Parwy's Blog: How to Master Growth Mindset to Improve Performance

In this episode, Dr David Yeager, professor of psychology at the University of Texas, Austin, discusses how people of any age can use growth mindset and stress-is-enhancing mindsets to improve motivation and performance. We explain the best mindset for mentors and being mentored and how great leaders motivate others with high standards and support. We also discuss why a sense of purpose is essential to goal pursuit and achievement. Whether you are a parent, teacher, boss, coach, student or someone wanting to improve a skill or overcome a particular challenge, this episode provides an essential framework for adopting performance-enhancing mindsets leading to success.

Defining Growth Mindset

Growth mindset is the belief that one's abilities or potential in a specific domain can change.
It's not about believing that trying hard guarantees anything, but that change is possible under the right conditions and with proper support.
The alternative, a fixed mindset, which posits that abilities are static and unchangeable, is considered stressful.

Key Research Findings on Growth Mindset

Long-lasting Impact of Brief Interventions: A 2019 study published in Nature showed that a very short growth mindset intervention (two 25-minute sessions) for ninth graders led to significant improvements. Eight to nine months later, students were more likely to achieve good grades and enroll in advanced math classes. Unpublished results indicate effects lasting four years, including higher rates of graduating high school with college-ready courses. This study rigorously addressed skepticism through third-party data collection, random school sampling, and pre-registered analyses.
Defensiveness vs. Remediation: Research by David Nuebound and Carol Dweck revealed how mindsets influence responses to failure. Individuals with a fixed mindset, fearing their deficiencies would label them for life, tended to "look downward" after poor performance (e.g., comparing themselves to those who did worse) to defend their ego and recover self-esteem. In contrast, those with a growth mindset viewed mistakes as opportunities to grow and "looked upward" (e.g., examining strategies of high performers) to improve. Both approaches recovered self-esteem, but the growth mindset fostered genuine self-improvement. This willingness to self-improve is a core mechanism of growth mindset.

The Stress is Performance Enhancing Mindset

Physiological arousal (e.g., racing heart, sweaty palms, butterflies in the stomach) is a stressor that requires interpretation.
Stress is Debilitating Belief: The common cultural view that physiological arousal is inherently bad, a sign of impending failure, and detrimental to performance. This often leads to a "meta-cognitive layered loop" of being stressed about being stressed. Cultural messages often suggest distraction or de-stressing when feeling stressed.
Stress is Enhancing Belief: Reappraising physiological stress as the body's way of preparing for optimal performance (e.g., increased oxygenated blood to the brain and muscles). This mindset can actually lead to physiological changes in the body's stress response.
A key challenge is the deficit in language to accurately describe varying levels of internal arousal beyond "stress", which carries negative connotations.
Psychophysiologists distinguish between the stressor (the demand or challenge), the appraisal (how it's interpreted), and the response (the body's physiological reaction). A threat-type response prepares for damage, while a challenge-type response is high arousal paired with confidence in one's ability to cope.
Optimal performance in challenging situations involves matching the level of demand with a belief in one's resources to meet that demand. Interventions can provide a different way of viewing internal resources.

The Mentor Mindset and Mentor's Dilemma

The Mentor's Dilemma: Leaders (e.g., managers, teachers, parents) face the challenge of simultaneously delivering criticism to maintain high standards and motivating the individual to embrace that feedback for growth.
The Solution (High Standards, High Support): The "mentor mindset" involves appealing to the very high standards one holds for someone's work while consistently assuring them of their capability to meet those standards with effort and support. This combination makes growth mindset tangible and fosters a sense of dignity and respect in vulnerable moments.
Contrasting Mindsets:
- Protector Mindset: Withholds criticism to shield individuals from stress, leading to low standards but high support.
- Enforcer Mindset: Applies high standards but offers little support, leaving individuals to meet them on their own.
- The mentor mindset aims to combine the best of both: high standards with high support, fostering growth while demonstrating care. This approach is twice as likely to result in critical feedback being implemented by students.
This framework also applies to parenting, suggesting that having high expectations and loving one's children are not mutually exclusive.

Striving, Motivation, and Adolescence

The human brain is fundamentally driven to "feel better" or "avoid feeling worse," constantly pursuing a "Delta" or change from the current state.
Adolescence as a Critical Period: During adolescence, the criteria for self-worth dramatically shift from parental approval to social standing and perceived contribution value within the community. The fear of social ostracism is a powerful motivator during this phase.
Testosterone and Obsessive Practice: Increases in testosterone during adolescence (occurring earlier in girls) are linked to neural activity in reward and risk-taking tasks, driving an "obsessive practice" in areas that contribute to social value and status. This applies to both boys and girls.
Social Hierarchies: Multi-pyramid social hierarchies (where there are many routes to status) lead to better adjustment for adolescents compared to single-pyramid hierarchies, which can foster destructive competition.

