81. Brooke Macnamara: Growth mindset, deliberate practice, and the benefits of diverse experiences
Nov 17, 2023
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Brooke Macnamara, an Associate Professor at Case Western Reserve University, dives into the world of growth mindset and deliberate practice. She discusses the significance of adopting a growth mindset for personal and academic development, while also critiquing the effectiveness of traditional mindset interventions. The conversation explores the roots of deliberate practice, emphasizing the need for diverse experiences and effective strategies in skill development. Macnamara advocates for rethinking our approach to education and the importance of context in achieving success.
The growth mindset emphasizes that intelligence and personality can develop through effort, impacting various life domains, including academic achievement.
Deliberate practice, while crucial for performance improvement, is influenced by quality, guidance, and context rather than just quantity of practice.
Critiques of mindset interventions highlight methodological weaknesses, necessitating more rigorous research to understand genuine impacts on academic performance.
Deep dives
Understanding Growth Mindset
Growth mindset revolves around the belief that attributes such as intelligence and personality can develop with effort over time. Originally coined by researcher Carol Dweck, the concept emphasizes the differentiation between a growth mindset—where individuals embrace challenges and see effort as a pathway to improvement—and a fixed mindset, where they believe their abilities are static. This understanding has been extended beyond intelligence to include concepts like willpower and stress, suggesting that mindset can influence various domains of life, including academic achievement. Despite its popularity, the actual mechanisms driving the impact of mindset on these outcomes are still being debated and investigated.
The Ambiguity of Mindset Research
Current research suggests that the link between mindset and academic achievement may not be as strong as previously thought, accounting for only about 1% of the variance in academic performance. A major meta-analysis revealed that many interventions aimed at fostering a growth mindset often lacked robust checks to confirm whether they successfully altered students' mindsets. Despite initial claims of significant improvements in achievement, findings show that when effective mindset changes are verified, the expected positive outcomes in academic performance were often absent. This raises questions about the validity of growth mindset interventions and their practical relevance in educational settings.
Deliberate Practice: A Complicated Path to Excellence
Deliberate practice, popularized by proponents like Anders Ericsson, refers to focused and structured practice designed to improve performance in a particular area. However, a comprehensive meta-analysis indicates a concerning variability in how much this practice explains performance, showing that its effectiveness reduces in more advanced stages or among elite performers in various fields. The idea that practice alone guarantees expertise is flawed; the quality, guidance, and context of practice play critical roles. Moreover, findings suggest that elite performers may have less accumulated practice in their primary discipline at the highest levels compared to less accomplished peers, indicating that other factors contribute to exceptional performance.
Challenges and Confounds in Intervention Studies
Many studies introducing mindset interventions are criticized for methodological weaknesses, such as failing to control for confounding variables. Numerous interventions involved multiple influencing factors, making it unclear whether improvements in achievement were indeed due to mindset shifts or other variables like additional tutoring or study strategies. This confusion complicates the interpretation of results, often leading to inflated claims about the effectiveness of mindset programs. The need for stringent methodological designs is emphasized to discern genuine effects, suggesting that more precise research practices are needed in such investigations.
Implications for Future Research and Application
The ongoing conversation surrounding growth mindset and deliberate practice reveals deeper complexities in understanding success metrics across various fields. Future research should focus on identifying the conditions under which these concepts hold true and exploring the multifaceted influences on achievement and performance. Insights gained so far call for more nuanced educational approaches, recognizing that merely instilling a belief in growth or practicing with a teacher may not suffice for success. Promoting a balance of mindset, individual differences, and diverse experiences in learning and performing could yield more favorable educational outcomes.
Brooke Macnamara is an associate professor at Case Western Reserve University. In this conversation, we talk about her research on growth mindset and deliberate practice, whether deliberate practice is falsifiable, the benefits of diverse experiences, and much more.
BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.
Timestamps 0:00:00: How Brooke started working on mindset and deliberate practice 0:02:10: (Growth) mindset: does it matter? 0:21:10: Mindset interventions 0:36:48: Deliberate practice 0:47:06: Benefits of diverse experiences 0:56:20: Is the theory of deliberate practice unfalsifiable? 0:59:36: What can we take practically from the growth mindset and deliberate pratice research? 1:01:06: A book or paper more people should read 1:02:10: Something Brooke wishes she'd learnt sooner 1:04:32: Advice for PhD students and postdocs
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