Mindsets: The Good, The

Bad and The Unknown

Mark Healy & Marc Smith

Seminal Texts?

 What do we mean
when we talk about
mindsets and Self
Theories?
Go.To.Source. or we
fight the war of the

The Meaning
System
Approach and
Self Theories

1.Students with high

ability are more likely to
display mastery oriented
qualities?
2.Success in school
directly fosters mastery

3.Praise, particularly
praising a students
intelligence, encourages
mastery oriented
qualities?
4.Students confidence in
their intelligence is the

 Theory of Fixed IntelligenceEntity Theory

Theory of Malleable
intelligence- Incremental
Theory
Impact on how both frame
self esteem and self

When Failure undermines

The Helpless

When Failure motivates =

The Mastery Oriented
The Two Patterns

The Good 3
Headlines

1. Allow us to Walk the Words of our

The Good 3
Headlines

2. Failure is not an indictment of

ourselves- a locus of self control /

The Good 3
Headlines

3. Longitudinal research that

OVERLAPS and TALKS WITH with
other psychological constructs-

The Growth
Mindset
A good theory easy to
implement badly
Complex ideas, often oversimplified
A middle-class theory?
Links to other psychological
concepts cannot be taken in
isolation (no silver bullet)

Assembly only intervention?

Youve done the assembly - What now?
Many different considerations. (e.g.
Strong links to Self-regulation: Goal
Setting, Goal Operating and Goal
Monitoring - Burnette et al., 2013)
Pupils cannot just go away and develop a
Growth Mindset because theyve learned
about it in an assembly

Does the system conspire against the Growth Mindset?

Setting and Streaming

Target Setting
Parental Expectations
Labelling & Teacher Expectancy Effects
The Halo Effect; Self-fulfilling
Prophecy; Pygmalion in the
Classroom (Rosenthan & Jacobson,
1968)

Creating confusion in
young minds?
Cognitive Dissonance: The discomfort and
distress experiences by an individual who holds two
or more contradictory beliefs, ideas or values at the
same time,
or is confronted with new information that
conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas or values.
Assembly on Growth Mindsets then send them
back to bottom set maths with their target grade!
Is Growth Mindset compatible with Setting/Target
Grades/Differentiation?
Whole school cognitive dissonance?

Personality Traits?
Personality Traits Generally stable over
time (e.g. Introvert-Extrovert)
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation - SelfDetermination Theory (Ryan and Deci)
Some students are naturally intrinsically
motivated (More likely to embrace the
Growth Mindset)

Flow

How do you see yourself?

Academic Self Concept How we view
ourselves as learners:
ASC tends to be state rather than trait
specific
Im good at English but I just dont get
maths
Translates to: I have a Growth Mindset for
some subjects but a Fixed Mindset for others

Poverty can have a negative impact on

self concept (Herberle and Carter, 2015)

Emotional Learners?
Emotional Regulation; Positive/Negative
Affect
Anxiety negatively impacts on Working
Memory function (Ng and Lee, 2015)
Positive emotions positively correlate with
academic achievement (e.g. Pekrun, 2009)
Control-Value Theory of Achievement
Emotions
Broaden and Build theory (Fredrickson)
Can we build Positive Psychological Capital?

Resilient Learners?
Academic Buoyancy (Martin & Marsh) Day-to-day
resilience
Reconceptualising the idea of failure Failure = Growth

Test anxious pupils display lower levels of academic

buoyancy
Worry predicts lower mean GCSE scores; Academic
Buoyancy predicts higher mean GCSE scores (Putwain
et al., 2015)
Where does Mindset fit in?

The Role of Executive

Functions
The regulation and control of cognitive processes
Working Memory
Inhibitory Control (attention, emotions, behaviour,
thoughts, Marshmallows!)
Self-regulation
Problem Solving

How does the Growth Mindset encourage executive

function?
Do we need to consider a number of interventions
rather then simply focussing on Mindsets?

Heritability
Research suggests that intelligence (IQ) is
around 60% genetic (e.g. Asbury and Plomin)
What about the other 40(ish)%
Individuals from poorer backgrounds tend to
score lower on IQ tests (see Mani et al., 2013
Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function)
Children from poorer backgrounds are
usually placed in lower sets at school
(labelling or IQ?)

Are we guilty of labelling?

Attributing labels to children based on some
arbitrary category
Socio Economic Status
Gender (girls tend to be more positively labelled)
Appearance
Past experience
Growth Mindset based on the principle of
change and individual growth
So is it easier for middle-class kids to buy into
the GM attitude?

Identifying the Fixed

Mindset
Academic Self Handicapping (preemptive explanations of future failure)

Measuring the Growth

Mindset
Do we need to bother?
Given the right implementation, the
intervention works so why measure?
Because knowing if our intervention
works allows for improvement
Any intervention is only as good as its
implementation

Measuring the Growth

Mindset
Outcome Measures Exam results or
change in Mindset?
Who measures Self Report Scales
(Bias?), Teacher Observations (Bias?),
Triangulation, Inter-rater reliability?
How do you know if you are a Growth
Mindset school?
Competing interventions Mindset,
Resilience, Character Which one has
worked?

The Unknowns & The

Questions

Include sense of purpose & goals 'future self- what interventions sit
behind this? Pastoral? Curricula?
Teachable?
So, what does a growth mindset
school even mean?
Assemblies to setting in Maths with
target / predicted grades in all

The Unknowns & The

Questions
Equal Applicability to high stake testing
of secondary schools?
Cross situationally consistent - across
subject areas? Psychologically stability
in a time of change? Physiological /
brain maturation? Emotional?
Not derailed by intellectual or social
difficulties? How is that even possible?