{"id":1001,"date":"2023-03-21T17:46:29","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T17:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=1001"},"modified":"2026-01-14T17:45:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T17:45:33","slug":"12-2-1-learn-it-psych-in-real-life-growth-mindsets-2","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/chapter\/12-2-1-learn-it-psych-in-real-life-growth-mindsets-2\/","title":{"raw":"Mindsets: Learn It 1\u2014Growth Mindsets 2","rendered":"Mindsets: Learn It 1\u2014Growth Mindsets 2"},"content":{"raw":"<h2>Study 1: \u00a0Mueller &amp; Dweck (1998)<\/h2>\r\n<p>According to Dweck, our mindset has a big impact on how well we\u00a0are able to achieve our potential\u2014in school and in many other areas of our lives (for example, in sports, music, and business). But where do these differences in mindsets come from?<\/p>\r\n<p>There can be many reasons that a person comes to believe that intelligence is fixed or changeable, but one obvious influence on our way of thinking about ourselves is the messages we hear from adults as we grow up. Dweck and her then-graduate student Claudia Mueller wanted to see if they could influence the mindset of children,\u00a0even if only for a brief period of time, by selectively offering different kinds of praise. Praise is very motivating; when we do something and receive praise, we are more likely to want to do that same thing again. But Mueller and Dweck wondered if all praise was equal. In particular, they sought to investigate whether certain types of praise might actually reduce a child\u2019s motivation to learn and erode that child\u2019s resiliency when they encounter challenges.<\/p>\r\n<p>The researchers recruited 128 fifth graders (70 girls and 58 boys ranging in age from 10 to 12) to participate in their study. Before we go into the details of the first experiment, please get a feel for the task that the children had to perform.<\/p>\r\n<p>You will have one minute to solve as many of the problems below as you can.[footnote]Questions used with permission from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smart-kit.com\/scategory\/brain-teasers\/iq-test-questions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.smart-kit.com\/scategory\/brain-teasers\/iq-test-questions\/<\/a>[\/footnote] For each problem, you will see a set of patterns arranged in a 3x3 matrix. Each matrix has one item missing, and your task is to figure out what the missing item is based on the changing patterns in the rows, columns, and diagonals.<\/p>\r\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\">Before we start, here is one practice item. The 3x3 matrix is at the top and the pattern on the lower right is missing. Figure out which one of the eight patterns on the bottom, labeled 1 to 8, is the missing pattern.<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11144140\/practiceq.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-4545 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11144140\/practiceq.png\" alt=\"A sample question from an IQ test, showing three sets of a 3x3 grid with stars in certain squares, with the last square missing. Imagine the grid is labeled 1-9, beginning in the top left. In the first image, there are stars in 1 and 8; the next has a star in 5; the next has stars in 1, 5, and 8; the next has stars in 3 and 7; the next has stars in 1 and 9; the next has stars in 1,3,7, and 9; the next has stars in 2 and 8, and the last has stars in 4 and 6. Which image should come next? \" width=\"472\" height=\"524\" \/><\/a>[reveal-answer q=\"491551\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]<br \/>\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"491551\"]The correct answer is pattern #7. The pattern on the right in each row combines the dots from the other two patterns in that row.[\/hidden-answer]<\/section>\r\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\">Now you will have ONE MINUTE to solve as many of the problems below as possible.<center><iframe id=\"twine\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/oerfiles\/Psychology\/interactives\/mindset\/test\/mindset_test.html\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500px\" scrolling=\"no\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/center>Now that you've taken the test, how much would you like to try some more of these questions?\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Not at all<\/li>\r\n\t<li>1<\/li>\r\n\t<li>2<\/li>\r\n\t<li>3<\/li>\r\n\t<li>4<\/li>\r\n\t<li>5<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Very much<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>How much did you enjoy working on these problems?<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Not at all<\/li>\r\n\t<li>1<\/li>\r\n\t<li>2<\/li>\r\n\t<li>3<\/li>\r\n\t<li>4<\/li>\r\n\t<li>5<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Very much<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>How well do you think you did on these problems overall?<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Not very well<\/li>\r\n\t<li>1<\/li>\r\n\t<li>2<\/li>\r\n\t<li>3<\/li>\r\n\t<li>4<\/li>\r\n\t<li>5<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Very well<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>If we gave you some more problems, would you prefer some more like the easier practice problems or some more like the hardest test problems you tried?<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Like the easier practice problem<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Like the hardest test problem<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/section>\r\n<p>The problem-solving task you just tried out is based on a widely used psychological test called the Raven\u2019s Progressive Matrices. Most people find the test to be challenging, requiring close attention to detail and careful logical thinking. Mueller and Dweck chose this task because it could be adapted to be relatively easy or extremely difficult by changing the complexity of the patterns required for the solution.