A fragment of the book by Carol Dweck. Flexible consciousness. A new look at the psychology of development of adults and children. – M .: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, 2013.
This book is based on a revolutionary concept discovered by renowned psychologist Carol Dweck as a result of 20 years of his own research. From it you will learn: why intelligence and talent do not yet guarantee success, how they, on the contrary, can get in his way, why often encouraging intelligence and talent jeopardizes achievement, and how to improve a child’s academic performance or the productivity of a manager.
People with a fixed mindset (fixed mindset) believe that innate intelligence and talent are unchanging. They take the time to prove to everyone that they are smart and talented, instead of developing their talents. They also believe that talent leads to success in and of itself. And they are wrong. People with flexible minds (with a growth mindset) believe that all qualities can be developed by systematically working on themselves, and the initial level of intelligence and talent is just a starting point. This approach forms a love of continuous learning and resilience to difficulties and setbacks. There is hardly a single outstanding person who would not have these qualities. Moving to an agile mindset increases motivation and productivity in business, education, and sports. It enriches personal relationships. You will learn how it happens.
By accepting this or that attitude, you open up a new world for yourself. Where qualities are the same, success is proof of your intelligence or talent. In it you assert yourself. In another world – a world of changing virtues – you are drawn to mastering new things. You are self-developing. In the first world, failure indicates failure. You got a bad grade. You have lost the competition. You were fired. You were rejected. This means that you are not smart or talented. In another world, failure indicates insufficient growth. That you have not achieved what is important to you. This means that you have not reached your potential. In the first world, effort is bad. They, like failure, mean that you are not smart or talented. If you were smart and talented, you wouldn’t have to make an effort. In the second world, efforts are what makesyou are smart and talented. You have a choice. Installation is just how you think about yourself, and you can change your mind. As you read this book, imagine where you want to go and what attitude will lead you to your goal.
What proves success – having intelligence or knowledge?
The famous sociologist Benjamin Barber once said: “I do not divide society into weak and strong or successful people and losers … I divide society into those who study and those who do not learn ” 12… So what, pray tell, is preventing people from learning? After all, from birth, a person strives with all his might to knowledge. Babies develop their skills by leaps and bounds. Moreover, not only some simple skills, but even the most difficult ones that they will ever have to master in their lives – the ability to walk and speak. It would never even occur to them that this is too difficult or that it is not worth the effort. Toddlers are not worried about the idea that they can make a mistake or humiliate themselves. They go, fall and get up again. They just rush forward. What can put an end to such an irrepressible urge to learn? The fixed mindset. Once children learn to evaluate themselves, some of them become afraid of challenges. They are afraid to appear stupid. I have researched thousands of people, from preschool age and older, and I never cease to be amazed how many of them refuse the opportunity to learn. we13 offered four-year-olds a choice: reassemble a simple puzzle picture, or try another, more complex puzzle. And even at this early age, kids with a clear fixed mindset preferred the safer option. Children who are born smart “don’t make mistakes,” they told us. Growth-minded folks – those who believed that people could get smarter – found the choice strange. “Why are you asking me this? Who wants to collect the same puzzle over and over again ?! ” And over and over again they chose an increasingly difficult version of the puzzle. “I can’t waitfigure it out as soon as possible! ” One little girl exclaimed. So children with a fixed mindset want to be sure they will succeed. Smart people always succeed. But for children with a growth mindset, success is about empowering them. Success means getting smarter. Here is how one seventh-grader summarized the situation: “I think that intelligence is something to work on … it is not a given … Most children, if they are not sure, will not reach out to answer a question … But I usually raise my hand, because if I’m wrong, they’ll correct me. Or I raise my hand and say: “How can this be solved?” or “I don’t understand that. Could you help me?” By this alone I am already increasing my intellect ” 14 .
