GROWTH MINDSET
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
(taken/adpated from Mindset by Carol Dweck and other sources)
1. How did your parents and/or teachers praise you as you were growing up? Did they tell
you how “smart” you were or did they focus on how hard you worked? How do you
praise others?
2. Is there someone in your life (a parent, teacher, friend, boss) with a fixed mindset –
someone who won’t take risks, who can’t admit mistakes, who falls apart or gets
defensive after setbacks? Do you understand that person better now?
3. How do you act toward others in your classes, your dorms, etc.? Are you a fixed-mindset
student, focused on being smarter than others? Or, do you take advantage of the learning
opportunities available to you through your peers?
4. Was there a difficult transition in your life where you fell into a fixed mindset and lost
confidence in your abilities? Describe it.
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1. When do you feel smart? When you’re doing something flawlessly or when you’re
learning something new?
Grow Your Mindset: How can you make striving, stretching, and struggling into
something that makes you feel smart?
2. Can you think of a time you faced an important opportunity or challenge with a fixed
mindset? What were your thoughts and worries – about your abilities? About other
people’s judgments? About the possibility of failure? Describe them vividly.
Grow Your Mindset: Now, can you take that same opportunity or challenge and switch
into a growth mindset? Think of it as a chance to learn new things. What are the plans
and strategies you’re thinking about now?
3. Think of times other people outdid you and you just assumed they were smarter or more
talented.
Grow Your Mindset: Now consider the idea that they just used better strategies, taught
themselves more, practiced harder, and worked their way through obstacles. You can do
that too, if you want to.
3. Are there situations where you get stupid – where you disengage your intelligence?
Grow Your Mindset: Next time you’re in one of those situations, get yourself into a
growth mindset – think about learning and improvement, not judgment – and hook it back
up.