The concept of growth mindset began with Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck in the 1970s when she researched people’s beliefs about their intelligence, and how it affects their motivation and achievement. She coined the terms “growth mindset” and “fixed mindset“ after observing how children reacted to challenges and failures. Her influential 2006 book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, popularized these ideas.
A growth mindset is the belief that intelligence, talents, and abilities can be developed through dedicated effort, learning, and perseverance. In contrast, someone with a fixed mindset believes intelligence and talents are unchangeable; they are born with them (or not), which leads to avoiding challenges and fearing failure.
Individuals with a growth mindset view challenges as opportunities to learn, they embrace feedback, and they persist through setbacks. This concept is also called “beginners mind”, which highlights an openness to new learning, growth-oriented thinking, and opportunity minded, or open-ended, thinking.
This 3-minute video by Khan Academy explains the science behind the growth mindset.This 7-minute video by Smarter Every day, demonstrates the brain can learn new things.
An additional concept of the growth mindset is the power of yet! By adding the word yet, the problem becomes a temporary obstacle; “I can’t do this” becomes “I can’t do this yet,” framing a current inability as a temporary state, not a permanent limitation. The word yet acts as a bridge creating a path forward, and that future success is possible through effort and learning! Pay attention to how you praise your mentees. If you’re using person praise, for example, “great job, you must be smart” or celebrating the outcome, can you modify your language to focus on the process instead?
Process praise is praise that emphasizes the work, effort or actions of the child. Praising the process not the person cultivates a growth mindset by focusing on effort, strategies, and progress, fostering resilience, and encouraging challenges as opportunities for learning.
Research shows that youth who have adopted a growth mindset
- retain their confidence when faced with challenges.
- are more open to taking risks and going beyond their abilities.
- are more resilient when they make a mistake or suffer a setback.
- emphasize learning more than “showing off.”
- cheat less, as they are more interested in improving than the final result.
Additional research has found that youth who have a growth mindset are more likely to have a growth mindset of personality, believing their social skills are similarly improvable.
For example, they
- feel fewer social pressures.
- have less aggression and stress.
- are less likely to label their peers with fixed identities (e.g., “bully” or “loser”).
- handle negative experiences more effectively.
- work harder to improve their relationships with others.
- handle conflict more easily, as they recognize their “adversary” as being able to change.
To view some fun and engaging activities you can use to promote a growth mindset with your mentee, review October’s Mentor Training Power Point.
One powerful thing you can do as a mentor to support your mentee in adopting a growth mindset is to begin emphasizing the relevant principles on mindset in your own life. Mentees can really benefit from hearing about the way you approach challenges, how you emphasize effort and continuous improvement, and the strategies you use for motivation.
We’ve all had things in life that we’ve struggled with before finding success — learning a new skill, addressing a personal challenge, mastering a task. Keep examples in mind for when your mentee is facing their own challenges. Your mentee may benefit a great deal from hearing thoughtful, self-reflective stories from you about challenges you’ve overcome, especially if you make the connection that being challenged is what led to your improvement! When caring adults — parents, teachers, neighbors, and, of course, mentors — help youth emphasize a growth mindset, they are truly giving a gift that will last a lifetime.
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