Efficiently exploring the causal role of contextual moderators in behavioral science

Mindsets, contexts, and college enrollment: Taking the long view on growth mindset beliefs at the transition to high school

Socioeconomic disparities in academic progress have persisted throughout the history of the United States, and growth mindset interventions-which shift beliefs about the malleability of intelligence-have shown promise in reducing these disparities. Both the study of such disparities and how to remedy them can benefit from taking the "long view" on adolescent development, following the tradition of John Schulenberg. To do so, this study focuses on the role of growth mindsets in short-term academic progress during the transition to high school as a contributor to longer-term educational attainment. Guided by the Mindset × Context perspective, we analyzed new follow-up data to a one-year nationally representative study of ninth graders (National Study of Learning Mindsets, n = 10,013; 50% female; 53% white; 63% from lower-SES backgrounds). A conservative Bayesian analysis revealed that adolescents' growth mindset beliefs at the beginning of ninth grade predicted their enrollment in college 4 years later. These patterns were stronger for adolescents from lower-SES backgrounds, and there was some evidence that the ninth-grade math teacher's support for the growth mindset moderated student mindset effects. Thus, a time-specific combination of student and teacher might alter long-term trajectories by enabling adolescents to develop and use beliefs at a critical transition point that supports a cumulative pathway of course-taking and achievement into college. Notably, growth mindset became less predictive of college enrollment after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which occurred in the second year of college and introduced structural barriers to college persistence.

Growth Mindset Messages from Instructors Improve Academic Performance Among First-Generation College Students

First-generation (FG) college students (i.e., those for whom neither parent/guardian obtained a bachelor's degree) experience more barriers in college, compared with continuing-generation students. These barriers are compounded by subtle messages from instructors that convey the idea that natural talent is necessary for success in scientific fields. In contrast, growth mindset messages communicate that ability can improve with effort, help-seeking, and using productive study strategies. In a large enrollment introductory biology course, students were randomly assigned to receive email messages from their instructor after the first two exams containing either a growth mindset or control message. The intervention improved grades in the course for everyone, on average, compared with control messages, and were especially beneficial for FG students. This increase in performance was partially mediated by increased activity accessing course materials on the course website. This study provides preliminary evidence that instructors communicating growth mindset messages can support FG students' performance.

Dweck's Social-Cognitive Model of Achievement Motivation in Science

Dweck's social-cognitive model has long been used as a basis for achievement motivation research. However, few studies have examined the comprehensive model with interactions between perceived ability and achievement goals, and even fewer studies have focused on this model in a science academic context. With a sample of undergraduates (n = 1,036), the relations among mindsets, science academic self-efficacy, achievement goals, and achievement-related outcomes in science were examined. Fixed mindset related to performance goals. Growth mindset related to mastery goals and the number of courses completed. There was a significant indirect effect of growth mindset on interest value via mastery goals. Contrary to Dweck's model, the relation of performance goals to outcomes did not vary as a function of science academic self-efficacy. The findings provide empirical evidence for a more nuanced understanding of Dweck's model. They provide practical insights for how to support undergraduate students who are pursuing science-related career.

When do the effects of single-session interventions persist? Testing the mindset + supportive context hypothesis in a longitudinal randomized trial

Background

Single-session interventions have the potential to address young people's mental health needs at scale, but their effects are heterogeneous. We tested whether the mindset + supportive context hypothesis could help explain when intervention effects persist or fade over time. The hypothesis posits that interventions are more effective in environments that support the intervention message. We tested this hypothesis using the synergistic mindsets intervention, a preventative treatment for stress-related mental health symptoms that helps students appraise stress as a potential asset in the classroom (e.g., increasing oxygenated blood flow) rather than debilitating. In an introductory college course, we examined whether intervention-consistent messages from instructors sustained changes in appraisals over time, as well as impacts on students' predisposition to try demanding academic tasks that could enhance learning.