Growth Mindset in Diverse Contexts

Domain Specificity: While there's a general tendency for individuals to believe in change across different traits, mindsets can also be highly domain-specific (e.g., believing one can improve academically but not socially). For intervention, a more abstract approach is better if the domain is sensitive, but closer domain-specific interventions are more predictive of behavior.
Challenges and Supportive Environments: Growth mindset interventions are most effective for individuals facing the most challenges, particularly when they are in supportive environments (e.g., schools with positive classroom cultures and advanced courses) that provide resources to act on their striving.
Holistic Approach: Addressing societal inequality requires combining psychological interventions with structural changes (e.g., resource allocation), recognizing that people need both the internal mindset and external opportunities to pursue their goals. Growth mindset is an asset-based perspective, aiming to remove social and cultural barriers that prevent individuals from acting on their inherent desire to learn and grow.

The Contribution Mindset and Pro-Social Motivation

Human goal pursuit is fundamental, and emotions drive tactical decisions and learning. Both the prospect of gain and the fear of loss are motivators, though losses may "loom larger".
Power of Contribution: Focusing on what one can do for others (a contribution mindset) is a profoundly motivating factor. Global surveys show that the meaning of life, connection, and contribution are among the best predictors of life satisfaction.
Effort as Reward: Experimental studies demonstrate that when individuals are motivated by the potential to contribute to others, the effort involved in a tedious task becomes its own form of reward. The harder the task, the more noble and impressive the effort feels, transforming struggle into motivation. For instance, students motivated by purpose showed deeper learning and greater persistence in boring math tasks than those focused on future financial rewards.
This pro-social motivation is not purely altruistic; it's a combination of self-interest (e.g., gaining skills, achieving personal freedom) and making a meaningful contribution. This dual benefit creates a "win-win" scenario where individuals derive joy and are compensated while positively impacting others and society.

Cultures of Growth vs. Cultures of Genius

Critique and Self-Protection: Hypercritical behavior, particularly online, can be a form of self-protection where individuals try to make others look bad to avoid scrutiny themselves, creating a toxic environment.
Culture of Genius: In a culture of genius (e.g., historically at Microsoft under Steve Ballmer or Boeing with stack ranking), mistakes are feared, hidden, and can lead to unethical behavior to conceal perceived flaws. This stifles genuine growth and learning.
Culture of Growth: Mary Murphy's "Cultures of Growth" proposes that in such environments (e.g., Microsoft under Satya Nadella, Jennifer Doudna's CRISPR lab, Kavli Institute at Vanderbilt), mistakes are viewed as an inherent part of the learning process and are openly examined. This approach fosters integrity, high-quality work, and continuous improvement within a supportive, demanding, yet respectful context. The Vanderbilt astrophysics lab, for instance, focuses on drive and resilience over standardized test scores, successfully mentoring a diverse group of physicists.

Chapters

00:00:00 Dr. David Yeager
00:01:49 Sponsors: AeroPress & ROKA
00:04:20 Growth Mindset; Performance, Self-Esteem
00:10:31 “Wise” Intervention, Teaching Growth Mindset
00:15:12 Stories & Writing Exercises
00:19:42 Effort Beliefs, Physiologic Stress Response
00:24:44 Stress-Is-Enhancing vs Stress-Is-Debilitating Mindsets
00:29:28 Sponsor: AG1
00:30:58 Language & Importance, Stressor vs. Stress Response
00:37:54 Physiologic Cues, Threat vs Challenge Response
00:44:35 Mentor Mindset & Leadership; Protector vs Enforcer Mindset
00:53:58 Sponsor: Waking Up
00:55:14 Strivings, Social Hierarchy & Adolescence, Testosterone
01:06:28 Growth Mindset & Transferability, Defensiveness
01:11:36 Challenge, Environment & Growth Mindset
01:19:08 Goal Pursuit, Brain Development & Adaptation
01:24:54 Emotions; Loss vs. Gain & Motivation
01:32:28 Skill Building & Challenge, Purpose Motivation
01:39:59 Contribution Value, Scientific Work & Scrutiny
01:50:01 Self-Interest, Contribution Mindset
01:58:05 Criticism, Negative Workplaces vs. Growth Culture
02:06:51 Critique & Support; Motivation; Standardized Tests
02:16:40 Mindset Research
02:23:53 Outro