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Teacher Mindsets Help Explain Where a Growth-Mindset Intervention Does and Doesn’t Work

David S. Yeager^1,2; Jamie M. Carroll^2,3; Jenny Buontempo²; Andrei Cimpian⁴; Spencer Woody⁵; Robert Crosnoe^2,3; Chandra Muller^2,3; Jared Murray⁶; Pratik Mhatre²; Nicole Kersting⁷; Christopher Hulleman⁸; Molly Kudym^2,3; Mary Murphy⁹; Angela Lee Duckworth¹⁰; Gregory M. Walton¹¹; Carol S. Dweck¹¹

¹ Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin · ² Population Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin · ³ Department of Sociology, The University of Texas at Austin · ⁴ Department of Psychology, New York University · ⁵ Department of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin · ⁶ Department of Information, Risk, and Operations Management, The University of Texas at Austin · ⁷ Department of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies, The University of Arizona · ⁸ Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Foundations, University of Virginia · ⁹ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University–Bloomington · ¹⁰ Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania · ¹¹ Department of Psychology, Stanford University

A growth-mindset intervention teaches the belief that intellectual abilities can be developed. Where does the intervention work best? Prior research examined school-level moderators using data from the National Study of Learning Mindsets (NSLM), which delivered a short growth-mindset intervention during the first year of high school. In the present research, we used data from the NSLM to examine moderation by teachers’ mindsets and answer a new question: Can students independently implement their growth mindsets in virtually any classroom culture, or must students’ growth mindsets be supported by their teacher’s own growth mindsets (i.e., the mindset-plus-supportive-context hypothesis)? The present analysis (9,167 student records matched with 223 math teachers) supported the latter hypothesis. This result stood up to potentially confounding teacher factors and to a conservative Bayesian analysis. Thus, sustaining growth-mindset effects may require contextual supports that allow the proffered beliefs to take root and flourish.

DOI

10.1177/09567976211028984

Volume

33 (1)

Pages

18-32

Language

en

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