Mindsets in children (DW#378)
We have been discussing mindsets and how they manifest themselves from a very early age.
Dweck and her colleagues did some research with four year olds. The researchers gave the four year olds a choice between easy and challenging puzzles. Those with growth mindsets chose the more challenging puzzles whilst the toddlers with a fixed mindset chose the easier and therefore safer puzzles.
According to the researchers’ conclusion, choosing the easy puzzles was an affirmation of their existing ability and the belief that smart children don’t make mistakes. The children with the growth mindset on the other hand, did not want to do the same puzzle over and over again, preferring to learn something new, even if was more challenging and they may not get it right on the first try.
The researchers therefore concluded that the fixed-mindset children wanted to make sure they succeeded so that they would appear intelligent, whereas the growth-mindset ones wanted to challenge themselves, as their definition of success was about becoming smarter.
When interviewing middle school children, Dweck and her colleagues discovered that children with a growth mindset were open to asking questions even at the risk of appearing not to know because asking questions was their opportunity to get their mistakes corrected and their confusions clarified. They believed that by doing that, they were actually increasing their intelligence and becoming smarter.
So for children as well as adults, it appears that the growth mindset creates a passion for learning rather than a hunger for approval.
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