Fixed Mindset
What is a Fixed Mindset?
A fixed mindset is the belief that abilities are innate and unchangeable. This perspective leads individuals to view success or failure as a reflection of inherent proficiency, often limiting personal growth. The concept of mindset refers to our beliefs about how our intelligence, talents, and personal traits shape how we handle challenges, ultimately affecting our ability to achieve our goals.
The Basic Idea
When faced with a task that seems too challenging, someone with a fixed mindset may think, “There’s no way I can do that. I’m not smart or talented enough. There’s really no point in trying?” Perhaps you even felt that way towards a subject you found challenging or difficult to understand at school. This mindset is very outcome-focused; instead of looking at failures as learning experiences, someone with a fixed mindset will feel that hard work, when yielding no direct result, was “all for nothing.” Their successes and failures may also be an essential part of how they define themselves, meaning that they may avoid taking risks not to make themselves look bad in the case that they should fail. Eduardo Briseño, a leader on the subject, calls a fixed mindset ‘a culture focused on proving rather than improving. 25
People with a fixed mindset believe that their intelligence is fixed and cannot significantly develop through learning or interacting with their environment. At the other end of this spectrum is a growth mindset, which refers to thinking about intelligence and abilities as changeable and malleable. Those who endorse a growth mindset believe intelligence is like a muscle that will strengthen as you continue to work it. It also focuses more on the learning process than on the outcome. Failures become opportunities for learning, and every problem-solving attempt holds value.
Mindsets are a collection of beliefs that simplify complex worldviews into manageable insights, guiding your expectations based on this understanding.13 Fixed or growth mindset thinking significantly impacts our worldview and can affect how we handle life’s challenges, our mental health, and, ultimately, our happiness.
Research on mindsets has revealed that a fixed mindset is less adaptive than a growth mindset. This is partly because a fixed mindset heightens stress and performance pressure while fostering the belief that one’s intellectual abilities are predetermined and limited. These effects impact individuals' motivation to learn and improve, discouraging them from seeking further growth and development opportunities. It has been argued that our potential is unknowable, so we should not give up simply because we think we cannot accomplish something. We cannot know what we are capable of, and with dedication and hard work, the extent of what we are capable of is certainly subject to change.1
In the fixed mindset, everything is about the outcome. If you fail—or if you’re not the best—it’s all been wasted. The growth mindset allows people to value what they’re doing regardless of the outcome. They’re tackling problems, charting new courses, working on important issues.
– Carol Dweck in her 2006 book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
About the Author
Dr. Lauren Braithwaite
Dr. Lauren Braithwaite is a Social and Behaviour Change Design and Partnerships consultant working in the international development sector. Lauren has worked with education programmes in Afghanistan, Australia, Mexico, and Rwanda, and from 2017–2019 she was Artistic Director of the Afghan Women’s Orchestra. Lauren earned her PhD in Education and MSc in Musicology from the University of Oxford, and her BA in Music from the University of Cambridge. When she’s not putting pen to paper, Lauren enjoys running marathons and spending time with her two dogs.