Beyond puzzles
But it’s one thing to give up the puzzle picture, and quite another to abandon an opportunity that is important for your future. To find out how people behave when it comes to serious matters, we 15took advantage of an unusual situation. At the University of Hong Kong, the entire learning process takes place in English. Classes are in English, textbooks are in English, and exams are in English. But some applicants do not speak this language very well, so it would be wise for them to quickly take some action. When the students came to sign up for the first year, we found out which of them is weak in English. And they asked them one key question: if the faculty is organizing an English improvement course for students, will you take it? In addition, we measured their installations. We asked them how much they agree with statements such as: “A person is given a certain amount of intelligence, and he can do little to change this situation.” People who agreed with this proposition had a fixed mindset. Those of the students who had a growth mindset agreed with another statement: “A person can always change his level of intelligence.” Later we looked at which of them said yes to the proposal to conduct an English course. Students with the growth mindset expressed a marked willingness to take the course. Those with the fixed mindset showed little interest in the proposal. The belief that the path to success is through learning pushed students with a growth mindset to seize the chance. And those with the fixed mindset did not want to expose their flaws. They were willing to risk their academic performance in order to keep feeling smart for a while. This is how the fixed mindset turns adolescents into people who don’t learn. agreed with another statement: “A person can always change the level of his intelligence.” Later we looked at which of them said yes to the proposal to conduct an English course. Students with the growth mindset expressed a marked willingness to take the course. Those with the fixed mindset showed little interest in the proposal. The belief that the path to success is through learning pushed students with a growth mindset to seize the chance. And those with the fixed mindset did not want to expose their flaws. They were willing to risk their academic performance in order to keep feeling smart for a while. This is how the fixed mindset turns adolescents into people who don’t learn. agreed with another statement: “A person can always change the level of his intelligence.” Later we looked at which of them said yes to the proposal to conduct an English course. Students with the growth mindset expressed a marked willingness to take the course. Those with the fixed mindset showed little interest in the proposal. The belief that the path to success is through learning pushed students with a growth mindset to seize the chance. And those with the fixed mindset did not want to expose their flaws. They were willing to risk their academic performance in order to keep feeling smart for a while. This is how the fixed mindset turns adolescents into people who don’t learn. Later we looked at which of them said yes to the proposal to conduct an English course. Students with the growth mindset expressed a marked willingness to take the course. Those with the fixed mindset showed little interest in the proposal. The belief that the path to success is through learning pushed students with a growth mindset to seize the chance. And those with the fixed mindset did not want to expose their flaws. They were willing to risk their academic performance in order to keep feeling smart for a while. This is how the fixed mindset turns adolescents into people who don’t learn. Later we looked at which of them said yes to the proposal to conduct an English course. Students with the growth mindset expressed a marked willingness to take the course. Those with the fixed mindset showed little interest in the proposal. The belief that the path to success is through learning pushed students with a growth mindset to seize the chance. And those with the fixed mindset did not want to expose their flaws. They were willing to risk their academic performance in order to keep feeling smart for a while. This is how the fixed mindset turns adolescents into people who don’t learn. who had the fixed mindset showed little interest in the proposal. The belief that the path to success is through learning pushed students with a growth mindset to seize the chance. And those with the fixed mindset did not want to expose their flaws. They were willing to risk their academic performance in order to keep feeling smart for a while. This is how the fixed mindset turns adolescents into people who don’t learn. who had the fixed mindset showed little interest in the proposal. The belief that the path to success is through learning pushed students with a growth mindset to seize the chance. And those with the fixed mindset did not want to expose their flaws. They were willing to risk their academic performance in order to keep feeling smart for a while. This is how the fixed mindset turns adolescents into people who don’t learn.
Brain waves will tell the truth
Differences in installations can be seen, even watching the waves emitted by the human brain 16… We invited people with different types of attitudes to our brainwave lab at Columbia University. And while they were answering our difficult questions and getting acquainted with the results obtained, we watched with interest the waves emitted by their brain, determining the moments of increased interest and concentration. The fixed mindset only showed interest when our comments were about their ability. Their brain waves showed that these people were watching closely to see if their answers were right or wrong. And they showed no interest in information that could teach them something. Even after finding out that their answer was wrong, they were reluctant to know the correct answer. Only people with a growth mindset listened with interest to information that could broaden their horizons. Only for them training was a priority.
What are your priorities?
