A national experiment reveals where a growth mindset improves achievement

David S. Yeager (), Paul Hanselman (), Gregory M. Walton, Jared S. Murray, Robert Crosnoe, Chandra Muller, Elizabeth Tipton, Barbara Schneider, Chris S. Hulleman, Cintia P. Hinojosa, David Paunesku, Carissa Romero, Kate Flint, Alice Roberts, Jill Trott, Ronaldo Iachan, Jenny Buontempo, Sophia Man Yang, Carlos M. Carvalho, P. Richard Hahn, Maithreyi Gopalan, Pratik Mhatre, Ronald Ferguson, Angela L. Duckworth and Carol S. Dweck
Additional contact information
David S. Yeager: University of Texas at Austin
Paul Hanselman: University of California, Irvine
Gregory M. Walton: Stanford University
Jared S. Murray: University of Texas at Austin
Robert Crosnoe: University of Texas at Austin
Chandra Muller: University of Texas at Austin
Elizabeth Tipton: Northwestern University
Barbara Schneider: Michigan State University
Chris S. Hulleman: University of Virginia
Cintia P. Hinojosa: University of Chicago
David Paunesku: Project for Education Research that Scales
Carissa Romero: Paradigm Strategy Inc.
Kate Flint: ICF
Alice Roberts: ICF
Jill Trott: ICF
Ronaldo Iachan: ICF
Jenny Buontempo: University of Texas at Austin
Sophia Man Yang: University of Texas at Austin
Carlos M. Carvalho: University of Texas at Austin
P. Richard Hahn: Arizona State University
Maithreyi Gopalan: The Pennsylvania State University
Pratik Mhatre: University of Texas at Austin
Ronald Ferguson: Harvard University
Angela L. Duckworth: University of Pennsylvania
Carol S. Dweck: Stanford University

Nature, 2019, vol. 573, issue 7774, 364-369

Abstract: Abstract A global priority for the behavioural sciences is to develop cost-effective, scalable interventions that could improve the academic outcomes of adolescents at a population level, but no such interventions have so far been evaluated in a population-generalizable sample. Here we show that a short (less than one hour), online growth mindset intervention—which teaches that intellectual abilities can be developed—improved grades among lower-achieving students and increased overall enrolment to advanced mathematics courses in a nationally representative sample of students in secondary education in the United States. Notably, the study identified school contexts that sustained the effects of the growth mindset intervention: the intervention changed grades when peer norms aligned with the messages of the intervention. Confidence in the conclusions of this study comes from independent data collection and processing, pre-registration of analyses, and corroboration of results by a blinded Bayesian analysis.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1466-y

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