Specific | smartgoals

Image Credit: Nigel Holmes

Carol Deweck discussing how to to instill a growth mind-set in students.

Specific.

There are specific theories about intelligence that have a profound impact on how students react to different outcomes and shape their lives. These self-theories create a psychological framework through which thoughts, feelings and behaviors are shaped. These theories reveal why some students work harder and others fail. Through research Dweck and her colleges inextricably tied self-concept, self-esteem and motivation to intelligence theories.

Dweck asked research subjects if they mostly agreed or mostly disagreed with two types of statements:

You can learn new things but you can’t really change how intelligent you are.
No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it quite a bit.

Students who believe that intelligence is an unchangeable and fixed internal characteristic are said to be entity theorist.

Students that believe that intelligence is not fixed and can be improved through enough effort are said to be incremental theorist.

Entity Theorist (Fixed Mindset):

-Avoid challenges

- Give up easily

- See effort as fruitless or worse

- Ignore useful negative feedback

- Feel threatened by the success of others

Incremental theorist (Growth Mindset):

- Embrace challenges

- Persist in the face of setbacks

- See effort as the path to mastery

- Learn from criticism

- Find lessons and inspiration in the success of others

The Results...

Those that subcribe to an Enity theory of intelligence are more likely to plateau early and achieve less than their full potential.

Those that subrsibe to a Incremental theory of intelligence are more likely to reach ever-higher levels of achievement.

Start the mindset test. Are you an Incremental theorist or an entity theorsit?

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