Dweck's Mindset Analysis

In school, at the stores, anywhere, there are two types of people that can be encountered. What makes these two types of people different is their mindsets. One type has the mindset of a pessimist; they think they cannot do certain tasks and are afraid of looking stupid. The other type has the mindset of an optimist; they always try new things and are not scared to do so. In the article “Brainology” by Carol S. Dweck, she states that there are two different mindsets that people can possess, either a fixed mindset (pessimist) or a growth mindset (optimist); these mindsets are developed at a young age and will influence a person’s choices and opportunities.

A Growth Mindset is when, “people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication, and hard work- brains and talent are just the starting point,”Carol Dweck states, famous author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, the book that started the outbreaks in different mindsets. This mindset is the belief that people can evolve and change if they give enough effort, and persevere. A few of the advantages of possessing a Growth Mindset includes seeing your flaws as an opportunity to grow, having a more risk-taking personality, and leading a happier, healthier life. However, a disadvantage that commonly occurs is turning a Growth Mindset into a False Growth Mindset, which is the concept that a Growth Mindset is just being flexible, and open-minded, when indeed there is so much more involved. Though the Growth Mindset

“Mindsets are an important part of your personality, but you can change them.”(Dweck 46) Carol Dweck author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success says this because mindsets aren’t permanent and you are able to change your mindset about anything. How you approach things in life and what mindset you use toward it can affect the outcome of what occurs. How you take the results of how you did can affect the future of how you go about doing things. One of the reoccurring themes of the growth mindset is trying a new approach at a goal or a situation that you don’t know how to go about.

This is important because it’s hard to really see a lot of growth within a time period. In the article, Carol also backs this up with evidence from a controlled experiment. The experiment was focused on the minds of seventh graders and talking to them in a certain way that influenced their mindsets. The seventh graders were split up into two groups and were to work on an eight-session workshop, however, the control group was taught about what a growth mindset is and how it can be applied into their school life. This factor leads to the control group having improved at the end of the semester. This experiment showed that just by knowing about what a growth mindset is and how it could be applied in life, people are more likely to grow more rapidly than people whose minds are fixed on having a limit to their knowledge or skills. This is important because the sooner that kids know how to make their brain think that there are endless possibilities to who they can be or what they can do, the more they are likely to excel in anything that they attempt, not only in school but in their own personal life. This will allow a person with a fixed mindset to be able to change their way of thinking and start to see more about what they can accomplish with their life.

Basically, individuals with a fixed mindset often feel measured by a failure, sometimes permanently. Unfortunately, failed attempts are viewed as a label rather than an opportunity to plan a new path of succes. On the other hand, an individual with a growth mindset views a failed attempt as an opportunity to take action, to confront obstacles, to keep up with their schoolwork, and/or to better manage and organize their time. Growth mindset individuals believe that qualities can be developed, expanded, and eventually result in a successful outcome. A second lesson learned is the power of labels and the stereotype of ability; this lesson is undoubtedly one of the most enlightening. Dweck discovered in one of her studies that, “... ability praise often pushed students right into a fixed mindset, and they showed all the signs of it too. When we gave them a choice, they rejected a challenging new task that they could learn from. They didn’t want to do anything that could expose their flaws and call into question their talent” (72). One’s mindset determines their reaction to labels and stereotypes. An individual with a fixed mindset will settle for a positive label and chose stagnation and permanent inferiority rather than risk losing the label; whereas,

The way that people think about their ability to change and grow can impact their lives. In her book, Mindset: The new psychology of success, Carol Dweck introduces this way of viewing of the world as our mindsets. She proposes that there are two different types of mindsets: growth and fixed. People with a growth mindset see their abilities as something that can be cultivated and changed through effort. They are more willing to take chances to learn and grow.

Carol Dweck writes about an excellent concept to live by in Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, although it is not necessarily a new concept. She words her concept as the “growth” mindset versus the “fixed” mindset. The “growth” mindset is what she suggests the reader should translate into different aspects of their everyday life. The growth mindset is about learning from mistakes, and always trying as hard as possible to improve oneself. Whereas, the fixed mindset is when people have the idea that they were born with quantifiable traits, and are not able to change or improve them. In my opinion, for the growth mindset, she is essentially just rewording what I call the golden rule which is “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again”.

