This is a follow-up to the posting of March 14th based on a new book called Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
. It is a video of Professor Carol Dweck explaining fixed and growth mindsets.
Also, this diagram explains the differences between the two mindsets. It’s great—but that’s not surprising because Nigel Holmes created it.
Thanks to Randy W. Blackford, adjunct instructor of the Psychology & Communication Departments of Messiah College for bringing them to my attention.
I just had a talk with my son this weekend and we decided there were 3 kinds of people in the world:
1. Smart people who know they are smart.
2. Dumb people who think they are smart.
3. Dumb people who know they are dumb.
#2, of course, is the most dangerous. Many people tell me that I’m smart, but the truth is that I’m a dumb guy that really works hard.
:)
Guy,
Thanks for this post on the growth mindset… It will make a difference for me personally.
Nigel Holmes’ illustration is prominently displayed in my office space.
– Noel
Carol Dweck Interview
Guy Kawaski posted an interview with Carol Dweck (courtesy of Stanford News Service), author of the new book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. She discusses the difference between growth and fixed mindsets. Technorati Tags: Carol Dweck, mindsets,…
Hi Guy,
These are two extreme ends of the behavior spectrum and I think people sometime are in between these two mindsets based on circumstances. For example there are times when effort seems futile and other times when it is really a path to mastery or self improvement.
It is a good way to look at it, gives you the boundry conditions :)
I’m an Occam’s Razor kind of guy, and there’s a much simpler construct that leads to the same conclusion.
I called this The Great Divide when I was in psychology practice. The distinction is between whether one responds primarily to the need to avoid pain, or the need to increase pleasure. We know these are separate brain functions because a) two different brain centers are involved (tickle one with a small voltage and you get pain, tickle the other and you get pleasure) and b) factor analysis of emotions can’t get down to one global bi-polar emotion, but rather sticks on two separate factors, roughly called pain and pleasure.
What is being called Mindset here would be a special case of this more general principle. The value of the more general principle is that one knows to look for it everywhere in life. The value of specifying the special case is enhanced ease in finding it in one particular area of life.
And that was a truly great diagram by Nigel Holmes.
I call it: The Paradox of Being Stupid and Knowing It
Very interesting.
I’m not sure this is anything all that new.
As a writer, I know that the more I write, the better I get.
Something to that and brain connections I guess.
Mike
I would say that I have a fixed growth mindset :-). I think it shows the impact and dangers of the judging mind. Growth seems to be one in which judgment is decreased, and understanding deepens. Good stuff.
This is the coolest meme to hit the blogosphere in a long time. The video is hilarious though. Is she really being interviewed by a bobble-head doll?
How is that a great diagram? A diagram is all about about visual representation and the only distinction used in this one is a fattening solid green stripe vs. a thin blue one. What about representing how the growth and fixed mindsets react to similar situations. The focus should have been on the reaction and not the situation. Subtlety is cool – but this one is far too subtle to make an impact.
While I think the concept is great. In general most people are a bit of both. There are areas in their lives where they show great determination and persistence and in other areas they give in to their fears. The idea that you are either one or the other is a bit rough I think.
Hey Doug, c’mon, 3 kinds of people in the world? What about the 4th, those who make broad general statements about everyone on the planet yet can’t back it up with any credible evidence. I’m sure that’s a real group.
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Should the idea of Carol Dweck take flight, it will be the end of our world as we know it. First, in a good way. People start getting aware about what group they are in and education will be adjusted accordingly. Give that some time (a decade or two) and the #2 and #3 group from the previous post will combine in their efforts to destroy ‘The Flexibles’. They belief in their smart and in an ideala world they would create utopia (or close). But ‘The Fixed’ can’t stand it (being looked down on and unable to do something about it from within themselves) and start fighting. The Flexibles won’t put up much of a fight: they believe more in peace and discussion, whereas the Fixed believe in going down struggling. In the end, only ‘The Fixed’ will stay around, hence no more intellectual room for growth, hence the end of the human race.
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