Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe personal characteristics can be developed

In this article, Carol Dweck and David Yeager, leading researchers on student motivation, review research demonstrating the impact of students' mindsets on their resilience in the face of academic and social challenges. They demonstrate that students who believe - or are taught - that intellectual abilities are qualities that can be developed (as opposed to qualities that are fixed) tend to show higher achievement across challenging school transitions and greater course completion, as well as lower aggression and stress in response to peer victimization or exclusion, which results in enhanced school performance. They discuss why psychological interventions that change students' mindsets are effective and what educators can do to foster these mindsets and create resilience in educational settings.