The Pros And Cons Of A Growth Mindset

Ralph Waldo Emerson, a prominent transcendentalist and author, said this: "Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow." This quote speaks volumes to the progression of American society and the world. If the many great innovators, inventors, entrepreneurs, artists, businesspeople, or politicians simply stopped working after feeling as though they have accomplished all that they could, perhaps thousands of mankind 's greatest accomplishments may never have come to be. The desire to continue progressing is chiefly driven by three traits: a growth mindset, passion, and persistence. Exercising these three traits together sustains an individual through any obstacle they may face. A growth mindset

In the article, “Brainology: Transforming Students Motivation to Learn” by Carol S. Dweck, she explains the different mindsets, which are, fixed and growth. According to Dweck, a student with a fixed mindset believes that they can only learn so much. A student with a growth mindset believes that intelligence is achieved through determination and hardwork. The way parents are praising their children is really affecting their confidence in academics.

Carol Dweck describes fixed mind-set as a student believing their successes and failures reflect how smart they are. While growth mind-set describes a student looking at their successes and failures as an opportunity to learn new abilities and skills. Carol Dweck means fixed mind-set does not look at the effort a student puts in to an assignment, but only the grade they receive. Growth mind-set does focus on the effort a student puts into an assignment. Student’s either have fixed or growth mind-set and this can significantly help or hurt their self esteem.

Imagine going to school and really succeeding; you understand everything, you’re getting good grades and all the praise you can dream of from your parents and teachers. But then you move up and things get harder, you don’t understand everything, your grades are dropping and you are scared that you will no longer get that praise. You have two options, you can either take on the challenge and get back to where you used to be, or you can sit down when you feel threated by the hard work.

In Carol Dweck’s article “The Perils of Praise and Promise” she explains the difference between a growth and fixed mind-set. Dweck says” In a fixed mind-set, students care first and foremost about how they will be judged; smart or not smart. Repeatedly students with this mind-set reject opportunities to learn if they might make mistakes. When they do make mistakes or reveal deficiencies, rather than correct, they try to hide the mistakes.” Dweck says this about a growth mind-set “By contrast in growth mind-set, students care about learning. When they make mistakes or exhibit a deficiency they correct it, for them effort is a positive thing.” For instance, my brother has a fixed mind-set and my cousins has a growth mind-set, they have many similarities and differences.

people with a growth mindset overcome obstacles is, they could have a long term goal in mind

In the article “ Brainology: Transforming Students’ Motivation to Learn” by, Carol S. Dweck, she differentiates the two different kinds of mindsets that students have when learning. Those mindsets are fixed and growth. A student with a fixed mindset has the mentality that every student has a substantial amount of intelligence. However, a student with a growth mindset realizes their intelligence is through learning. Students with a fixed mindset tend to give up once they make a mistake, but students with growth mindsets learn from their mistakes.

“This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate

Chapter Six takes place in Harlan, Kentucky. It talks about the Howard-Turner feud. The Howard and Turners were families that constantly had arguments and disagreements. The arguments lead to violent fights, gun shots, and death. If one was to go to Harlan, Kentucky and tried to investigate this case of why the intense feud against these two families, one would think it had to do with internal factors. Maybe they had different morals and statutes and when faced with the opposite, they collided with each other. Maybe it was just simply that they didn’t like each other. When you look at the situation more in depth, you find out that they weren’t the only ones that had a feud. “When one family fights with another, it’s a feud. When lots of families fight with one another in identical little towns up and down the same mountain range, it’s a pattern.” (Gladwell 166)

and discover their potentials. All of these things define what a growth mindset is. In other words,

In life we tend to see failure as a terrible thing. When we do fail, most of the time we

In this paper I will be explaining the concepts of a growth mindset, a growth mindset is when people appreciate a challenge. I will not only be talking about the definition, but I will also tell you what a person with a growth mindset is like, they are optimistic. They would rather solve a problem they run away from it. I will go into depth about how they act when faced with certain challenges and everyday things in life such as relationships or stretching their abilities. When in a relationship, they want to do help build their relationship. When stretching their abilities, they will go above and beyond what they thought they could do. I will talk about how setback can affect them, and how sometimes a growth mindset can become a setback if not approached correctly. The last thing I will talk about it how genetic makeup does not determine one’s abilities.

10. The main point the article seems to portray is how we think the way we do, what causes us to change our personality or keep our lives static. Both mindsets have pros and cons. It’s not bad to have a static life to preserve who we naturally are and question those who dare to change us, its about the self. Meanwhile, the growth mindset is the thirst for learning, finding meaning in our misgivings giving ourselves ease for what we experience, its change and innovation.

Grit and Growth Mindsets both work together to support success. Grit and Growth Mindsets are both positive things and if you don’t have either of those two things you will not be successful. According to Angela Lee Duckworth and Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, “Grit, however, is distinguished from the general tendency to be reliable, self-controlled, orderly, and industrious, with its emphasis on long-term stamina rather than short-term intensity.” (p.51.) Duckworth and Eskreis-Winkler are saying that Grit is, having the ability to always be able to do something and to do it right way and to work very hard on it and to sustain it rather than not giving your all to it. Growth Mindset is believing you can try harder to fix a mistake you made so that there will be a better outcome next time.

After reading the book Mindset by Carol Dweck, I realized that I need to improve on my fixed mindset in a few different areas in order to be the best person I can be. According to Dweck, a “fixed mindset makes you concerned with how you will be judged, the growth mindset makes you concerned with improving” (13). Carol Dweck discusses the two different mindsets and the impact that having a fixed mindset has on individuals in the long run. In order to grow, learn and improve, I need to accept failure, be more confident in myself, and develop better study habits.