CHANGING MINDSETS

The growth mindset is based on the belief in change, and the most gratifying part of my work is
watching people change. Nothing is better than seeing people find their way to things they value.
This chapter is about kids and adults who found their way to using their abilities. And about how
all of us can do that. THE NATURE OF CHANGE I was in the middle of first grade when my family
moved. Suddenly I was in a new school. Everything was unfamiliar—the teacher, the students, and
the work. The work was what terrified me. The new class was way ahead of my old one, or at least
it seemed that way to me. They were writing letters I hadn’t learned to write yet. And there was a
way to do everything that everyone seemed to know except me. So when the teacher said, “Class,
put your name on your paper in the right place,” I had no idea what she meant. So I cried. Each
day things came up that I didn’t know how to do. Each time, I felt lost and overwhelmed. Why
didn’t I just say to the teacher, “Mrs. Kahn, I haven’t learned this yet. Could you show me how?”
Another time when I was little, my parents gave me money to go to the movies with an adult and a
group of kids. As I rounded the corner to the meeting place, I looked down the block and saw them
all leaving. But instead of running after them and yelling, “Wait for me!” I stood frozen, clutching
the coins in my hand and watching them recede into the distance. Why didn’t I try to stop them or
catch up with them? Why did I accept defeat before I had tried some simple tactics? I know that in
my dreams I had often performed magical or superhuman feats in the face of danger. I even have
a picture of myself in my self-made Superman cape. Why, in real life, couldn’t I do an ordinary
thing like ask for help or call out for people to wait? In my work, I see lots of young children like
this—bright, seemingly resourceful children who are paralyzed by setbacks. In some of our studies,
they just have to take the simplest action to make things better. But they don’t. These are the
young children with the fixed mindset. When things go wrong, they feel powerless and incapable.
Even now, when something goes wrong or when something promising seems to be slipping away, I
still have a passing feeling of powerlessness. Does that mean I haven’t changed? No, it means that
change isn’t like surgery. Even when you change, the old beliefs aren’t just removed like a worn-
out hip or knee and replaced with better ones. Instead, the new beliefs take their place alongside
the old ones, and as they become stronger, they give you a different way to think, feel, and act.
Beliefs Are the Key to Happiness (and to Misery) In the 1960s, psychiatrist Aaron Beck was working
with his clients when he suddenly realized it was their beliefs that were causing their problems.
Just before they felt a wave of anxiety or depression, something quickly flashed through their
minds. It could be: “Dr. Beck thinks I’m incompetent.” Or “This therapy will never work. I’ll never
feel better.” These kinds of beliefs caused their negative feelings not only in the therapy session,
but in their lives, too. They weren’t beliefs people were usually conscious of. Yet Beck found he
could teach people to pay attention and hear them. And then he discovered he could teach them
how to work with and change these beliefs. This is how cognitive therapy was born, one of the
most effective therapies ever developed. Whether they’re aware of it or not, all people keep a
running account of what’s happening to them, what it means, and what they should do. In other
words, our minds are constantly monitoring and interpreting. That’s just how we stay on track. But
sometimes the interpretation process goes awry. Some people put more extreme interpretations
on things that happen—and then react with exaggerated feelings of anxiety, depression, or anger.
Or superiority. Mindsets Go Further Mindsets frame the running account that’s taking place in
people’s heads. They guide the whole interpretation process. The fixed mindset creates an internal
monologue that is focused on judging: “This means I’m a loser.” “This means I’m a better person
than they are.” “This means I’m a bad husband.” “This means my partner is selfish.” In several
studies, we probed the way people with a fixed mindset dealt with information they were
receiving. We found that they put a very strong evaluation on each and every piece of information.
