Lesson M4:
Growth Mindset Applied to Social Challenges
Time:50minutes
Overview
This lesson highlights neuroscience research about the brain and the changeable nature of personality. The lesson’s purpose is to convince young people to adopt a growth mindset about their own personality and the personality of others. They are influenced to consider personality traitsas malleable; personalities change with time and personal effort. In this lesson, young people identify fixed and growth mindsets and practice applying a growth mindset to common social scenarios.
Recent research by Dr. Carol Dweck and Dr. David Yeager (conducted at Stanford University) demonstrates that young peoplewith growth mindsets show reduced aggression and increased pro-social responses to bullying than those with fixed mindsets. Youth who received the intervention showed less stress in response to victimization than youth in the control group.
This lesson was developed in partnership with Dr. David Yaeger and mirrors this Stanford intervention with students in 9th grade. Results earned Dr. Yeager the 2012 American Psychological Association Dissertation Award, the American Society for Research on Child Development Award, and the International Society for Research on Aggression’s Lagerspetz Award.
Objectives
By participating in this lesson, young people will:
1. Develop a belief that personalities change with time and effort.
2. Identify language labels that reinforce growth or fixed mindsets about personality.
3. Experience how individuals interpretsocial challenges differently, depending on their mindset lens.
Anchor Vocabulary
- Growth Mindset—An established attitude that one’s brain is highly malleable; abilities and personalities are shaped by effort.
- Fixed Mindset — An established attitude that one’s brain doesn’t change much; abilities and personalities are primarily fixed in an inherited state.
- Personality —Patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that are common to an individual. Evidence suggests personality traits have biological origins (extroversion-introversion) however they are heavily shaped by the social landscape.
Materials & Media
- Mindset PowerPoint: Mindset and Personality
- Paper and Pens for writing; Tape for Popcorn Activity
- Tennis Ball(s) for Ball Activity (1 ball/10 individuals)
Lesson Outline / Lesson Description
ENROLL
(4 min) / Welcome
(2 min)
Definition for Personality
(2 min) / Slide 1:
Build relationships with young people as they walk through the door: Four at the Door! (Name, eyes, hand, heart)
Say:
- We’re going to talk about personalities today, and how the brain manages not just our abilities, but our personalities too.
- Personalities are important; they make each of us unique and they influence our response to all the situations around us.
Ask:
- What is personality? What does this term mean to you?
- What are examples of a personality trait? [1]
- A range of extroversion to introversion.If you are highly extroverted, you actually think better when you can speak. Those more introverted folks, prefer time to process their thoughtsbefore they speak. Do you talk to others to feel better about a challenge? Or do you prefer to have some alone-time when challenged?
- Anotherpersonality trait is called Being Agreeable: It’s about how trusting you are. How comfortable are youin openly showing affection and pro-social behaviors?
- Another trait is how conscientious you are about completing tasks. How thoughtful are you? How much do you control your impulses? How mindful are you of details and completing them?
EXPANDING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
(10min) / Reminder:
Growth Mindset
Personalities can
Change
Research about
personality
Elbow Partner
Discussion:
How do the
adolescents
change?
(4 min)
Review of Phineas Gage Story from prior mindset lesson.
(3 min) / Slide #3: Introduce— Personalities can Change
Say:
- We’ve talked about how the brain thinks thoughts and that your abilities change and grow stronger with effort.
1)What about your personality?
2)How many of you think you’re born with your personality and it stays pretty much the same? What examples do you have of this?
3)How many of you think a personality grows and changes a lot over time? What examples do you have of this?
Say:
- Actually,research shows that you have some biological underpinnings to your personality. You inherit certain tendencies; butthen your personality ishighly influenced by time in different kinds of environments and your effort.
Say:
- Long-term studies show people can change personalities.
- Researchers observed how people acted. They found almost everyone changes at least a little. And some people changed completely!
- Not everyone has a drastic change; however it’s natural for people to change over four years.
- Turn to an elbow partner and answer this question. Then I’d like some of you to share your thoughts.
- Howdo the adolescents change? Think about how someone might change from being a high school freshman to a college freshman… or to a first year in a career.
Slide #6:
Ask:
- Can someone remind us of the story about Phineas Gage? What happened here?
