Analysis Of The Secret To Raising Smarter Kids By Dewek

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In her article ‘The Secret to Raising Smarter Kids,” Dewek (2015) argues the importance of achieving and maintaining a mastery oriented mind-set over a fixed mind-set in order to be successful. Dewek claims people can be broken down into two different types learning types. The first one being a helpless or fixed mindset. According to Dewek a fixed mindset “believe that intelligence is a fixed trait: you only have a certain amount.” (3) To them as person’s ability to do something has already been determined no amount of effort will even change this. When faced with a problem she believes, fixed mindsets will shy away from difficult problems requiring extra effort because they feel the high level of difficulty only proves they are not smart …show more content…

A “growth mind-set, which encourages a focus on process rather than intelligence or talent.” (Dweck 1) She argues those with growth mind-sets are the type of people who when working on something new and difficult will react with excitement at the prospect of mastering something new through effort. These are the types of people when asked to draw something may start out drawing only for it turn out poorly drawn. That initial drawing won’t be their last by making small changes one after another until eventually they become satisfied with the final draft. To them it wasn’t because they weren’t good enough it was because they weren’t good enough yet. Only through perseverance would a growth mind-setter would find satisfaction. It is because of their constant drive Dweck believes mastery oriented can achieve more than those with fixed …show more content…

How someone is talked to either encourages or discourages the different types of mindsets. Studies she uses in her article show when praised only for being intelligent is it encourages a fixed mindset. People who are told they are intelligent will feel like they don’t have to do as much work for results. In fact, these people often shy away from difficult problems because they see a problem being hard as sign they are less intelligent than what they believe to be. When praised for the work as well as its success it leads children into developing mastery oriented mindset. These students respond to the concept work is something they should be proud of and should actively do to bring about more success. They will often work harder the next time and not be discouraged if the results are poor because they believe poor results mean they only need to put in more work to succeed. The difference between a couple of words can bring polar results in which mindset a child will use so, Dewek argues it is important to pay attention to the way praise is phrased. If a parent told their child you are do so well in science, it may cause the child to stop trying in science. They will look at this as a sign science is something that comes easy to them and does not need anything for them to shine in it. At the same time if the parent were to tell the child wow you are doing well in science I can see all that

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