<\/p>\r\n<p>The experiment had three stages, each based around a different set of matrix problems like the ones you worked on. Each child was tested one-on-one in an otherwise empty classroom by a research assistant.<\/p>\r\n<h3>Stage 1: Pretest, Treatment, and Assessment of Motivation<\/h3>\r\n<h4>Pretest<\/h4>\r\n<p>The children were given instructions and 10 problems that were fairly easy to solve. At the end of 4 minutes, they were stopped and the research assistant scored their answers. On average, the children attempted to answer 7.9 out of the 10 problems, and the mean number correct was 5.2.<\/p>\r\n<h4>Treatment<\/h4>\r\n<p>When you do something to manipulate an independent variable, that\u00a0manipulation\u00a0(administer a pill, tell the participant something that might affect performance, etc.) is called a \u201ctreatment.\u201d In this case, the treatment was the feedback the child received about their performance on the progressive matrices task. This treatment involved a bit of deception because the children received randomly assigned feedback.<\/p>\r\n<p>First, every child was told: \u201cWow, you did very well on these problems. You got _____ right. That\u2019s a really high score.\u201d Some mild deception was used here as well because all children were told that they got at least 80% correct, which is above the actual average score. If a child actually did solve more than 80% correctly, their actual score was used.<\/p>\r\n<p>Then, children were randomly assigned to hear one of three statements:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of the children were praised for their ABILITY: \u201cYou must be smart at these problems.\u201d<\/li>\r\n\t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other children were praised for their EFFORT: \u201cYou must have worked hard at these problems.\u201d<\/li>\r\n\t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The remaining children were in the CONTROL condition. They did not receive any additional feedback, aside from the general praise shown above.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h4>Assessment<\/h4>\r\n<p>After receiving feedback and, for children in two of the conditions, additional praise, the children were asked a series of questions. The experimenters wanted to know if the success the children experienced in the first set of problems, along with the type of praise they received, might influence the children's choice of whether they would prefer to work on easier or more challenging problems in the future. The children were told they might get some additional problems to solve later on in the experiment, and they were asked to choose the difficulty of those additional problems. There were several options, but the choice essentially came down to:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Give me easy problems: \u201cProblems that I\u2019m pretty good at, so I can show that I\u2019m smart.\u201d<\/li>\r\n\t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Give me challenging problems: \u201cProblems that I\u2019ll learn a lot from, even if I won\u2019t look so smart.\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>The children were then told that there might be some time at the end of the session to work on these problems they had chosen, but that the next problems they would work on had been determined before the experiment started. They were told this so they would not interpret the next problem set as being \u201ceasy\u201d or \u201cchallenging\u201d based on their selection.<\/p>\r\n<p>The results showed that the children were genuinely influenced by the praise they had received. The figure below shows the percentage of children choosing EASY problems, broken down by treatment condition. The children who were praised for how smart they were (ability) were far more likely to choose easy problems than were the children praised for working hard (effort). The control condition, children who were told they did well but received no additional praise, were in the middle.<\/p>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_4551\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"368\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11144717\/typeofpraisegraph.png\"><img class=\"wp-image-4551 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11144717\/typeofpraisegraph.png\" alt=\"Bar graph showing the percentage of students choosing easy problems. Of those who were praised on ability nearly 70% chose easy problems, 50% of the control condition chose easy problems, and less than 10% of those who were praised for effort chose the easy problems.\" width=\"368\" height=\"267\" \/><\/a> <strong>Figure 2<\/strong>. The type of praise given influenced the types of problems students wanted to tackle. This graph shows the number of students choosing easy problems after given praise.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\">[ohm2_question height=\"300\"]4405[\/ohm2_question]<\/section>\r\n<h3>Stage 2: Failure, Negative Feedback, and Consequences<\/h3>\r\n<h4>Failure<\/h4>\r\n<p>Next, the children tried to solve a new set of 10 matrix problems and again they had 4 minutes. On the surface, these problems looked about the same as the first set, but they were considerably more difficult. After the 4-minute test period, the researchers scored the answers and, regardless of actual performance, they told the children that they had done poorly (\u201ca lot worse\u201d). No one was told that they had solved more than 50% correctly. In fact, this feedback was often accurate. The results showed that the children found this second problem set difficult. On average, they attempted 5.8 of the 10 problems and correctly solved only 1.8 of them. There was no significant difference in the number of problems solved for the three groups (ability feedback, effort feedback, and no-feedback control).