- Phineas Gage was an American railroad construction foreman in the mid-1800s who survived a train accident. During this accident there was an explosion that sent an iron rod through his face, out the top of his head, and flying 20 feet away. Miraculously he survived.
- The rod injured the frontal lobe of Gage’s brain.
- With damage to the frontal lobes, his personality was affected. He became highly irritable and couldn’t control his emotions any more. He got angry a lot. He couldn’t think about details and plan for the future.
- Phineas Gage actually recovered his personality, to some extent, and he regained his ability to make friends and have friends. He regained his ability to hold a job.
Say:
- This story of Phineas Gage reminds us that personalities change, through effort and practice, even in the worst of circumstances.
- Looking at the brain, Gage’s frontal lobe was damaged. It controls decision-making and abstract thinking. It controls the emotions developed in your Amygdala (the almond-shaped region just above your ear).
Facilitator runs through next three slides to show neurons making connections.
Say:
- And yet, over time, Phineas Gage’s brain neurons made new connections….
Say:
- With a growth mindset, you know people can change.
- You can bounce back and have more success after conflicts or setbacks.
EXPERIENCE
(15 min)
(21 min left) / Apply a Growth Mindset to High School Scenarios (15 min) / High School Scenarios – Mindset Matrix
Facilitator gives instructions:
- Now, let’s consider high school and what happens when we apply fixed or growth mindsets to social challenges.
- I’m going to pass out a list of real scenarios faced by other high school youth.Work withone or two partners and choose two scenarios that interest you. It’d also be great if some of you want to shape your ownidea for a challenging social situation.
- You’ll then complete the Mindset Matrix. First, identify the issue at hand. Next, think of a fixed mindset and two growth mindset responses. Finally, write down the likely outcomethat is apt to happen witheach response.
- Give the young peoplefive minutes to complete the handout.
- Bring the group back together and ask for themto volunteer their responses. Discuss the consequences of the proposed responses and encourage the group to hear the growth mindset language.
- Facilitate discussion about other resources young people might use to help them with each challenge.
LEARN
& LABEL
(2 min) / Research about aggressive students
Youth discussion & review
Other young people say… / Slide #12:
Say:
•A researcher, Daniel Olweus, conducted two worldwide studies of 5,200 students. He found that the majority of aggressive students became less mean; they found positive ways to interact over time.
•The aggressive students tended to learn new ways to confront problems; they reduced their conflicts in school.
Slide #13:
Ask:
•Why do you think these experiments worked?
Facilitator solicits thoughts from the youth.
Slide #14:
Say:
Students learned a growth mindset.
•People aren’t one, fixed type of person.
•Even though changing can be hard and changing can take some time…change is always possible, no matter who…or how oldyou are!
Slide #15:
Say:
•When other young people learned about growth mindset and personality, they said things such as this…
“You can change, even if you are rejected or don’t have many friends. As you move out of high school, you’re going to expand your world and meet new people. Not only that…the people who leave you out or make fun of you will have matured more due to the new responsibilities, challenges and people.”
•This was what Taneisha, an 11th grader, wrote.
Slide #16:
Say:
•Alberto, a 12th grader, learned about growth mindset and wrote:
“Just because it happens in high school, doesn’t mean it will happen throughout life. High school isn’t your destiny. As people expand their world, they will at some point be able to find
someone to connect and bond with.”
DEMONSTRATE
(5 min) / Ball Activity gets youth moving while reminding them how brain works
(5 min) / Slide #17:
Say:
- Time for a break and do a little moving around. This is a variation of the Beach Ball Activity that we did when first introducing how your brain works. However, this time let’s try a tennis ball.
- You need to get the ball from the first person (name) to the last person (name) and everyone has to pass the ball. You all have to use two hands as well.
- Let’s simulate that you are shy and over time you reach out to people better and start contributing what you are thinking.
- Now, we’re going to add more challenge. You are in a new school and you know no one. Everyone has to sit on their right hands and do the same order of passing the ball to everyone.
- Let’s do it again and see if you can beat your time.
- Good job. What is the message here? (One answer: You set your mind to something and improved with effort.)
DEMONSTRATE
(12 min) / Fixed Mindset Statements: Youth practice responses
(3 min per statement)
Youth apply growth mindset to their own lives
(6 min) / Slide #18: Scenario #1
Say:
- Now let’s look at some common social scenarios.