“The New Psychology of Success”, these terms have an aura of a certain mind altering power. The read, Mindset by Carol S. Dweck, focused upon two specific mindsets: fixed mindset vs. growth mindset. Dweck shuffles through personal experiences as well as researched experiences to showcase and explain each mindset. Although I personally have had both mindsets, consistent success was only attainted through ensuring a growth mindset, similar to the experiences presented by Dweck, and this success is achievable to anyone who instills this mindset.

Dweck believes that someone who possesses a “growth mindset” is almost the polar opposite of someone who has a “fixed mindset.” A person with a growth mindset is able to think positively and see the silver lining of an unfavorable situation. They are able to improve from their mistakes, and always finds a way to become better at different aspects of life. Growth mindsets come with an open mind, making these people extremely versatile in any circumstance. In addition, their mindsets increase in complexity through maturity. They believe that as long as anyone puts in the effort, they have the potential to succeed.

Throughout history, human beings have always attempted to form a categorization system for everything around them. This organizational yearning extends to their own species as well – whether it is by race, gender, language, or any other category. Therefore, it should be no surprise that Dr. Carol Dweck in chapter one of her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, asserts that there are two types of mindsets that people fall under: fixed mindset and growth mindset. In its simplest form, a fixed mindset is one where the person only craves the feeling of success.

A child in his growing period learns to make certain sets of assumptions or notations from the events happening in his growth environment. These sets of assumptions or notations develops into ideas the child uses in his growth period and they are called mindsets. Carol Dweck categorizes these mindsets into two categories called Growth Mindset and Fixed Mindset. A Person who restricts his basic abilities and talents to a set of fixed traits is set to have a Fixed mindset. The ideas of such a person revolves around this mindset. The goals of such a person are selfish or self-centered. However, the person with a growth mindset has a complete different ideology. A growth mindset person has an accepting attitude and is always willing to learn something

Carol Dweck categorized students into two different types of learning based of their mindsets. First group are students with the Fixed Mindset. Fixed mindset students are students who believe in looking smart rather than becoming smarter. These students believe in three things; one mistakes are set back, two, don’t work had and three, if you make a mistake don’t fix it. The other mindset is the growth mindset, these students “believe that their abilities can be developed, and so their major goal is to learn”. The three things these students focus on are; one take on challenges, two work hard, and three confront mistakes and correct them. Growing up all the way from the start of school, until the beginning of college, I would consider myself

A fixed mindset is the easy way out, whereas a growth mindset is more demanding but reaps greater rewards. Many people become anchored on the idea of perfection and while there is nothing wrong with trying your best, it’s implausible to be perfect. A growth mindset allows you to make progress; those who are persistent, are able to accomplish. For example, Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper for lack of creativity, and had he not persevered, Mickey Mouse wouldn’t exist today. A fixed mindset is harmful because you’re so adamant about your proficiency that you fail to persist and accept criticism. Acknowledging critique is one of the most helpful elements of a growth mindset. You can’t fix something if you are unaware of your mistakes. If

Dr. Carol Dweck of Stanford University has been studying people’s mindsets towards learning for decades. She has found that most people adhere to one of two mindsets: fixed or growth. Fixed mindsets mistakenly believe that people are either smart or not, that intelligence is fixed by genes. People with growth mindsets correctly believe that capability and intelligence can be grown through effort, struggle and failure. Dweck found that those with a fixed mindset tended to focus their effort on tasks where they had a high likelihood of success and avoided tasks where they may have had to struggle, which limited their learning. People with a growth mindset, however, embraced challenges, and understood that tenacity and effort could change their learning outcomes. As you can imagine, this correlated with the latter group more actively pushing themselves and growing

One way growth mindset is more superior than a fixed mindset is due to the ability to develop and adapt the intelligence of a person. A fixed mindset will lock you down to the "now". A study done by Dweck tested ten-year-olds with problems that were beyond their reach of knowledge. Many of the kids were excited to learn and do better the next time, but a few were upset. They felt like testing their knowledge defeated them. "In one study, after a failure on a test, they said they'll cheat next time instead of study more. In another study, they found someone who did worse than they did so they could feel better, and in