If you had to choose, which would you prefer? A sea of quick successes and recognition or masses of challenges and trials? People have to make such a choice not only when it comes to intellectual tasks. They also have to decide what kind of relationship with people they want to build: a relationship that will support their ego, or one that will push them to develop? How do you see your ideal soul mate? We are 17they asked this question to young people, and this is what they answered us. People with a fixed mindset said that their ideal soul mate should: – put them on a pedestal; – maintain in them confidence in their own perfection; – adore them. In other words, their ideal half should cherish and cherish the qualities bestowed upon them. My husband told me that he himself once wanted to be a god for his future wife. Fortunately, he gave up on this idea even before he met me. People with a growth mindset dream of a different type of partner. According to them, their ideal soul mate will be a person who: – sees their shortcomings and helps them get rid of them; – pushes them to improve; – encourages them to learn something new. Of course, they didn’t want their partner to find fault with them or undermine their self-esteem, but they sincerely wanted so that he encourages their development. They didn’t feel that they had reached their full potential, that they were flawless, and that they had nothing more to learn. You probably already think: “Oh, what will happen if two people with different attitudes come together?” Here’s what one growth mindset woman told us about marriage to a fixed mindset:
“The march of Mendelssohn had not yet died out, and I already began to suspect that I had made a big mistake. Every time I said something like “Why don’t we go out more often?” or “I would like you to consult me before making decisions,” he became discouraged. And then, instead of talking about the problem that I raised, I had to settle the conflict for a whole hour and cheer him up again. At the same time, after everything that happened, he still ran to call his mother, who constantly showered him with signs of adoration. Apparently, this is what he needed. We were both young and had no experience of family life. I just wanted to communicate. ”
So, the spouse’s idea of a happy relationship as full and uncritical acceptance did not match the spouse’s idea. And her idea of a happy relationship as a friendly overcoming of problems could not get along with his. Any initiative by one of them was a nightmare for the other.
CEO disease
The desire to rule from a pedestal and look infallible in the eyes of others is often called the “disease of CEO *”. Lee Iacocca ** suffered from it in severe form. After the initial success as head of Chrysler Motors Corporation Iacocca became remarkably like our forties respondents with the installation of a reality 18 . Under his dictate, the corporation continued to produce the same car models with only minor variations. Unfortunately, almost no one bought them anymore. Meanwhile, Japanese companies have completely rethought the concept of how cars should look and how they should drive. We know how it ended. Japanese cars quickly took over the market.
* Chief Executive Officer, CEO. Approx. ed .
** The story of Lee Iacocca is well known to Russian readers from his autobiographical book “A Manager’s Career” (Minsk: Potpourri, 2012). Approx. per.
CEOs are constantly faced with this choice: should they fight their shortcomings, or is it better to create a world where they will have no shortcomings? Lee Iacocca chose the second option. He surrounded himself with fans, drove out critics and … instantly lost touch with reality and idea of where the industry was heading. Lee Iacocca has become a person who does not study. But not all people are prone to CEO disease. Many great leaders have struggled with their shortcomings throughout their lives. Looking back on his distinguished career as head of Kimberly-Clark, Darwin Smith concluded: “I have never stopped trying to acquire the skills needed for the job.” 19… People like those Hong Kong students with the growth mindset never stop taking preventive measures. However, CEOs face another dilemma. They can choose a short-term strategy that will skyrocket the company’s stock and make them heroes. Or they can start working for development in the long term, risking disapproval from Wall Street, but laying the foundations for healthy growth of the company in the future. Albert Dunlop *, a man with what he says is 20 , a fixed mindset, was brought in to rectify the situation at Sunbeam. He chose a short-term strategy – to become a hero in the eyes of Wall Street. Stocks skyrocketed, but the company fell apart. For a similar purpose, IBM invited Lou Gerstner, known for 21your growth mindset. While he labored on the daunting task of rebuilding IBM’s corporate culture and policies, stock prices stood still, and on Wall Street, Gerstner was sneered at, calling him a failure. However, a few years later, IBM again became a leader in its field.
* Albert Dunlop is a renowned crisis manager who specialized in “rescuing” dying companies, usually by making them look good enough for sale, without looking at their future. Approx. per.
