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What are fixed and growth mindsets? Which do you need to be resilient and successful?
A fixed mindset is the belief that your intelligence and abilities are innate and unchangeable. A growth mindset is the belief that personal qualities like intelligence and ability can change and improve. The terms growth mindset and fixed mindset come from Carol Dweck’s research, notably in Mindset.
We’ll cover fixed mindset characteristics, growth mindset characteristics, how they’re different, and how to adopt a growth mindset.
Fixed and Growth Mindsets
Although you may not be conscious of them, you have powerful beliefs that affect what you want and whether you get it. In Mindset, psychologist and researcher Carol S. Dweck argues that one belief in particular can determine the course of much of your life, starting as early as your preschool years.
You learn one of two mindsets, fixed and growth mindset, from your parents, teachers, and coaches — that personal qualities such as intelligence and ability are innate and unchangeable (this is how she defines a “fixed” mindset) or that you and others can change and grow (a “growth” mindset). Regardless of which view dominates your thinking, it shapes your personality and helps or hinders you from reaching your potential.
Understanding how your mindset plays out can change your career, relationships, the way you raise your children, and your overall satisfaction in life.
Nature vs. Nurture: Growth Mindset and Fixed Mindset
Throughout much of history, experts have debated the roles of nature and nurture in determining people’s personal characteristics, asking which has the bigger impact — genetics or environmental factors including background, experience, and education.
Today, most researchers agree that nature and nurture work together. People start with certain genetically determined characteristics — different traits and aptitudes — but experience, education, and effort determine where you can go with them. In fact, science is discovering that our brains have a greater capacity for ongoing development than once thought.
Dweck’s research shows that, on a personal level, whether you believe that your traits are innate and unchangeable or that you can grow your intelligence and skills affects you profoundly.
Fixed V. Growth Mindsets
What is the difference between growth and fixed mindsets? You typically live by either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset, which shapes how you learn, cope with setbacks, and relate to others. We’ll start with a comparison of the fixed and growth mindsets. Later examples will flesh out the descriptions and show how the mindsets work. It’s important to know that even if you have a fixed mindset now, you can learn the growth mindset, which can transform many aspects of your life.
Fixed Mindset Meaning
When you have a fixed mindset, you believe your abilities are unchangeable. You were born with certain traits and a certain amount of intelligence and that’s that. Many people are trained in this mindset from an early age — for instance, by a teacher who believed your IQ determines everything: You’re either smart or you’re dumb; you can learn or you can’t.
When you view your abilities as unchangeable, you feel you must constantly prove yourself. If people get only a set amount of intelligence and a certain character, you want to prove you have a lot, although you secretly worry you were shortchanged. You don’t want to look stupid or fail. You feel you’re being judged or rated in every situation and must measure up. Children inculcated with this mindset often fear losing their parents’ or teachers’ approval and love if they fail.
Growth Mindset Meaning
When you have a growth mindset, you believe the abilities you’re born with are a starting point you can build on with hard work, persistence, and the right learning strategies. You have a passion for learning, welcome mistakes as opportunities to learn, and seek challenges so you can stretch. You also have a greater ability to survive difficult times.
The author first encountered the growth mindset as a young researcher while studying how children coped with failure. She gave kids a series of puzzles to solve, progressing from easy to difficult ones. She was surprised to find that some children loved attempting the hard puzzles, relishing the challenge and opportunity to become smarter. Until then, the author had viewed intelligence and problem-solving as fixed abilities, but watching kids learn from failure changed her mind.
Believing in the ability to learn and grow doesn’t mean believing anyone can become an Einstein or believing anyone can do anything they aspire to if they apply enough effort. But the growth mindset recognizes that you can’t predict someone’s potential or how far their passion, work, and learning can take them.
Predictions of Outcomes Come From a Fixed Mindset
Predictions have little value. Many people whom we consider geniuses today — for instance, Darwin, Tolstoy, and Mozart — were ordinary as children. Golfer Ben Hogan was unathletic as a child.
However, many teachers believe IQ tests accurately predict students’ potential, even though the creator of the test, Alfred Binet, didn’t intend for it to be used that way. He believed education and practice could change intelligence (which he defined as memory, judgment, and attention). He created the IQ test as a way of identifying children who were having problems — so they could be helped to improve.
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Here's what you'll find in our full Mindset summary :
- The difference between a growth and a fixed mindset
- How a fixed mindset keeps you back throughout your life: education, relationships, and career
- The 7 key ways to build a growth mindset for yourself
