Mindset: The New Psychology of Success » (Reprint)

Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading researchers in the fields of personality, social psychology, and developmental psychology. She has been the William B. Ransford Professor of Psychology at Columbia University and is now the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her scholarly book Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development was named Book of the Year by the World Education Fellowship. Her work has been featured in such publications as The New Yorker, Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, and she has appeared on Today and 20/20. She lives with her husband in Palo Alto, California.

Mindset is one of those rare books that can help you make positive changes in your life and at the same time see the world in a new way.

A leading expert in motivation and personality psychology, Carol Dweck has discovered in more than twenty years of research that our mindset is not a minor personality quirk: it creates our whole mental world. It explains how we become optimistic or pessimistic. It shapes our goals, our attitude toward work and relationships, and how we raise our kids, ultimately predicting whether or not we will fulfill our potential. Dweck has found that everyone has one of two basic mindsets.

If you have the fixed mindset, you believe that your talents and abilities are set in stone–either you have them or you don’t. You must prove yourself over and over, trying to look smart and talented at all costs. This is the path of stagnation. If you have a growth mindset, however, you know that talents can be developed and that great abilities are built over time. This is the path of opportunity–and success.

Dweck demonstrates that mindset unfolds in childhood and adulthood and drives every aspect of our lives, from work to sports, from relationships to parenting. She reveals how creative geniuses in all fields–music, literature, science, sports, business–apply the growth mindset to achieve results. Perhaps even more important, she shows us how we can change our mindset at any stage of life to achieve true success and fulfillment. She looks across a broad range of applications and helps parents, teachers, coaches, and executives see how they can promote the growth mindset.

Highly engaging and very practical, Mindset breaks new ground as it leads you to change how you feel about yourself and your future.

“This book is an essential read for parents, teachers, coaches, and others who are instrumental in determining a child’s mind-set, and in turn, his or her future success, as well as for those who would like to increase their own feelings of success and fulfillment.” —Library Journal

Contents
Introduction
1. The Mindsets
Why Do People Differ?
What Does All This Mean for You? The Two Mindsets A View from the Two Mindsets So, What’s New?
Self-Insight: Who Has Accurate Views of Their Assets and Limitations?
What’s iIn Store

2. Inside The Mindsets
Is Success About Learning–Or Proving You’re Smart?
Mindsets Change the Meaning of Failure Mindsets Change the Meaning of Effort Questions and Answers

3. The Truth About Ability and Accomplishment
Mindset and School Achievement Is Artistic Ability a Gift?
The Danger of Praise and Positive Labels Negative Labels and How They Work

4. Sports: The Mindset Of A Champion
The Idea of the Natural
“Character”
What Is Success?
What Is Failure?
Taking Charge of Success What Does It Mean to Be a Star?
Hearing the Mindsets

5. Business: Mindset and Leadership
Enron and the Talent Mindset Organizations That Grow A Study of Mindset and Management Decisions Leadership and the Fixed Mindset Fixed-Mindset Leaders in Action Growth-Mindset Leaders in Action A Study of Group Processes Groupthink Versus We Think Are Leaders Born or Made?

6. Relationships: Mindsets In Love (Or Not)
Relationships Are Different Mindsets Falling in Love The Partner as Enemy Competition: Who’s The Greatest?
Developing in Relationships Friendship Shyness Bullies and Victims: Revenge Revisited

7. Parents, Teachers, And Coaches:
Where Do Mindsets Come From?

Parents (and Teachers): Messages About Success and Failure Children Learn The Messages Teachers (and Parents): What Makes a Great Teacher (or Parent)?
Coaches: Winning Through Mindset Our Legacy

8. Changing Mindsets: A Workshop
The Nature of Change The Mindset Lectures A Mindset Workshop Brainology More About Change Taking the First Step: A Workshop for You People Who Don’t Want to Change Changing Your Child’s Mindset Mindset and Willpower Maintaining Change The Road Ahead

Notes Recommended Books Index

Publishers Weekly

Mindset is "an established set of attitudes held by someone," says the Oxford American Dictionary. It turns out, however, that a set of attitudes needn't be so set, according to Dweck, professor of psychology at Stanford. Dweck proposes that everyone has either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. A fixed mindset is one in which you view your talents and abilities as... well, fixed. In other words, you are who you are, your intelligence and talents are fixed, and your fate is to go through life avoiding challenge and failure. A growth mindset, on the other hand, is one in which you see yourself as fluid, a work in progress. Your fate is one of growth and opportunity. Which mindset do you possess? Dweck provides a checklist to assess yourself and shows how a particular mindset can affect all areas of your life, from business to sports and love. The good news, says Dweck, is that mindsets are not set: at any time, you can learn to use a growth mindset to achieve success and happiness. This is a serious, practical book. Dweck's overall assertion that rigid thinking benefits no one, least of all yourself, and that a change of mind is always possible, is welcome. (On sale Feb. 28) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Introduction     ix
The Mindsets     3
Why Do People Differ?     4
What Does All This Mean for You? The Two Mindsets     6
A View from the Two Mindsets     7
So, What's New?     9
Self-Insight: Who Has Accurate Views of Their Assets and Limitations?     11
What's in Store     11
Inside the Mindsets     15
Is Success About Learning-Or Proving You're Smart?     16
Mindsets Change the Meaning of Failure     32
Mindsets Change the Meaning of Effort     39
Questions and Answers     45
The Truth About Ability and Accomplishment     55
Mindset and School Achievement     57
Is Artistic Ability a Gift?     67
The Danger of Praise and Positive Labels     71
Negative Labels and How They Work     74
Sports: The Mindset of a Champion     82
The Idea of the Natural     83
"Character"     91
What Is Success?     98
What Is Failure?     99
Taking Charge of Success     101
What Does It Mean to Be a Star?     103
Hearing the Mindsets     105
Business: Mindset and Leadership     108
Enron and the Talent Mindset     108
Organizations That Grow     109
A Study of Mindset and Management Decisions     111
Leadership and the Fixed Mindset     112
Fixed-Mindset Leaders in Action     114
Growth-Mindset Leaders in Action     124
A Study of Group Processes     133
Groupthink Versus We Think     134
The Praised Generation Hits the Workforce     136
Are Negotiators Born or Made?     137
Corporate Training: Are Managers Born or Made?     139
Are Leaders Born or Made?     141
Relationships: Mindsets in Love (Or Not)     144
Relationships Are Different     147
Mindsets Falling in Love     148
The Partner as Enemy     157
Competition: Who's the Greatest?     158
Developing in Relationships     159
Friendship     160
Shyness     163
Bullies and Victims: Revenge Revisited     163
Parents, Teachers, and Coaches: Where Do Mindsets Come From?     173
Parents (and Teachers): Messages About Success and Failure     174
Teachers (and Parents): What Makes a Great Teacher (or Parent)?     193
Coaches: Winning Through Mindset     202
Our Legacy     211
Changing Mindsets     213
The Nature of Change     213
The Mindset Lectures     216
A Mindset Workshop     218
Brainology     221
More About Change     224
Taking the First Step     226
People Who Don't Want to Change     230
Changing Your Child's Mindset     234
Mindset and Willpower     239
Maintaining Change     242
The Road Ahead     246
Notes     247
Recommended Books     267
Index     269