WWW . T A R AMOH R . C OM

P L A Y I N G B I G Carol Dweck’s

Teach Yourself A “Growth Mindset”

P L A Y I N G B I G : C A R O L D W E C K ’ S P R A I S E Y O U R S E L F F O R E F F O R T – N O T I N N A T E A B I L I T Y . T E A C H Y O U R S E L F A “ G R O W T H M I N D S E T . ”

W W W . T A R A M O H R . C O M / / P A G E 2

Praise Yourself for Effort – Not Innate Ability. Teach

Yourself A “Growth Mindset.”

In the materials posted, you’ll find information about Dr. Carol Dweck’s research. Dweck is a

Stanford professor of psychology who researches the effects of praise on children.

Her landmark finding is this: children who are praised for innate qualities (“Wow, great job on

that puzzle, you are so smart!”) tend to be afraid to do a more challenging task in whatever area

they were praised in. They conclude that struggling with that next level of challenge would

disprove the praise. It would show they “aren’t smart” or aren’t really a good writer, or good

at math, or whatever the area of praise may be.

In contrast, children who are praised for effort, (“wow, great job on that puzzle, you worked so

hard – good job!”) get very excited about doing harder puzzles and jump into the challenge,

because they again have the chance to earn praise for their hard work.

Reading these findings definitely struck a chord with me. Have you been praised for something

in your life and then found that rather than it leaving you more confident, it left you feeling

afraid to challenge yourself, compete, or take risks in that area?

When we are used to praise, we become afraid to do things that are more difficult – things that

we know we are likely to need to try and fail, try and fail, try and fail at for a while. Dweck also

points out that when we are used to receiving praise, and then we do something and don’t get

praise, we feel like failures. Does that sound familiar, anyone?

What would happen if you started thinking of your performance (success or failure) less in

terms of the innate qualities it demonstrated, and more in terms of your hard work and effort?

Dweck talks about how we can hold a “growth mindset” – a mindset that we develop skills

based on practice and effort, or a “fixed mindset” – a mindset that skill level is fixed, innate.

Which one do you operate with? Do you have more room for a growth mindset?