A growth mindset is the belief that personal characteristics, specifically intellectual ability, are malleable and can be developed by investing time and effort. In recent decades, numerous studies have investigated the associations between growth mindset and academic achievement, and large intervention programs have been established to train adolescents to develop a stronger growth mindset. However, methodological research on the adequacy of the measures used to assess growth mindset is scarce. In our study, we conducted one of the first comprehensive assessments of the psychometric properties (especially structural and external validity, reliability, and measurement invariance across age groups) of Dweck’s widely used three-item Growth Mindset Scale in two samples: adolescents (age 14–19 years) and adults (age 20–64 years). Furthermore, we identified and validated a single-item measure to assess growth mindset in research settings with severe time constraints. Our results show that both the short (three-item) and ultra-short (single-item) scales have acceptable psychometric properties. However, associations with sociodemographic characteristics, personality characteristics, and achievement outcomes were generally small in the present samples. Further, we empirically demonstrated the comparability (i.e., measurement invariance) of the scales across adolescents and adults. Our findings can serve as a benchmark for future studies on growth mindset.

At its best, strategic thinking yields an advantage needed to beat an opponent. At the least, it protects the person from exploitation. In four studies, conducted in two countries, we used a simple number-guessing game, in which one respondent wins by guessing the number chosen by another. We show that people generate numbers nonrandomly, and, on the basis of this finding, we predict and find that nonrandom strategic choice is advantageous to the guesser if the chooser does not randomize either. As expected, respondents in the role of the guesser preferred to play a game in which they were to actively think of a number instead of randomizing if the chooser had to think of a number, too. Guessers did not prefer thinking if the chooser selected a number randomly. Having shown these limitations to strategic reasoning, we close with the observation that successful strategic reasoning may – at times – require the breaking of rules and being the first to do so.

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Abstract. A growth mindset is a belief that personal characteristics, specifically intellectual ability, are malleable and can be developed by investing time and effort. Numerous studies have investigated the associations between a growth mindset and academic achievement, and large intervention programs have been established to train adolescents to develop a stronger growth mindset. However, methodological research on the adequacy of the measures used to assess a growth mindset is scarce. In our study, we conducted one of the first comprehensive assessments of the psychometric properties of Dweck’s widely used three-item Growth Mindset Scale in two samples (adolescents aged 14–19 years and adults aged 20–64 years). We test the comparability (i.e., measurement invariance) of the scale across these age groups. Furthermore, using the same two samples, we identified and validated a single-item measure to assess growth mindset in settings with severe time constraints. Results reveal that both the three-item and the single-item scales have acceptable psychometric properties regarding reliability, comparability, and validity. However, the results did not support some of the central tenets of mindset theory, such as that a growth mindset is positively linked to goal regulation and achievement, calling for future research on the criterion validity of a growth mindset.