Mindset

In class, we are studying mindset and i was very intrigued to learn that we were to take a quiz to determine our mindset. I completed the quiz to learn that I had what they called a Growth Mindset. A growth mindset is a belief that abilities come from hard work and dedication compared to a Fixed mindset which is a belief that you are born with a certain level of intelligence or skill. To be honest i was very happy with my quiz results, but I am not sure this quiz would work for everyone. A large abundance of people have a fixed mindset about one thing and a growth mindset about another. For example, some people say " I am not a math person" or "I can't do math" but while playing sports are very confident and open. That does not mean they have a definite Fixed mindset or a Growth one. They are in the middle. Everyone has activities they are confident or excel in and then believe they are not good or will never get better in another. Than if everyone has a mix of both mindsets, how can we determine what mindset we are? I am not claiming I do not believe in mindsets, i just don't think everyone has a specific one.

Also we read a very interesting article by Maria Popova and she made some valid points. That a person's behavior and outlook on life is affected by their mindset and she also took note of Carol Dweck's work with young children to determine if mindset is evident in children. Which according to the research it was, but again I still don't believe that everyone has ONE mindset. In her experiment, the children were given easy puzzles and asked to solve them. When solved they were given praise. Some children were praised on intelligence, some on effort. They then gave the children the option of completing a harder puzzle or another simple one. A large majority of the children praised for effort chose the harder puzzle and the children who were praised for intelligence chose the easier ones which shows that the ones that chose the simpler puzzle had a fixed mindset and the harder puzzle have a growth mindset, which was an interesting conclusion but it also proves my point. The child's mindset were affected by PRAISE, so the child does not have a specific mindset, the choices they made were manipulated by the type of praise given.

To conclude, I believe in mindset but it is not ingrained and depends on the activity. Until next time

Stay cool,

                     Angelyka