CAROL S.

DWECK’S FIXED AND GROWTH MINDSET THEORY

DR. CAROL SUSAN DWECK  2002

- Was elected to the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences
EARLY LIFE
 2004
 October 17, 1946 - Has been the Lewis and Virginia
- Was born in New York Eaton Professor of Psychology at
Stanford University
- Became the only daughter and
middle child - Book Award for Self-Theories, World
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND Education Federation (An
organization of the United Nations
 6th Grade and UNICEF)
- At P.S. 153 in Brooklyn, N.Y.
 2006
- Mrs. Wilson, her teacher, gave - Published her book called “Mindset:
seating arrangement in accordance The New Psychology of Success”
with the students’ IQ rankings.
 2008
- A spark of curiosity - Donald Campbell Career
Achievement Award in Social
 1967 Psychology, Society for Personality
- Graduated from Bernard College and Social Psychology

 1972 - Award for Innovative Program of the

- Earned a Ph.D. in Psychology from Year, “Brainology”
Yale University
 2009
EARLY CAREER AND WORKS - Ann L. Brown Award for Research in
Developmental Psychology,
 1972-1981 University of Illinois
- First job at University of Illinois
 2010
 1981-1985 - Klingenstein Award for Leadership in
- Worked at Harvard’s Laboratory of Education, Klingestein Center,
Human Development Columbia University

 1985-1989 - Thorndike Career Achievement

- Returned to her first workplace, the Award in Educational Psychology,
University of Illinois American Psychological Association

 1989  2011
- Became the William B. Ransford - Beckman Mentoring Award,
Professor of Psychology at Columbia Columbia University
University
 - Distinguished Scientific Contribution
Award, American Psychological
It is an indicator or stimulus that can awaken
Association
- Gallery of Scientists, Federation of
Associations in Behavioral & Brain
Sciences
 2013
- James McKeen Cattell Lifetime
Achievement Award, Association for
Pyschological Science
- Distinguished Scholar Award, Society
for Personality and Social Pyschology
- A notable criticism of her book
 September 19, 2017
- Was named as one of the 2 inaugural
laureates by the Hong Kong-based
Yidan Prize Foundation
 July 2019
- A large randomized controlled trial
growth mindset training by the
Educational Endowment Foundation
involving 101 schools and 5018
pupils across England found that
pupils showed no additional progress
in literacy or numeracy.
FIXED AND GROWTH MINDSET
 FIXED MINDSET
- People who believe that their success
is based on innate ability
 GROWTH MINDSET
- People who believe that their success
is based on hard work, learning,
training, and perseverance
FAILURE
the mindset awareness of an individual.
 FIXED-MINDSET INDIVIDUALS
- They develop a fixed mindset when
they were young and received
praises like “good job, you’re smart.”
- They dread failure because it is a
negative statement on their basic
abilities.
- They can be affected by subtle
environment cues.
- “… students believe their basic
abilities, their intelligence, their
talents are just fixed traits. They have
a certain amount and that’s that, and
their goal becomes to look smart all
the time and never look dumb.”
 GROWTH MINDSET INDIVIDUALS
- They develop a growth mindset when
they were young and were praised by
saying “good job, you worked very
hard.”
- They do not mind or fear failure as
much because they realize their
performance can be improved and
learning comes from failure.
- Dr. Dweck argues that this type of
mindset will allow a person to live a
less stressful and more successful
life.
- They are more likely to continue
working hard despite setbacks.
 - “… students understand that their
talents and abilities can be developed
through effort, good teaching and
persistence. They don’t necessarily
thing [think] everyone’s the same or
anyone can be Einstein, but they
believe everyone can get smarter if
they work for it.”

CONCLUSION
It is possible to encourage students to persist
despite failure by encouraging them to think
about learning in a certain way.