Theory-guided content revisions for adolescent mindset interventions: strategies over hard work, prosocial motives, peer norms, reactance, and self-persuasion¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 5 claims (5 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study

Description¶

Beyond A/B-tested changes, the redesign applied psychological theory in five ways: emphasizing "strategies," not just "hard work"; adding prosocial, beyond-the-self motives to address a culture of independence; aligning norms by showing that peers everywhere endorse growth; harnessing adolescent reactance by framing the message as resistance to adult labeling; and increasing writing opportunities for self-persuasion via saying-is-believing. These changes were not individually A/B tested but were built into the revised materials evaluated in Study 1.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Grounding each revision in an existing psychological theory or process model
• Qualitative knowledge of the target population's values and concerns

Constraints¶

• These theoretical changes were not subjected to A/B testing individually, so their separate contributions are unknown

Target Learners¶

• Adolescents entering high school, including students from working-class and racial/ethnic minority backgrounds

Target Learning Goals¶

• Adoption of a growth mindset and internalization of the message

Claims¶

• In the pilot A/B experiments, indirect framing outperformed direct framing, refuting the fixed mindset backfired for strong fixed-mindset holders, and celebrity endorsements increased adoption [+W]
• In Study 1, students rated the revised intervention as more interesting and more informative than the original intervention [+W]
• In Study 1, the revised intervention reduced fixed-trait attributions and performance-avoidance goals relative to the original, with small effects [+W]
• In Study 1, the revised growth mindset intervention reduced choosing easy over hard math problems more than the original intervention (d=.19) [+W]
• In Study 1, the revised intervention reduced hypothetical choice of the easy math assignment from 60% to 51% relative to the original (d=.19) [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Growth Mindset Interventions
• Promote a Growth Mindset

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Yeager, D. S., Romero, C., Paunesku, D., Hulleman, C. S., Schneider, B., Hinojosa, C., Lee, H. Y., O'Brien, J., Flint, K., Roberts, A., Trott, J., Greene, D., Walton, G. M., & Dweck, C. S. (2016). Using Design Thinking to Improve Psychological Interventions: The Case of the Growth Mindset During the Transition to High School. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(3), 374–391. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000098