Developing and Sustaining a Growth Mindset

Given the multiple existential threats that are arrayed against humanity, the temptation to simply muddle through life is strong today. This temptation is readily understandable during a period in human history when a global pandemic is still ongoing, nuclear-equipped belligerents are rattling their swords and climate change is threatening to destroy the world by the end of the century. Against this backdrop, it is clear that people need to develop and sustain a growth mindset in themselves and their children if humankind is going to have a fighting chance to survive. To determine how this eventuality can be achieved, the purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the relevant literature to describe how people can develop a growth mindset in themselves and their children, followed by a discussion concerning what types of problems are trying to be solved through this growth process and why American community need more people to have a growth mindset. Finally, the paper provides a summary of the research and important findings concerning developing and sustaining a growth mindset in the conclusion.

Developing a Growth Mindset

First coined by Carol Dweck in her book Mindset (2006), the term growth mindset has swept psychology, mainstream media, and organizations by storm [and] companies such as Microsoft have gone all-in on promoting a growth mindset within their ranks (Rogers et al. 2023, 68). As the term connotes, a growth mindset refers to the process by which people exercise their brains and make empirical observations to make their reasoning power and critical thinking skills stronger. For instance, according to Zhao et al. (2023), A growth mindset is an individuals belief that human intelligence can be changed through continuous practice and effort (2). This definition suggests that every experience contributes to mental growth to some extent and that even glaring mistakes and major failures can provide valuable lessons for a growth mindset scenario.

While the debate over the extent to which human intelligence can be increased continues, Yacoub (2021) maintains that according to a growth mindset, We arent bound by a limited set of talents or level of intelligence that we were born with. We can actually grow these areas (2). In many ways, these assertions are fairly intuitive. After all, everyone knows that people learn through new experiences and practice, but the core issues involved in the growth mindset calculus include the capacity to increase the corresponding intellectual ability to better handle similar situations in the future. Moreover, a growth mindset also includes the ability to improve other attributes that have long been thought to be unchangeable, including even personality and morality. In this regard, Zhao et al. emphasize that, The growth mindset is the belief that a person can improve intelligence, ability, morality, or personality. Such individuals view difficulties and failures from a more positive perspective and can effectively cope with helpless reactions such as anxiety, depression, and challenge avoidance (2).

The malleability of these types of human attributes is a distinguishing characteristic of the growth mindset concept (Zhao et al.). In sharp contrast to other psychological theories that maintain human attributes such as intelligence and personality are fixed, the growth mindset concept holds that these and other attributes can be changed over time if people are willing to invest the time and effort that is required. As Zhao and his associates put it, We conceptualize mindsets as a spectrum reflecting the extent to which individuals are more or less growth-oriented, with those high in growth orientation holding...

…predicated on the belief that helping people obtain stable housing before addressing other concerns makes dealing with these other issues more manageable, and the evidence has strongly supported this claim (396).

Here again, the effectiveness of this approach may seem obvious, but it is exactly opposite to the costly strategies that are used by the vast majority of American communities that require applicants to make progress in their mental health or employment situation, for example, before they can even be accepted into the system. It is difficult or even impossible, though, for some people to secure employment without a permanent address and a place to shower and those suffering from mental health or substance abuse problems may never make the progress needed to receive housing assistance. Public and private sector leaders with a growth mindset recognize that if one approach is not working, something else needs to be tried and this type of outside the box thinking is exactly what American communities need today (Calvete et al. 2023).

Conclusion

The research showed that the concept of growth mindset refers to the notion that intelligence and other human attributes can be improved through effort and practice. This idea has gained widespread acceptance in psychology, media, and organizations, including companies such as Microsoft. Growth mindset emphasizes the malleability of human attributes, including intelligence, ability, morality, and personality. In contrast to fixed mindset theories, growth mindset holds that these attributes can be changed over time through investment of time and effort. Developing a growth mindset involves experiential learning, taking risks, working hard, accepting challenges, and learning from successes and failures. Communities need more people with a growth mindset because they are better equipped to formulate innovative solutions to complex problems and are more willing to take action to address…