Faculty Mind-Sets: How Professors' Beliefs About Ability Relate to Students' Psychological Experiences and Performance

• In Event: Beyond Student Mind-Sets: How Exposure to Growth Mind-Set Teachers and Classrooms Impacts Students

Abstract

Objective
Two experiments examine how professors’ perceived mindsets regarding the nature of ability predict college students’ psychological experiences and performance in their classes.


Theoretical Framework
We propose that professors’ mindsets—beliefs about the fixedness or malleability of ability (Dweck, 1999)—may influence students’ course experiences and achievement. We hypothesize that faculty who signal a fixed mindset might, unwittingly, create a culture in which all students question whether they belong, fear evaluation, become disengaged, and underperform. Given the hierarchical power structure of the classroom and the importance that students place on being perceived as competent in classroom settings (e.g., Covington, 2000), we predict that professors’ mindsets might be particularly powerful in shaping students’ psychological experiences and performance. Previous research examining professors’ mindset beliefs have focused largely on students’ experiences of belonging (Good et al., 2012; Rattan et al., 2018). Building on our recently published correlational findings (Canning et al., 2019), we present experimental evidence exploring other aspects of students’ psychological experiences, such as their engagement, evaluative concerns, engagement, imposter feelings, dropout intentions, and anticipated performance.


Data/Methods
In Studies 1-2 (Ns=254 and 215 undergraduates), students were randomly assigned to watch a video of a Calculus professor who either endorsed fixed mindset beliefs (i.e., “ability is fixed—you either have it, or you don’t”) or growth mindset beliefs (i.e., “ability can be developed”). In Study 1, students were asked to imagine being in that professor’s class and reported their anticipated belonging (e.g., “How much would you feel that you ‘fit in’ during this class?”), evaluative concerns (e.g., “How much would you worry that you might say the wrong thing in class?”), engagement (e.g., “I think I would be willing to put in extra effort if the professor asked me to”), and anticipated performance (e.g., “I think I would get a good grade in this class”). Study 2 added two outcomes: imposter feelings (e.g., “In this class, I would feel like an imposter”) and dropout intentions (e.g., “In this class, how often would you think about dropping out?”).


Results
In our previous correlational study (N=150 faculty and >15,000 students; Canning et al., 2019), all students (on average) earned lower grades in courses where their professor endorsed a fixed (versus growth) mindset, and this was especially true for underrepresented racial minority students (Figure 2). In fact, the racial achievement gap was nearly twice as large in courses where the professor endorsed more fixed (versus growth) mindsets. The present experimental studies examined the psychological processes that may underlie these effects. Study 1 students experimentally exposed to a fixed (versus growth) mindset professor anticipated experiencing greater evaluative concerns, and lower belonging, engagement, and performance (Figure 3). Study 2 replicated these results and also found that these students anticipated greater imposter feelings and dropout intentions (Figure 4).


Significance
Our findings suggest that faculty mindset beliefs contribute to students’ psychological experiences and course performance, which may contribute to racial achievement gaps in higher education.

Authors

• Elizabeth Ann Canning, Washington State University

• Katherine M. Muenks, University of Texas at Austin

• Jennifer LaCosse, Indiana University

• Dorainne Green, Indiana University

• Mary C. Murphy, Indiana University