e., we can change our attributional style. This is consistent with the realization that we can develop a growth mindset.

And, given what we are learning about brain plasticity—namely, that the brain grows new cells and, through our behavior, neurologic pathways are strengthened—there are good reasons for feeling hopeful, inspired, and motivated.

Teachers’ and Students’ Mindsets

Within a school setting, instructors’ understanding of their students’ mindsets (as well as their own) can inform pedagogical approaches, teacher-student interactions, and personal reflections. Over the past several years, I have had the privilege to collaborate with my friend and colleague Carmen Latterell, a professor in the field of math education. Recent studies we have conducted focus on preservice teachers’ reflections about their mindsets concerning learning, understanding, and teaching math (Latterell & Wilson, 2020).

We have found that preservice secondary mathematics teachers often demonstrate a growth mindset. They express a “love of the struggle,” in which they find it fun to grapple with advanced mathematics problems (Latterell & Wilson, 2018). These future math teachers find it enjoyable and rewarding when the process takes considerable time and effort; the challenge is meaningful to them.

On the other hand, preservice elementary teachers exhibit more of a fixed mindset, reporting that if they do not solve math problems quickly, then they probably won’t be able to do so at all. Therefore, the struggle or challenge is not enjoyable to them.

Yet, our most recent research shows that as preservice elementary teachers learn about the concept of a growth mindset, they express the hope that they will teach in a manner that helps their future students develop a growth mindset in math (Latterell & Wilson, 2023). These preservice elementary teachers report believing that anyone can learn math and grow in their math ability and, further, that they want their students to believe this, too.

However, in a surprising twist, they seem also to believe that they are the exception to this mindset view. That is, they tend to think that they will not be able to learn the required math, no matter how hard they work.

Our research found that this confusing and contradictory view of the math growth mindset is unique to preservice elementary teachers. Thus, we suggest that their undergraduate math courses need to be taught in such a way that they gain a sense of success with math. We contend that the college math professor can play a key role in encouraging the growth mindset of future elementary teachers and, by extension, their future students.

The Impact of Others

Psychologist Ruthellen Josselson (1996), in describing key dimensions of human relationships, asserts that “eye-to-eye validation” occurs when we recognize that we have meaning to others. Among those who know us well, it’s as if they help us keep a record of our identity.

An especially significant aspect of eye-to-eye validation is evidenced when other people see us as a step ahead of where we are. In this way, they are confirming who we have the potential to become. Before we even believe or accept what we are capable of, other people see us growing, achieving, and evolving. This ties into Markus and Nurius’ concept of “possible selves”—i.e., selves we see as potentially part of who we are in the future.

If one holds onto a fixed mindset, the potential that other people may project for them might never be realized. A growth mindset, however, highlights how eye-to-eye validation and envisioning possible selves can catapult a person toward realizing their goals.

Growth Mindset Features

Carol Dweck (2006) states that changing your mindset is not about “picking up a few pointers here and there.” Rather, it’s about “seeing things in a new way,” much like Seligman’s position regarding “learned optimism” (1991).

Growth Mindset Essential Reads

You Have Three Options When You Face a Loss This Year

Six Tips for Self-Growth

Dweck describes the change to a growth mindset as a change from “a judge-and-be-judged framework to a learn-and-help-learn framework” and notes that this commitment to growth takes “time, effort, and mutual support.” These insights, combined with Josselson’s contributions to understanding dimensions of human relationships, help us recognize that a growth mindset isn’t only about the individual. It, in fact, has the capacity to widen beyond one person and have an expanding positive impact.

Ironically, and admittedly, I am a person who has a fixed mindset, in particular, about my math abilities. Conducting research with Latterell on mindsets, math identities, and the influence of the larger cultural context has been personally beneficial, raising awareness about the potential to enhance my own growth.

Further, I can also better understand my students’ needs within the classroom and in one-on-one meetings. Important people in our lives (family members, teachers, friends) might very well foster our growth mindset, perhaps directly through how they react to our successes, failures, and insecurities, but also unintentionally if they model a growth mindset. We learn by observing. We learn by doing. We become what we do.

A Note of Gratitude

When I asked Carmen if she would join me in writing on this topic for Psychology Today, she enthusiastically agreed. I close with a special note of thanks to Carmen for being a guest collaborator and for how she models a growth mindset.