Growth mindset and academic outcomes: a comparison of US and Chinese students

Xin Sun,Shaylene Nancekivell,Susan A Gelman,Priti Shah

doi:10.1038/s41539-021-00100-z

Xin Sun, Shaylene Nancekivell + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-021-00100-z

Copy DOI

Abstract

Chinese students are more likely than US students to hold a malleable view of success in school, yet are more likely to hold fixed mindsets about intelligence. We demonstrate that this apparently contradictory pattern of cross-cultural differences holds true across multiple samples and is related to how students conceptualize intelligence and its relationship with academic achievement. Study 1 (N > 15,000) confirmed that US students endorsed more growth mindsets than Chinese students. Importantly, US students’ mathematics grades were positively related to growth mindsets with a medium-to-large effect, but for Chinese students, this association was slightly negative. Study 2 conceptually replicated Study 1 findings with US and Chinese college samples, and further discovered that cross-cultural differences in intelligence mindset beliefs corresponded to how students defined intelligence. Together, these studies demonstrated systematic cross-cultural differences in intelligence mindset and suggest that intelligence mindsets are not necessarily associated with academic motivation or success in the same way across cultures.

Highlights

Decades ago, Stevenson and colleagues[1,2,3,4,5,6] argued that Chinese and Japanese students are more likely to attribute academic success to effort over innate ability than US students
We propose that growth mindsets are related to these academic outcomes in US students, this may not apply to Chinese students to the same extent
Regression analysis yielded significance for country, βcountry = 0.24, SEcountry = 0.02, t = 11.59, 95% confidence interval = (0.20, 0.28). These results showed that Chinese students held significantly more fixed mindsets than US students

Summary

Introduction

Stevenson and colleagues[1,2,3,4,5,6] argued that Chinese and Japanese students are more likely to attribute academic success to effort over innate ability than US students. These differences in thinking are thought to be early emerging. It has been suggested that such differences may stem from differences in parental practices, as Chinese parents attribute children’s success to effort more than US parents[5,8,9]. In WEIRD contexts, students who believe that intelligence is malleable are more likely to attribute academic success to effort, and in turn, succeed academically[10]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion