Query: mindset

title: Neuroanatomical correlates of grit: Growth mindset mediates the association between gray matter structure and trait grit in late adolescence
abstract: There is a long standing interest in exploring the factors related to student achievement. As a newly explored personality trait, grit is defined as a person's tendency to pursue long term goals with continual perseverance and passion, and grit plays a critical role in student achievement. Increasing evidence has shown that growth mindset, the belief that one's basic abilities are malleable and can be developed through effort, is a potential factor for cultivating grit. However, less is known about the association between grit and the brain and the role of growth mindset in this association. Here, we utilized voxel based morphometry to examine the neuroanatomical correlates of grit in 231 healthy adolescent students by performing structural magnetic resonance imaging. The whole brain regression analyses revealed that the regional gray matter volume (rGMV) in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) negatively predicted grit. In contrast, the rGMV in the right putamen positively predicted grit. Furthermore, mediating analyses suggested that growth mindset served as a mediator in the association between left DLPFC volume and grit. Our results persisted even after controlling for the influences of self control and delayed gratification. Overall, our study presents novel evidence for the neuroanatomical basis of grit and highlights that growth mindset might play an essential role in cultivating a student's grit level.

title: The role of stress mindset in shaping cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses to challenging and threatening stress
abstract: Prior research suggests that altering situation specific evaluations of stress as challenging versus threatening can improve responses to stress. The aim of the current study was to explore whether cognitive, physiological and affective stress responses can be altered independent of situation specific evaluations by changing individuals' mindsets about the nature of stress in general.  Using a 2 x 2 design, we experimentally manipulated stress mindset using multi media film clips orienting participants (N 113) to either the enhancing or debilitating nature of stress. We also manipulated challenge and threat evaluations by providing positive or negative feedback to participants during a social stress test.  Results revealed that under both threat and challenge stress evaluations, a stress is enhancing mindset produced sharper increases in anabolic "growth" hormones relative to a stress is debilitating mindset. Furthermore, when the stress was evaluated as a challenge, a stress is enhancing mindset produced sharper increases in positive affect, heightened attentional bias towards positive stimuli, and greater cognitive flexibility, whereas a stress is debilitating mindset produced worse cognitive and affective outcomes.  These findings advance stress management theory and practice by demonstrating that a short manipulation designed to generate a stress is enhancing mindset can improve responses to both challenging and threatening stress.

title: Empowering teachers to implement a growth mindset
abstract: Research evidences the benefit of students holding a growth mindset. There is also increasing recognition of the influence of teachers' beliefs on how students perceive their own abilities. Teacher and student beliefs are linked: despite this, there is sparse research investigating teacher mindsets. This research sought to evaluate training aimed at influencing teachers' mindsets and effecting practice change. A mixed methods design was employed. Six training sessions were conducted across two phases. Phase one consisted of an initial training session to 37 participants. Phase two consisted of five sessions attended by 17 participants. Results found a statistically significant shift between pre and post measures of mindset which was maintained after three months. Evaluation indicated increased participants' knowledge base and confidence. Key themes identified evidenced the impact of the training on sustained change to teacher mindset and practice. Limitations and implications for practice are considered.

title: The Fresh Start Mindset: Transforming Consumers' Lives
abstract: This article introduces the fresh start mindset, defined as a belief that people can make a new start, get a new beginning, and chart a new course in life, regardless of their past or present circumstances. With historical roots in American culture and neoliberalism, and with contemporary links to liquid modernity and global consumer culture, this mindset structures reasoning, experience, and everyday language, and guides behavior across selfand other transformative consumption domains. We develop a six item scale (FSM) to measure the fresh start mindset and situate it within a broader nomological network, including growth mindset, personal capacity for change, optimism, future temporal focus, internal locus of control, self efficacy, perseverance, resilience, and consumer variety seeking. Individuals with a stronger (vs. weaker) fresh start mindset invest in transformative change through changing their circumstances, including their own consumption choices (e.g. buying a new pair of sunglasses and getting a new self) they also are more supportive of transformative programs that assist those who are challenged to get a fresh start (i.e. disadvantaged youth, at risk teens, veterans, and tax burdened adults) Our work significantly contributes to transformative consumer research with attention to self activities and programs for vulnerable populations that enable new beginnings.

title: Optimizing stress responses with reappraisal and mindset interventions: an integrated model
abstract: The dominant perspective in society is that stress has negative consequences, and not surprisingly, the vast majority of interventions for coping with stress focus on reducing the frequency or severity of stressors. However, the effectiveness of stress attenuation is limited because it is often not possible to avoid stressors, and avoiding or minimizing stress can lead individuals to miss opportunities for performance and growth. Thus, during stressful situations, a more efficacious approach is to optimize stress responses (i.e. promote adaptive, approach motivated responses)  In this review, we demonstrate how stress appraisals (e.g. [Jamieson, J. P. Nock, M. K. Mendes, W. B. (2012) Mind over matter: reappraising arousal improves cardiovascular and cognitive responses to stress. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141(3) 417 422. doi:10.1037/a0025719] and stress mindsets (e.g. [Crum, A. J. Salovey, P. Achor, S. (2013)  The role of mindsets in determining the stress response. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104(4) 716 733.  can be used as regulatory tools to optimize stress responses, facilitate performance, and promote active coping. Respectively, these interventions invite individuals to (a) perceive stress responses as functional and adaptive, and (b) see the opportunity inherent in stress. We then propose a novel integration of reappraisal and mindset models to maximize the utility and effectiveness of stress optimization. Additionally, we discuss future directions with regard to how stress responses unfold over time and between people to impact outcomes in the domains of education, organizations, and clinical science.

