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Mark học AIThe New Psychology of Success · Carol S. Dweck · Vietnamese edition: Tâm lý học thành công
What you believe about your own ability matters more than the ability you start with, because that belief decides whether you keep learning.
Eight chapters with no formal parts. Mark groups them into four themes.
| Faced with… | Fixed mindset | Growth mindset |
|---|---|---|
| Challenges | Avoid them, fear exposure | Embrace them to learn |
| Obstacles | Give up early | Change approach, keep going |
| Effort | A sign of weakness | The path to mastery |
| Criticism | Ignore it | Treat it as data |
| Others' success | Feel threatened | Feel inspired |
Everyone is a mix of both. Dweck describes tendencies in particular areas, not two types of people.
| After an easy test, fifth graders were told… | "You must be smart" | "You must have worked hard" |
|---|---|---|
| Choosing the next task | Most chose an easy one | About 90% chose a hard one |
| Facing hard problems | Lost interest, felt dumb | Still enjoyed it, kept trying |
| Final (easy) test | Scores dropped | Scores rose |
| Reporting scores to peers | Almost 40% lied | Far fewer |
Figures as reported in the book. Some replications did not find effects this strong (see Evidence).
The 2016 edition suggests naming your "fixed-mindset persona" so you can spot it when it speaks up.
The 10 most-cited claims. Tap a row to see why.
Dweck's "implicit theories of intelligence" scale is widely used and gives stable results.
Neuroplasticity is mainstream neuroscience. It does not mean any skill can be trained to any level.
US national study (Yeager et al., Nature 2019, 12,000+ students): lower-achieving students gained about 0.1 GPA points. Real, but small.
OECD, PISA 2018: true in most countries. This is a correlation and does not prove cause.
The original study (Mueller & Dweck, 1998) had small samples. Li & Bates (2019) ran three replications and found no effect of praise or mindset on responses to failure.
The 2006 EEG study (Mangels et al.) had a small sample and has not been replicated at scale.
The examples were picked after the outcomes were known. Mindset is hard to separate from markets, luck and many other factors.
As a sophomore he was placed on the junior varsity team, not cut entirely. The spirit of the story holds, but it has been exaggerated.
A meta-analysis of 273 studies (Sisk et al., 2018) found a correlation of only about r = 0.10 between mindset and achievement. A study of 5,600 Czech applicants (Bahník & Vranka, 2017) found almost no link.
Average effect d ≈ 0.08 (2018), near zero after filtering for study quality and publication bias (Macnamara & Burgoyne, 2023). Dweck's group responds that the effect is real for the right students in the right settings.
Keep the way it reframes failure and praise. Don't treat it as a formula for success.
Since around 2016, growth mindset has become a familiar example in psychology's replication crisis. Large meta-analyses show effects in schools far smaller than hoped. Dweck acknowledges that many schools apply it badly (empty effort praise, posters) and calls this a "false growth mindset". Her group's 2019 national study argues the effect is small but real and cheap, especially for students who are struggling.
Change the words first; habits follow.
| When… | Instead of | Try |
|---|---|---|
| Your child scores high | "You're so smart" | "Which part did you review so well?" |
| You mess something up | "I'm not cut out for this" | "Which step do I change next time?" |
| You can't do it | "I can't do this" | "I can't do this yet" |
| You get feedback | "They don't get me" | "Fix the parts that are right" |
| A colleague is better | "They're lucky" | "What do they do differently?" |