To what extent and under which circumstances are growth mindsets important to academic achievement?

Mindsets (aka implicit theories) are beliefs about the nature of human attributes (e.g., intelligence). The theory holds that individuals with growth mindsets (beliefs that characteristics are malleable through positive effort) enjoy many positive outcomes —including higher academic achievement — while their peers who have fixed mindsets experience negative outcomes. 

The researchers have undertaken two meta-analyses. The first examines the strength of the relationship between mindset and academic achievement (and potential moderating factors). And the second looks at the effectiveness of mindset interventions on academic achievement (and potential moderating factors).

The findings indicate that overall effects were weak for both meta-analyses. However, before mindset supporters become too disillusioned, the researchers also found that some results supported specific tenets of the theory, namely, that students with low socioeconomic status or who are academically at risk might benefit from mindset interventions.