Abstract
Mindset theory predicts that whether students believe basic ability is greatly malleable exerts a major influence on their own educational attainment (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007). We tested this prediction in two near-replication studies (total n = 832). In study 1 we tested the association of mindset with university grades in a cross-sectional design involving self-reported grades for 246 undergraduates. Growth mindset showed no association with grades (β = −0.02 CI95 [−0.16, 0.12], t = −0.26, p = .792). In study 2, we implemented a longitudinal design, testing the association of mindset with grade transcript scores across a series of challenging transitions: from high school to university entry, and then across all years of an undergraduate degree (n = 586). Contrary to prediction, mindset was not associated with grades across the challenging transition from high-school to the first year of university (β = −0.05 CI95 [−0.14, 0.05], t = −0.95, p = .345). In addition, mindset was unrelated to entry grades (p = .808). And no support was found for a predicted interaction of mindset with academic disadvantage across the transition (β = −0.03 CI95 [−0.12, 0.07], t = −0.54, p = .592). Follow-up analyses showed no association of mindset with improvement in grades at any subsequent year of the degree (minimum p-value 0.591). Jointly, these two near-replication studies suggest that, even across challenging transitions, growth mindset is either unrelated to educational attainment or has a very small negative influence.
Highlights
Intelligence scores strongly predict educational attainment (Deary, Strand, Smith, & Fernandes, 2007), as well as wealth (Lynn, Vanhanen, & Stuart, 2002; Zagorsky, 2007) and health (Gottfredson & Deary, 2016)
Adding age and sex as covariates did not change the null association of mindset and grades (β = −0.02 CI95 [−0.16, 0.12], t = −0.28, p = .778)
Self-esteem was significantly associated with grades (β = 0.26 CI95 [0.11, 0.40], t = 3.54, p < .001; see Table 2 for the intercorrelations between the scales), supporting theories linking this trait to academic achievement, perhaps as an effect rather than a cause (Leary & Baumeister, 2000)
Summary
Intelligence scores strongly predict educational attainment (Deary, Strand, Smith, & Fernandes, 2007), as well as wealth (Lynn, Vanhanen, & Stuart, 2002; Zagorsky, 2007) and health (Gottfredson & Deary, 2016). Mindset theory asserts that a crucial cause of educational outcomes is whether children believe that intelligence is malleable or fixed, with growth beliefs leading to high attainment and fixed beliefs to failure (Blackwell et al, 2007) If true, this theory is clearly of great importance for both intelligence theory (which predicts that it is intelligence itself, not beliefs about the malleability intelligence, that is responsible for learning and problem solving), and for educational practice (where factual information about the consequences of beliefs about intelligence on learning are important for teacher training, for classroom practice, for policy and research funding decisions, as well as for potential effects of learning the science of intelligence, which involves considerable stability). We report two near-replication studies of Blackwell et al (2007) study 1, testing if intelligence mindsets are associated with educational attainment, including a unique longitudinal study with a relatively large sample size tracking association of mindset with grades across the challenging transition from high school to first year university and onward
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