Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

In 2006, psychologist Carol S. Dweck, PhD, the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, released the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, as a layperson’s guide to her decades of academic research. Initially interested in areas of motivation, personality, and development, the author gravitated toward research in cognitive motivation theory. She eventually discovered that the concepts of “fixed” and “growth” mindsets explain what motivates some people to embrace challenges and bounce back after setbacks while others do the opposite. Her research culminated in mindset theory.

Marketed as a self-help and mentorship book, Mindset became a million-copy bestseller during its first year in print. Dweck wrote the book to help individuals unlock their inner potential and motivation by teaching them about mindset theory and its implications for human growth and development. She teaches people to leverage a growth mindset to achieve more and get more satisfaction from their endeavors. In 2007, following feedback regarding misconceptions and the misapplication of her mindset theory, Dweck released a new edition that includes updated material to address and mitigate these perceptions. This manual refers to the 2007 edition published by Ballantine Books.

Summary

Dweck’s book is broken into eight chapters with numerous subheadings to break up denser information for the lay reader. The first two chapters introduce mindset theory and the ways that mental state shapes worldview. Dweck explains that when she began her work, she was interested in figuring out why some people lose motivation and give up after a setback while others not only bounce back but even seem to embrace challenges. She reduces the differences in response to one thing: mindset.

She defines two opposing mindsets next: A person with a fixed mindset views their abilities as unchangeable, but a person with a growth mindset sees them as changeable with practice or experience. The simple dichotomy profoundly impacts how individuals experience the world. Those with a fixed mindset live in a world affected by permanent judgments. For them, each failure is permanent proof of their lack of ability, but each success confirms their talent—until the next failure occurs. A fixed mindset sets people up to require constant validation of their self-worth. By contrast, for those with a growth mindset, failure and setbacks simply provide feedback for continued improvement. Mindsets, says Dweck, fundamentally change the meaning of success and failure. This primes those with a fixed mindset to respond to success with a belief in their own superiority and to failure with a fear of permanent inferiority.

In Chapter 3, Dweck digs deep into her research with junior-high students and other researchers’ case studies to support two points. Ability, talent, and intelligence of all kinds can be learned and improved, but the fixed mindset trains people to avoid learning and developing. However, the growth mindset confers a commitment to learning, willingness to put in effort, and resilience in the face of threats. Because those with a fixed mindset do not believe in changeable abilities, if they are not immediately successful at something, they assume that they will never have that particular skill. They view doing activities and having them validated—not learning and getting better—as the point of extracurricular activities and sports. Successes validate a belief in one’s superiority at a task or activity, so many fixed-mindset people are motivated to rest on their laurels and take low-risk routes toward validation by comparing themselves to those who are worse than they or by bragging about themselves. Both positive and negative labels have the potential to create fixed mindsets because labels define innate characteristics. Dweck’s studies also show that simply learning about the brain’s ability to grow through effort and understanding that an individual can choose between two mindsets are often enough to change people’s outlook and responses to failure and success.

Chapters 4 through 6 follow a similar structure: Dweck explores the impact of the mindsets in the real world through careful deconstruction of contrasting real-world examples. In every case, she proves that only the growth mindset is capable of creating lasting success and satisfaction.

In Chapter 4, she investigates the world of sports, comparing promising athletes who did not live up to expectations to those with rocky starts who became superstars. Character determines these differing outcomes. Dweck defines character as a firm commitment to investing effort in constant improvement; valuing feedback and the lessons learned in losses; and being willing to uplift the team.

In Chapter 5, she focuses on the business world, illustrating that CEOs with a fixed mindset often use their power and platform to validate their successes and protect themselves from the threat of failure, whereas growth-minded CEOs use their power to create cultures of growth and success. Fixed-mindset CEOs’ fear of failure and need for validation create work environments in which bosses use fear and ridicule to squash dissent, avoid accountability, and emphasize appearances over the bottom line. Thus, they set themselves up to fail by creating environments that are averse to risk, creativity, and growth. In contrast, CEOs with a growth mindset uplift companies because they model accountability, value input and criticism, and empower employees to speak up.

Similarly, in Chapter 6, Dweck compares fixed- and growth-minded people in relationships, again concluding that those with a fixed mindset tend to avoid effort and conflict because of the belief that love is either meant to be, or it isn’t. This leads to the pursuit of unattainable ideals, mind reading, disgust at even minor flaws, and unspoken expectations, creating self-fulfilling prophecies that doom relationships. Those with a growth mindset create conditions for relationship success by embracing communication, working on themselves and their relationship, and avoiding disgust at their partners’ shortcomings.

In Chapter 7, Dweck explores the ways in which children learn mindsets from the constant messaging bombarding them from parents, caregivers, teachers, mentors, and coaches. She identifies praise for children’s productions, talent, or performance as a primary culprit in creating fixed attitudes. Instead, she suggests that authority figures praise the process and students’ genuine effort; this promotes growth mindsets by connecting the process to the outcome. Dweck is quick to point out many misconceptions related to her findings. Praising effort when it is not deserved, telling children they can do anything without laying out the steps to get there, and browbeating children who display fixed mindsets will not promote growth mindsets. Adults need to model and send deliberately crafted messages to empower students to embrace a growth mindset.

Dweck’s final chapter illuminates a path toward cultivating a growth mindset. Everyone has a combination of fixed- and growth-mindset attitudes and can reap the benefits of the growth mindset. However, Dweck clarifies that making this change will require uncomfortable work, and backsliding will occur. She includes exercises with steps such as incremental goal-setting for working through the process. Though the journey is difficult, Dweck promises it will be transformative.