OLD DOGS & NEW TRICKS Can Law Schools Really Fix Their (and Their Students’) Fixed Mindsets? Prof. Sarah Adams-Schoen

Sound familiar?

Critical feedback = an indictment of your abilities

Presentation overview  What is the fixed mindset?  What does it do?  How can we teach fixed mindset students to respond effectively to challenges, confusion & perceived failures?

Mindsets – It’s about belief Fixed mindsetMalleable mindset Belief that you have a fixed amount of an attribute such as intelligence Belief that you have the potential to increase your intelligence with effort and education

Mindsets – It’s about belief  Not confidence  Not ability

Fixed responses Despondence, boredom, depression Blaming of external factors Repeatedly adopting the same ineffective strategies Risk, task and effort avoidance Inaccurately assessing ability Pursuit of performance goals Lower performance on tasks within the student’s aptitude

Derailed by a single confusing passage No Confusing Condition Confusing Condition Fixed MindsetEqually likely to master materials 35% mastered materials Malleable Mindset Equally likely to master materials 72% mastered materials

Malleable responses Task-enthusiasm Self-teaching Accurately assessing ability Valuing effort Use of effective coping strategies for dealing with depression and negative stereotypes Pursuing learning goals

Fixed triggers  Threats of failure Confusing instructions The perception that effort is required Challenging work High-stakes performances An emphasis on performance Major life transitions

What does this mean for us? Law Students – Approximately 25% probably have fixed mindsets Law Schools – Tend to reinforce the fixed mindset Severely limits students’ ability to learn from challenges and setbacks Students are failing despite sufficient aptitude

Fostering a malleable mindset

How do we do it?  Change our own mindsets  Rigorous criticism + affirmative message  Avoid generic praise  Emphasize process/learning over evaluation  Teach students to teach each other about the malleable mindset

Teach students to teach each other about the malleable mindset  Advocacy in their own words  Public commitment  Validation through current personal experience  Validation through past personal experience  Repetition

Teach students to teach each other

For more information, citations, and detailed methodologies for creating an enduring shift to the growth mindset  See Sarah J. Adams-Schoen, Of Old Dogs and New Tricks--Can Law Schools Really Fix Students’ Fixed Mindsets?, forthcoming in vol. 19 of Leg. Writing, draft available on SSRN at  For copies of mindset handouts and lesson plans, me at or see the LWI Idea Bank

To learn more  Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (Ballantine Books 2008)  Carrie Sperling & Susan Shapcott, Fixing Students’ Fixed Mindsets: Paving the Way for Meaningful Assessment, 18 Leg. Writing 39 (2012)  Daniel C. Molden & Carol S. Dweck, Finding Meaning in Psychology: A Lay Theories Approach to Self-Regulation, Social Perception, and Social Development, 61 Am. Psychologist 192 (2006)  Joshua Aronson et al., Reducing the Effects of Stereotype Threat on African American College Students by Shaping Theories of Intelligence, 38 J. Experimental Soc. Psychol. 113, 116–123 (2002)

Thank you! Prof. Sarah Adams-Schoen