Self-development
People with a growth mindset aren’t just looking for opportunities to challenge themselves. Trials are fertile ground for them. And the more the test, the more actively they develop. In no other area is this more evident than in the world of sports. You just have to watch how people grow and develop. Mia Hamm, the greatest star of women’s football of her time, puts it bluntly: “All my life I tried to play better and better, I tried to try myself in the game with professionals who were older, more technical, more experienced, in general, with those who is better than me ” 22… At first she played with her older brother. Then, at the age of 10, she was accepted into the team of 11-year-old boys. She later became the top varsity soccer team in the United States. “Every day I tried my best to play at their level … and improved much faster than I thought was possible.”
In high school, Patricia Miranda was a chubby unsportsmanlike girl, but she really wanted to get into wrestling. When she lost the fight on the mat with a crushing score, she was told: “Everyone is laughing at you.” She cried at first, and then felt: “In fact, it strengthened my determination even more … I had to continue, and I somehow understood that effort, concentration, faith and training will really make me a real fighter.” 23 .
Where did such determination come from? As a child, Miranda bypassed her trials, her life flowed quietly and calmly. But when the girl was ten years old, her mother, who was only forty, died of an aneurysm. And Patricia decided for herself: “When the hour of death comes, I would like to say:” I really knew myself. ” After my mother’s death, the feeling that I need to hurry stuck in me forever. If you go with the flow all your life without making any effort, it will be a shame! ” Therefore, when it turned out that wrestling would be a real test for her, she was ready to accept the challenge. Miranda’s efforts were not in vain. She was the last one to laugh. At the age of 24, she won a spot on the US Olympic team in her weight class and returned from Athens with a bronze medal. What happened next? Yale University School of Law.
Going beyond what is possible
Sometimes people with a growth mindset develop their abilities to the point where they achieve the impossible. In 1995, actor Christopher Reeve fell off his horse 24 . The cervical vertebrae were broken, the connection between the spinal cord and the brain was severed, and the actor was completely paralyzed below the neck. The doctors pronounced the verdict: “It’s a pity. Humble yourself. ” However, Reeve began to work hard on a challenging physical training program, which includes setting in motion all parts of his paralyzed body using an electrical stimulator. Why can’t helearn to move again? Why can’t his brain be able to give commands again, which his body will obey? Doctors warned: he does not recognize the obvious, he will be disappointed. They had seen this before more than once and considered Reeve’s behavior a sign that he could not adapt to the new situation. But what else did Riva have to do, where to spend time? Did he have another, better option? Five years later, the ability to move began to return to Reeve. First the fingers moved, then the arms, then the legs, and finally the torso. The cure was still very far away, but the encephaloscintigram showed that his brain began to send signals to the body again and that the body was responding to them. Reeve not only developed his abilities, but also radically changed the science of the nervous system and its restorative potential.
* Christopher Reeve died in 2004. Approx. ed.
Well-being with a fixed mindset
Understandably, people with a growth mindset thrive when they develop themselves. When do people with a fixed mindset thrive? When they are safe, that is, when they have everything under control. When tasks become too complex and these people stop feeling smart and talented, they lose interest in the business. As it happens, I watched 25by tracking the progress of college preparatory students. For many of them, becoming a doctor was a lifelong goal. And on this course, it is precisely who will become. At the same time, the course itself is damn difficult. The average mark on each exam is a three, and this is for students who previously rarely received less than five points. At first, most of the students showed a significant interest in chemistry. But then it was like something happened. Fixed-mindset students only retained their interest when they did well right off the bat.… Those for whom the subject turned out to be too difficult showed a sharp decline in interest in the course and a loss of pleasure in learning. They could not enjoy him, since he did not provide them with evidence of their high intelligence. “The more difficult it gets,” said one student, “the more I have to force myself to read textbooks and prepare for tests. I used to like chemistry, but now every time I think about it, my stomach starts to hurt. ”
In contrast to these guys, the students with the growth mindset continued to show the same high level of interest even when the material was difficult for them. “The subject was much more difficult for me than I expected, but I want to become a doctor, so it only strengthens my determination. When they tell me that I can’t do something, it only provokes me. ” Challenge and interest went hand in hand here. The same we are 26observed among younger students. We gave the fifth graders fun puzzles they all loved. But as the puzzles got more complex, children’s enthusiasm for the fixed mindset dropped dramatically. They also changed their minds to take some jigsaw puzzles home to practice. “Don’t, you can keep them for yourself. I have them, ”one child lied. In fact, these kids were eager to get away from them. Moreover, the same was observed in children who were well versed in puzzles. Having a talent for solving puzzles did not prevent the decline in interest. Children with a growth mindset could not be torn away from challenging tasks. They liked the most difficult puzzles the most, and they wanted to take them home with them. “You can write me the names of these puzzles,” one child asked, “so that my mother could buy me more from this series, when will these end? ” I recently read with great interest about Marina Semyonova, the great Russian ballerina and teacher, who invented a new method of selecting students. It was a tricky setup test. As one former student of her said, “Candidates first had to go through a trial period, during which she watched how a person responded to praise and criticism. Those of us who took the comments normally were considered more promising. “27 . In other words, Marina Semenova divided the students into those who prefer the simpler exercises, which they have already worked through, and those who have more difficult tasks. I will never forget the moment when I first said, “This is difficult. It is interesting”. At that moment, I realized: my attitude is changing.
