Dr. Alia Crum

And as she has shown, if you have the mindset that intelligence is malleable,

you're motivated to work harder to grow your intelligence.

If you have the mindset that it's fixed, why work harder at math if you don't think you're good at it?

What our work has aimed to do is to expand the range of mindsets that we are studying, focused on, and also understand and expand the range of effects that they have.

So I mentioned mindsets about stress.

We've also looked at mindsets about food and healthy eating.

So do you have the mindset that foods that are good for you, healthy foods, are disgusting and depriving?

Or do you have the mindset that healthy foods are indulgent and delicious?

Generally, people, at least in our culture in the West, have this view that stress is debilitating, healthy foods are disgusting and depriving.

And those mindsets, whether or not they're true or false, right or wrong, they have an impact.

And they have an impact not just through the motivational mechanisms that Dweck and others have studied, but as our lab has started to reveal, they also shape physiological mechanisms by changing what our bodies prioritize and prepare to do.

We've looked at mindsets about exercise.

Do you feel like you're getting enough or do you feel like you're getting an insufficient amount to get the health benefits you're seeking?

Mindsets about illness.

Do you view cancer as an unmitigated catastrophe or?

Or do you view cancer as manageable?

We've looked at mindsets about symptoms and side effects.

Do you view side effects as a sign that the treatment is harmful?

Or do you view side effects as a sign that the treatment is working?

Again, these are sort of core beliefs or assumptions you have about these domains or categories.