Mindsets Flashcards
Mindset
a cognitive framework (structure/tool) that guides attention, information-processing, decision-making, and thinking about the meaning of effort, success, failure, and one’s own personal qualities
- mindsets can coexist, but we tend to lean more towards one than the other
- tendencies to a particular mindset are related to personality and situation-specific circumstances
Deliberative vs. Implemental Minidset
Sequential mindsets that correspond to goal setting and goal striving phases
Deliberative Mindset
- thinking about possibilities
- Open-minded; many options considered, attention is wider
- Realistic analysis of pros and cons + feasibility of potential goals (brainstorming)
- Accurate view of self (strengths, weaknesses, desires, etc.)
- Ideal for goal setting
Example:
- not being sure if you would keep this course, stay, drop, you don’t know, taking in all possibilities and weighing options between courses
- dating in the pods, weighing all possibilities, pros and cons
Implemental Mindset
- Close-minded; alternative goals no longer considered, attention is narrowed
- Optimistic view of selected goal - you are hopeful about it and expect a positive outcome
- Optimistic view of self
- Ideal for goal striving: those who progress to this mindset while goal striving persist longer and perform better
Example:
- you are no longer thinking about the other electives you were thinking about, dropped the other courses, and narrowed your focus onto this one that you chose to stay in to succeed
- narrowed options, investing time into only one relationship that you want to commit to instead of playing the field
Promotion Mindset vs. Prevention Mindset
Regulatory mindsets describe how people frame goals, the strategies they use to pursue goals, their definitions of success vs. failure, and the emotions triggered in the goal-striving process
Promotion Mindset: Goal Framing
ideals like “I want to…”
Promotion Mindset: Goal Striving Strategies
Eager strategies (being fast!)
Promotion Mindset: Goal Focus
Focusing of the quantity of response
Promotion Mindset: Definition of Success/Failure
Success = gain or improvement (eagerness!!)
Failure: no gain/status quo
Prevention Mindset: Goal Framing
Obligations like “i have to…”
Prevention Mindset: Goal Striving Strategies
Vigilant strategy (slow and cautious)
Prevention Mindset: Goal Focus
Focus on the quality of response
Prevention Mindset: Definition of Success/Failure
Success = absence of loss, obligations fulfilled
Failure = loss, something bad has happened (vigilance!!)
What are the promotion and prevention mindsets socialized by?
- caregivers in early life:
- Messages we receive from our parents/caregivers on how to approach goals (go for it vs. be careful/pay attention) - socio-cultural context
- Different places have different ideas around what is good and bad, the right way to strive towards something vs. not
Socio-cultural context: different sayings
Western culture has a lot of promotion mindet sayings:
- Early bird gets the worm
- You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take
- Closed mouths don’t get fed
- What do you have to lose?
Other cultures have more prevention mindset sayings:
- the nail that stands out gets pounded down (Japan)
- tall trees catch strong winds (china)
Can a promotion or prevention mindset be used for any situation?
- yes, any situation can emphazise either mindset
Example: attend all classes vs. avoid missing classes, maximize correct responses/earn points vs. minimize number of errors/avoid losing points
Regulatory fit
- when a person’s regulatory mindset matches the focus of the situation, goal pursuit “feels right”
- the extent to which the mindset you have + the way your environment frames the goal are coherent or consistent, we expect to see people who are most interested, motivated, persistent
Fixed vs. Growth Mindset
People vary in how they perceive their own personal characteristics (intelligence, talent, skill, personality, etc.)
Example:
Fixed: you either have a talent for music or you don’t
Growth: you can learn and work on building a talent for music
What really distinguishes between fixed and growth mindsets?
The effort (energy) that one will put towards something
Example:
- People with a fixed mindset think they’re knowledgeable or not knowledgeable at all, and don’t think effort would do much
- People with a growth mindset see effort as a good sign; when they’re faced with a challenge, they see it as taking on something that they can develop a skill in
Fixed Mindset: Belief about origin of personal charateristics
Entity Theorist: A characteristic is fixed, and it either exists or it doesn’t
Fixed Mindset: Meaning of Effort
Signals low ability (low effort)
Fixed Mindset: Preferred types of tasks/challenges
Easy, with potential to demonstarte high ability
Fixed Mindset: Type of goals pursued
performance goals
Fixed Mindset: Common type of motivation towards a task
Extrinsic Motivation
Fixed Mindset: Quality of strategies employed
Superficial (e.g., memorization)
Fixed Mindset: Help-seeking behaviour
less likely to seek help or information from others
Growth Mindset: Meaning of Effort
Tool with which you learn
Growth Mindset: Belief about origin of personal characteristics
Incremental theorist; a characteristcic is changeable and develops bit-by-bit over time
Growth Mindset: Preferred types of tasks/challenges
difficult, with potential for learning
Growth Mindset: Type of goals pursued
Learning (mastery) goals
Growth Mindset: Common type of motivation towards a task
intrinsic motivation
Growth Mindset: Quality of strategies employed
more cognitively sophisticated (e.g., conceptual understanding
Growth Mindset: Help-seeking behaviour
more likely to seek help or information from others
Which mindset is superior and more adaptive?
Growth Mindset
sitting in the feeling of frustration and exerting effort is what will help us learn
- The growth vs. fixed allows us to see that sustaining motivation and growing our abilities to not give up will help us learn
- Ex: students with a fixed mindset will switch programs when they face a challenge instead of exerting effort to learn
How do we foster growth mindsets?
- Knowing that it exists - the ability to grow
- learning to be okay with failure (failure tolerance)
Types of Feedback
Praise or criticism:
- directed at person
- directed at outcome
- directed at effort/strategy
Person-directed criticism
“you don’t have what it takes”
“i’m disappointed in you”
outcome-directed criticism
“you did it wrong”
“what you did was unsuccessful”
effort/strategy-directed criticism
“you didn’t work hard enough”
“maybe you could think of another way to do it”
person-directed praise
“you’ve got what it takes”
“im proud of you”
outcome-directed praise
“you did it right”
“what you did was successful”
effort/strategy-directed praise
“you worked hard (and it shows)”
“you found a good way to do it”
Best vs. worst kinds of feedback:
- Children who received person-directed and outcome-directed feedback were more helpless when faced with a challenge (even when positive because the moment that person fails or faces something difficult, they won’t want to engage in that situation)
- Effort/strategy directed feedback worked best regardless of criticism or praise