“People who are rejected or left out in high school will be left out or rejected throughout their life.”
•Think separately about how you’d convince someone and briefly jot your response down.
•After a minute, let’s have some discussion.
Facilitator invites discussion.
Slide #19: Scenario #2
Say:
•Let’s do one more fixed mindset statement.
•What would you say to convince someone that this fixed mindset statement is not true?
“Some people are just ‘bad.’ People who reject others, or hurt others, or make fun of others in high school, are bad people. They will always be that way.”
•Think separately about how you’d convince someone and write your response down.
Facilitator invites discussion.
Slide #20:
Say:
•Now let’s reflect about your experiences.
•What is a social conflict or setback that you or another student experienced in school? (It can be big or small.)
•Jot the situation down on a piece of paper, avoiding any names. Take just a minute to do this.
•Then, you’ll work in small groups of two or three to discuss each situation and develop questions that come up for you, now that you know that personalities are malleable…they change with effort and time.
Slide #21:
Say:
•Read the scenarios aloud in your group.
•Discuss what you wrote about and questions that came up for you.
EXPANDING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
(16 min) / MTV video of Taylor Swift & Kanye West
(Setup: 1 min
Video: 1 min)
Discussion
(4 min)
Popcorn Exercise to develop Self-Reflection about situations in their daily lives
(10 min) / Slide #22:
Say:
•Let’s watch a video showing music celebrities in a stressful situation.
•
•This is 2010 on MTV,when country music singer Taylor Swift wins her first Most Valuable Award for a video.
•What was obviously an incredible moment for a very young and talented artist turned very bad and very sad, with unexpected comments by rapper KanyeWest.
•Pay attention to each person’s reaction and the emotions they must be feeling. We’ll be discussing these reactions.
Facilitator leads discussion to highlight guesses about emotions the celebrities are feeling.Ask:
- Do you think Taylor Swift showed a growth mindset? (Not applicable – take out)
Say:
- Now, let’s do a Popcorn Exercise to explore ways to respond to social challenges.
- This activity begins with you recording a time when you felt left out, rejected, or upset by an acquaintance. An acquaintance is a person that you know but that you aren’t quite friends or best friends with.
- Take a minute to think about what happened to you, your feelings and how you dealt with the conflict.
- Then, I’d like you to write down 3-8 sentences answering these questions.
- Don’t sign your name. This is anonymous popcorn. However, write it very well so that the person who receives the popcorn can understand what happened.
- Then when you are done, wad the paper into a popcorn ball.
- Is everyone ready? When I say “Go!”, you’ll toss the popcorn up in the air or across the room and catch a new popcorn ball.
Say:
- Now, imagine that the event you received happened to someone just like you. What could you say to help that person understand that they can change and the things that are happening to them could change?
- Write a few paragraphs. Include your own thoughts, feelings and experiences.
- When done, please tape your popcorn situation to your paper and I’ll collect and compile them.I’ll pull out sample situations and answers for you to see.
Note: If time allows, the facilitator might ask individuals to read the scenarios they received and the advice they gave. Post-lesson, review the advice letters as they serve as data demonstrating that youth absorbed the growth mindset material. Note however, that even when advice letters don’t show this lens, some individuals will proceed to absorb the message post-lesson, mirroring the results of Dr. David Yeager’s research.
Say:
- How might a growth mindset help you have success after these kinds of setbacks?
- Will some of you share out with the wider group?
- And, if any of you want to discuss your scenarios with me further, jot me a note and I’ll get back to you.
CLOSURE
(1 min) / Slide #25:
Say:
- In closure, would one of you read the words of a high school student who did this same set of activities?
- Thank you for being so thoughtful today. This concludes our consideration of Growth Mindset & Personality.
Developed by Thrive Foundation for Youth. Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommerial-Share Alike 3.0. U.S. License. 2010. This document can be shared and adapted by users for educational, non-commercial purposes.
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Last Updated: 2/12/13Growth Mindset & Personality
[1] Significant body of literature supports a five-factor model of personality with ranges of Extroversion; Agreeableness; Conscientiousness; Neuroticism (moodiness, irritability, anxiety); and Openness (imagination, insight).