How the Growth Mindset Reduces Negative Impacts of Prejudice

0:09 hi there 0:10 it's good to see you in this session 0:12 you'll learn about how the growth 0:14 mindset can protect people 0:16 against some of the negative effects of 0:18 bias and prejudice 0:20 unfortunately every society divides 0:23 people into groups 0:24 based on categories such as race gender 0:27 nationality 0:29 sexual orientation region and economic 0:32 class 0:33 the possibilities seem endless and then 0:36 society stereotype members of those 0:38 groups 0:39 as being more or less competent and 0:41 worthy than others 0:43 sadly these stereotypes and their 0:45 negative effects play out every day 0:47 in playgrounds in schools colleges 0:50 communities work organizations and in 0:54 politics 0:55 for example some groups are stereotyped 0:58 as being lazy 0:59 or achievement oriented having high or 1:02 low intellect 1:03 be naturally better or worse at math or 1:06 at language skills 1:07 having the skills or the temperament to 1:09 become a leader 1:11 or more likely to be model citizens or 1:14 dangers to society 1:15 than other groups one of the many 1:19 negative impacts of bias is called 1:21 stereotype threat 1:23 researchers have found that when people 1:25 are in situations in which they feel 1:27 evaluated for example when taking tests 1:30 or while speaking up in classes or at 1:32 meetings 1:34 in which the groups that they strongly 1:36 identify with 1:37 such as gender race class or nationality 1:40 are negatively stereotyped they are more 1:43 likely to perform worse than they're 1:46 capable of performing 1:48 particularly on difficult tasks 1:51 now researchers believe that their 1:53 performance suffers 1:54 because they are concerned about being 1:56 judged they feel more stressed 1:59 and they experience heightened 2:01 performance anxiety 2:03 as a result they may find it hard to 2:05 focus on the task 2:07 and they're more likely to use narrow 2:10 problem solving strategies 2:12 which in turn can result in lower 2:14 performance 2:16 when this happens repeatedly over time 2:19 stereotype threat can lead to poor 2:22 overall 2:22 and performance people who experience 2:26 stereotype threat 2:27 may choose easier academic or career 2:30 options 2:30 and opt out of courses or careers that 2:33 require expertise in areas that are not 2:35 as common for people in their groups 2:38 for example studies have found that 2:40 stereotype threat 2:41 is associated with worse performance for 2:44 girls and women in math in the u.s 2:47 african americans on college entrance 2:49 exams european americans in sports 2:52 men when they were assessed in their 2:54 social sensitivity 2:55 and the elderly on memory tests 2:59 now stereotype threat is considered to 3:01 be situational 3:03 rather than something a person carries 3:04 within them that affects all situations 3:08 in other words the same person may 3:10 experience stereotype threat in one 3:12 situation 3:14 but not in another consider test taking 3:18 in one experiment simply adjusting the 3:21 proportion of men 3:22 and women was enough to have an impact 3:25 on performance 3:27 the researchers found that when women 3:29 took a math test 3:30 along with two other women they got an 3:33 average of 70 percent of their answers 3:35 correct 3:36 yet when the women took the same math 3:38 test along with two men 3:40 they got an average of 55 of the answers 3:44 correct 3:46 in another study researchers found that 3:49 african-american students 3:50 who were asked to identify their racial 3:52 identity on an exam form 3:54 prior to taking the exam performed worse 3:57 than the african-american students who 3:59 didn't have to identify their racial 4:01 identity on the exam form 4:04 and still another study white male 4:06 engineering students 4:07 with a history of excellent academic 4:10 test scores 4:10 performed worse when they were told that 4:13 the test they were 4:14 taking was designed to help the 4:15 researchers understand 4:17 asian-american superior mathematical 4:19 abilities 4:21 in a particularly clever study 4:24 researchers margaret she todd potinsky 4:26 and amy trahan 4:28 found that asian american women 4:30 performed better on a test of 4:31 quantitative reasoning 4:33 when their identity as asians a group 4:36 stereotyped in the u.s 4:37 as being more confident in math was 4:40 primed compared to a control 4:42 group researchers call this stereotype 4:45 boost 4:46 however the asian-american women 4:48 performed worse than the control group 4:50 when their gender identity as women a 4:53 group stereotyped in the u.s as being 4:55 less 4:56 competent at math was primed so to prime 4:59 the study participants identity 5:01 all the researchers had to do was ask 5:04 the participants to complete a survey 5:06 before taking the test and some research 5:09 participants were asked to identify 5:11 their ethnicity 5:12 and answer five ethnicity-related 5:14 questions priming 5:16 their asian-american identity for 5:18 example they were asked about 5:20 their family's country of origin and how 5:23 many generations their family lived in 5:25 america 5:27 other research participants were asked 5:29 to identify their sex and answer five 5:31 gender related questions 5:33 priming their gender identity for 5:35 example 5:36 whether they prefer to live in a co-ed 5:38 or single sex environment 5:40 and a controlled group of participants 5:42 was asked to complete a survey asking 5:44 questions that weren't related to gender 5:46 earth 5:47 ethnicity such as how often they watch 5:49 tv 5:50 and how often they ate out now the power 5:53 of these studies 5:54 is that they demonstrate that very small 5:57 situational cues 5:59 can have a significant impact on 6:01 performance 6:02 particularly when people are anxious 6:05 about other people's perceptions of 6:07 their competence 6:08 and here's where the protective power of 6:10 the growth mindset comes in 6:13 just as small situational cues can 6:16 trigger 6:16 stereotype threat and poor performance 6:20 small situational cues such as exposing 6:23 people to the growth mindset 6:25 can also be used to minimize stereotype 6:27 threat and enhance 6:29 performance in one study 6:32 researchers joshua aronson carrie freed 6:35 and catherine good 