As you note in your comments, these studies are only addressing academic achievement, but that has never seemed to me to be the goal of trying to foster a "growth mindset." As a kid, I was often frustrated by anything I wasn't naturally good at, and so tended only to work hard on things that felt easy. And now, as an adult, I still struggle with being bad at stuff. If I can help my child to be more open than I was in how they see perceive their own abilities and potential, whether that's in school, relationships, a hobby, whatever, then I will consider the growth mindset a tremendous success.
I think we should also consider that some kids are just always going to do better in school than others, regardless of interventions. We want every kid to move around for a strong, healthy body, but we certainly don't think every kid needs to be a sports star, right? Likewise, we don't need every kid to get perfect grades, but we do need every kid to learn and grow, and to develop a positive relationship to learning. If a growth mindset can help with that, then I think that's a significant outcome.
Yes! 100%. The problem is, academic achievement is what most of these big studies focus on, because their funding is tied to growth mindset's potential educational benefits.
I think the most important point you make is that these studies only focused on academic achievement. Research also finds that growth mindset is important in promoting persistence and intrinsic motivation. To me, that seems even more important than academic achievement.
This is so clear and helpful! One question I have about studies like these that I wonder if the researchers discussed in the meta-analyzes are, are the effects practically significant? There's a big difference between statistical and practical significance!
That's such a good question. There is a huge difference between statistical and practical significance! The short answer is yes: improvements do seem to be meaningful. Tipton's analysis found that growth mindset interventions had an effect size of 0.15 SD (standardized difference, I believe) among struggling students. For comparison, an effect size of 0.2 SD is considered a "large" effect in such studies, roughly equivalent to how much improvement results from a year of classroom learning for ninth-grade students. Some other growth mindset studies have found effect sizes of 0.2- 0.23.
This is really fascinating but also --- it’s not like anyone’s ever going to be like “we should definitely teach a fixed mindset if you aren’t finding it easy give up!”
As you note in your comments, these studies are only addressing academic achievement, but that has never seemed to me to be the goal of trying to foster a "growth mindset." As a kid, I was often frustrated by anything I wasn't naturally good at, and so tended only to work hard on things that felt easy. And now, as an adult, I still struggle with being bad at stuff. If I can help my child to be more open than I was in how they see perceive their own abilities and potential, whether that's in school, relationships, a hobby, whatever, then I will consider the growth mindset a tremendous success.
I think we should also consider that some kids are just always going to do better in school than others, regardless of interventions. We want every kid to move around for a strong, healthy body, but we certainly don't think every kid needs to be a sports star, right? Likewise, we don't need every kid to get perfect grades, but we do need every kid to learn and grow, and to develop a positive relationship to learning. If a growth mindset can help with that, then I think that's a significant outcome.
Yes! 100%. The problem is, academic achievement is what most of these big studies focus on, because their funding is tied to growth mindset's potential educational benefits.
I think the most important point you make is that these studies only focused on academic achievement. Research also finds that growth mindset is important in promoting persistence and intrinsic motivation. To me, that seems even more important than academic achievement.
Totally agree!
This is so clear and helpful! One question I have about studies like these that I wonder if the researchers discussed in the meta-analyzes are, are the effects practically significant? There's a big difference between statistical and practical significance!
That's such a good question. There is a huge difference between statistical and practical significance! The short answer is yes: improvements do seem to be meaningful. Tipton's analysis found that growth mindset interventions had an effect size of 0.15 SD (standardized difference, I believe) among struggling students. For comparison, an effect size of 0.2 SD is considered a "large" effect in such studies, roughly equivalent to how much improvement results from a year of classroom learning for ninth-grade students. Some other growth mindset studies have found effect sizes of 0.2- 0.23.
Almost a year of classroom learning is significant! Thanks smarty.
This is really fascinating but also --- it’s not like anyone’s ever going to be like “we should definitely teach a fixed mindset if you aren’t finding it easy give up!”