Growth mindset beliefs are positively associated with academic achievement in nearly all nations, with stronger associations among structurally disadvantaged students¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2023 · checked against its sources 2026-10-26 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? An international study found students' growth mindset beliefs positively associated with achievement in 72 of 74 nations, with stronger associations among students from lower-SES and immigrant families. → Hecht 2023

Evidence¶

Hecht 2023¶

Hecht, C. A., Murphy, M. C., Dweck, C. S., Bryan, C. J., Trzesniewski, K. H., Medrano, F. N., Giani, M., Mhatre, P., & Yeager, D. S. (2023). Shifting the mindset culture to address global educational disparities. npj Science of Learning 8:29. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-023-00181-y

q2 · i? · review · r2

The article reports, citing an international study, that growth mindset beliefs were "positively associated with academic achievement in 72 of 74 nations," with stronger associations for structurally disadvantaged students. The article prints no effect size for this association.

"students' growth mindset beliefs were positively associated with academic achievement in 72 of 74 nations that administered the growth mindset survey, with stronger associations among students from structurally disadvantaged backgrounds such as those from lower-SES and immigrant families"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Mindset — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
• Motivation — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Growth mindset interventions improve math outcomes, particularly for disadvantaged and high-risk students, but effects depend on a supportive teacher-mindset context — related
• Growth-mindset interventions have weak average effects on achievement, including a negligible GPA gain (d = 0.11) for lower-achieving US ninth-graders in one preregistered national trial — related
• A short online growth mindset intervention improved ninth-grade core-course GPAs among lower-achieving students in a nationally representative US sample — related
• Mind-set interventions show weak overall effects on achievement, with some support that low-SES or academically at-risk students might benefit — related
• The meta-analytic correlation between growth mind-set and academic achievement is weak (r = .10) — a broader claim this one bears on
• The attitude-achievement paradox: disadvantaged minority youth may show low achievement despite high motivation to achieve upward mobility through schooling — related
• The growth mindset intervention successfully fostered mindset beliefs but this did not transfer to learning outcomes — related
• Academic risk status does not significantly moderate the mind-set–achievement correlation — reports the opposite
• Students with stronger growth mindsets show better overall academic performance at university — a narrower finding that bears on this claim