Inspired by the book Succeed: How we can reach our goal, I created this one with all of the points from a portion of Chapter 2 and shared it here. It's worth to spread this out for what the author suggested about incremental theory.
1. - I had the presentation about 3 things to enable your success before. And one of
the things is Setting Goal.
- This presentation is from chapter 2 of the book called Succeed: How we can reach
our goals from Dr. HEIDI GRANT HALVORSON – Do you know where your goals
come from?
- http://huff.to/iZPMIp: 9 things successful people do differently
- Why this is important for the today’s topic?
- Your beliefs are important influences on the goals you adopt and that’s
the start of your successes
- Our beliefs determine whether we see a goal as within our reach or as a
waste of time and energy
- Our beliefs about our abilities influence what we think is possible – and
what we might realistically be able to achieve
- Interestingly, it’s not just whether or not you think you have ability that matters.
In fact, what seems to be most important is whether or not you think you can
get ability.
- Do you think that intelligence (or personality or athletic prowess) is something
that is fixed, or something that is malleable?
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2. - 3 questions (from the book)
- Focus on understanding which side you have stronger preference (no middle mark)
- For each of the questions, pick a score.
- Sum up 3 scores
- Remember what the sum is
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3. - Entity theorists:
- If you believe that smartness is something you are more or less born with,
- Something that is largely genetic,
- or something that develops in childhood but then is pretty much constant
through adulthood
The entity theory of intelligence is, in a nutshell, the belief that a person has a certain
amount of intelligence and that there isn’t anything anyone can do about it (in other
words, intelligence is an unchanging entity). You are either smart or you’re not.
- Incremental theorists:
- On the other hand, if you believe that smartness is a quality that is
developed over time through experience and learning, and that people can
get more of it if they apply themselves, you are an incremental theorist.
- People can get smarter at any point in their lives
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4. - Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, in her book Mindset, she elaborates on the
many ways in which our beliefs about our own ability to grow and develop (or
inability to do so) shape every aspect of our lives.
- Across dozens of studies, Dweck and her students have shown that people who
believe in their personal traits, like smartness, are fixed become overly
concerned with receiving validation.
- They want, whenever possible, to receive confirmation that they are smart (or, at
the very least, that they are not stupid). They want to feel smart. They want to
look smart.
- If I only have a fixed amount of smartness, then it’s really important for me to
have a lot of it, since I can’t actually get anymore.
- And remember that being smart isn’t just a matter of pride or flattering your ego –
you want to have high ability so that you can be a successful person and get the
things in life you want.
- So if you are an entity theorist when it comes to intelligence, your primary goal
becomes proving yourself and to everyone else that you are quite smart, every
chance you get.
- Entity theorists make choices and set goals designed specifically to validate their
intelligence. As a rule, they avoid goals that are too challenging, preferring the
safer bets.
- A person was smart when it came to particular subjects because his/her genes
make her that way.
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5. - Majority of Americans believe something that psychologists call the inverse effort
rule – if you have to work hard at something, you aren’t good at it. Effort
compensates for a lack of ability.
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6. - Guitar story: Entity theorists shortchange themselves by concentrating too much
on proving themselves at the expense of experiences that could potentially enrich
their lives.
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7. - When you believe that your ability – any ability – can be grown and developed
over time, you focus not so much on proving you are smart, but on cultivating your
smartness. Challenges aren’t threatening, they are opportunities to acquire new
skills. Mistakes don’t mean you stupid – they are full of information that can help
you to learn.
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8. - Dweck asked junior high and college students to describe the goals they pursued
in the classroom. Those who believed their intelligence was fixed agreed with
statements like “Although I hate to admit it, I would rather do well in the class
than learn a lot” and “If I knew I wasn’t going to do well at a task, I probably
wouldn’t do it even if I might learn a lot from it.”
- Those students who believed their intelligence could be increased preferred
statements like “It’s much more important for me to learn things in my classes
than it is to get the best grades.”
- 10 to 12 year old boys and girls:
- Those who believed their own personality and character couldn’t be
change were more focused than their peers on being popular and avoiding
rejection. On Valentine’s Day, they would make valentines for the most
popular children, hoping to win their favor. Those more focused on
avoiding rejection would make valentines only for the children who they
know would give one in return.
- On the other hand, the children who believed they could improve and grow
as a person tended to choose goals that were more about developing
relationships. Their valentines went to children they said they would like to
know better, opening the door to friendship.
- Choosing mate / lovers
- Fixed personality persons would look others seeing them as “perfect”
and making them feel good about themselves. Partners who they think
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9. will feel “lucky to be with me”. And they’re quick to exit relationship that
become too argumentative or critical.
- The changed personality persons would look for partners who challenge
them to develop and grow, and more likely to see the rough patch in the
relationship as an opportunity to learn about their partner and
themselves
- The shyness story
- Once believing that there is something about ourselves we cannot change, we
pursue goals that focus exclusively on presenting ourselves to others in the best
possible light. Ironically, these are goals that often actively prevent change –
goals that make it impossible for us to learn and grow.
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10. - Smart parents create home env. that are richer in learning opportunities. They
talk more to their children. Often, they make more money and so are better able
to provide educational opportunities and send their children to better school
districts. Smart parents seem to give their children many, many more chances to
develop their children.
- Serves primarily poor, minority students, many of whom receive little guidance,
support, or educational encouragement in the home. KIPP provides a rich
educational environment as well as explicit instruction in the importance of
discipline and hard work. These students go to school from 7:30am to 5pm, with
additional time on Sat and over the summer. Teachers visit students’ homes,
insist on respectful and courteous behavior at all times, and make themselves
available via phone at any time of the day or night. Students put extra time into
learning, and teachers provide the care and support that is tragically so often
missing in the homes of poorer children
- More than 80% of KIPP students perform at or above their grade level in both
math and reading – as twice as many as a typical NY school.
- KIPP graduating eight grade students outperform 74% of students nationwide on
reading and math tests – a remarkable feat considering the fact that a KIPP
student starts out performing at around the 28% level.
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