Growth Mindset in Educational and Organizational Contexts
Matt Labrecque
Mindset• Fixed Mindset
• Growth Mindset?• -> More beneficial
• Effective approach for improving academic performance
(Dweck, 2006; Yeager & Walton, 2011)
Academic Mindset Intervention• Goal -> Increase GPAs and academic well-being of student residents
over a year-long term• Determine the utility of the intervention with a university aged
sample
(Paunesku et al., 2015)
• n = 93; mostly first-year students (~85%)
Methods • In-person info session/online follow-up data collection
• Three-step intervention• 1) Reading • Experimental vs. Control
• 2) Summary • 3) Letter
• GPA/Well-being
Anticipated Findings• Study is in progress
• More improvement in GPA and Well-being in the experimental group than in the control group• Intervention will be provided to all students moving into residence
Mindset in Organizational Psychology• Possessing a growth mindset is just as valuable in the workplace as it is
in education
• Useful for practitioners, employees, managers, coaches, and organizations as a whole
Growth Mindset in Organizations• Good to Great organizations -> have leaders with a growth mindset
• Level 5 executives have a growth mindset
(Collins, 2001; Dweck 2017)
Growth Mindset in Managers• Growth Mindset predicts:
• Manager awareness to both improvements and decline in employee performance
• Managers’ perceived fairness in dealing with their employees
(Heslin et al., 2005; Heslin & VandeWalle, 2008)
Encouraging Growth Mindset in Managers
• Coaching/leadership development
• Organizational practices
(Heslin, 2010)
Growth Mindset in Employees• Employee engagement
• Motivation for development• View of effort• Psychological presence• Interpretation of setbacks
(Heslin, 2010)
Encouraging Growth Mindset in Employees
• Labelling
• Feedback
(Heslin, 2010)
Final Thoughts• Growth Mindset ought to be encouraged as much as possible
• In education
• In the workplace
• More research is needed in organizational contexts
References• Collins, J. C. (2001). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap... and others don't. Random House.• Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Random House.• Dweck, C. (2017). Mindset-updated edition: Changing the way you think to fulfil your potential. Hachette
UK.• Heslin, P. A. (2010). Mindsets and employee engagement: Theoretical linkages and intervention
opportunities. The Handbook of Employee Engagement. Cheltenham, England: Edwin Elgar, 216-26.• Heslin, P. A., & VandeWalle, D. (2008). Managers' implicit assumptions about personnel. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 17(3), 219-223.• Heslin, P. A., Latham, G. P., & VandeWalle, D. (2005). The effect of implicit person theory on performance
appraisals. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(5), 842.• Paunesku, D., Walton, G. M., Romero, C., Smith, E. N., Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2015). Mind-set
interventions are a scalable treatment for academic underachievement. Psychological Science, 0956797615571017.
• Yeager, D. S., & Walton, G. M. (2011). Social-psychological interventions in education: They’re not magic. Review of Educational Research, 81(2), 267-301.
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