Motivation and emotion/Book/2025/Fixed vs growth mindset

Fixed mindset vs growth mindset:
How do beliefs about ability and change affect motivation and behaviour?

Overview

Figure 1. Susie and Jeremy conversing about their exams Scenario Susie and Jeremy, who are friends in university, are notified of the dates of their upcoming exams. Jeremy starts to feel extremely anxious, and starts to remember his past negative experiences with exams. In contrast, Susie feels confident and is excited to complete the exams. Jeremy tells Susie that he is going to struggle to pass his exams and believes that he might fail one or two, whilst Susie shares that she is going to thoroughly prepare in order to receive a good mark (see Figure 1). When receiving their marks a couple of weeks later, Jeremy isn’t surprised with his low marks, and is simply relieved that he had passed. Susie is happy with most of her marks and feels motivated to try better next time. Jeremy believed that he would not be able to receive high marks in his exams, and instilled that idea furthermore by being content with just passing and not attempting to study well. Susie believes that she can receive good marks if she tries her best and consistently studies. These two different mindsets (fixed vs growth) can directly affect a persons’ behaviour and motivation levels.

Figure 2. Open vs. Closed Mindset

In a world where we are constantly bombarded by the achievements, regrets, losses, and gains by those around us and online, it is likely that you have thought about what motivates people to do the things they do. You might have certain friends or family members that seem quite motivated and positive when faced with uncertainty or challenges, and some that are not so open and can often be rather avoidant towards them. Is it simply a personality trait and a matter of preference? Or is it something that has developed over a period of time as a result of their lived experiences?

Susie and Jeremy’s experiences with their exams in the scenario above identify two different types of mindsets that directly influenced their behaviour and expectations with marks.

This chapter explores how a person’s beliefs about their abilities and change might affect motivation and behaviour. By looking at key psychological theories and research on mindsets, readers will have the opportunity to learn about what they are, how they are formed, and how they can influence aspects throughout their daily life.

Focus questions What are fixed and growth mindsets? How can certain mindsets be developed? Can mindsets be changed? Is it important to recognise how mindsets affect me?

Mindsets

Intelligence, behaviour, and personality are fields of research that have been constantly been looked at in the field of psychology, which has led to study of mindsets. Mindsets can be described as certain beliefs that people may have regarding themselves, others, or certain topics, and greatly influence their motivations and behaviours. (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). Growth mindsets allow people to focus on the process of learning and self improvement, whilst those with fixed mindsets avoid challenges and view their capabilities or intelligence as something fixed. Alvarado et al. (2024) highlights how peoples’ mindsets can vary across different topics and that further study in motivation and beliefs can help educate and encourage people in adapting growth mindsets, which can help them develop learning goals and focus on self development.

Figure 3. Susan talking to Emily about her capabilities Case study Emily often had trouble with her math homework, and had always refused to accept help from her mother, Susan, who wished to help her throughout her academic journey. Emily, who is now about to have her final exams in university, finally musters up the courage to ask her mum for help. Emily tells Susan how she has never felt good enough to succeed in mathematics; no matter how much she tried to grasp and apply concepts she had learned in high school, she found it incredibly difficult to motivate herself to study in university. Emily had constantly been relying on her base knowledge in order to pass her math unit. Susan explains to Emily the importance of consistency in effort, and how difficult things almost always become enjoyable once you begin to learn from your mistakes and failures.

Fixed mindset

A person with a fixed mindset can be described as viewing their own intelligence or capabilities as something that cannot be improved or changed–hence the term “static”. They might avoid facing challenges that go beyond the scope of their ability and comfort; having low levels of self-esteem and motivation to improve. Fortunately, a fixed mindset is not permanent, and is able to be formed into a growth mindset with the right steps. Tambun and Irawanto (2023) illustrate that a fixed mindset often functions as a “vicious reinforcing negative feedback loop, which makes it quite challenging for a person to attempt to change it. To help change a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, the person must make an effort to place more importance and focus on personal development and creating opportunities for success. This can be further supported if the person has positive supporters, or people with growth mindsets in their life, as they would be able to focus on reducing negative and harmful thought patterns like shame and self-deprecation (Tambun & Irawanto, 2023).

Figure 4. Mindsets

Elliott and Dweck (1988) highlighted two major types of goals that people aim to achieve in certain situations:

• performance goals, where the person only seeks positive feedback towards their abilities and avoids negative feedback; and
• learning goals, where the person strives to improve their skills and abilities.

Since performance goals focus on the person’s abilities and outcomes it can lead to negative consequences on their motivation and self-esteem when faced with failure. The person simply values the quickly achieved outcome and pays little attention or care towards the process that led them there; causing learned helplessness and lower motivation to overcome challenges (Elliott & Dweck, 1988).