When do you feel smart: when you are not wrong or when are you learning?
This is more complicated, however, because success alone is not enough for people with the fixed mindset. Seeing smart and talented isn’t everything. Moreover, it is necessary to be infallible. Moreover, perfection must be demonstrated on the fly. We are 28asked people in the age group from elementary school students to youth: “In what situation do you feel smart?” The difference in the answers was amazing. Children and young people with a fixed mindset answered, “When I don’t make any mistakes”; “When I finish the job faster and it’s perfect”; “When something is easy for me, but other people cannot do it.” That is, when they are flawless from the very beginning. People with the growth mindset, on the other hand, said, “When a problem is really hard, I try my best to solve it, and I finally manage to do something I couldn’t before.” Or: “When I’m working on something for a long time and suddenly a solution starts to appear in my head.”
These people identify the mind not with the demonstration of “sent down” perfection, but rather with the achievement of something over time, with overcoming difficulties and purposeful movement forward.
If you have the ability, then why do you have to learn?
In fact, people with the fixed mindset expect the ability to manifest on its own before they are trained. In the end, either you have it, or you don’t have it. I see this all the time. Of all candidates from around the world, our faculty at Columbia University has accepted only six undergraduates a year. They all tended to have amazing test scores, near-perfect grades, and rave recommendations from prominent scientists. Moreover, they were invited to master’s programs by the best universities in the country. But one day was enough for some of them to begin to feel like absolute impostors. Yesterday they were important birds, and today they are complete losers. And this is what happened. They got acquainted with the teaching staff, with our long list of publications and thought: “Oh my God, I can’t do that.” Have seen how advanced students write articles for collections and prepare projects for grants, and thought: “Oh my God, I can’t do that.” They knew how to take tests and get A’s, but they couldn’t do everything else.They didn’t know how yet. However, they forgot about until… But isn’t this what the school is for – to give knowledge? They came to learn how all this is done, not because they already know everything. Sometimes I think the same thing happened with Janet Cook and Stephen Glass. Both of these young reporters have made head-spinning careers on … fabricated articles. Janet Cook received the Pulitzer Prize * for her articles in the Washington Post about an eight-year-old boy addicted to drugs. In fact, such a boy did not exist, and later Janet was denied the award. Stephen Glass was considered the gold nib of The New Republic. He had such sources of information and obtained such information that journalists can only dream of. It turned out, however, that he had no sources, and the stories were invented. Can, Janet Cook and Stephen Glass wanted to become feather sharks right off the bat? Maybe they thought that if they confess not knowing something, it would discredit them in the eyes of their colleagues? Did you think they should be like great reporters without bothering to really become one? “We were stars, young talented stars,” wrote Stephen Glass. – And only that mattered “29 . The public perceived their actions as cheating, and that’s what they did: cheating. But I also understand that they are talented young people, desperate young people who succumbed to the pressure of the fixed mindset. In the 1960s, the phrase “Become better than to be” was popular. People with a fixed mindset cannot afford the luxury of becoming. They should already be.
* The Pulitzer Prize is one of the most prestigious US awards for literature, journalism, music and theater. Approx. per.
