Stanford Professor Carol Dweck visits Del Norte over Zoom
Professor Carol Dweck is known for her groundbreaking work in the field of social psychology. On Tuesday, October 28th, Del Norte’s Book Therapy Club hosted Professor Dweck at lunch over Zoom.
Dweck coined the term “growth mindset”, the idea that favorable talents and abilities can be learned and practiced with effort and persistence. This is in contrast to a “fixed” mindset where one believes intelligence and talents are fixed qualities that cannot be changed. According to Dweck, the mindset one has plays a big role in their outlook on life and their success. People with a growth mindset are more likely to embrace failure, and pursue their goals, while those with a fixed mindset view failure in a negative light.
Professor Dweck gave a brief summary of her work over Zoom, emphasizing her role in creating programs for young adolescents entering high school. An example is an activity where high school freshmen write a letter to a peer who may be struggling in class. The students were encouraged to help their struggling peers using the growth mindset and provide examples of benefits that a stronger brain in high school will produce later on in life. Dweck stated that interventions like these were found to raise the Grade Point Average (GPA) of lower-achieving students and encouraged students across the board to take more challenging courses.
Professor Dweck also took a few questions from students at the end. One student wondered how he could help peers achieve this growth mindset. Dweck encouraged him to lead by example and initiate a conversation about the growth mindset with his friends. She also gave him an example of an assignment she tells her students at Stanford to do: “Do something outrageously growth mindset this week.” This allows students to lead by example, and share their efforts in adapting a growth mindset.
Another student wondered how to get past fears of embarrassment or judgment that may be more external than intrinsic. To that, Professor Dweck stated that fear of embarrassment or judgment is still intrinsic, and a characteristic of your fixed mindset. She brought up examples of her Stanford students who started interacting in class and realized they learned more through discussion.
Professor Dweck gave an insightful lecture and left a lasting impression on the students and faculty present.