Annalice Ni

Honors 220B
Research Report & Reflection

Work Harder and Smarter: Exploring the Necessity of the Growth Mindset in Students and How
to Foster It

“You’re so smart.” To many students, or people at any stage in life, this statement might
seem like a standard compliment. If a child aces their math exam or a researcher makes a
breakthrough in a complex field, “you’re so smart” can be a catch-all type of compliment that
does not necessitate further explanation or elaboration. No mention is made of all the practice
math problems the child had to complete in order to gain their level of proficiency that allowed
them to comfortably complete the exam. In the researcher’s case, their impressive academic
background and achievements may be mentioned as extraneous information, but the effort
and studying they put in to reaching the breakthrough in the first place might be replaced with
a simple “they’re so smart and talented!”
The way people praise others matters, especially when the recipient may be a young person
who is still forming ideas about what success looks like and how to achieve it. Types of
encouragement that people receive in adolescence can affect how they react to challenges in
academics and beyond (Mueller & Dweck, 1998). The way young people learn about growth
and improvement is relevant no matter what field or pursuit they go into, because it defines
how resilient they will be when faced with difficult situations and failure, both of which are
inevitable in life.
Blackwell et al. (2007) discusses the differences in the way people perceive intelligence as
two frameworks: the entity theory and the incremental theory. People who believe that
intelligence is unchangeable and fixed fall under the entity theory (fixed mindset), while people
who think intelligence can change over time and develop subscribe to the incremental theory
(growth mindset). Dweck & Leggett (1988) found that people who adhere to the growth
mindset tend to focus more on learning and growth-oriented goals instead of set milestones,
which can help them overcome difficulty since their main goal is to improve instead of reaching
a static goal. By analyzing research on how different intelligence theories are learned by
students and the impacts of growth mindset on academic performance and mental health, we
will see how the differences in people who adhere to the entity theory versus the incremental
theory manifest. We will then approach how a growth mindset can be effectively encouraged,
and where we can make changes to broadly improve the academic and general lives of students
through early exposure to growth mindset thinking.
To measure how different intelligence theories can affect students’ academic performance,
Mueller and Dweck (1998) performed 6 studies on children of elementary school to middle
school ages. These studies were designed to find how praise for ability (fixed mindset) and
praise for effort (growth mindset) affected students differently. Some of the studies were
designed to create a failure or challenge scenario for the students while others only led to
success to further measure how a growth mindset changes student behavior depending on the
results of their endeavors. In general, the researchers hypothesized that the students who were
praised for intelligence would fare worse when faced with challenge or failure because they
would take their struggles personally and see them as a direct result of not being intelligent
enough. The students who were praised for effort and had a growth mindset were expected to
attribute failure to a lack of hard work, so they would not take the struggle as a personal deficit
in their intelligence.
From the results of the studies, children who were given praise about their intelligence
after performing a task performed significantly worse in future similarly difficult tasks after
experiencing a challenge, whereas children who were given praise about their effort and hard
work performed better even after facing a challenge. This shows the positive impact of growth
mindset on resilience and dissociating performance from a person’s innate intelligence. Mueller
and Dweck’s original hypotheses about the students’ differing behavior after failure based on
the types of praise the receive were also supported by their data.
Furthermore, the findings of the 6 studies showed a causation effect between the type
of praise students received and their personal beliefs about their own intelligence. The praise of
the students’ intelligence led to them to linking intelligence to performance, while the praise of
hard work led to the students to linking hard work to performance. This vital difference can
impact not only the students’ immediate academic performance as previously discussed, but
also their perception of learning and challenges projected into the future. When asked, children
praised for intelligence generally preferred tasks that let them perform well (fixed mindset)
while children praised for their effort preferred tasks that let them learn more (growth
mindset). Though praise about intelligence is usually well intentioned, these studies show that
the negative effects of this mindset on students extend far beyond immediate academics. We
can see that the reasoning behind the praise is likely more impactful than the praise itself, since
whether a student thinks they did well because of their hard work or intelligence will influence
how they view the malleability of their intelligence in the future. The same conclusion was also
reached in Dweck and Leggett (1988), where the researchers found that students with different
theories of intelligence have different achievement goals which can affect their ability and
willingness to learn new concepts in the future.
Beyond academics, a growth mindset can also influence psychological wellbeing in
students, as found by Zeng et al. (2016). The researchers studied the relationship between four
traits in students in China: growth mindset, resilience, psychological wellbeing, and school
engagement. The students ranged from 7 to 20 years old and came from 5 different schools
with varying degrees of prestige. While psychological wellbeing is not academic achievement, it
is inarguably important in childhood development since poor mental health can negatively
affect more than just the academic areas of a person’s life. This study was correlational since
the students just completed a survey for data and were not completing a task with measurable
variables. The survey given to the students contained questions about each of the four traits