Something good led to a very strong positive label and something bad led to a very strong negative
label. People with a growth mindset are also constantly monitoring what’s going on, but their
internal monologue is not about judging themselves and others in this way. Certainly they’re
sensitive to positive and negative information, but they’re attuned to its implications for learning
and constructive action: What can I learn from this? How can I improve? How can I help my
partner do this better? Now, cognitive therapy basically teaches people to rein in their extreme
judgments and make them more reasonable. For example, suppose Alana does poorly on a test
and draws the conclusion, “I’m stupid.” Cognitive therapy would teach her to look more closely at
the facts by asking: What is the evidence for and against your conclusion? Alana may, after
prodding, come up with a long list of ways in which she has been competent in the past, and may
then confess, “I guess I’m not as incompetent as I thought.” She may also be encouraged to think
of reasons she did poorly on the test other than stupidity, and these may further temper her
negative judgment. Alana is then taught how to do this for herself, so that when she judges herself
negatively in the future, she can refute the judgment and feel better. In this way, cognitive therapy
helps people make more realistic and optimistic judgments. But it does not take them out of the
fixed mindset and its world of judgment. It does not confront the basic assumption—the idea that
traits are fixed—that is causing them to constantly measure themselves. In other words, it does
not escort them out of the framework of judgment and into the framework of growth. This
chapter is about changing the internal monologue from a judging one to a growth-oriented one.
THE MINDSET LECTURES Just learning about the growth mindset can cause a big shift in the way
people think about themselves and their lives. So each year in my undergraduate course, I teach
about these mindsets—not only because they are part of the topic of the course but also because I
know what pressure these students are under. Every year, students describe to me how these
ideas have changed them in all areas of their lives. Here is Maggie, the aspiring writer: I recognized
that when it comes to artistic or creative endeavors I had internalized a fixed mindset. I believed
that people were inherently artistic or creative and that you could not improve through effort. This
directly affected my life because I have always wanted to be a writer, but have been afraid to
pursue any writing classes or to share my creative writing with others. This is directly related to my
mindset because any negative criticism would mean that I am not a writer inherently. I was too
scared to expose myself to the possibility that I might not be a “natural.” Now after listening to
your lectures, I have decided to register for a creative writing class next term. And I feel that I have
really come to understand what was preventing me from pursuing an interest that has long been
my secret dream. I really feel this information has empowered me! Maggie’s internal monologue
used to say: Don’t do it. Don’t take a writing class. Don’t share your writing with others. It’s not
worth the risk. Your dream could be destroyed. Protect it. Now it says: Go for it. Make it happen.
Develop your skills. Pursue your dream. And here’s Jason, the athlete: As a student athlete at
Columbia I had exclusively the fixed mindset. Winning was everything and learning did not enter
the picture. However, after listening to your lectures, I realized that this is not a good mindset. I’ve
been working on learning while I compete, under the realization that if I can continually improve,
even in matches, I will become a much better athlete. Jason’s internal monologue used to be: Win.
Win. You have to win. Prove yourself. Everything depends on it. Now it’s: Observe. Learn. Improve.
Become a better athlete. And finally, here’s Tony, the recovering genius: In high school I was able
to get top grades with minimal studying and sleeping. I came to believe that it would always be so
because I was naturally gifted with a superior understanding and memory. However, after about a
year of sleep deprivation my understanding and memory began to not be so superior anymore.
When my natural talents, which I had come to depend on almost entirely for my selfesteem (as
opposed to my ability to focus, my determination or my ability to work hard), came into question, I
went through a personal crisis that lasted until a few weeks ago when you discussed the different
mindsets in class. Understanding that a lot of my problems were the result of my preoccupation
with proving myself to be “smart” and avoiding failures has really helped me get out of the self-
destructive pattern I was living in. Tony’s internal monologue went from: I’m naturally gifted. I
don’t need to study. I don’t need to sleep. I’m superior. To: Uh-oh, I’m losing it. I can’t understand
things, I can’t remember things. What am I now? To: Don’t worry so much about being smart.
Don’t worry so much about avoiding failures. That becomes self-destructive. Let’s start to study
and sleep and get on with life. Of course, these people will have setbacks and disappointments,
and sticking to the growth mindset may not always be easy. But just knowing it gave them another
way to be. Instead of being held captive by some intimidating fantasy about the Great Writer, the
Great Athlete, or the Great Genius, the growth mindset gave them courage to embrace their own
goals and dreams. And more important, it gave them a way to work toward making them real.