Test results are forever
Let’s take a look at why it’s so important for people with a fixed mindset to demonstrate flawlessness from the start. Because one test – or one assessment – can brand you once and for all. Twenty years ago, when Loretta was five, her family moved to the United States. A few days after her arrival, her mother took her to a new school, where she was immediately given a test.
And then she found out that she was enrolled in the kindergarten of elementary school. About dnako it was not a class “eaglets”, not an elite kindergarten. Over time, Loretta was still transferred to the “eagles”, and she remained in this group until graduation from high school, along the way, collecting a whole box of awards and medals for academic success. But she never managed to feel herself in this class of her own. That first test, Loretta believed, recorded her disabilities and showed that she was not a real “eaglet”. And it doesn’t matter that she was only five years old and that she had just gone through a radical change in her life, having moved to a new country. Maybe at that moment there was simply no free space in the eaglet class. Or, perhaps, the school leadership decided that it would be easier for her to go through the adaptation period in a class where not only excellent students study. You can find many different explanations for what happened. Unfortunately, she chose the wrong explanation.you cannot become an “eaglet” . If you are really a real “eaglet”, you would have passed the test with a bang and you would have been immediately declared a “eaglet”. I wonder: is the case with Loretta a single one, or is this type of thinking much more common than we thought? To find out, we 30 showed the fifth graders a closed cardboard box and told that there was a test inside it. This test, we said, is designed to measure the ability of students. And nothing more was reported about it. And then they asked the question: “Can the test assess your learning ability?” All the students agreed. Then we asked, “Do you think this test can measure how smart you are ?” And also: “Do you think this test can measure whathow smart will you become when you grow up ? ”
The students with the growth mindset believed that the test measured ability. But they didn’t think he could appreciate how smart they were . And even more so, they were sure that the test cannot predict how smart they will be when they grow up. One of the schoolchildren told us so: “It won’t work! No test can do that. ” Students with the fixed mindset, on the other hand, believed not only that the test was able to assess their abilities. They also believed, just as sincerely, that he could measure how smart they were. And what’s more: they believed that he was able to assess how smart they would become when they grew up. They fully admitted that their most significant intellectual abilities could be assessed once and for all with just one test. They gave the test the power to put an indelible “seal” on them. That is why every success is so important to them.
A different look at potential
This brings us back to the conversation about potential and the question of whether tests or experts can determine once and for all what our potential is, what we are capable of, and what our future will be like. People with the fixed mindset say yes. One can simply measure the current fixed number of abilities and project it into the future. You just need to take a test or ask an expert. The belief that potential can be identified on the fly is so pervasive 31 that Joseph Kennedy * once told Morton Downey Jr. without hesitation that there would be nothing good about it. What did Downey, who later became a famous TV presenter and screenwriter, do for this?
* Joseph Kennedy is a prominent American businessman, ambassador to Great Britain, father of US President John F. Kennedy. Approx. per.
So, he just put on red socks and brown shoes and came to the Stork * club. “Morton,” Kennedy told him, “I have never seen people who wear red socks and brown shoes succeed in my life. Young man, let me tell you that while you really did stand out, you do not stand out like people I could admire. ” 32… Many prominent figures of our era were considered by experts to be people with no future. Jackson Pollock, Marcel Proust, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Lucille Ball, Charles Darwin – all were widely believed to have no potential in their chosen field. And in some cases, they may not really stand out from the crowd at first. But isn’t potential just the ability of a person to develop his skills through purposeful efforts over time? In fact of the matter. How can we know in advance where long-term efforts will lead a person? Maybe the experts were right when they said this about Jackson, Marcel, Elvis, Ray and Lucille, based on their skills at that particular moment? Maybe they just weren’t the people they later became? One day in London I went to an exhibition of Paul Cézanne’s early works. I was interested to see what paintings he painted before becoming a recognized master today. Curiosity overwhelmed me, as Cézanne is one of my favorite artists, who, with his work, paved the way for contemporary art. And here’s what I found. Some of the drawings were downright weak. They were overloaded with details, people were depicted in a hurry, in an amateurish way.
* The Stork Club was one of the most popular clubs in New York in the 1930s – 1960s, gathering celebrities, wealthy people, aristocrats, movie stars, etc. Note. per.
