Dr. Alia Crum

Great to be here.

We define mindsets as core beliefs or assumptions that we have about a domain or category of things that orient us to a particular set of expectations, explanations, and goals.

I can distill it down for you.

So mindsets are an assumption that you make about a domain.

So take stress, for example, the nature of stress.

What's your sort of core belief about that?

Do you view stress as enhancing, good for you, or do you view it as debilitating and bad for you?

Those mindsets, those core beliefs orient our thinking.

They change what we expect will happen to us when we're stressed, how we explain the occurrences that happen or unfold when we're stressed, and also change our motivation for what we engage in when we're stressed.

Sort of distilling down those core assumptions that really shape and orient our thinking and action.

Yeah, sure.

Sure.

So I think it's important with Carol Dweck's work, a lot of people kind of get focused on growth motivation and all these things, but her work really originated from thinking about what she called those implicit theories or core beliefs about the nature of intelligence or ability, right?

So do you believe that your baseline levels of intelligence are fixed?

static, set throughout the rest of your life?

Or do you believe that they can grow and change?

The reality is, as it always is, complex, and it's a bit of both, and it's all these things.

But as humans, we need these simplifying systems to help us understand a complex reality.

But they're not inconsequential, right?

They matter in shaping our motivation.