You’re So Smart

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Intelligence is not a fixed, unchangeable quality. It can grow with effort. Consequently, praise for being smart can undermine a child’s motivation and performance. Instead, praise should focus on the effort a child has made, such as facing and overcoming challenges.

Intelligence can grow with effort

You’re so smart,” gushes Heather’s mother upon seeing her report card. “Look at that Nathaniel. All A’s! I’m so proud of you honey. I told you she was the smartest kid in that school. Wait ’til I show that report card to Grandma.”

Heather’s mother can hardly wait to get on the phone with grandma, put the bumper sticker on her car, and get together with the girls for a “so how are the kids doing” chat. Despite her need to tell the world about her “smart” little girl, she genuinely loves her daughter and has the best of intentions. Unfortunately, her high praise may have unintended consequences.

Mother praised Heather for being so “smart”. She called her the “smartest kid in the school” and in the process told her how proud she was of her for being so smart. In other words, she was praised for her intelligence – as if she has been blessed with an extra large helping of “smartness”. Many people view intelligence as something we are dealt at birth. Some of us get better hands than others. From the looks of that report card, Heather was dealt a hand full of Aces.

Although well intentioned, mother has inadvertently made her praise conditional. If Mom is so proud of her for getting straight A’s, what will she feel about her if she comes up with something less? When her father says, “That’s my girl”, then whose girl is she when she brings home B’s? Am I being too critical? There are many other ways for Heather to know her parents genuinely love her, unconditionally; right? But the risk here is that Heather is being labeled as “special” and may feel a need to hold on to that “specialness” to retain her parents’ approval and her own self-esteem.

So what is the harm in telling a kid she is smart – when it is obvious she is? An important developmental theme has been ignored or violated. By focusing on how smart she is rather that how much effort she put forth, these parents have focused on a fixed trait as the source of her success – as if she possesses a certain amount of smarts. In other words, they are attributing the A’s to this trait or a good brain she was born with. This view holds that intelligence is a set or fixed entity – not subject to change (or growth).

The alternative developmental perspective, and the one I want you to consider, is the idea that intelligence is dynamic – it can change with effort. This view is supported by research that shows actual measurable brain growth that results from use – focused practice in particular. If we could do an autopsy (my apologies) on Itzhak Perlman, we would find his brain has significantly greater development associated with playing the violin and with the fingers on his left hand in particular. The same goes for your son’s eye-hand (aka video game) coordination; Rafael Nadal’s forehand; Gretzky’s skating; or Emeril’s cooking. This brain development is not just limited to physical activities. It also applies to reading, writing and math. Focused effort yields growth – measurable growth. In other words, it is possible to become smarter. Everyone can improve their current level of functioning with focused practice.

So where does that leave Heather? What if her mother had said,”Wow, I know how hard you worked this year.” or “You must be very proud of what you have accomplished.” If Heather had in fact worked hard, then that effort deserves mother’s praise. The goal of development is for kids to become internally disciplined or self-directed. Heather needs to know that growth is possible and it is under her control.

By labeling her as “smart” and implying that is the basis for the straight A’s was some fixed “smartness”, then what is Heather going to do when she moves on to high school where classes are more challenging and the peer competition is greater? What is she going to do when math concepts are more difficult to grasp and essays need deeper analysis? How is she going to respond to criticism, which can imply that maybe she is not so smart, yet is essential to making improvements and growing. If a child needs to hold on to the fixed label, then she may avoid challenges and potential failures. But that is a formula for stagnation. With a growth mindset, control is internal. She knows that her effort, focused practice which involves correcting errors and getting it right before moving on, is the source of growth and getting smarter.

In an ideal setting, the report card would represent mastery of specific skills in each of those subject areas. We could look at that card and know that at Jefferson Middle School an A in math means that she has mastered factoring, solving for two unknowns, setting up proportions, …; an A in PE means that she challenged herself daily with at least 20 min of aerobic exercise in her target heart rate zone; an A in English means that she can write an editorial that presents a logical argument, with three main points, that are clearly introduced, substantiated with evidence, and clearly summarized in the end; and so on …

The work of Carol Dweck and her students has demonstrated that by focusing on labels of intelligence (as if it is a fixed quality) in the long run can undermine a child’s motivation and school performance. In contrast, praise for effort provides useful support for the essential means to growth (or getting “smarter”). See:

Mueller, Claudia M. and Dweck, Carol S., Praise for Intelligence Can Undermine Children’s Motivation and Performance, Personality and Social Psychology, 1998, Vol. 75, No. 1, 33-52, 0022-3514/98/S3.00

“He’s a natural born superstar”

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Growth vs. Fixed Mindset

A fixed mindset assumes that one is naturally born with talent or giftedness. A growth mindset assumes that competence is gained through hard work. A label such as “gifted” can be a curse if it leads to a lack of engagement in hard work or a reluctance to risk failure – which is an essential part of learning and growing.