<\/p>\r\n<h4>Consequences<\/h4>\r\n<p>Now the experimenters wanted to know about the effect of \u201cfailure\u201d on the children\u2019s motivation (though the term \u201cfailure\u201d was never used with the children).<\/p>\r\n<p>Immediately after receiving feedback, the children were asked a series of questions:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHow much would you like to take these problems home to work on?\u201d [This was a measure of \u201ctask persistence\u201d]<\/li>\r\n\t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHow much did you like working on the first set of problems? How much did you enjoy working on the second set? How much fun were the problems? [These measured \u201ctask enjoyment\u201d]<\/li>\r\n\t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using a somewhat more complicated measure, the children were also asked to explain their difficulties with the second problem set as being caused by either a lack of ability, a lack of effort, or some combination of the two.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h4>Results<\/h4>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHow much would you like to take these problems home?\u201d The children answered on a 1-to-6 scale, where higher numbers meant more interest in taking the problems home to practice.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_4552\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"308\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11145106\/praisegivenforhome.png\"><img class=\"wp-image-4552 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11145106\/praisegivenforhome.png\" alt=\"Bar graph showing the type of praise given and the feelings of the participants about how much they would like to take the problems home. A higher score means the participant was more interested in taking the problems home. Those praised for ability scored it just over a 3, while those in the control just over a 4, and those who were praised for effort, just under a 5.\" width=\"308\" height=\"264\" \/><\/a> <strong>Figure 3<\/strong>. How praise influenced students' desires to take the problems home. Statistical note: the Ability group was significantly lower than the other two. There was no significant difference between the Control and Effort groups.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHow much fun were the problems?\u201d The children answered on a 1-to-6 scale, where higher numbers mean more enjoyment of the problems.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_4553\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"336\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11145455\/praiseandfun.png\"><img class=\"wp-image-4553 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11145455\/praiseandfun.png\" alt=\"On a scale of 1-6, students who were praised for ability rated the problems as a 4 for &quot;fun&quot;, while students in the control rated them at a 4.5, and students who were praised for effort rated them at a 5.\" width=\"336\" height=\"306\" \/><\/a> <strong>Figure 4<\/strong>. Tye type of praise given had a small, but noticeable, impact on how much students enjoyed the problems. Statistical note: all three groups were significantly different from each other.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why did you perform poorly on this second set of problems? The children expressed their own explanation for their poor performance using a somewhat more complicated procedure. They were not simply asked to choose between ability vs. effort, but were also given the option to attribute their failure\u00a0to a combination of the two (reference the original study for more details).<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5055\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"664\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/29150742\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-26-at-1.55.05-PM1.png\"><img class=\"wp-image-5055\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/29150742\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-26-at-1.55.05-PM1.png\" alt=\"Two bar graphs. The first shows responses to the question &quot;How much was your failure due to low ability?&quot; The group that had been praised for ability answered high to this at 16, while the control group answered at 14 and the effort group responded at 10. The second bar graph shows responses to &quot;How much was your failure due to low effort? The ability group answered low (5), the control group at 11 and the effort group at 12.\" width=\"664\" height=\"253\" \/><\/a> <strong>Figure 5<\/strong>. When asked how much of their \"failure\" was due to low ability, those praised for ability were more likely to blame their own inability. When asked how much of their failure was due to low effort, those who were praised for ability did not blame their effort, rather their ability.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<h3>Stage 3: Posttest<\/h3>\r\n<p>For the last stage of the experiment, the children were given a new set of problems that was similar in difficulty to the first set. The problems were moderately difficult, and the children had 4 minutes to solve as many as possible. The figure below shows the change in the average number of problems\u00a0correctly solved between the pretest (Stage 1, before feedback) and the posttest (Stage 3, after feedback).<\/p>\r\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\"><strong>Instructions:<\/strong> Click and drag the circles on the right (Posttest) to where you think they should be to reflect the results of the experiment. When you're done, click the link below to see the actual results.<center><iframe src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/oerfiles\/Psychology\/interactives\/mindset\/linegraph2.html\" width=\"680\" height=\"450\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/center>[reveal-answer q=\"47435\"]Click here to see the results.