Psychology - Mindset and Effort Effect

Here are a couple of interesting articles on research by Professor Carol Dweck showing how mindset can affect learning – explaining how brilliant minds or those with natural talent can be stunted by the wrong mindset and how those struggling can use the right mindset to achieve results that otherwise may not happen.

The key seems to be in praise/reward for effort (growth mindset) as opposed to praise/reward for achievement alone (fixed mindset).

May be especially helpful to those with children as it appears that much of the research has been done with school kids, however, it may also be helpful for traders as well.

Could be why those who appear “smart” and have succeeded in previous ventures seem to fail at trading initially until they are hurt enough by the market to either quit or use their failures as stepping stones for growth while allowing neural pathways to be etched in the brain, which apparently takes time.

Article on Mindset: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/february7/dweck-020707.html

The Effort Effect: http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/marapr/features/dweck.html

Video link: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/february7/videos/179_flash.html

Happy new year!

sails said:

Here are a couple of interesting articles on research by Professor Carol Dweck showing how mindset can affect learning – explaining how brilliant minds or those with natural talent can be stunted by the wrong mindset and how those struggling can use the right mindset to achieve results that otherwise may not happen.

The key seems to be in praise/reward for effort (growth mindset) as opposed to praise/reward for achievement alone (fixed mindset).

May be especially helpful to those with children as it appears that much of the research has been done with school kids, however, it may also be helpful for traders as well.

Could be why those who appear “smart” and have succeeded in previous ventures seem to fail at trading initially until they are hurt enough by the market to either quit or use their failures as stepping stones for growth while allowing neural pathways to be etched in the brain, which apparently takes time.

Article on Mindset: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/february7/dweck-020707.html

The Effort Effect: http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/marapr/features/dweck.html

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Happy New Year Sails! I hope it will be a productive and happy one for you and your family!

Thanks for sharing this material, it's something I have an interest in, as do most of us.

Bravo Sails! Much appreciated.

You're welcome, guys! Personally found it very encouraging!

Have just edited the original post to add a video link for those not so inclined to plough through all the reading material.

Excellent! So true! Thanks for sharing!

The bottom line is confidence.

Remember (if you're a parent) when you had kids learning to walk, how you encouraged them by being in front of them, holding out your hands to them and saying they could do it? How happy they were to try? To please you? Doesn't nature make kids cute so their parents will teach them and care for them?

Too many get to high school and have forgotten how to try. They need attention and success and they achieve these by disrupting. I've found a huge increase in students from dysfunctional families in the past few years. They are quite happy to sit and not try. They believe they are better failing and having teachers and peers tell them they *could* have passed if they'd tried.

I agree with the theme... a fixed/growth mindset projects their future.

When kids know how their mind works it's amazing how they react. I tell my students early, that their synapses will be pruned if they don't use them. "Use them or lose them!"

We are born will x trillion synapses and from early adolescence they are pruned... so by about 16 you have limited the number of pathways available to and from the brain. Kids who sit and wait for the answer have more prunings. Kids who have a go and try to work it out, have more pathways used, especially if they use their senses in trying to find an outcome or to learn.

If you think you can you are right!
If you think you can't, you are right!

Just re-read these articles.

Thanks again for posting the links sails - I think I am going to have to get her book. I am always more prepared to check out books on 'self improvement' when the author is a serious academic and the book is based on peer-reviewed research.

Anyone read the book or have any further comments on the articles above?

Thought I would bump this thread should anyone else find it useful.

When this was first posted in Jan 2008, one of my granddaughters was really struggling at school. After spending time helping her with her homework and applying the principles from this article, the outcome has been quite favourable. She has now changed schools and, once again, there are some challenges - so it has been good to refresh the memory with this very useful article.

Doris said:

If you think you can you are right!
If you think you can't, you are right!

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As Norman Vincent Peale used to say "Anything you believe you can do, you can do - with God's help!".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Vincent_Peale

Personally I'd delete the last three words.

2020hindsight said:

As Norman Vincent Peale used to say "Anything you believe you can do, you can do - with God's help!".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Vincent_Peale

Personally I'd delete the last three words.

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So if I decide I can fly like a bird, as long as I believe I can do it, I can?

Julia said:

So if I decide I can fly like a bird, as long as I believe I can do it, I can?

