Develop A Fixed 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.

In regards to learning, students with the mentality have a theory that everyone was born with a certain IQ; smart folks were naturally born smart, and the imbecile ones were forever imbecile. In fact, students who possess a fixed mindset would falsely believe that they are not smart enough to complete difficult tasks, or to fulfill class's expectation (Dweck 1). This creates anxiety whenever students encounter academic tasks. Eventually, being fearful leads to failure in achieving one's mission. Dweck further asserts “This means that every time something is hard for them and requires effort, it's both a threat and a bind. If they work hard at it that means that they aren't good at it, but if they don't work hard they won't do well.” (Dweck 2). She points out that a fixed-minded person would think that if one is smart enough, then one would not have to go through any hardships, and that seeing a task as being difficult meaning one lacks the capability to achieve it. In broader sense, this trait generates a negative-thinking mentality and hence discourages students to exploit their academic potential. Fixed mindset, therefore, is not a trait that students would want to develop. What Dweck is trying to promote, in the article, is encouraging students to steer their ways of thinking to that of growth mindset

According to Judy Willis, “When you are experiencing highly negative emotions or severe stress, incoming information is routed to a different part of your brain”. When the high-level thinking happens, the information routed is to the reactive lower brain. When that happens, the memory is affected, all active learning stops. A fourth way is recognized and valuing incremental progress boosts a person’s motivation and enables him or her to deal effectively with setbacks. According to Dweck, “people with growth mindsets, believe their abilities can be developed though dedication and hard work- brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have these qualities.” With a growth mindset, people realized by having a failure in the past don’t mean they will in the future.

Growth mindset and the fixed mindset: The two focal points of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success written by Carol Dweck. Pushing yourself further and further so that you can strengthen your intelligence, versus believing that the knowledge you know and have cannot be brought to a higher level. Even though the book was a difficult read, it really opens the mind to the different views on life, and the many ways that people go about their lives. How the fixed mindset may bring someone to success at first but later in their life lead them to a crisis. Or how the growth mindset may be difficult to grasp and achieve, but it will enact success in the future. The book advises ways to go from having the fixed mindset to the growth mindset, from saying things such as, “Yet those people with the growth mindset were not labeling themselves… Even though

The overall theme of the sources we studied was about growth mindset.The most important thing about growth mindset is that intelligence can be developed. Also, the brain can grow by hard working and practicing. In “You Can Grow your Intelligence,” the author maintains that contrary to the belief that a person is born either smart, average, or dumb, instead the brain is more like a muscle, it changes and get stronger when you use it. Lastly, Carol Dweck, in a Ted Talk titled “ The Power Of Believing That You Can improve,” narrates how she researches about the growth mindset and the fixed mindset, and the benefit of having a growth mindset. Also, in her video she gave many good advice of how you can change a person that have fixed mindset to a growth mindset.

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.

Debbie Millman once said, "If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve". When you doubt yourself, you have already convinced yourself that you will fail. The problem with this "fixed mindset" is that when things get difficult, kids who have been praised for performing smart, become insecure. They will believe that because they do not know the answer, they are not smart. This causes them to run away from challenges and fail to apply themselves. A person's attitude towards their level of intelligence determines their potential growth. Having a fixed mindset inhibits your intellectual growth, though believing intelligence is a potential, you are focused and motivated to apply yourself to difficult tasks in order to grow.

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.

Also, Dweck explains that there are two meanings to the ability. One is that ability is fixed and the second one is that ability can grow and improve. Also, she supplies many examples of both. People with the fixed mindset believe that their ability cannot be developed, and one assessment can determine their future. In contrast, people that have a growth mindset understand that developing skills and becoming successful takes time and effort. Dweck discusses that students with a fixed mindset, learn less in middle schools and colleges which ultimately hinders their success in life. Dweck explains that anyone can learn anything under normal condition. She asserts that women don’t work in math and science jobs as much as men due to the fact that women are treated unfairly in the workplace. An athlete who possesses a fixed mindset in accordance with a natural talent in sports does not believe in effort and practice because they believe that they are perfect. An athlete with the growth mindset has confidence in effort and practice. Dweck asserts that champions who remain

Despite my striving for constant and unchanging success, it is just that: unchanging. I want – and need – to grow as a person; more so than simply growing older and learning more information in school. With the growth mindset, I will begin to view challenges as an opportunity to expand my horizons, whereas with my current mindset, I am much happier staying in my intellectual comfort zone. College, however, has thrown me out of my comfort zone, so perhaps by the end of my freshman year, I will have achieved a growth mindset. It will certainly take some work to reach such a different type of mentality, but I think that the payoff – the fact that I will not be so terribly afraid of failure anymore – will definitely be worth the

Having a fixed mindset is ok. But having a growth mindset is even better. People with fixed mindsets, often give up and don’t believe that they can do better. Like being negative. Other people with growth mindsets believe that they can do better and they don’t give up when things get tough.

In 2006, Carol Dweck published her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. In her book, Dweck (2016) introduced the terms fixed and growth mindset and renewed an educational mindset. A growth mindset is a thought process that can be learned and essentially means that individuals never stop learning and growing. Furthermore, individuals are in charge of their learning. Although this mindset is not limited to the education field, it is highly regarded in education, as this is a field where growth is the key element to learning.

By reading the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success people are able to determine if they are fixed-mind set or growth mind set. There are many people across the world who are fixed-mind set and believe that their abilities and intelligence cannot change. They dwell on the problems at hand and fail to recognize alternative ways to solve them. This group tends to have low self-esteem so they will prove themselves to others so they can feel superior academically or skilled related. If they fail at their task, they become more concerned with other’s thoughts, which diverges them from the actual objective. On the other hand, growth mind set is completely different from fixed-mind set. Growth mind set is someone who accepts the problem and thinks of a positive or useful way to fix the issue. This person believes that their strengths and weakness can grow with time and practice. These two mind sets help scientists explain why people act differently when faced with the same difficult situation.

I thought other people were born with the ability to do athletic things and I wasn’t gifted with that skill. This is an example of a fixed mindset because I thought I was born with an innate set of abilities and I had no