Carol Dweck’s theories have had a profound effect on our understanding of human behaviour.  She has been working in this field since the 1970s, and her work is now regarded as having huge significance in such domains as early years, education, business, sport, relationships, etc. – in fact every domain in which people’s mindsets affect their behaviour. 

Carol Dweck’s research has revealed that we all hold mindsets about our intelligence, ability, personality, etc.  Roughly half of us hold fixed mindsets about our intelligence, thinking that our successes are due to innate, natural ability or talent and our failures are due to a lack of these qualities.  Roughly half of us, on the other hand, hold a growth mindset about our intelligence, believing that our successes are caused by such factors as effort, application and good study skills, and believing that failure is remediable: we’ll need to work harder, apply better strategies, seek appropriate support and intervention, etc.   

Carol Dweck’s theory of mindsets has significant practical implications for teachers, business-people, sportsmen and women, and parents.  Her research has shown that students who hold a growth mindset do better in school and that teaching students a growth mindset enhances their achievement.  Interestingly, there may not be a correlation between the mindset one holds and one’s performance until students encounter difficulty.  For example, for many students (especially 'gifted and talented’ students) the challenge-levels they experience in school can be perceived as low – they might not encounter many concepts which they regard as problematic, difficult and demanding.  However, they may be developing fixed mindsets, and differences arise once difficulties are encountered: individuals with fixed mindsets tend to show low levels of resilience, persistence and creative problem-solving, and therefore fail to make progress, whereas individuals with growth mindsets thrive on adversity, and grow new ways of coping and progressing.

Dweck’s work also shows that how we praise students can have important effects on their motivation and that praising students' intelligence can actually undermine students' motivation and performance.  Praise for intelligence conveys a fixed mindset, makes students afraid of challenges, and leads to decreased interest and performance when tasks become difficult.  Praising for process (effort, strategy, improvement) has the opposite effect.  It leads students to take on challenges and to persevere through difficulty. 

An implication of Carol Dweck's theory of mindsets is that as educators we have a huge responsibility to support our students in developing a growth mindset which engenders a lifelong love of learning, not a short-term obsession with performance.  John Hattie, who has led the largest-ever study of learning and achievement, tells us that achievement is more likely to be increased when students focus on learning rather than looking smart, take on challenges rather than easy tasks, accept constructive feedback rather than rejecting it, monitor and assess their progress rather than comparing themselves to other students and show resilience rather than helplessness in the academic situation.  In his own words: "The willingness to invest in learning, to gain a reputation as a learner, and to show openness to experiences are the key dispositional factors that relate to achievement." 
(Visible Learning, by John Hattie, 2009, p47).

Hattie goes on to conclude that teachers are more likely to have success if they teach students the right mindsets before attempting to enhance their achievement through instruction.  Carol Dweck’s groundbreaking work speaks directly to this conclusion.