title: Improving general chemistry performance through a growth mindset intervention: selective effects on underrepresented minorities
abstract: Women and minorities remain underrepresented in chemistry bachelor's degree attainment in the United States, despite efforts to improve their early chemistry achievement through supplemental academic programs and active learning approaches. We propose an additional strategy for addressing these disparities: course based, social psychological interventions. For example, growth mindset interventions are designed to support students during challenging academic transitions by encouraging them to view intelligence as a flexible characteristic that can be developed through practice, rather than a fixed ability. Previous research has shown that such interventions can improve the overall performance and persistence of college students, particularly those who belong to underrepresented groups. We report a random assignment classroom experiment, which implemented a chemistry specific growth mindset intervention among first year college students enrolled in General Chemistry 1. Performance results revealed an achievement gap between underrepresented minority and white students in the control group, but no sex based gap. Critically, after adjusting for variation in academic preparation, the mindset intervention eliminated this racial achievement gap. Qualitative analysis of students' written reflections from the intervention shed light on their experiences of the mindset and control treatments, deepening our understanding of mindset effects. We integrate these results with the mindset and chemical education literatures and discuss the implications for educators seeking to support underrepresented students in their own classrooms.

title: Effects of teaching the concept of neuroplasticity to induce a growth mindset on motivation, achievement, and brain activity: A meta analysis
abstract: Inducing a growth mindset in students has been shown to impact positively on motivation, academic achievement, and brain activity. However, some studies have yielded different results and authors rarely provide reasons to explain this inconsistency.  The primary objective of this article was to better understand the conflicting evidence by synthesizing the studies on the subject.  We conducted a meta analysis of 10 peer reviewed studies teaching neuroplasticity to induce a growth mindset in participants from age 7 to adulthood.  Results show that inducing a growth mindset by teaching neuroplasticity has an overall positive effect on motivation, achievement, and brain activity. The results also reveal that this intervention seems more beneficial for at risk students, especially regarding mathematics achievement (g 0.78)  These findings thus suggest that inconsistent evidence across empirical studies could be explained by students' characteristics and subject area.

title: The effects of a growth mindset on self efficacy and motivation
abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a growth mindset intervention would improve adolescent special education students' self efficacy and motivation. The sample included sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students receiving learning disability services in the area of reading. The study was quasi experimental in design which included both a comparison group and a treatment group. The treatment group received a growth mindset intervention called Brainology. The Reader Self Perception Scale 2nd Edition and the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire were used to measure whether there were differences in the mean scores for self efficacy and motivation in reading. Results suggested that a growth mindset intervention had a significant difference in the motivation, but not self efficacy, of adolescent special education participants.

title: Leading and Learning to Change: The Role of Leadership Style and Mindset in Error Learning and Organizational Change
abstract: Change and innovation are increasingly critical to organizational survival, as well as sustained success. While it is common to discuss mistakes as critical components of the learning process, how can organizations balance the detrimental costs of workplace mistakes with the beneficial outcomes of increased risk taking and innovation? This cross regional comparative research investigates the relationship between employee perceptions of leadership style, mindset (fixed versus growth) and orientation to error learning in a sample of 554 employees recruited in Europe, China, and the US. We examine the relationship between a leader's perceived style transformational, transactional, laissez faire, and aversive leadership follower mindset, and attitudes toward error learning. Our results suggest that transformational leadership fosters significantly more positive attitudes toward employee error learning, while laissez faire and aversive leadership styles actively inhibit employee error learning. Somewhat surprisingly, in two of the three samples, laissez faire leadership showed the strongest and most negative effect on error learning orientation, although followers with fixed mindsets reported being less likely to learn from errors regardless of leadership style. Our findings examine the relationship between leadership style and employee error learning and highlight that inattentive leaders may be particularly destructive in work settings that seek to develop creativity and innovation as part of the organizational change process.

title: From Growth Mindset to Grit in Chinese Schools: The Mediating Roles of Learning Motivations
abstract: Growth mindset and grit have attracted much attention in educational research recently. Yet the underlying mechanisms that relate these variables to each other as well as to other variables remain largely unclear. This study investigates the relationships among growth mindset, learning motivations, and grit. We recruited a total of 1,842 students (884 males and 958 females) from third to ninth grade in a Chinese city. Results from the structural equation model analyzing the students' responses showed that learning motivations partially mediate the relationship between growth mindset and grit. Specifically, intrinsic motivation and identified regulation of extrinsic motivation are positively associated with growth mindset and grit, while external regulation of extrinsic motivation is negatively associated with them. Additionally, introjected regulation of extrinsic motivation is uncorrelated with these two variables. This study furthers the understanding of the underlying mechanisms through which growth mindset and grit positively impact education.