What science says about changing your mindset

Researchers have just begun to explore the obvious question: Can we change a fixed mindset to a growth mindset?

In one study, educators who wanted to close the learning gap between high- and low-achieving students experimented with an intervention. Students were "conditioned" for a growth mindset by completing a short online program that delivered the message that their intellectual abilities weren't fixed, that they could grow and improve. It worked. Those students made substantial gains in their math grades when compared to students who didn't complete the program.

In another study of recent college graduates, researchers found that it was easier to change behavior in heavy drinkers who had stronger growth mindsets; the stronger the growth mindset, the more open they were to interventions that helped them drink less alcohol.

"I see people improve their growth mindset all the time," Guerton says. "Sometimes you just don't realize that you've been in this fixed growth mindset, where criticism or feedback is seen as a threat, rather than an opportunity for learning. A third-party perspective can help us become less defensive and take the blinders off."