Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth

by Stuart Ritchie

The originator of the mindset concept, the Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, has published hundreds of scientific papers on it, but her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success is where the idea really hit the big time. She makes the notion of mindsets sound potentially life-altering. ‘The view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life,’ writes Dweck. And: ‘When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world.’31 Indeed, when you learn about mindsets, ‘You’ll suddenly understand the greats – in the sciences and arts, in sports, and in business – and the would-have-beens. You’ll understand your mate, your boss, your friends, your kids. You’ll see how to unleash your potential – and your children’s.’32 Although it mainly consists of illustrative anecdotes, the success and influence of Dweck’s book (and of the idea of mindsets in general) is based on Dweck being a scientist. And not just any scientist: a world-leading professor at a top university, who is, as she writes at the very beginning of her book, sharing her scientific research. Dweck’s ideas have become a veritable craze in education: a 2016 survey of American teachers found that 57 per cent had received training on growth mindset principles, and that 98 per cent agreed that using ideas about growth mindset in the classroom would improve their pupils’ learning. Thousands of schools in the UK mention their growth mindset policy on their websites.33 What does the best research on growth mindse...