Improving Through Effort Shapes Students’ Mindset

• In Event: Situating Growth Mindset across Contexts and Cultures: Experiential, Environmental, and Developmental Influences

Abstract

Objectives
Two experiments were conducted in this research. Study 1 examined whether experiencing improvement through effort, compared to experiencing improvement without effort, affects students’ mindset and related motivational and behavioral outcomes. In Study 2, we aimed to extend Study 1 by investigating whether students’ initial mindset moderates the effects of effort-based improvement.

Theoretical Framework
Given the critical role of students’ mindset in their motivation and achievement (Dweck & Yeager, 2019), researchers have sought to identify predictors of mindset. A critical gap in prior studies, however, is that they have predominantly focused on social and environmental influences, such as parental praise (Mueller & Dweck, 1998), while largely neglecting personal, achievement-related experiences, despite the importance of these experiences in shaping students’ beliefs (Eccles & Wigfield, 2020). Addressing this gap is especially important given the often nonsignificant or transient effects of mindset interventions (Donohoe et al., 2012). Identifying experiential factors that effectively foster growth mindset could offer a promising pathway for meaningful and enduring mindset changes, as students typically resonate strongly with firsthand experiences. Building upon recent evidence indicating a potential link between experiences of effort and mindset (Limeri et al., 2020), Study 1 examined whether students’ firsthand experiences of improvement through effort influence their mindset and related outcomes. Moreover, given that students’ mindset influences their perceptions of effort (Dweck, 1999), Study 2 further examined whether students with distinct initial mindset respond differently to firsthand experiences of effort-based improvement.

Method
In Study 1, 58 third- and fourth-grade students in Korea were randomly assigned to either an effort-based improvement condition (n = 29), where participants experienced improvements in performance on an abstract reasoning task after effortful practice, or a no-effort improvement condition (n = 29), where participants experienced identical performance improvements without exerting effort. In Study 2, the design of Study 1 was replicated, but a mindset manipulation was additionally administered at the very beginning of the experiment, resulting in a 2 (growth vs. fixed mindset) × 2 (effort-based vs. no-effort improvement) between-subjects design. Participants were 105 fourth graders in Korea (ns = 21–34 per condition). At the end of each experiment, students’ mindset and motivational and behavioral outcomes (e.g., ability and effort attributions, interest, and reengagement intention) were measured.

Results
According to the multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) conducted in Study 1, students exhibited weaker fixed mindset and stronger effort attribution when they improved through effort than when they improved without effort (Figure 1). In Study 2, regression analyses revealed significant main effects of mindset and effort condition on attributions (Table 1). Interestingly, significant mindset × effort interaction emerged for fixed mindset. Specifically, only students initially induced with fixed mindset reported weaker fixed mindset following effortful improvement than following effortless improvement (Figure 2). This suggests unique benefits of effort-based improvement for students initially lacking positive motivational beliefs.

Significance
Our findings highlight the significance of firsthand experiences of effort-based improvement—a previously overlooked experiential factor—in shaping students’ mindset. Our research also offers practical, easily applicable strategies for promoting growth mindset among students.

Authors

• Sungwha Kim, Korea University - Brain and Motivation Research Institute

• Mimi Bong, Korea University

• Sung-il Kim, Korea University