1. MINDSET

2. Why Binet Designed the IQ Test
Alfred Binet “designed [the IQ] test to identify children who were not profiting from the Paris public schools, so that new educational programs could be designed to get them back on track. Without denying individual differences in children’s intellects, he believed that education and practice could bring about fundamental changes in intelligence” (p. 5).

3. Binet’s Beliefs on Intelligence
“A few modern philosophers… assert that an individual’s intelligence is a fixed quantity, a quantity which cannot be increased. We must protest and react against this brutal pessimism…. With practice, training, and above all, method, we manage to increase our attention, our memory, our judgment and literally to become more intelligent than we were before” (p. 5).

4. Nature & Nurture
“Scientists are learning that people have more capacity for lifelong learning and brain development than they ever thought. Of course, each person has a unique genetic endowment. People may start with different temperaments and different aptitudes, but it is clear that experience, training, and personal effort take them the rest of the way” (p. 5).

5. Sternberg’s Beliefs on Intelligence
“Robert Sternberg… writes that the major factor in whether people achieve expertise ‘is not some fixed prior ability, but purposeful engagement.’ Or, as his forerunner Binet recognized, it’s not always the people who start out the smartest who end up the smartest” (p. 5).

6. FIXED VS GROWTH

7. Mindset Beliefs They believe human qualities are carved in stone.
They believe success depends on intelligence or talent (which you can’t change). Effort is only needed by those who don’t have ability.
They believe success is about proving yourself to others.
They believe failure is getting a bad grade, losing a game, or getting rejected. Failure is a setback and means you’re not smart or talented.
They believe people who are born smart don’t make mistakes
They believe human qualities can be developed.
They believe success depends on effort; effort leads to increased intelligence and talent.
They believe success is about stretching yourself to become smarter.
They believe failure is an opportunity for growth. The only real failure is giving up.
They don’t assume they are fully evolved, flawless beings who have nothing more to learn but recognize a constant need for growth.

8. Characteristics
They fear challenge and can’t run from it fast enough.
They devalue effort, because they think needing to try hard is a sign of weakness.
They thrive when things are safely within their grasp and they stay interested only when they do well right away. Even if they have natural ability, if things get too challenging—as soon as they’re not feeling smart or talented—they lose interest.
They don’t ask for help because they think asking for help shows weaknesses.
They confront obstacles and keep working at the until they are able to change setbacks into successes.
They see effort as more important than natural ability.
They don’t just seek challenge, they thrive on it. The bigger the challenge, the more interested they get and the more they stretch themselves.
They don’t have to already be great at something to want to do it and enjoy doing it.
They long for and seize the chance to get help.

9. Characteristics They have an urgency to constantly prove themselves.
They think everyone is watching them, waiting for them to fail.
They are super sensitive about being wrong or making mistakes and grant one test or evaluation the power to define them.
They exaggerate their abilities or make excuses for their lack of abilities.
They resist evaluation because they’re afraid of not being smart.
They seek friends and companions who put them on a pedestal, make them feel perfect, and worship them.
They have a passion to stretch themselves and stick to it.
They take risks and see failure as an opportunity for growth.
They can identify their own strengths and weaknesses.
They are energized by criticism and open to accurate evaluation about their abilities because they know you need feedback in order to grow.
They seek friends and companions who challenge them to become a better person, see their faults and help them to work on them, and encourage them to learn new things.

10. When They Feel Smart “It’s when I don’t make any mistakes.”
“It’s when I finish something fast and it’s perfect.”
“It’s when something is easy for me, but other people can’t do it.”
For those with a fixed mindset it’s not enough just to succeed. It’s not enough just to look smart and talented. You have to be pretty much perfect. And you have to be perfect right now.
“It’s when something is really hard, and I try really hard, and I can do something I couldn’t do before.”
“It’s when I work on something for a long time and start to figure it out.”
For those with the a growth mindset, It’s not about immediate perfection. It’s about learning something over time: confronting a challenge and making progress.

11. Coping With Challenge “I’m a total failure.”
They cope by quitting – “I won’t bother putting so much time and effort into doing well in anything.”
“Nothing good ever happens to me.”
“The harder it gets, the more I have to force myself to want to try. If you don’t have the ability, why waste your time?”
The fixed mindset does not allow people the luxury of becoming. They already have to be.
In the fixed mindset, failure gets transformed from an action (I failed) to an identity (I am a failure).
“I love a challenge!”
They cope with determination – “I need to try harder.”
“It isn’t the end of the world.”
“When they tell me I can’t, it just makes me try harder.”
For those with a growth mindset, it’s about becoming – “Becoming is better than being.”
Even in the growth mindset, failure can be a painful experience. But it doesn’t define you. It’s a problem to be faced, dealt with, and learned from. Those with a growth mindset take control of failure and use it to become better.

12. What is “Intelligence”?
“I think intelligence is something you work for… it isn’t just given to you… Most kids, if they’re not sure of an answer, will not raise their hand to answer the question. But what I usually do is raise my hand, because if I’m wrong, then my mistake will be corrected. Or I will raise my hand and say, ‘How would this be solved?’ or ‘I don’t get this. Can you help me?’ Just by doing that I’m increasing my intelligence.” – 7th grade girl

13. Conclusion
“Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better?”
“You can change your mindset.”
“I don’t divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures… I divide the world into the learners and the nonlearners.” ~ Benjamin Barber