Fixed Mindset-Signaling Peer Behaviors in STEM Classrooms

• In Event: From Classmates to Friends: Understanding Peers’ Role in Student Motivation

Abstract

Objective
This study investigates how peer behaviors that signal fixed mindset beliefs shape undergraduates’ emotional experiences in STEM classrooms by combining daily data (Study 1) and retrospective narratives (Study 2).
Theoretical Background
STEM classrooms often present psychological and emotional challenges, especially for students from racially and socioeconomically marginalized backgrounds (Seo et al., 2025a). These challenges are rooted in widespread cultural beliefs about intelligence, particularly the fixed mindset view that ability is unchangeable (Dweck, 2006). While most research has focused on students’ internal beliefs, growing evidence points to the influence of the social environment (Walton & Yeager, 2020). Peers—defined as students within the same school whom participants interact with or perceive through direct or indirect exposure—act as powerful social cues, signaling whether effort is valued or whether only a few truly belong (Muenks & Yan, 2024; Seo et al., 2025b). This study asks: How do peer behaviors signaling fixed mindset beliefs shape students’ daily experiences of impostor feelings and evaluative anxiety in STEM?
Data
Participants were 130 undergraduate students in the United States; all enrolled in at least one STEM course at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (54.6% women, 32.3% Latinx, 30.8% White, 20% Multiracial, 8.5% Asian, 7.7% Black, and 0.8% Indigenous students).
Methods
Study 1: Over a 10-day period, students completed daily surveys reporting on peer behaviors that signaled mindset beliefs (Seo et al., 2025b), as well as their own levels of impostor feelings and evaluative anxiety (Table 1). Bayesian multilevel modeling was used to examine both within-person and between-person effects.
Study: Eighteen participants from Study 1 took part in follow-up interviews. Using reflective thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019), we explored how students made sense of specific peer behaviors and their emotional implications in STEM classrooms.
Results
Study 1 found that on days when students observed more fixed mindset signaling peer behaviors (e.g., self-deprecation, explicit fixed messages), they reported increased impostor feelings and evaluative anxiety (Table 2). At the between-person level, students who consistently perceived such behaviors showed higher baseline emotional distress (Table 2). Notably, women were more negatively affected by frequent self-deprecating peers and racially minoritized students benefited more from seeing peers persist through challenges (Table 2).
Interestingly, Study 2 revealed a divergence: while students’ daily emotions were shaped by fixed peer behaviors like self-deprecation, their retrospective narratives centered on standout growth mindset-oriented moments, especially when peers shared personal struggles. These memorable experiences were viewed as emotionally supportive, even though they did not emerge as significant predictors in the daily data.
Scholarly Significance
This research advances theoretical models of emotion and motivation by demonstrating that students’ emotional experiences in STEM are shaped both by fleeting peer behaviors and by their interpretations of those experiences over time. The findings underscore the need to integrate moment-to-moment and retrospective meaning-making in models of emotion and motivation. Practically, the study highlights the value of peer interventions that promote growth-oriented behaviors. Such efforts may be especially beneficial for supporting persistence and well-being among women and minoritized students in STEM.

Authors

• Eunjin Seo, Texas State University

• So Yeon Lee, The University of Alabama at Birmingham