Although there were works in which the later Cezanne was guessed, it was impossible to say about many of the paintings that the master had a hand in them. Does this mean that young Cezanne was not talented? Or did he just need time to become Cézanne? People with the growth mindset know that it takes time to reach their full potential. I recently received an angry letter from a teacher who was familiar with one of our works. During the study 33discussed below, we described a hypothetical schoolgirl Jennifer who got a C with two minuses in her math exam and asked the teachers to tell us how they would work with this girl. The fixed mindset teachers were happy to answer this question for us. It seemed to them that, knowing Jennifer’s assessment, they had a good idea of who she was and what she was capable of. Their advice on what to do was innumerable. But Mr. Riordan, on the contrary, was outraged. Here’s what he wrote:
“For the information of interested parties.
I completed the faculty portion of your recent survey, but I have to ask that my answers be excluded from this study, as I believe the study itself is scientifically flawed …
Unfortunately, the test uses unfounded assumptions, as teachers are asked to make a conclusion about a particular student based on just a few pages of his work … Students should not be given characteristics based on a single grade. You cannot determine the slope of a line based on only one point, because in that case you will not even have a line. A single point in time cannot reveal a trend, progress, lack of diligence or mathematical ability …
Best regards, Michael Riordan ”
I was glad to criticize Mr. Riordan and fully share his opinion. An assessment given at one particular moment does not provide much for understanding someone’s abilities, let alone the potential of that person to succeed in the future.
Another thing that worries me is how many teachers have a different opinion. It was in the definition of this that the goal of our study consisted. The idea that one assessment could sentence you, put you in a certain category forever, is what makes people with the fixed mindset worry so much. This is why they strive to be successful immediately and unconditionally. Who can afford the luxury of trying to grow when everything is decided here and now? Are there other ways 34capacity assessment? NASA thinks so. When they consider applications for astronaut candidates, they reject applicants with clean success stories and favor those who have significant failures in their biographies, after which these people were able to rise again. Jack Welch, the famous CEO of General Electric, selected his executives based on their “run” 35 , that is, according to their ability to grow. Remember also Marina Semyonova, the famous ballet teacher, who chose those who were energized by criticism as her students. All of them reject the idea of unchanging abilities and choose people for their installation.
Proof of originality
What really istrying to prove people with a fixed mindset by choosing success over growth? That they are not like everyone else. And even surpass them. Answering the question: “When do you feel smart?” – they mostly talked about the moments when they felt special, better than the rest. Until I discovered the existence of attitudes and understood how they work, I also considered myself more talented than others and, perhaps, even worthier than them because of my giftedness. The most frightening thing for me was the thought that I could be an ordinary person, but I rarely admitted it. This way of thinking made me constantly seek confirmation of my specialness. Any comment, any look mattered to me – they were all entered into the scorecard of my intelligence, my attractiveness, my ability to please. If the day went well I basked in the rays of these high “ratings”. One cold winter evening, I went to the opera. On that day, the performance was great and no one was in a hurry to disperse, not only after the end of the performance, but also after a series of encores. Then everyone poured out into the street to hail a taxi. I remember it now. It was after midnight, the frost was minus 15, a strong wind was blowing, and the more time passed, the more unhappy I felt. Here I am, a particle of the total mass. What are my chances ?! Suddenly, a taxi stopped right in front of me. The tailgate handle caught up with my hand, and when I got into the car, the driver said: “I immediately noticed you.” It was for these moments that I lived. I’m special, I’m not like everyone else. I cannot be confused with anyone, even from afar. The Self-Esteem Movement * encourages this type of thinking. Special devices were even invented to help people ascertain their superiority. I recently saw one ad for a similar product. Every year, two friends send me an illustrated list of ten “best” gifts they won’t send me for Christmas. From January to November, they collect various offers by cutting ads from catalogs or downloading them from the Internet, and in December they choose the winners. One of my favorites is the pocket toilet, which can be unfolded when needed and put back into the pocket after use. The best candidate for presentations of the last year was a mirror, through the entire lower half of which there is an inscription in capital letters: “I LOVE MYSELF”. Looking into it, you can send yourself the desired message and not wait for the outside world to recognize your originality. Of course, a mirror is a rather harmless object. The problem arises whenspecial starts to mean better than others . A more valuable human being. Supreme Being. A creature with special rights.
