Importance of Growth Mindset

A shift towards a growth mindset is associated with a variety of adaptive motivational beliefs and achievement outcomes (Dweck, 2000; Kamins & Dweck, 1999; Yeager & Dweck, 2012). In a study by Schmidt, Shumow, and Kackar-cam (2017), findings revealed that students began building a growth mindset through mindset interventions. Their mindsets showed significantly different trajectories of skill, control, learning, and interest relative to their peers in control conditions.

This suggests that growth mindsets have the power to empower youth as they enhance their ability to learn, create, and innovate. Youth with growth mindsets also practice higher levels of gratitude, resulting in greater joy and fulfilment. A study by Burnette, Russell, Hoyt, Orvidas, and Widman (2017) found that girls who completed an online mindset intervention reported stronger growth mindsets compared to girls in a matched control programme. Within this study, girls that received the mindset intervention also reported greater efficacy and learning motivation.

SEND IT ON collectively uses these interventions in the literature as effective methods to equip our mentors with knowledge and skills in cultivating environments which support the development of such mindsets for the mentees.

Burnette, J. L., Russell, M. V., Hoyt, C. L. Orvidas, K., & Widman, L. (2017). An online growth mindset intervention in a sample of rural adolescent girls. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 88(3), 428-445. doi: 10.1111/bjep.12192

Kamins, M. L., & Dweck, C. S. (1999). Person versus process praise and criticism: Implications for contingent self-work and coping. Developmental Psychology, 35(3), 835–847.

Dweck, C. S. (2000). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.

Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. (2012). Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe that personal characteristics can be developed. Educational Psychologist, 47(4), 1–13.

Schmidt, J. A., Shumow, L., & Kackar-cam, H. (2017). Does mindset intervention predict students' daily experience in classrooms? A comparison of seventh and ninth graders' trajectories. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 46(3), 582-602.