Krakovsky, Marina (2007). The
Effort Effect. Stanford Magazine, 25-32.
The key to ensuring that a student
is successful is to tell them how smart they are, right? Wrong. In fact, telling a girl she is smart can actually hurt her
ability to reach her potential.
Marina Krakovsky explores how mindset affects success in “The Effort
Effect” published in the March/April 2007 edition of Stanford Magazine. Her article is based largely on research
conducted by Carol Dweck, a renowned scientist and professor at Stanford
University, with regards to how people view intelligence. Dweck’s research strongly indicates that
students who view intelligence as fixed or inborn are less likely to succeed
than students who believe you can improve and grow your intelligence.
In addition, Krakovsky emphasizes
that teachers and other adults are pivotal in how students view
intelligence. Numerous studies
were conducted to show the different responses and achievements of students who
had or were encouraged to have a native-intelligence mindset (you were born
smart) or a growth mindset (you can grow intelligence with practice). Students who naturally had a growth
mindset or who were encouraged to think with a growth mindset were more likely
to view problems and failures as opportunities to learn rather than as attacks
on their individual worth and self-esteem. They were also more likely to take risks, which are
essential to expanding knowledge.
Students with a fixed mindset were more likely to prefer easy tasks
where they felt competent and able to show that they were “smart” and live up
to the adult’s expectations. Below
is a video of one such experiment directed by Dweck.
Looking at the effect of mindset
is significant to the field of education, and especially relevant to teachers. Children’s views of learning are
heavily influenced by the primary people who teach them. Teachers with a fixed mindset, or ones
that encourage a fixed mindset, set students up for discouragement and a lack
of ambition to tackle challenges. These
students will even lie about their scores to keep appearing “smart.” This type of student values
appearance rather than the acquisition of knowledge. Teachers who
encourage a growth mind set are able to help students reach their full
potential by allowing them the gift of working through a tough problem without
linking the outcome to their intelligence. Students are much more likely to rise to a challenge when
they don’t interpret a task’s difficulty with their own low ability.
One of the most encouraging assertions
in the article is that students can be taught to change their mindset to a
growth mindset if they are given the opportunity. The article references a very powerful study by Dweck and
Lisa Sorich Blackwell of low-achieving seventh graders. These students participated in one of
two study skills classes. One class
taught students important study skills needed to succeed. The other class taught these same study
skills, but in addition, taught that the brain and memory operated like a
muscle that grew stronger with mental exercise. The students in the second class not only improved their
grades, but their motivation as well.
The first group (the control group) showed no improvement despite the
valuable study skills taught. Krakovsky
encourages “learning goals” rather than “performance goals” to emphasize the growth
mindset. Before educators think
about what to teach students, it is a good idea to look at the students' mindsets first.
Krakovsky provides abundant
studies to back up her premise that mindset affects success. Her main source of information is the
extensive research by Dweck in her book Mindset:
The New Psychology of Success,
written after 3 decades of research examining why some people reach their
potential while others don’t. With
this background, Dweck and Blackwell used their research conclusions in the
study of low-achieving seventh grade students to launch a new software for
educators and students called Mindset Works. Based on their findings, they invented a series of lessons
to help students change their mindset and achieve their potential.
Below
is a link to Mindset Works.
Overall,
the article has a powerful message to educators about the importance of mindset,
and contains sufficient research to support the claims. Students who are able or encouraged to
see learning as a growth opportunity are more likely to succeed than students
who believe intelligence is an innate ability. Instead of praising children by telling them how smart they
are, it is more beneficial to praise how much effort they put in.
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