If you visited a 3rd grade class for a day, do you think you could pick out the kids who will be successful in life? A kid like Anthony would jump right out at you. Anthony was the biggest, strongest, and fastest kid in 3rd grade – by far. In middle school, he had the sweetest jump shot and the quickest release I can ever recall. Even at that age, the people around him knew he was “special” – and told him so. In high school, he lived up to that label – setting a state scoring record and then breaking it the following year. Anthony was one of the most highly recruited shooting guards coming out of high school before landing at VSU. To everyone’s surprise, Anthony transferred midseason of his freshman year, unhappy with his playing time. This was not the “one-and-done” route to the NBA predicted by his uncle who was already interviewing agents on Anthony’s behalf (unofficially of course). He was welcomed with open arms by his new teammates at Tremont who nicknamed him “Lights Out” after two jaw dropping exhibitions of shooting. Ineligible to play, but free to practice with the team, he became Tremont fandom’s great hope for “next year”. Again, his uncle had him only playing one year at Tremont before jumping to the NBA. And after one year, where was Anthony? Transferring to his third basketball program in as many years. Once again, he had not gotten enough playing time. There was no doubt Anthony could shoot. On several occasions he came into games late, producing a torrent of scoring. But more often, he entered games only to play mediocre defense and fail to make passes to wide open teammates.

Anthony and his uncle held a fixed mindset about his natural talent (gifted) and future (golden). Unfortunately his coaches adhered to a growth mindset – that improvement comes from hard work. Anthony watched with contempt as less highly recruited (and less “talented”) athletes passed him by in terms of playing time. But if we asked the coach, we would hear a different story. He would paint a sharp contrast between the athlete who sought coaches’ critiques, came to the gym on his own, lifted weights all summer, and never missed an opportunity to play against better competition versus the young man who rested on his laurels and transferred every year. By transferring to a new program and blaming the coach for not playing him, Anthony could hold on to his fixed mindset belief about his “talent” or “giftedness”.

A growth mindset assumes that change is possible, regardless of what natural abilities people are born with. A boy may be well coordinated, but he still has to apply himself to become good at a sport. And regardless of how good he is at present, he can always “grow” and make himself better. A growth mindset assumes that competence is gained through hard work, while a fixed mindset assumes that natural abilities or deficits determine outcomes.

The old adage, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is a good example of a fixed mindset. What we have since discovered, however, is that we can teach an old dog new tricks; it just takes longer. We now know that brains can grow, even in our old age. We also know that brains grow in relation to how much certain skills are practiced. Quite a bit of my brain lights up when I hit a forehand in tennis, but sadly there is barely a flicker when it comes to hitting a golf shot. But that is directly related to how many hours of practice I have dedicated to each sport.

The well-developed part of the brain related to a skill practiced for 10,000 hours is like a super highway. Without those hours of practice that part of the brain is comparable to a bunch of backcountry dirt roads. Michael Jordan was cut from the varsity basketball team his sophomore year of high school. 10,000 hours of practice later, he was helping North Carolina win a national championship. If talent were all it took, all those grueling hours in the gym would not have been necessary. Jordan’s approach to the game epitomized a growth mindset. Anthony and his uncle somehow missed that part of Jordan’s biography.

“I suck at math” and “I can’t draw” are also fixed mindsets. If you compare yourself with others who are doing better, you can conclude you simply don’t have the ability. But improvement comes one small step at a time, advancing on developmental time, enhanced by practice, not simply by the passing of chronological time. If a child is expected to keep up with his age cohort in reading or math, he may conclude he lacks the talent to be good at those subjects. Math is learned one concept at a time, with explanations, demonstrations, practice problems, error analysis, and then more problems. Learning math is like building a house, one brick at a time. It occurs on developmental time, not chronological time.

The scrawniest guy on our high school tennis team epitomized the growth mindset. By all appearances, he felt no shame. Failure didn’t faze him. He just wasn’t a normal guy. He would play anyone, usually someone better than he and didn’t mind losing. In fact, he equated losing with learning. Still short and bowlegged even as a senior, he was the only one who emerged with a full-ride, Division I tennis scholarship. Anyone who watched his growth mindset at work would notice that every week, he was a better tennis player than he was the week before. That could not be said about the rest of us, with our egos safely protected.

Do you still think you can spot the future successes in 3rd grade? Could you spot the future failures? Can you spot a child with a growth mindset? How about the teacher? The parent(s)? Can a fixed mindset be changed? For Anthony’s sake, let’s hope so.

Mindset: The new psychology of success by Carol Dweck fully explains the powerful effect of a Growth vs. Fixed Mindset for development in all areas – ourselves, our children, our students, and our players.

The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle explains that people are not born with greatness, but develop it with effective practice.

Anthony is a fictional composite of all too common “can’t miss” athletes.