[\/reveal-answer]<br \/>\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"47435\"]\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_4555\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"406\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11150500\/changes.png\"><img class=\"wp-image-4555 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11150500\/changes.png\" alt=\"Line graph shows the number of problems solved in the pretest compared with the number of problems solved in the posttest. The control group solved about the same amount of problems in the pretest as in the posttest, roughly 5.25. The group praised for effort solved about 5 problems in the pretest, but nearly 6.5 problems in the posttest, while those praised for ability solved about 5.5 problems in the pretest and only 4.5 problems in the posttest.\" width=\"406\" height=\"259\" \/><\/a> Figure 5. The difference between the number of problems solved on the pre-test as compared with the post-test.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<p>[\/hidden-answer]<\/p>\r\n<\/section>\r\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\">[ohm2_question height=\"600\"]4406[\/ohm2_question]<\/section>\r\n<p>The Mueller and Dweck experiment shows how a single comment to a child can have at least a temporary effect on their attitude and performance. It is unlikely that these children were still influenced by that one comment (\u201cYou\u2019re smart!\u201d or \u201cYou worked hard!\u201d) a day later or even an hour later. But at least for a short time in a controlled setting, the children were apparently affected by what the adult researcher said to them. Why would this matter? If a child repeatedly and consistently hears one sort of encouragement or the other, the child\u00a0might begin to internalize that way of thinking. Later, as an adolescent and then\u00a0as an adult, the individual\u2019s \u201cmindset\u201d can determine how that person approaches new opportunities to learn and to grow.<\/p>\r\n<p>Before you go on, we\u2019d like you to create a psychological theory. This may sound like a strange thing to do because theories are often presented to you in textbooks as being the final summary of some research. Sometimes that is true, but the primary use of theories in real scientific research is as a temporary and changeable summary of a researcher\u2019s ideas.<\/p>\r\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\">Using the figure below, which shows a sequence of influences beginning with either praise for effort or praise for ability, build a psychological theory.<br \/>\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/content\/1290549119774223068\/embed\" width=\"605\" height=\"601\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><script src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/js\/h5p-resizer.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script><br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nThis is a psychological theory based on Dr. Dweck\u2019s ideas, showing how the two different mindsets lead to different outcomes.[footnote]This particular version of her theory did not come directly from her papers. We have put the theory together in this form to illustrate how experience can influence thinking which then influences behavior.[\/footnote]<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nWhat this theory says is that different kinds of praise encourage the child to focus on different goals. Praise for effort tells the child that the <em>process<\/em> of learning is important and that rewards come from trying hard. Praise for ability tells the child that performance comes from something mysterious inside of you (\u201cintelligence\u201d or \u201ctalent\u201d) rather than from\u00a0how hard you try. <br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nAccording to this theory (and supported by the results), children who had been praised for effort\u00a0may focus more on the process of learning,\u00a0such that failure at hard problems could be seen as a challenge\u2014even something fun\u2014and failure could motivate them. The children who were praised for their\u00a0ability, which effort cannot change, felt smart when they had easy problems, but the hard problems led to a disturbing realization: maybe I don\u2019t have that magical ability. At stage 3 in the experiment, children who were energized by the difficult problems tackled the final set of problems (which were fairly easy) with an enthusiasm that led to success. The children who were discouraged by failure handicapped themselves on the last set of problems, doing worse than they had at the beginning of the study.<\/section>\r\n<p>Next, let's read about a second study\u00a0performed by Dweck\u2019s research team nearly a decade later, although this one is described more briefly and with less detail. This second study was not an experiment because there\u00a0were no manipulated variables. It was a longitudinal study, which means that the same participants (in this case, children)\u00a0were tested repeatedly over a long period of time.<\/p>","rendered":"<h2>Study 1: \u00a0Mueller &amp; Dweck (1998)<\/h2>\n<p>According to Dweck, our mindset has a big impact on how well we\u00a0are able to achieve our potential\u2014in school and in many other areas of our lives (for example, in sports, music, and business). But where do these differences in mindsets come from?<\/p>\n<p>There can be many reasons that a person comes to believe that intelligence is fixed or changeable, but one obvious influence on our way of thinking about ourselves is the messages we hear from adults as we grow up. Dweck and her then-graduate student Claudia Mueller wanted to see if they could influence the mindset of children,\u00a0even if only for a brief period of time, by selectively offering different kinds of praise. Praise is very motivating; when we do something and receive praise, we are more likely to want to do that same thing again. But Mueller and Dweck wondered if all praise was equal. In particular, they sought to investigate whether certain types of praise might actually reduce a child\u2019s motivation to learn and erode that child\u2019s resiliency when they encounter challenges.