Growth mindset

A growth mindset focuses on constant improvement; constantly recognising the importance of failure and striving to improve through facing challenges. A person with this mindset often finds no difficulty in attempting to complete tasks that might be outside of their skill-range; possessing resilience and a positive attitude when faced with failure. Those that have developed growth mindsets are able to utilise their shortcomings and will for self improvement to the best of their ability. In contrast to people with fixed mindsets, they feel little negative consequences of shame towards their character; purely focusing on development and learning from their mistakes (Tambun & Irawanto, 2023).

Whilst people with fixed mindsets are discovered to have performance goals, those with growth mindsets, however, aim towards learning goals. Elliott and Dweck (1988) discovered that children with learning goals were willing to take on challenges and learn new skills, regardless of their beliefs about their skills. As learning goals purely focus on improving one’s skills and knowledge, people do not have to worry as much about failure or shame. Yeager and Dweck (2020) stated that growth mindsets allow people to achieve an overall better quality of life and well-being. People are able to achieve academic and career success, develop resilience, and maintain a strong sense of self. Dweck and Yeager (2019) highlighted that further research is required in order to better understand mindset interventions, and how mindsets affect motivation and behaviours.

Quiz 1 Henry is an engineer that has been working for a technology company for a couple of years. He often faces pressure from his colleagues and boss to complete his work ahead of schedule, but is never offered an appropriate schedule in order to complete his work on time. Henry understands the challenges his peers face as well, since they are also expected to go above and beyond in their work. While Henry regularly updates his boss regarding his progress with tasks, he tries to find new ways in order to increase his productivity and efficiency. Would you say that Henry has a growth mindset? Yes No

How might they develop?

Haimovitz and Dweck (2017) discussed how mindsets are not something that can be inherently “passed down” through parents or other significant figures (e.g. school teachers), but can be developed through the interactions in which they receive praise or criticism. When directly focused on performance, children tend to place great importance on the outcome rather than the effort they might put in. As a result, when they are faced with setbacks or failure, it can lead to reduced motivation and an over-reliance on their inherent abilities (Dweck & Leggett,1988).

Figure 5. A teacher and her elementary school students

Table 2 illustrates three different types of feedback that can be measured in order to identify what types of praise and criticism may affect children's motivation and behaviour. Across two studies that assessed the effects of criticism and praise, Kamins and Dweck (1999) found that children responded negatively when offered either positive or negative person-praise. Children that were given positive person-praise displayed traits of learned helplessness, as they attributed their intelligence and capabilities as something fixed. Similarly, children that were given negative person-praise displayed low levels of self-worth, and lower levels of motivation when further given tasks to complete. Overall, whilst person-criticism had significantly higher rates of affecting children’s self views and behaviour, negative outcome and process-criticism were also shown to affect mood, resilience, and self-worth (Kamins & Dweck, 1999).

Table 1: Table that illustrates the different types of feedback recieved by students

Type of Feedback	Praise	Criticism
Person	Feedback that displays a positive reaction towards the child (e.g. “I am so proud of you”)	Feedback that displays a negative reaction towards the child (e.g. “I am disappointed in you”)
Outcome	Feedback that displays a positive reaction towards the act (e.g. “That was a good way to do it”)	Feedback that displays a negative reaction towards the act (e.g. “That was the wrong way to do it”)
Process	Feedback that displays a positive reaction towards the method used (e.g. “you have tried so hard” or, “What are other ways that might also work” after praising their work.	Feedback that displays a negative reaction towards the method used by the child (e.g. “You should try this way instead” after pointing out their mistake)

Note. Adapted from Kamins and Dweck (1999)

Quiz 2 Liam looks over at his friend’s computer screen and notices that he has completed a long quest in a video game; his screen displays various statistics including the types of combos used, and the amount of time it took till the entire quest was completed. Liam makes a sarcastic comment about the difficult character he chose and tells him that the combos and strategies he used were not the correct way to complete major parts of the game. What type of feedback would his comment relate to the best? Person-criticism Outcome-praise Process-criticism

How can mindsets affect us?

As they form the basis of our motivation and behaviours, mindsets can affect us throughout various contexts. Mindsets are important in the academic setting as they directly affect teaching skills and students’ ability to learn (Kroeper et al., 2022). Mindsets can also affect our motivation to achieve career development and entrepreneurship (Burnette et al., 2020). Overall, having a fixed mindset can lower a person’s confidence and self-worth in the context of a particular field, whilst having a growth mindset can allow them to pursue self-improvement and develop resilience when faced with setbacks or failure.

Education

Based on the mindset that a student has, they can form different goals towards their education. (Dweck & Leggett, 1988).

