How does the young person in your life respond to feedback? (DW#379)
While doing research with children, Dweck and her colleagues found that mindset predicted how a child would respond to feedback and correction.
Children displaying a fixed mindset only paid attention to feedback that reflected directly on their present ability. For example, they paid attention and lit up when they were told how smart they were.
On the other hand, they tuned out or ignored information that would help them learn and improve. The research showed that children with a fixed-mindset showed no interest in learning the right answer when they had gotten a question wrong on a test or a quiz, presumably because they had already filed it away in the failure category.
Those children with a growth mindset on the other hand, were eager to learn and correct their mistakes. They paid keen attention to information that could help them expand their existing knowledge and skill, regardless of whether they’d gotten the question right or wrong. The researchers concluded that for these children, the priority was learning, and correcting their mistakes, not being put inside a fixed box which labeled their current intelligence and ability.
Isn’t it fascinating how some of us restrict our own growth and learning with limiting beliefs from such a young age?
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