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers recruited 128 fifth graders (70 girls and 58 boys ranging in age from 10 to 12) to participate in their study. Before we go into the details of the first experiment, please get a feel for the task that the children had to perform.<\/p>\n<p>You will have one minute to solve as many of the problems below as you can.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Questions used with permission from http:\/\/www.smart-kit.com\/scategory\/brain-teasers\/iq-test-questions\/\" id=\"return-footnote-1001-1\" href=\"#footnote-1001-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a> For each problem, you will see a set of patterns arranged in a 3&#215;3 matrix. Each matrix has one item missing, and your task is to figure out what the missing item is based on the changing patterns in the rows, columns, and diagonals.<\/p>\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\">Before we start, here is one practice item. The 3&#215;3 matrix is at the top and the pattern on the lower right is missing. Figure out which one of the eight patterns on the bottom, labeled 1 to 8, is the missing pattern.<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11144140\/practiceq.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-4545 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11144140\/practiceq.png\" alt=\"A sample question from an IQ test, showing three sets of a 3x3 grid with stars in certain squares, with the last square missing. Imagine the grid is labeled 1-9, beginning in the top left. In the first image, there are stars in 1 and 8; the next has a star in 5; the next has stars in 1, 5, and 8; the next has stars in 3 and 7; the next has stars in 1 and 9; the next has stars in 1,3,7, and 9; the next has stars in 2 and 8, and the last has stars in 4 and 6. Which image should come next?\" width=\"472\" height=\"524\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><button class=\"show-answer show-answer-button collapsed\" data-target=\"q491551\">Show Answer<\/button><\/p>\n<div id=\"q491551\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">The correct answer is pattern #7. The pattern on the right in each row combines the dots from the other two patterns in that row.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\">Now you will have ONE MINUTE to solve as many of the problems below as possible.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"twine\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/oerfiles\/Psychology\/interactives\/mindset\/test\/mindset_test.html\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500px\" scrolling=\"no\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Now that you&#8217;ve taken the test, how much would you like to try some more of these questions?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Not at all<\/li>\n<li>1<\/li>\n<li>2<\/li>\n<li>3<\/li>\n<li>4<\/li>\n<li>5<\/li>\n<li>Very much<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>How much did you enjoy working on these problems?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Not at all<\/li>\n<li>1<\/li>\n<li>2<\/li>\n<li>3<\/li>\n<li>4<\/li>\n<li>5<\/li>\n<li>Very much<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>How well do you think you did on these problems overall?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Not very well<\/li>\n<li>1<\/li>\n<li>2<\/li>\n<li>3<\/li>\n<li>4<\/li>\n<li>5<\/li>\n<li>Very well<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If we gave you some more problems, would you prefer some more like the easier practice problems or some more like the hardest test problems you tried?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Like the easier practice problem<\/li>\n<li>Like the hardest test problem<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<p>The problem-solving task you just tried out is based on a widely used psychological test called the Raven\u2019s Progressive Matrices. Most people find the test to be challenging, requiring close attention to detail and careful logical thinking. Mueller and Dweck chose this task because it could be adapted to be relatively easy or extremely difficult by changing the complexity of the patterns required for the solution.<\/p>\n<p>The experiment had three stages, each based around a different set of matrix problems like the ones you worked on. Each child was tested one-on-one in an otherwise empty classroom by a research assistant.<\/p>\n<h3>Stage 1: Pretest, Treatment, and Assessment of Motivation<\/h3>\n<h4>Pretest<\/h4>\n<p>The children were given instructions and 10 problems that were fairly easy to solve. At the end of 4 minutes, they were stopped and the research assistant scored their answers. On average, the children attempted to answer 7.9 out of the 10 problems, and the mean number correct was 5.2.<\/p>\n<h4>Treatment<\/h4>\n<p>When you do something to manipulate an independent variable, that\u00a0manipulation\u00a0(administer a pill, tell the participant something that might affect performance, etc.) is called a \u201ctreatment.\u201d In this case, the treatment was the feedback the child received about their performance on the progressive matrices task. This treatment involved a bit of deception because the children received randomly assigned feedback.<\/p>\n<p>First, every child was told: \u201cWow, you did very well on these problems. You got _____ right. That\u2019s a really high score.\u201d Some mild deception was used here as well because all children were told that they got at least 80% correct, which is above the actual average score. If a child actually did solve more than 80% correctly, their actual score was used.<\/p>\n<p>Then, children were randomly assigned to hear one of three statements:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of the children were praised for their ABILITY: \u201cYou must be smart at these problems.