* At the heart of the “movement for self-esteem”, which was actively gaining popularity in the last decades of the twentieth century, is the idea that it is not difficult to achieve success, you just have to believe in yourself. In line with this movement, a lot of courses and books have appeared on how to increase your self-esteem. Today, more and more research shows that if there is a connection between self-confidence and real achievements in life, then it is by no means so direct and that encouraging self-importance leads rather to lower results. Approx. per.
Special, best, privileged
John McEnroe had a fixed mindset. He was convinced that talent is everything. He didn’t like to study. Trials did not inspire him, and when difficulties began, he often gave up. As a result, by his own admission 36 , he never fully realized his potential. But his talent was so great that John became the first racket of the world for four years in a row. And here’s what he wrote about what it’s like to be number one. During matches, McEnroe used wood shavings to dry his palms. One day the sawdust turned out to be not of the sort that he liked, he went to a can of shavings and knocked it over with a blow of the racket. His agent Gary immediately rushed in to find out what the problem was.
“And you call it shavings?” I asked him. In fact, I yelled at him – the sawdust was too finely ground. “This is not sawdust, but some kind of rat poison. Can you do anything right ?! ” Gary ran out and returned twenty minutes later with a new can of coarser shavings … True, he had $ 20 less in his pocket – he had to pay someone from the staff to urgently grind a small block. This is what it meant to be the first racket in the world ” 37 .
McEnroe goes on to talk about how he once infested a venerable Japanese lady he was visiting. The next day, she bowed, excused herself and presented him with a gift. “This is what it means to be number one,” says McEnroe 38 . “Everything is exclusive and only for you …“ Are you all right? Do you want this, do you want that? We will pay for it, we will do it, we will kiss you there ”. You just have to do what you like; for everything else you have one answer: “Fuck off!” For a very long time, all this was fine with me. Wouldn’t it suit you? ” 39Let’s figure it out. If you are successful, does that mean that you are better than other people?
That you can offend them and make them grovel in front of you? For people with a fixed mindset, this can pass for self-respect. Now let’s look at Michael Jordan, the typical height-mindset athlete whose outstanding qualities are regularly described around the world with the words “Superman”, “Player from God” and “Jesus in Sneakers.” If anyone has reason to consider himself an extraordinary person, it is he. But this is what he said when his return to basketball caused a real stir: “I was surprised at the noise when I returned to the game … People greeted me as if I was some kind of deity.
I was very embarrassed. I am the same person as everyone else. ” Jordan knew how hard it took him to develop his abilities. He is one of those people who achieved everything with sweat and blood, and not just turned out to be by nature better than others. Tom Wolfe, in his book Battle for Space, describes how elite military pilots readily accepted the fixed mindset. After passing a series of severe exams, they began to think of themselves as unique, from birth more intelligent and courageous than everyone else.
But Chuck Yeager, the hero of the book, dared to have a different opinion: “There is no such thing as a born pilot. Whatever my inclinations and talents, becoming an ace is hard work, it really needs to be learned all my life … The best pilots fly more than others – that’s why they are better. ” they began to think of themselves as unique, smarter and bolder from birth than everyone else. But Chuck Yeager, the hero of the book, dared to have a different opinion: “There is no such thing as a born pilot. Whatever my inclinations and talents, becoming an ace is hard work, it really needs to be learned all my life … The best pilots fly more than others – that’s why they are better. ” they began to think of themselves as unique, smarter and bolder from birth than everyone else. But Chuck Yeager, the hero of the book, dared to have a different opinion:
“There is no such thing as a born pilot. Whatever my inclinations and talents, becoming an ace is hard work, it really needs to be learned all my life … The best pilots fly more than others – that’s why they are better. “41 . Like Michael Jordan, he considered himself an ordinary person. He just developed his abilities to a greater extent than others. People who believe that ability is given once and for all have an urgent need to succeed in stride. And when they succeed, they feel more than pride. They gain a sense of superiority, as success means that their abilities are higher than those of other people. Yet behind the egos of fixed-mindset people, there is one simple question: if you are someone only when you are successful, then who are you when you are not successful?