6:36 recruited african-american and 6:38 european-american college students 6:40 for a study and told them they would be 6:43 helping an organization called 6:45 scholastic pen pals the study 6:48 participants were told 6:50 that the organization was designed to 6:52 help improve the academic performance 6:55 of seventh grade students who came from 6:57 impoverished backgrounds 6:59 but the study was really designed to 7:02 assess how learning 7:03 the growth mindset would affect the 7:05 study participants college grades 7:07 and their overall college experience 7:10 to start the pen pal relationship the 7:13 researchers created handwritten letters 7:15 from boys and girls 7:16 in which the younger students described 7:18 the struggles they were having in school 7:20 as well as some of their favorite school 7:22 activities 7:24 in other words the letters weren't 7:26 really from 7:27 students from impoverished backgrounds 7:30 the college students the study 7:32 participants who did not know that the 7:34 letters they received 7:35 weren't from actual 7th grade students 7:38 were each 7:38 asked to write an encouraging letter to 7:41 the younger student 7:42 telling the younger student that other 7:44 students with challenges had succeeded 7:46 in school 7:47 despite the struggles they faced the 7:50 college students were 7:51 also asked to give the younger students 7:54 examples from their own life 7:56 in which they succeeded despite 7:58 challenges 7:59 the participants in the study did not 8:02 know what the researchers were 8:04 interested in 8:05 and they were interested in learning how 8:07 the college student's own academic 8:08 performance 8:09 would be affected if they were exposed 8:11 to training that taught them the growth 8:14 mindset now to assess the growth mindset 8:18 and the impact it had on the college 8:20 student's academic performance 8:22 the researchers divided the participants 8:25 into two groups 8:27 one group participated in training that 8:29 taught them the growth mindset 8:31 that intelligence is malleable and it's 8:33 like a muscle that gets stronger with 8:35 practice 8:36 they were told that in addition to 8:37 whatever else they wanted to say in 8:39 their letter 8:40 to encourage the younger students it was 8:43 very important to get the malleable 8:45 message across 8:46 because the younger students would be 8:48 more likely to stay in school 8:50 and work hard if they believed that 8:53 intelligence 8:54 expands with hard work rather than if 8:56 they believe that intelligence is a 8:58 fixed quantity 9:00 the other group of college students 9:02 participated in training that emphasized 9:05 the fixed mindset they were told that 9:08 intelligence is made up of 9:09 many different talents and that 9:11 everybody has intellectual strengths and 9:14 weaknesses 9:15 and that it's a potentially devastating 9:17 mistake 9:18 to view intelligence as a single entity 9:20 because it may lead young students to 9:22 give up entirely on education if they're 9:24 struggling in one subject 9:27 they were told that it was very 9:28 important to convince the struggling 9:30 young students 9:31 that there are many different types of 9:33 intelligence because 9:34 they may be more likely to continue to 9:36 learn in an attempt to find out 9:39 and develop their areas of strength 9:42 what the researchers found was that the 9:44 african-american college students who 9:46 were exposed to training 9:48 that reinforced the growth theory of 9:50 intelligence 9:51 were more likely to get higher grades 9:53 after they participated in the study 9:55 than before the study they also enjoyed 9:58 their college experience more 10:00 compared to the group that received the 10:01 training that reinforced the belief 10:03 that intelligence is made up of many 10:05 talents 10:06 and although there was a positive 10:08 difference in the european american 10:10 college students enjoyment of their 10:11 academic experience 10:13 and their grades after participating in 10:15 the study 10:16 the difference was significantly smaller 10:20 the researchers speculate that exposure 10:22 to the growth 10:23 theory of intelligence benefited the 10:26 african-american college students more 10:28 because they were more at risk for 10:29 stereotype threat during their college 10:32 experience now dr dweck and her 10:35 colleagues 10:36 also found that people who have a growth 10:38 mindset 10:39 are more likely to confront someone who 10:41 expresses a prejudiced opinion 10:43 yet they're less likely to cut off a 10:45 relationship with someone who expresses 10:47 prejudice beliefs 10:49 leaving the door open for future 10:51 interactions 10:52 the researchers speculate that people 10:54 with a growth mindset 10:56 are more likely to believe that people 10:58 who express prejudicial beliefs can 11:00 change 11:01 and can grow the sad reality 11:04 is that unfair and untrue stereotypes 11:07 continue to exist in schools communities 11:10 organizations and societies 11:12 and unfair and untrue negative 11:14 stereotypes can hinder people from 11:17 setting high goals 11:18 and achieving those goals developing a 11:21 growth mindset 11:22 is one strategy for resisting some of 11:25 the damage these stereotypes can wreak 11:28 on individuals and on societies 11:32 so now you know about the power of 11:33 having a growth mindset 11:35 to summarize first having a growth 11:38 mindset 11:39 increases effort persistence and 11:41 resilience 11:43 which in turn have significant impacts 11:45 on performance 11:48 second people can be taught the growth 11:50 mindset 11:51 through small brief and inexpensive 11:54 interventions 11:56 and third the benefits of a growth 11:58 mindset may be even more important for 12:00 people who are exposed to negative 12:02 stereotypes 12:03 because it can protect them from the 12:05 damaging effects of these stereotypes 12:07 and enable them to perform better enjoy 12:09 their work more 12:10 and take on more challenging studies and 12:13 careers 12:14 in the next session we'll turn to 12:16 another kind of belief 12:18 that can move you more successfully 12:19 towards your goals 12:21 and that's the power of what researchers 12:23 call 12:24 positive core self-evaluations take care 12:27 and i'll see you soon thank you