Does believing you can get smarter actually help?

A little, sometimes, for some people. The idea, from the Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, is that people with a 'growth mindset', who believe ability can be developed through learning and effort, cope better with challenges than people with a 'fixed mindset', who think ability is innate. It became hugely popular in schools. But large analyses have found the links to be weak overall and the benefits of mindset programs small, concentrated mostly among struggling students.

Dweck's interest has a personal root. In her sixth-grade class in Brooklyn, children were seated in order of IQ, and she remembered growing afraid to risk her reputation as one of the smartest. That is the fixed mindset in action: avoid challenges, give up easily, and protect your image. She warns that praising children for being clever can push them that way, while praising effort, strategies and persistence helps more in the long run.

The evidence is mixed. A 2018 pair of meta-analyses, covering more than 365,000 students, found only a weak link between mindset and grades and a small effect of mindset programs. In England, a 2019 trial in 101 schools found no extra progress in reading or maths. Yet a large US study found that two short online sessions improved the grades of lower-achieving students, especially in schools where classmates valued challenge.

Even Dweck now warns against oversimplifying: nobody has a growth mindset about everything, all the time.