Lecture 11: Malleable vs. Fixed Thinking

Question 1

Carol Dweck intelligence survey

Answer 1

Carol Dweck asked participants: “Which of the two statements do you agree with more strongly?
a) Your intelligence is something about you that cannot change very much.
b) No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it quite a bit.

Question 2

Carol Dweck intelligence survey findings

Answer 2

Found that 50% of North American participants believe intelligence is malleable, while the other 50% believe it is fixed

Question 3

little genius story

Answer 3

• Koestner’s friend’s child’s teacher identified 5 “little geniuses” in her class who she believed were gifted in math
• She would work with those children on advanced math, while the others would play with blocks

Question 4

what would Carol Dweck suggest about the little genius story?

Answer 4

Carol Dweck would suggest that this treatment negatively impacts motivation in the non-genius group but the genius group will also be negatively impacted in other ways

Question 5

what factors are used to assess one’s motivation

Answer 5

• Effort
• Goals
• Challenge
• Persistence

Question 6

theories that support ability praise

Answer 6

• self-efficacy
• expectancy
• reinforcement

Question 7

self-efficacy theory

Answer 7

confidence in a particular area for doing certain kinds of things

Question 8

expectancy theory

Answer 8

praise is a social reinforcement that communicates expectations and hence, impacts performance

Question 9

reinforcement theory

Answer 9

reinforcement can modify behaviour

Question 10

Koestner’s Ph.D. thesis

Answer 10

• Found that kids and university students responded well to ability praise
• They were more likely to do a challenging task afterwards

Question 11

Dweck on Koestner’s thesis

Answer 11

• This study fails to consider the long-term implication of praise over the natural learning curve of any activity
• Any learning curve involves difficulty and challenge

Question 12

Mueller & Dweck, 1998 study sample & method overview

Answer 12

• 128 5th-graders from rural and inner-city schools
• 50% Caucasian, 19% African American, and 31% Hispanic
• 3 sets of problems, each containing 10 standard progressive matrices

Question 13

Mueller & Dweck, 1998 study first set of problems

Answer 13

• All children received success feedback after the first set of problems
• Ex. “Wow, you did really well on these problems. You got x number right. That’s a really high score.”
• No matter what their actual score was, all children were told that they had solved at least 80% of the problems that they answered
• ⅓ were also told, “You must be smart at these problems.” (intelligence praise)
• ⅓ were also told, “You must have worked hard at these problems.” (effort praise)
• The remaining children received no additional feedback
• Achievement goals were measured after they had worked on the first set of (success) matrices and received feedback

Question 14

Mueller & Dweck, 1998 study post-first set of problems decision

Answer 14

• Then, children were given the option to either work on more challenging or easier problems
• Found that those who were given intelligence praise wanted to do the easier problems, while those who were given effort praise wanted to do the harder problems

Question 15

Mueller & Dweck, 1998 study second set of problems

Answer 15

• After a second, difficult trial, children were rated on a 1-6 scale based on their desire to persist and task enjoyment
• Children in the intelligence praise condition had lower enjoyment and persistence than those in the effort praise condition

Question 16

Mueller & Dweck, 1998 study attributions for poor performance in the second problem set

Answer 16

• Those in the effort praise condition attributed the failure to a lack of effort
• Those in the intelligence praise condition attributed their failure to a lack of intelligence

Question 17

Mueller & Dweck, 1998 study acknowledgement of poor performance in the second problem set

Answer 17

Children in the effort condition acknowledged how poorly they did but those in the ability condition exaggerated how well they did

Question 18

Mueller & Dweck, 1998 study third set of problems

Answer 18

• Performance on the third set of problems (matched to the same level of difficulty as the original set) was then measured:
• Children who received the intelligence praise did significantly worse in the 3rd set than in the 1st set
• Children in the control condition had similar performance in the 3rd and 1st set
• Children in the effort praise conditioning did better in the 3rd set than in the 1st set

Question 19

Mueller & Dweck, 1998 study results and self-efficacy, reinforcement, and expectation theories

Answer 19

These results are contrary to self-efficacy, reinforcement, and expectation theories

Question 20

Mueller & Dweck, 1998 study takeaway

Answer 20

we should be focusing on effort rather than ability

Question 21

Dweck on star qualities

Answer 21

• Parents spend time looking for star qualities in their children
• Dweck: this is a waste of time; we should be focusing on the motivational qualities that are essential to becoming skilled in any area

Question 22

4 motivational qualities

Answer 22

• Challenge-seeking
• Resilience in the face of obstacles
• Effort when things get tough
• Strategies

Question 23

how should parents view motivation factors according to Dweck?

Answer 23

They should realize that if children are displaying motivational qualities, they’ll be good at whatever they’re interested in

Question 24

Dweck on little geniuses

Answer 24

• If we train kids to think they’re little geniuses, they will believe their ability is fixed and that they can count on it
• But, there’s no area in life without a learning curve that includes failure
• If kids think they are natural at something, they won’t respond well to setbacks

Question 25

Dweck on malleable vs. fixed intelligence

Answer 25

Dweck’s research has shown that when you have a malleable view of your abilities, you will display key motivational qualities. But, if you have a fixed view of your abilities, you will do well until you experience setbacks

Question 26

how are Dweck and Ericsson’s ideas related?

Answer 26

Using Dweck’s ideas can help motivate children to engage in deliberate practice

Question 27

Dweck, 2007 ability beliefs study method

Answer 27

• A prospective interventional study with 100 students doing poorly in math
• The students were targeted for study skills with intervention

Question 28

Dweck, 2007 ability beliefs study conditions

Answer 28

• Traditional study skills
• Traditional study skills + growth mindset intervention that taught children that their brains are malleable

Question 29

Dweck, 2007 ability beliefs study findings

Answer 29

Found that students who were taught that intelligence can grow got significantly higher math grades

Question 30

JUMP math

Answer 30

a program that encourages kids to discover things themselves, breaks things down into smaller steps, and uses one-on-one instruction to help foster deliberate practice

Question 31

efficacy of JUMP math

Answer 31

JUMP math significantly improved math performance for students in grades 4-7

Question 32

confidence and math skills

Answer 32

• The foundation of teaching math is building confidence
• Math is well-suited to build confidence
• Teachers can reduce things to tiny steps and build things incrementally

Question 33

micro-steps

Answer 33

• Teachers are surprised to discover that what they were teaching as one step may contain as many as seven micro-steps
• It is important to break things down as much as possible

Question 34

Dweck on the importance of environmental concerns

Answer 34

“We never know exactly what someone is capable of with the right support from the environment and the right degree of personal motivation and commitment.” – Dweck

Question 35

John Mighton on math education

Answer 35

“Almost every kid–and I mean virtually every kid–can learn math at a very high level, to the point where they could do University-level math courses…If you ask why that’s not happening, it’s because very early in school many kids get the idea that they’re not in the smart group, especially in math. We kind of force a choice on them: to decide whether they’re dumb or math is dumb.”