Does believing you can get smarter improve maths grades?
Students' belief that intelligence can grow did not directly predict their later maths scores, but it was linked to scores indirectly through enjoying maths, owning their failures, feeling capable and feeling less anxious.
Source
How growth mindset influences mathematics achievements: A study of Chinese middle school students
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cohort — Questionnaires on mindset and motivational variables at the end of year 7, then maths test scores tracked over years 8-9; structural equation modelling with bootstrapped mediation
- N
- N=266 · 266 students who took part in every round of data collection (only completers were analysed)
- Population
- Junior middle school students (aged 12-13 in year 7) at one urban school in Hengshui, Hebei Province, China
- Outcome
- Average of three official mathematics tests (end of year 8, middle and end of year 9); mediators were intrinsic motivation, perceived self-responsibility for failure, maths self-efficacy and maths anxiety
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What they did
The researchers surveyed 266 Chinese students at the end of their first year of junior middle school about their mindset (whether intelligence can change), their enjoyment of maths, how they explained doing badly on maths tests, their confidence with maths tasks and their maths anxiety. They then collected the students' scores on three official maths exams over the next two years. Structural equation modelling tested whether mindset predicted exam scores directly or through the other variables.
What they found
Growth mindset was not significantly correlated with maths achievement and had no direct path to it in the model. Instead, mindset predicted stronger intrinsic motivation (β = 0.356) and a stronger tendency to take personal responsibility for failure (β = 0.379). Taking responsibility was linked to higher self-efficacy and lower anxiety, and these in turn predicted achievement (self-efficacy β = 0.348, anxiety β = −0.152, motivation β = 0.199). All three indirect pathways were statistically significant.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Mindset and all the proposed mediators were measured at the same moment in year 7, so the study cannot show that mindset came first and changed motivation or anxiety; the causal ordering in the model is assumed, not tested. The text does not describe controlling for students' earlier maths attainment, which could drive both confidence and later grades. All students came from one school in one Chinese city and only students who completed every round were analysed, so the authors caution the results may not generalize to other cultures. Mindset was not manipulated, so this correlational design says nothing directly about whether mindset interventions would work.
Key terms
- Growth mindset
- The belief that intelligence and ability can be developed through effort and learning, as opposed to a fixed mindset that sees them as unchangeable.
- Mediation
- When one variable is linked to an outcome through an intermediate variable, such as mindset relating to grades via motivation.
- Sequential mediation
- A chain of two or more mediators in order, for example mindset to failure attribution to self-efficacy to achievement.
- Failure attribution
- How a person explains a poor result, for instance blaming their own effort versus bad luck or the teacher.
- Self-efficacy
- A person's confidence in their ability to succeed at specific tasks, here solving particular maths problems.
- Structural equation modelling (SEM)
- A statistical method that tests a whole network of predicted relationships among measured and latent variables at once.
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Quiz yourself
What was the relationship between growth mindset and maths achievement in the model?
Common questions
If mindset doesn't directly predict grades, is it pointless?
Not according to this study. Mindset was linked to grades indirectly through motivation, attributions, self-efficacy and anxiety, so the authors argue interventions should target those factors alongside mindset.
Why might mindset matter less in this sample?
The authors cite the suggestion that in Chinese culture diligence and effort are already strongly valued, leaving less room for a growth mindset to add extra study effort.
Does this show that changing a student's mindset will raise their grades?
No. Nothing was manipulated and the mediators were measured at the same time as mindset, so the pathways are statistical associations rather than demonstrated causes.
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