and students responded on a Likert-type scale for each question. Base on previous studies, the
researchers hypothesized that a growth mindset would be positively related to a student’s
resilience, and could a student’s psychological wellbeing, and school engagement.
The researchers found a positive correlation between all four measured traits after
performing the necessary calculations on the data from the student surveys. Using a structural
equation model (SEM), Zeng et al. also found that “developing high levels of growth mindsets in
students predicts higher psychological well-being and school engagement through the
enhancement of resilience.” Thus, having a strong growth mindset builds resilience in the
students, which then positively impacts their academics and mental health.
Zeng et al. noted that students’ mentality tended to change as they age, so they also
measured the correlation between the four traits and the cause and effect relationships
between them for each age group of students. The group were students who were 12 years old
and under (primary school), 13 – 15 (junior high), and 16 and over (high school). For each of
these groups, the positive correlation between the four measured traits along with the
relationship between each as measured through the SEM were statistically significant. The
researchers noted that the results for the 13 – 15 age group were marginally significant with
slightly higher p-values than the other age groups, and this difference was attributed to a
smaller sample size of people in this age group. Based on Blackwell et al. (2007), the difference
in significance in the 13 – 15 year old age group could also be caused by the turbulence of the
junior high transition period. Since this period of time is attributed to “heightened self-focus”
and potential “disengagement from school,” the emotional challenges that students in this age
category may be experiencing could also cause the discrepancy in Zeng et al.’s findings.
To examine how a growth mindset intervention for students can be executed in ways
that are scalable and effective, Yeager et al. (2019) studied the effects of a growth mindset
intervention program on 12,490 ninth-grade students across a variety of different schools in the
USA. The researchers wanted to find who benefitted the most from the intervention and under
what circumstances they benefitted the most in. The growth mindset intervention process
came in the form a short self-administered online session that the students took, with the goal
being that the online sessions could be low-cost enough for schools without a budget for a
whole growth mindset program to facilitate. The researchers expected that specifically students
who had lower GPAs than the median at their respective schools would benefit the most from
the growth mindset intervention, since they may have struggled the most academically. To
quantify academic improvement, the researchers used the difference in the students’ GPAs
before and after the intervention to measure its effectiveness.
In alignment with the original hypothesis, the data shows that lower-achieving students
experienced significant increases in their overall core course GPA after the intervention, with
their GPA increasing about 0.10 grade points on a four-point scale. The researchers also found
that the effects of the growth mindset intervention on students’ GPAs were more significant in
schools with peer norms that were supportive of the growth mindset message. Not only did this
growth mindset intervention tangibly improve the academics of students who may have
needed the help the most, the online program was also low-cost and did not require additional
teacher training to administer. The researcher’s findings about how peer support impacts the
GPA growth also shows that a growth mindset is best fostered in a community that shares the
same values, emphasizing the necessity of broader awareness about growth mindset
development and adoption.
Research in the topic of growth mindset and theories of intelligence has shown that
individuals, especially students, with a growth mindset have a significant advantage in their
ability to persevere through challenges and seek further learning compared to their fixed
mindset peers. Given the evidence that shows these discrepancies, it is vital that educators,
parents, and society in general are aware of the impact that types of praise and how they speak
about intelligence can affect the recipients of the praise. With this knowledge, those who are
most involved in a child’s development can foster a healthy relationship between a student and
their sense of their own intelligence and self-worth.
From Mueller and Dweck (1998), we see that the type of praise that children receive
play a large role in their perception of what determines intelligence. From Zeng et al. (2016), we
find that a growth mindset impacts beyond just academics and affects students’ mental health
as well. Given that a difference in mindset has a significant impact in a child’s education and
psychological wellbeing, we should expect and encourage more engagement with the topic of
growth mindset with children early in their educational journeys. The timing of a growth
mindset intervention is especially important since the age where children enter junior high
school (around ages 10-13) is shown to be key in developing their self-image and view of their
own intelligence (Blackwell et al., 2007). Although changing societal perceptions about
intelligence and how to praise others can be a long and broad endeavor, even self-awareness
and being mindful about how accomplishments are praised can have a tangible effect on
students immediately and in the long run.
In education, teachers should emphasize growth and perseverance instead of
highlighting natural talent or “geniuses.” When pointing towards role models and examples of
academically excellent individuals, people should note the individuals’ dedication towards their
study and ability to problem solve as the reason why they got there rather than innate talent or
abilities. As a society, praising someone with “you’re smart” or “you’re talented” is an easy way
out. We all need to adopt a growth mindset ourselves and actively disrupt the norm so that we
can change what society values. This will ultimately cultivate a more effort-driven, clever, and
resilient generation. So the next time you have the urge to comment, “you’re so smart,” try to
dig a little deeper and everyone will benefit.
Reflection

