A Comparison of Mindsets and Goal Orientations Using Number Line Estimation Software

Abstract

People are thought to lie somewhere along the spectrum between two opposing theories of intelligence, the incremental theory and the entity theory. Individuals with a growth mindset tend to believe that intelligence and ability can grow with effort and practice, while individuals with a fixed mindset tend to believe that peoples’ level of skill and intelligence is predetermined and innate. Individual differences in beliefs and perceptions about intelligence and ability manifest themselves through differences in motivation and goal-seeking behavior. Typically, individuals who hold a growth mindset have been linked to be more mastery goal oriented, as opposed to fixed mindset individuals, who are associated with more performance orientation. Research has shown that individuals exposed to a growth mindset significantly perform better on mathematics tasks than individuals with a fixed mindset (Dar-Nimrod Heine, 2006). The primary goal of this study was to analyze how participants’ implicit theories, goal orientations and goal seeking behaviors differ with respect to how they approach number line estimation problems in the MathemAntics Sort and Estimate (MASE) software. Participants’ mindset and goal orientations were evaluated using a self-response questionnaire, and their performance and behavior were assessed using computer log files from the MASE activity. The results showed that higher performance-avoid goal orientation was related to less accurate estimations on the MASE activity. Surprisingly, the results did not detect significant associations between mindset and goal orientation, nor were differences between growth and fixed mindset performance and behavior observed in the present study.