Project Title and Abstract

False Growth Mindsets

What lessons do students and teachers internalize from growth mindset interventions and how does their sense of the mindset affect academic performance? We suspect that not all learners are internalizing every aspect of the traditional growth mindset intervention, and that this may be blunting the force of such interventions. We intend to study the impact of an incomplete understanding of growth mindsets, commonly referred to as a ‘false growth mindset,’ in which people take away the message that effort alone is enough to lead to academic success (as opposed to the full set of strategies taught by a growth mindset intervention). We will begin by assessing the prevalence of the false growth mindset amongst both teachers and students and will then explore the consequences of holding these mindsets with regard to student performance.

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