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mindsets are more conducive to such stereotypes than other
mindsets.
What we found is that women who considered their
math course in university to be highly stereotyping showed
less of a decline in their sense of belonging over the term
of the course if they also perceived people around them
as endorsing a growth rather than a fixed mindset. Even
though these women were well aware that the environ-
ment was very stereotyping, when they perceived that the
belief around them was that ‘intelligence can grow’, some-
how, that reduced the power of the stereotype. It meant
that women retained more of their sense of belonging with
respect to math, and that, in turn, predicted their desire to
pursue math in higher grades.How can policymakers leverage the science of mindsets
to advance educational outcomes?
The way policymakers craft policies could definitely be bet-
ter informed by a consideration of mindsets. Policymak-
ers who are making decisions about how education should
operate could ask themselves, Does this policy treat them
as though they can learn and grow at any age? Does it treat
students as though they all have high intellectual potential?
As indicated, mindsets about ability — even those reflected
in policies — shape performance in real ways.
Another thing is to carefully consider what is actually
being implemented in schools, in terms of procedures and
practices. It is one thing to have a lot of schools start talking
about, teaching and endorsing a growth mindset. That’s a
great thing, but it is important to scientifically and rigorous-
ly study whether it is being effectively implemented — and
whether it is having the effects that we would expect, given
the research.Can you talk a bit about your related work on mindsets
and the global refugee crisis?
Right now in the world, there are more people seeking
asylum than at virtually any time in the past. If you thinkabout the conditions these people are fleeing, I believe most
people feel a sense of empathy and understanding. But at
the same time, we are seeing a very strong wave of anti-
immigrant and anti-refugee sentiment. Many people strong-
ly oppose the resettlement of refugees within their nations
for a variety of reasons that have to do with the economy,
overt biases and stereotypes.
In recent research, my colleagues and I were interested
in understanding whether a person’s general mindset around
‘whether people can change or not’ might also play a role in
the extent to which they support refugee resettlement. The
question we asked was, Does believing that people are mal-
leable rather than fixed make someone more supportive of
resettling refugees?’ We found that indeed, people with a
growth mindset believe that refugees will be able to assimi-
late into the host society and thus they supported their re-
settlement. We documented this among both liberals and
conservatives, among people in the U.S. and UK, and for
Americans in response to both Obama and Trump policies.
At the same time, people who held a growth mindset
also thought immigrants should not to be obligated to as-
similate into the host society. Therefore, in a really inter-
esting way, a growth rather than fixed mindset creates the
conditions under which people view refugees as being able
to adapt — without placing an obligation upon them to shed
their home culture and traditions. Given their many posi-
tive attributes, we ought to be doing whatever we can to en-
courage growth mindsets.Aneeta Rattan is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behaviour
at the London Business School.Mindsets about ability—even those reflected in policies—
shape performance in real ways.