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Fixed And Growth Mindset
Pioneered by Carol Dweck of Stanford University1, the concepts of fixed and growth mindset seek to explain how some students respond to setbacks with resiliency, while others are crippled by failure.
Fixed mindset is characterized by the belief that individuals are born with a set amount of talent and are powerless to grow beyond this boundary. This leads students to embrace performance-focused goals, concentrating only on the outcome of a performance and on proving one's talent. Because of this preoccupation with talent, students do not value effort or learning for its own sake. Individuals who hold a fixed mindset often fear failure and therefore avoid challenges because they are seen as an affront to their talent.2
Fixed mindset students may attribute a poor performance to a lack of musical ability, rather than assessing their preparation or pre-performance routine and seeking ways to improve in the future. This often creates a cyclical effect where one poor performance causes a student to believe they are not capable of improvement, and therefore, they exert less effort when preparing for the next performance.
Conversely, individuals holding a growth mindset place tremendous focus on the role that effort plays in developing skills and gaining knowledge. This belief that talent is malleable leads students to welcome challenges and see mistakes as opportunities for growth.3 In contrast to the performance-focused goals that accompany fixed mindset, growth mindset leads to learning-focused goals that are oriented around skill mastery and personal growth.
According to Matthew R. Northrop, "It is their belief in the importance of effort and toil that allows those with a growth mindset to view failure, as disappointing and painful as it may be, as a motivational impetus for continued learning, growth, and eventual success."4 This pattern of learning from mistakes allows growth mindset students to value feedback- both positive and negative-as an opportunity for improvement. These students consistently assess performances in light of their preparation and look for ways to change unproductive practice habits.
Mindset And Anxiety
Individuals with a fixed mindset are more susceptible to anxiety because of the focus they place on performance outcomes and their constant concern with appearing talented. There is a growing body of research devoted to exploring this correlation between fixed...