\u201d<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other children were praised for their EFFORT: \u201cYou must have worked hard at these problems.\u201d<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The remaining children were in the CONTROL condition. They did not receive any additional feedback, aside from the general praise shown above.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Assessment<\/h4>\n<p>After receiving feedback and, for children in two of the conditions, additional praise, the children were asked a series of questions. The experimenters wanted to know if the success the children experienced in the first set of problems, along with the type of praise they received, might influence the children&#8217;s choice of whether they would prefer to work on easier or more challenging problems in the future. The children were told they might get some additional problems to solve later on in the experiment, and they were asked to choose the difficulty of those additional problems. There were several options, but the choice essentially came down to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Give me easy problems: \u201cProblems that I\u2019m pretty good at, so I can show that I\u2019m smart.\u201d<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Give me challenging problems: \u201cProblems that I\u2019ll learn a lot from, even if I won\u2019t look so smart.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The children were then told that there might be some time at the end of the session to work on these problems they had chosen, but that the next problems they would work on had been determined before the experiment started. They were told this so they would not interpret the next problem set as being \u201ceasy\u201d or \u201cchallenging\u201d based on their selection.<\/p>\n<p>The results showed that the children were genuinely influenced by the praise they had received. The figure below shows the percentage of children choosing EASY problems, broken down by treatment condition. The children who were praised for how smart they were (ability) were far more likely to choose easy problems than were the children praised for working hard (effort). The control condition, children who were told they did well but received no additional praise, were in the middle.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4551\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4551\" style=\"width: 368px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11144717\/typeofpraisegraph.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4551 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11144717\/typeofpraisegraph.png\" alt=\"Bar graph showing the percentage of students choosing easy problems. Of those who were praised on ability nearly 70% chose easy problems, 50% of the control condition chose easy problems, and less than 10% of those who were praised for effort chose the easy problems.\" width=\"368\" height=\"267\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4551\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 2<\/strong>. The type of praise given influenced the types of problems students wanted to tackle. This graph shows the number of students choosing easy problems after given praise.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"ohm4405\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/ohm.one.lumenlearning.com\/multiembedq.php?id=4405&theme=lumen&iframe_resize_id=ohm4405&source=tnh&show_question_numbers\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/section>\n<h3>Stage 2: Failure, Negative Feedback, and Consequences<\/h3>\n<h4>Failure<\/h4>\n<p>Next, the children tried to solve a new set of 10 matrix problems and again they had 4 minutes. On the surface, these problems looked about the same as the first set, but they were considerably more difficult. After the 4-minute test period, the researchers scored the answers and, regardless of actual performance, they told the children that they had done poorly (\u201ca lot worse\u201d). No one was told that they had solved more than 50% correctly. In fact, this feedback was often accurate. The results showed that the children found this second problem set difficult. On average, they attempted 5.8 of the 10 problems and correctly solved only 1.8 of them. There was no significant difference in the number of problems solved for the three groups (ability feedback, effort feedback, and no-feedback control).<\/p>\n<h4>Consequences<\/h4>\n<p>Now the experimenters wanted to know about the effect of \u201cfailure\u201d on the children\u2019s motivation (though the term \u201cfailure\u201d was never used with the children).<\/p>\n<p>Immediately after receiving feedback, the children were asked a series of questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHow much would you like to take these problems home to work on?\u201d [This was a measure of \u201ctask persistence\u201d]<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHow much did you like working on the first set of problems? How much did you enjoy working on the second set? How much fun were the problems? [These measured \u201ctask enjoyment\u201d]<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using a somewhat more complicated measure, the children were also asked to explain their difficulties with the second problem set as being caused by either a lack of ability, a lack of effort, or some combination of the two.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Results<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHow much would you like to take these problems home?\u201d The children answered on a 1-to-6 scale, where higher numbers meant more interest in taking the problems home to practice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4552\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4552\" style=\"width: 308px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11145106\/praisegivenforhome.