Growth Mindset plus Autonomy and Rewards = Success

New research was published this month on the growth mindset. A study was performed in India to determine whether it would make an impact to teach children about the growth mindset depending on what sort of rewards they received for achievement. In this study by Chao et al, 1000 students from low socioeconomic status communities were given ten hours of education about the brain - essentially reinforcing the concept of growth mindset - that if you work hard, you can achieve a goal by studying and creating connections in your brain.

The control group learned about the heart in a similar number of sessions. These students, who were all third graders, were further divided into three subgroups based on rewards for good school attendance. The control group received nothing as a reward for attendance. The other two groups were given material rewards but each with a different emphasis. In one of the reward subgroups, the students were told they would receive an award for good attendance, which their teacher would choose for them from a selection of rewards. The final subgroup was told they could choose their own reward if they achieved good attendance and that the attendance would be tracked publicly, to encourage them to be self-motivated to attend.

Student performance was then measured on a standardized test, which the students had taken before. Results of the study revealed that students in the growth mindset training group who were allowed to choose their own reward had their performance augmented - IF they were students with a prior history of high achievement. The low achieving students did not get the same effects.

My take: learning about a growth mindset through a few simple hours of teaching and lesson reinforcement can be encourage students to work harder, but only if they were high achievers at the outset. Since all participants in the study came from low socioeconomic status communities, this implies the students were succeeding despite the odds being stacked against them - perhaps these students already had the trait of resilience? This study may not be generalizable to students from high socioeconomic status backgrounds or who live in high income countries. Chao, M.M., Visaria, S., Dehejia, R., & Mukhopadhyay, A. (2017). Do rewards reinforce the growth mindset? Joint effects of the growth mindset and incentive schemes in a field intervention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 146(10), 1402-1419.

All material © Alison Schroth Hayward, MD. All rights reserved.

Intelligence Is Overrated

Forget intelligence. Resilience is what our children need. As a physician, I'm reminded of this on a daily basis, but I also know so many poignant examples from my personal life. I may not be a senior citizen yet, but I've been around the block long enough to see the trajectories of many people's lives from childhood to adulthood. Social media and my own little fetish with following the stories of acquaintances have allowed an unprecedented ability to see how things turned out for any human being I've encountered through my lifetime. Based on these observances, my biggest question as a scientist and physician has been: why do some people succeed in the face of every obstacle, while others have every opportunity but still struggle?

It appears quite logical that children who go through traumatic experiences growing up may suffer a multitude of consequences on their health and well being. Much research, and rightfully so, is being devoted to determining how resilience can be cultivated in these individuals despite their circumstances. That's not what I intend to write about here.

I decided to write about whatever I come across while investigating what I consider to be the most pressing issue I face as a parent. My children have almost every privilege imaginable. They are blessed and they want for nothing, except things they don't really need! Parenting them ought to be basically just a matter of ensuring that they survive to age 18, right? Not in my mind. They're just toddlers now, but already I have the sense that they are smart, passionate, funny, energetic, and loving. And yet, I've seen so many of their slightly older peers who probably started out with all the same attributes, but ended up crushed by self-doubt, anxiety, depression, and years of broken relationships with people who tore them down instead of building them up. I've seen this so many times over, despite being amongst the company of the elite for much of my life - people whose parents had the wealth, power, and influence that one would think could engender success for any child they bore. Perhaps there is little that parents can do to influence some of these outcomes, but the research at this point seems to be limited.

All I know today, as I write this, is that cultivating a growth mindset and internal locus of control appear to be of critical importance in fostering resilience. I'll plan to talk about both of those things at length in future writings - relaying anything I can find out about the science of what is known on these subjects. However, I'm also keen to find out whether there are other ways in which parents can prepare their kids to bounce back. To understand that the road to success is paved in failure. To fall down seven times, but stand up eight.

Other parents may try to get their kids into the best schools, the most rigorous classes. They may get tutors and enroll in after school programs. Their goals and objectives involve things their children will be able to put on their resume, like Ivy League schools and prestigious internships. Personally, I could care less about that. I know there is no magic in the Ivy League. I've reviewed thousands of resumes while hiring for a variety of positions, and I know that the names on the resume mean little when compared to attitude, motivation, passion, flexibility, and creativity. I also know that these things aren't necessarily what school curricula teach. That's why I say, let's forget about trying to make our kids smarter. I'm not very concerned about whether my children will earn a high income, if they earn enough to support themselves and their families. I'm investigating how to raise emotional ninjas. Whether I can put this information into practice is another question entirely, but I'll share anything I find out on the way with you.

All material © Alison Schroth Hayward, MD. All rights reserved.