Growth Mindset as a Personal Preference Predicts Teachers’ Favorable Evaluation of Positive Education as an Imported Practice When Institutional and Normative Support for It Are Both Strong or Both Weak

Abstract

Past research on pathways to cultural influence on judgment has compared the explanatory power of personal preferences, perceived descriptive norms and institutionalization. Positive education is an education movement inspired by Western positive psychology. The present study examined how these factors jointly predict Hong Kong teachers' evaluation of imported positive education programs in their schools. In a field study, we measured teachers' personal endorsement of growth mindset (a positive psychology construct developed in the US) and their evaluation of adopting positive education programs in their schools. We also measured teachers' perception of the extent of institutional and normative support for positive education in their schools. The results show that teachers' personal preferences for growth mindset predict more favorable evaluation of positive education programs when institutional and normative support for positive education programs are both weak, or when they are both strong. We interpret these effects from the perspectives of the strong situation hypothesis and the intersubjective theory of culture.

Implementing and Evaluating Growth Mindset Pedagogy – A Study of Finnish Elementary School Teachers

“…Thus, we see the cultivation of GMP as the cultivation of teachers' ethical professionalism and their ability to promote active change in the educational system. Consequently, we reject comparisons between GMP and neo-liberal ideals emphasizing the efficiency and accountability of education (see e.g., Adams et al, 2019;Chan et al, 2020); on the contrary, we wish to develop discussion on growth mindsets and GMP that diverges from ideas of self-maximation. Critics are right to highlight the misuse of growth mindset theory in education.…”

“…A growth mindset is often understood as a positive psychological construct (e.g., Chan et al, 2020). Positive pedagogy draws on aspects of positive psychology and attaches importance to processes that define wellness, as well as the identification and nurturing of students' character strengths (see, e.g., Chan et al, 2020;Gilman et al, 2014;Seligman, 2002). GMP aligns with many aspects of positive pedagogy, such as a focus on the holistic well-being of students and optimism.…”

“…Furthermore, critics voice concerns that an emphasis on personal growth could reinforce and legitimize the influence of neoliberalist educational ideals (Adams et al, 2019;Chan et al, 2020), such as the pursuit of increased efficiency and individuals' responsibility to "fix themselves," as opposed to developing educational and societal systems in which individuals can thrive (see, e.g., Kohn, 2015;Webster & Rivers, 2019). In our view, supporting a belief in the human potential to change and learn does not imply succumbing to the pressures of continuous self-maximization and self-cultivation.…”

Growth mindset predicts teachers’ life satisfaction when they are challenged to innovate their teaching

“…We collected data for the following measures: growth and fixed mindset, resource availability, perception of the positive education, and life satisfaction. Data on teachers’ mindset and perception of positive education were used in another published study designed to answer a different research question (Chan et al, 2020). The remaining variables were not used in other studies before.…”

Improving the predictor-criterion consistency of mindset measures: Application of the correspondence principle

“…In growth mindset research, with a few exceptions (e.g., Chan et al, 2020), the measured mindset is typically the participants' personal belief regarding the malleability of a valued attribute (self-theories; e.g., "I agree that people can change their levels of basic intelligence"), not the participants' perception of what the generalized other's belief in the malleability of the attribute in the pertinent social group (subjective norm; e.g., "Most of my classmates believe that one's levels of basic intelligence can be changed"). Another novel contribution of the present research will extend growth mindset research to perceived mindset norms.…”