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4552 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11145106\/praisegivenforhome.png\" alt=\"Bar graph showing the type of praise given and the feelings of the participants about how much they would like to take the problems home. A higher score means the participant was more interested in taking the problems home. Those praised for ability scored it just over a 3, while those in the control just over a 4, and those who were praised for effort, just under a 5.\" width=\"308\" height=\"264\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4552\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 3<\/strong>. How praise influenced students&#8217; desires to take the problems home. Statistical note: the Ability group was significantly lower than the other two. There was no significant difference between the Control and Effort groups.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHow much fun were the problems?\u201d The children answered on a 1-to-6 scale, where higher numbers mean more enjoyment of the problems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4553\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4553\" style=\"width: 336px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11145455\/praiseandfun.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4553 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11145455\/praiseandfun.png\" alt=\"On a scale of 1-6, students who were praised for ability rated the problems as a 4 for &quot;fun&quot;, while students in the control rated them at a 4.5, and students who were praised for effort rated them at a 5.\" width=\"336\" height=\"306\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4553\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 4<\/strong>. Tye type of praise given had a small, but noticeable, impact on how much students enjoyed the problems. Statistical note: all three groups were significantly different from each other.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why did you perform poorly on this second set of problems? The children expressed their own explanation for their poor performance using a somewhat more complicated procedure. They were not simply asked to choose between ability vs. effort, but were also given the option to attribute their failure\u00a0to a combination of the two (reference the original study for more details).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5055\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5055\" style=\"width: 664px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/29150742\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-26-at-1.55.05-PM1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5055\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/29150742\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-26-at-1.55.05-PM1.png\" alt=\"Two bar graphs. The first shows responses to the question &quot;How much was your failure due to low ability?&quot; The group that had been praised for ability answered high to this at 16, while the control group answered at 14 and the effort group responded at 10. The second bar graph shows responses to &quot;How much was your failure due to low effort? The ability group answered low (5), the control group at 11 and the effort group at 12.\" width=\"664\" height=\"253\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5055\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 5<\/strong>. When asked how much of their &#8220;failure&#8221; was due to low ability, those praised for ability were more likely to blame their own inability. When asked how much of their failure was due to low effort, those who were praised for ability did not blame their effort, rather their ability.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Stage 3: Posttest<\/h3>\n<p>For the last stage of the experiment, the children were given a new set of problems that was similar in difficulty to the first set. The problems were moderately difficult, and the children had 4 minutes to solve as many as possible. The figure below shows the change in the average number of problems\u00a0correctly solved between the pretest (Stage 1, before feedback) and the posttest (Stage 3, after feedback).<\/p>\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\"><strong>Instructions:<\/strong> Click and drag the circles on the right (Posttest) to where you think they should be to reflect the results of the experiment. When you&#8217;re done, click the link below to see the actual results.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/oerfiles\/Psychology\/interactives\/mindset\/linegraph2.html\" width=\"680\" height=\"450\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><button class=\"show-answer show-answer-button collapsed\" data-target=\"q47435\">Click here to see the results.<\/button><\/p>\n<div id=\"q47435\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_4555\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4555\" style=\"width: 406px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11150500\/changes.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4555 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/11150500\/changes.png\" alt=\"Line graph shows the number of problems solved in the pretest compared with the number of problems solved in the posttest. The control group solved about the same amount of problems in the pretest as in the posttest, roughly 5.25. The group praised for effort solved about 5 problems in the pretest, but nearly 6.5 problems in the posttest, while those praised for ability solved about 5.5 problems in the pretest and only 4.5 problems in the posttest.\" width=\"406\" height=\"259\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4555\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 5. The difference between the number of problems solved on the pre-test as compared with the post-test.