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something like that - within reason of course.

http://normanvincentpeale.wwwhubs.com/
His most popular book, The Power of Positive Thinking, has sold more than 20 million copies in 41 languages.

Peale confessed that as a youth he had "the worst inferiority complex of all," and developed his positive thinking/positive confession philosophy just to help himself

Peale applied Christianity to everyday problems and is the person who is most responsible for bringing psychology into the professing Church, blending its principles into a message of "positive thinking." Peale said, "through prayer you ... make use of the great factor within yourself, the deep subconscious mind ... [which Jesus called] the kingdom of God within you

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Again I'd prefer to delete the last 9 words.

And I notice that it's a bit controversial.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/24/2607639.htm

Power of positive thinking questioned
By Emily Bourke for The World Today
Posted Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:05pm AEST

The theory behind the power of positive thinking has been dealt a blow with new research showing that positive statements could do more harm than good.
A study of psychology students in Canada has found affirmations can leave some people feeling worse instead of boosting their confidence.

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but I still like Walter Dickman's ideas ...
that we all have a heap of unrealised potential within us - latent ability/ies that must be consciously released ...
as also proposed by Orson Welles
https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=184491&highlight=dickman#post184491

Orson Welles's opinion of acting - being a process of sculpting out of a larger block of stone i.e. the multitalented block that you represent now -

to find those talents which empathise with the part you are required to portray "in some play". Firstly I recommend that you watch the youtube video ...

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https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=211709&highlight=dickman#post211709

I’m reminded of a talk by of a positive thinker I heard once, and my guess is that a few of you may have heard him - Walter Dickman. Must've been 20 years ago - but I still remember what he said.
He said heaps, all about positive thinking etc.
Two things I remember are :-

“If you see a small branch or a rock in the road that is causing traffic difficulties, and it’s relatively easy for you to stop and fix it, do you do so Y/N - he says yes.
But the interesting thing is WHY you should do it. He says, Not for the other drivers, Not for points in Heaven whatever, but Simply for your own self image He effectively turns it into a selfish act, that you jealously guard you own image of yourself as sacrosanct. I found that intersesting lol. Maybe you had to be there.

The second thing I remember was an endless loop he proposed - we all have massive “reserves” of latent abilities which generally go to the grave with us unused - his proposal then , Release your Latent Abilities (RLA), Get “Job Well Done” feedback, Release more LA, etc loops etc. Here's his website (you have to disclose an email address to enter, but I believe I can vouch for his integrity http://www.positivepath.net/walterdickman.asp
http://www.nationalspeakers.asn.au/NSW_news.html National Speakers of Australia

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PS ... but getting back to the flying bit - yep, if you have a hangglider on your back I guess - and you genuiinely believe you can overcome the butterflies in your stomach. Overcoming the fear when you make the first jump off a cliff is something you never forget The same thing for skydivers I'm sure, - and they can do all sorts of manouvres midair - not that i've ever done it.

hang gliding pioneers- An interview with Francis Rogallo (NASA), John Dickenson (Aus) , and Bill Moyes (Aus) in 1988

2020, I think you've missed the point of this thread. It's about the "effort effect" - not the sort of positive thinking you seem to be suggesting. It would appear you did not read the articles properly.

It's about encouraging children to see mistakes as opportunities to learn rather than failure. Really nothing to do with flying like a bird, IMO.

Please don't take this thread off topic...

sails said:

2020, I think you've missed the point of this thread. It's about the "effort effect" - not the sort of positive thinking you seem to be suggesting. It would appear you did not read the articles properly.

It's about encouraging children to see mistakes as opportunities to learn rather than failure. Really nothing to do with flying like a bird, IMO.

Please don't take this thread off topic...

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fair enough
but that's the same as managing a team of tradesmen
You don;t call a mistake "a mistake"
nor do you call it an NCR = "non-conformance report" requiring "corrective action"
- first and foremost you call it an OFI = opportunity for improvement.

Or coaching a kid's baseball team, (or training a puppy for that matter)
you don't keep telling them they're doing it wrong,
you wait till they do something right ( sheesh it can take a long time lol)

and you praise them to the heavens.
- which is where the birds come in lol

as for introducing birds - ask Julia lol.