Mindset and Motivation

Date and Time: Tuesday, October 18, 4-5:30pm (light refreshments will be served)
Location: Levinthal Hall, Stanford Humanities Center
Presenter: Professor Carol Dweck,
     Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford

Do you ever struggle with motivation and productivity? If you’re like most people, the answer is YES, and this session will be useful for you.

Professor Carol Dweck has spent decades studying mindset and how it relates to achievement, success, and resiliency. The principles discussed in this session will aid in your academics, and many other aspects of your life.

Mindset explains:

• Why brains and talent don’t bring success
• How they can stand in the way of it
• Why praising brains and talent doesn’t foster self-esteem and accomplishment, but jeopardizes them
• How teaching a simple idea about the brain raises grades and productivity.
  

In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success — without effort. They’re wrong.

In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities.

Open to all Stanford graduate students. Sign up here by October 11th. The sign up for Mindset and Motivation is now closed.

About the Instructor

Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of motivation and is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology. Her research has focused on why people succeed and how to foster success. She has held professorships at Columbia and Harvard Universities, has lectured all over the world, and has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her scholarly book Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development was named Book of the Year by the World Education Federation. Her work has been featured in such publications as The New Yorker, Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, and she has appeared on Today and 20/20.

See video conversation with Carol Dweck (Stanford News Service)