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"ohm4406\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/ohm.one.lumenlearning.com\/multiembedq.php?id=4406&theme=lumen&iframe_resize_id=ohm4406&source=tnh&show_question_numbers\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\"><\/iframe><\/section>\n<p>The Mueller and Dweck experiment shows how a single comment to a child can have at least a temporary effect on their attitude and performance. It is unlikely that these children were still influenced by that one comment (\u201cYou\u2019re smart!\u201d or \u201cYou worked hard!\u201d) a day later or even an hour later. But at least for a short time in a controlled setting, the children were apparently affected by what the adult researcher said to them. Why would this matter? If a child repeatedly and consistently hears one sort of encouragement or the other, the child\u00a0might begin to internalize that way of thinking. Later, as an adolescent and then\u00a0as an adult, the individual\u2019s \u201cmindset\u201d can determine how that person approaches new opportunities to learn and to grow.<\/p>\n<p>Before you go on, we\u2019d like you to create a psychological theory. This may sound like a strange thing to do because theories are often presented to you in textbooks as being the final summary of some research. Sometimes that is true, but the primary use of theories in real scientific research is as a temporary and changeable summary of a researcher\u2019s ideas.<\/p>\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\">Using the figure below, which shows a sequence of influences beginning with either praise for effort or praise for ability, build a psychological theory.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/content\/1290549119774223068\/embed\" width=\"605\" height=\"601\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><script src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/js\/h5p-resizer.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This is a psychological theory based on Dr. Dweck\u2019s ideas, showing how the two different mindsets lead to different outcomes.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"This particular version of her theory did not come directly from her papers. We have put the theory together in this form to illustrate how experience can influence thinking which then influences behavior.\" id=\"return-footnote-1001-2\" href=\"#footnote-1001-2\" aria-label=\"Footnote 2\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p>What this theory says is that different kinds of praise encourage the child to focus on different goals. Praise for effort tells the child that the <em>process<\/em> of learning is important and that rewards come from trying hard. Praise for ability tells the child that performance comes from something mysterious inside of you (\u201cintelligence\u201d or \u201ctalent\u201d) rather than from\u00a0how hard you try. <\/p>\n<p>According to this theory (and supported by the results), children who had been praised for effort\u00a0may focus more on the process of learning,\u00a0such that failure at hard problems could be seen as a challenge\u2014even something fun\u2014and failure could motivate them. The children who were praised for their\u00a0ability, which effort cannot change, felt smart when they had easy problems, but the hard problems led to a disturbing realization: maybe I don\u2019t have that magical ability. At stage 3 in the experiment, children who were energized by the difficult problems tackled the final set of problems (which were fairly easy) with an enthusiasm that led to success. The children who were discouraged by failure handicapped themselves on the last set of problems, doing worse than they had at the beginning of the study.<\/section>\n<p>Next, let&#8217;s read about a second study\u00a0performed by Dweck\u2019s research team nearly a decade later, although this one is described more briefly and with less detail. This second study was not an experiment because there\u00a0were no manipulated variables. It was a longitudinal study, which means that the same participants (in this case, children)\u00a0were tested repeatedly over a long period of time.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-1001-1\">Questions used with permission from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smart-kit.com\/scategory\/brain-teasers\/iq-test-questions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.smart-kit.com\/scategory\/brain-teasers\/iq-test-questions\/<\/a> <a href=\"#return-footnote-1001-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-1001-2\">This particular version of her theory did not come directly from her papers. We have put the theory together in this form to illustrate how experience can influence thinking which then influences behavior. <a href=\"#return-footnote-1001-2\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 2\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":14,"menu_order":10,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Psychology in Real Life: Growth Mindsets\",\"author\":\"Patrick Carroll for Lumen Learning\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"part":711,"module-header":"learn_it","content_attributions":[{"type":"cc","description":"Psychology in Real Life: Growth Mindsets","author":"Patrick Carroll for Lumen Learning","organization":"Lumen Learning","url":"","project":"","license":"cc-by","license_terms":""}],"internal_book_links":[],"video_content":null,"cc_video_embed_content":{"cc_scripts":"","media_targets":[]},"try_it_collection":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1001"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7483,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1001\/revisions\/7483"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/711"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1001\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1001"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1001"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}