Seen as the biggest source of knowledge and inspiration, teachers play a crucial role in influencing the way their students learn. Kroeper et al. (2022) highlights four major factors within teaching behaviours that strongly influence student mindsets:

1. Messages about Success: when teachers highlight factors that are likely to predict student success (e.g. consistent effort, asking for help, vs. innate intelligence or talent)
2. Provision of Opportunities: when teachers provide students many (vs. few) opportunities to practice tasks and more (vs. less) feedback to students.
3. Responses to Struggle: when teachers provide support and offer useful strategies to students who are struggling (vs. not providing any support or responding with disapproval/negativity)
4. Value Placement: when teachers stress the importance of learning and praise student development (vs. focusing on students with innate talent and effortlessness)

Figure 6. Students in a classroom

Frondozo et al. (2022) further highlights the importance of the teachers’ mindsets on their abilities, as they play a key role in motivation and engagement. Having a growth mindset regarding their teaching skills allows them to maintain a passion for teaching students, improve their teaching capabilities, and better manage their emotions and stress. In comparison, teachers that were implied to have a fixed mindset were likely to suffer from depression and/or anxiety; interfering with their ability to maintain a healthy outlook on their career. Overall, having a growth mindset aids teachers in better understanding their students and challenges, which directly leads to better engagement with the classroom and other peers.

Career

Similar to the field of academics, career development is also affected by mindsets, motivation, and behaviours. While those with fixed mindsets showed lower interest and confidence in career development, people with growth mindsets show greater levels of confidence and motivation in entrepreneurship, career development and academic interest (Burnette et al., 2020). A study by Burnette et al. (2020) discusses how growth mindsets are beneficial for entrepreneurship, and increase the likelihood of positive career development outcomes. A growth mindset intervention was successful in improving both entrepreneurial confidence and academic interest.

Conclusion

This chapter discusses the growth mindset and the fixed mindset, and how they affect motivation levels and behaviours. No mindsets are permanent, and can therefore be changed through self change and/or interventions. Additionally, they can also vary across contexts such as academics and careers.

Fixed mindsets limit a person’s ability to change as they struggle to overcome challenges, may develop learned helplessness, and believe that their abilities are fixed and cannot be changed. In contrast, those with growth mindsets do not feel shame when faced with setbacks or failure, and strive for self-development by learning and improving on their mistakes. Maintaining a positive outlook on mistakes and learning helps those with growth mindsets develop and maintain a healthy well-being; creating a positive loop that can improve all other aspects in their lives.

References

Burnette, J. L., Pollack, J. M., Forsyth, R. B., Hoyt, C. L., Babij, A. D., Thomas, F. N., & Coy, A. E. (2020). A Growth Mindset Intervention: Enhancing Students’ Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Career Development. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 44(5), 878–908. https://doi.org/10.1177/1042258719864293

Dweck, C. S., & Leggett, E. L. (1988). A Social-Cognitive Approach to Motivation and Personality. Psychological Review, 95(2), 256–273. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.95.2.256

Dweck, C. S., & Yeager, D. S. (2019). Mindsets: A View From Two Eras. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14(3), 481–494. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691618804166

Elliott, E. S., & Dweck, C. S. (1988). Goals: An Approach to Motivation and Achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(1), 5–12. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.1.5

Frondozo, C. E., King, R. B., Nalipay, Ma. J. N., & Mordeno, I. G. (2022). Mindsets matter for teachers, too: Growth mindset about teaching ability predicts teachers’ enjoyment and engagement. Current Psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.), 41(8), 5030–5033. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01008-4

Haimovitz, K., & Dweck, C. S. (2016). Parents’ Views of Failure Predict Children’s Fixed and Growth Intelligence Mind-Sets. Psychological Science, 27(6), 859–869. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616639727

Haimovitz, K., & Dweck, C. S. (2017). The Origins of Children’s Growth and Fixed Mindsets: New Research and a New Proposal. Child Development, 88(6), 1849–1859. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12955

Kamins, M. L., & Dweck, C. S. (1999). Person Versus Process Praise and Criticism: Implications for Contingent Self-Worth and Coping. Developmental Psychology, 35(3), 835–847. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.35.3.835

Kroeper, K. M., Fried, A. C., & Murphy, M. C. (2022). Towards fostering growth mindset classrooms: identifying teaching behaviors that signal instructors’ fixed and growth mindsets beliefs to students. Social Psychology of Education, 25(2–3), 371–398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-022-09689-4

Ortiz Alvarado, N., Quintanilla Domínguez, C., Ayala Gaytan, E., & Del Castillo de la Fuente, E. (2024). Development and validation of the Multidimensional Mindset Scale: Growth and fixed mindsets. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 48(3), Article e13054. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.13054

Tambun, T., & Irawanto, D. W. (2023). Value Driven Growth Mindset and Value Driven Fixed Mindset? APMBA (Asia Pacific Management and Business Application), 12(2), 137–142. https://doi.org/10.21776/ub.apmba.2023.012.02.1

Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2020). What Can Be Learned From Growth Mindset Controversies? The American Psychologist, 75(9), 1269–1284. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000794

External links

• Fixed and Growth Mindsets: How Do They Impact Behaviour? (Mental Health Academy)
• The power of believing that you can improve (TED Talks)
• A Strategy for Boosting Student Motivation (Edutopia)
• Growth Mindset for Beginners (Give N' Grow)