Mindset – Dr Carol S. Dweck – Review

 

Carol is an American psychologist and has been a faculty in Columbia, Harvard, Illinois and Standford university. Her key contribution relates to implicit theories of intelligence which refers to an individual's fundamental belief whether his or her abilities or intelligence can be changed and developed over a period of time. Carol makes an in-depth statement in her book,” "The view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life."

Her introduction itself sets some level of context on what she has set herself to deliver through the book on mindset. The fundamental premise are two distinct mental construct which can be observed in different individuals, it’s the fixed versus growth mindset. The broad idea of a fixed mindset points to belief in individuals that abilities and intelligence are an inherent trait while the growth mindset nurtures the belief that just about any ability can be cultivated through consistent effort.

The primary part of Carol’s psychological discovery points towards positive and negative labels addressed on children and how they respond to it. Sweeping negative labels like dumb or stupid just because they failed a test are bound to have a deep regressive impact on children, it makes them go into a shell. This aspect is well known but even positive labels can have negative consequences over a period of time. The statements like my kid is talented or smart puts them under undue pressure to succeed every time to live up to the label. Once the kids faces failure or rejection at some point in time, they have exhibited extreme defensive reactions. Carol’s suggestion is to lay emphasis on the process or effort behind the success and underplay appreciating the talent. In such a scenario, the kids are open to constructive feedbacks and don’t assume failure as an end in itself.

As adults and professionals in a respective field of work, each one is expected to make a fair audit of his or her strengths and weaknesses, such an exercise helps to navigate competition better from a strategic perspective. However, the question arises as to which group (Fixed or growth mindset) of individuals are likely to make a fair assessment of their abilities. It turns out that the growth mindset individuals are able to accurately point to their strength and flaws while the fixed mindset ones are far cry from reality in their self-assessment. When individuals are open towards their failures and believe that deficiencies can be worked upon, it leads them to a realistic scenario of where they stand. However, the very idea of deficiencies is terrifying for fixed mindset people which leads them to haphazard conclusions of their own abilities.

Does fixed and growth mindset apply only to professions? How about relationships and do they have a profound impact on the manner in which it fails or blossoms? A real life case study can elucidate the answer better and so it leads us to pick Nicole Contos who went through a traumatic relationship based experience.

In 1997, Nicole Contos a kindergarden teacher was excited to get married to Tasos Micheal, a lawyer by profession whom she dated for over a year before choosing to get hitched. On the D-Day, she arrived in Manhattan church wearing her exquisite wedding dress, the archbishop waiting to perform the ceremony, crowd of 250 guests comprising of friends and family eager to bless the couple while anticipating celebrations later on. Nicole was literally on the altar when the best man for the wedding ran towards her to break the news, Tasos has called off the wedding and had already boarded the flight to Tahiti. To make matters worse, her story became a front page news the next day.

Given her current standpoint, Nicole has faced the worst public rejection and would have put her thought process into a tailspin. However, she chose to calm herself down, changed to black party dress and danced to the music ‘I will survive’ along with the guests.

4 years later she got married to a doctor named George Liakeas and has led a stable family life ever since. The best part of Nicole was that she believed true love was possible and didn’t let one sore relationship spoil has chances of finding another. From a relationship perspective, this is an exhibition of growth mindset.

I hope to have given enough context on what can be expected out of Carol’s mindset book and would openly state that it’s a must read for everyone to acquire the core facets for a better life.