The topic of the growth mindset and different theories of intelligence really stuck with
me after we learned about it in class. I didn’t realize that there were such detailed studies
about how just thinking about intelligence from a certain perspective can affect a person’s
achievements in a tangible way. I also found the Blackwell et al. (2007) reading very interesting,
so I was driven to research this subject in more detail for this paper. Aside from my initial topic
interest though, the subject of growth mindset and how we cultivate it in students is quite
personal to me. My parents both care deeply about academic success and learning, so this
mindset was drilled into me at a young age, and it still influences me today.
I thought about whether I have had more of a fixed mindset or a growth mindset over
my lifetime while writing this paper, and I’m still unable to say for certain at any age. I
remember that I valued natural intelligence a lot in myself throughout my education because I
would feel pride when I understood concepts easily rather than when I had to work on them for
a long time, despite my parents’ emphasis that effort naturally yields good results. This just
made me more certain that there are changes in what students should be taught to value in
schools in terms of performance vs growth, because this kind of mindset stays with them for a
long time.
While doing research for this paper, the general impacts of the growth mindset on
achievement didn’t surprise me very much since we already discussed it briefly in class, and it
made sense to me. What surprised me was actually how deeply ingrained the value of “natural”
intelligence is in our society, especially the more I read about what methods exist to counter
these beliefs. My parents taught me to value hard work and that effort leads to success, which
I’m grateful for now that I’m realizing how often people don’t emphasize these traits. Even
though I realize that effort should be important in a student’s development, I think I still
gravitate to the idea that some people are naturally just incredibly talented at a certain subject,
especially when looking at leading figures in my field of study. The educational structures that
we exist in still tend to favor students who “get things” more easily rather than encourage
students who make the most improvements in themselves.
Before beginning this research project, I thought I had a growth mindset already, but
I’ve learned that a growth mindset means a lot more than just thinking that effort is good, and
we can always learn more. The growth mindset is more of a verb than a noun, I’m realizing, and
we express it in how we react to challenges, failures, and successes in ourselves and others. My
view on how to approach the growth mindset has changed in that even the details matter when
trying to cultivate this idea of intelligence. Even personally, I can try to praise my peers more for
their hard work and effort instead of when they finish a project quickly because they
understood everything in it easily.
Since the main subjects in the research studies that I read about were students, and the
growth mindset training had a significant impact on them, I believe that all educators and
parents need to know about the growth mindset and how to encourage it. There were several
times when I thought, “I wish I knew about this when I was younger,” or, “I wish my teacher or
parent could’ve said this to me,” while I read the studies about growth mindset intervention,
and I’m sure many other students would feel the same way with the same knowledge. Children
are adept at noticing what adults value in them, so I think the adults who raise and teach the
students and society in general need to value growth and resilience themselves before students
can change what they believe about their intelligence. Some suggestions that I read in the
papers included introducing educators to the entity and incremental theories and presenting
data on how the incremental theory helps with students’ academic improvement and
motivation immensely. The types of praise and comments that educators and parents make can
also be more focused on tackling hard problems and learning from failure instead of
commending how a student was able to master a subject “naturally” or how they are talented
and intelligent because of their high scores.
Works Cited

Blackwell, Lisa S., Kali H. Trzesniewski, and Carol Sorich Dweck. "Implicit theories of intelligence
predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an
intervention." Child development 78.1 (2007): 246-263.

Dweck, Carol S., and Ellen L. Leggett. "A social-cognitive approach to motivation and
personality." Psychological review 95.2 (1988): 256.

Mueller, Claudia M., and Carol S. Dweck. "Praise for intelligence can undermine children's
motivation and performance." Journal of personality and social psychology 75.1 (1998): 33.

Yeager, David S., et al. "A national experiment reveals where a growth mindset improves
achievement." Nature 573.7774 (2019): 364-369.

Zeng, Guang, Hanchao Hou, and Kaiping Peng. "Effect of growth mindset on school engagement
and psychological well-being of Chinese primary and middle school students: The mediating
role of resilience." Frontiers in psychology 7 (2016): 1873.