Methods

We randomly assigned 1675 students in the course to receive the synergistic mindsets intervention (or a control activity) at the beginning of the semester, and subsequently, to receive intervention-supportive messages from their instructor (or neutral messages) four times throughout the term. We collected weekly measures of students' appraisals of stress in the course and their predisposition to take on academic challenges. Trial-registration: OSF.io; DOI: 10.17605/osf.io/fchyn.

Results

A conservative Bayesian analysis indicated that receiving both the intervention and supportive messages led to the greatest increases in positive stress appraisals (0.35 SD; 1.00 posterior probability) and challenge-seeking predisposition (2.33 percentage points; 0.94 posterior probability), averaged over the course of the semester. In addition, intervention effects grew larger throughout the semester when complemented by supportive instructor messages, whereas without these messages, intervention effects shrank somewhat over time.

Conclusions

This study shows, for the first time, that supportive cues in local contexts can be the difference in whether a single-session intervention's effects fade over time or persist and even amplify.

The Iterative Mindset Method: a neuroscientific theoretical approach for sustainable behavior change and weight-loss in digital medicine

With the growing prevalence of chronic conditions driving 85% of all healthcare costs, digital health offers a promising opportunity to reverse disease and improve health at-scale. The healthcare industry's predominant approach to behavior change is performance-based with a focus on goals and tracking. This has not reversed the epidemic of chronic diseases and also can harm chronically ill and vulnerable patients via perceived failure-induced loss of motivation. Still nascent, the digital health industry is uniquely positioned to adopt and scale new and better behavior change approaches. In this paper, we present the theoretical foundation and initial findings of a neuroscience-based behavior change approach-what we call the Iterative Mindset MethodTM. We discuss its promise, as a potentially more effective, neuroscience-based approach to changing health behaviors long-term, particularly in vulnerable populations. We conclude with avenues for future research.

Shifting the mindset culture to address global educational disparities

Educational outcomes remain highly unequal within and across nations. Students' mindsets-their beliefs about whether intellectual abilities can be developed-have been identified as a potential lever for making adolescents' academic outcomes more equitable. Recent research, however, suggests that intervention programs aimed at changing students' mindsets should be supplemented by programs aimed at the changing the mindset culture, which is defined as the shared set of beliefs about learning in a school or classroom. This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical origin of the mindset culture and examines its potential to reduce group-based inequalities in education. In particular, experiments have identified two broad ways the mindset culture is communicated by teachers: via informal messages about growth (e.g., that all students will be helped to learn and succeed), and formal opportunities to improve (e.g., learning-focused grading policies and opportunities to revise and earn credit). New field experiments, applying techniques from behavioral science, have also revealed effective ways to influence teachers' culture-creating behaviors. This paper describes recent breakthroughs in the U.S. educational context and discusses how lessons from these studies might be applied in future, global collaborations with researchers and practitioners.

A values-aligned intervention fosters growth mindset-supportive teaching and reduces inequality in educational outcomes

Group-based educational disparities are smaller in classrooms where teachers express a belief that students can improve their abilities. However, a scalable method for motivating teachers to adopt such growth mindset-supportive teaching practices has remained elusive. In part, this is because teachers often already face overwhelming demands on their time and attention and have reason to be skeptical of the professional development advice they receive from researchers and other experts. We designed an intervention that overcame these obstacles and successfully motivated high-school teachers to adopt specific practices that support students' growth mindsets. The intervention used the values-alignment approach. This approach motivates behavioral change by framing a desired behavior as aligned with a core value-one that is an important criterion for status and admiration in the relevant social reference group. First, using qualitative interviews and a nationally representative survey of teachers, we identified a relevant core value: inspiring students' enthusiastic engagement with learning. Next, we designed a ~45-min, self-administered, online intervention that persuaded teachers to view growth mindset-supportive practices as a way to foster such student engagement and thus live up to that value. We randomly assigned 155 teachers (5,393 students) to receive the intervention and 164 teachers (6,167 students) to receive a control module. The growth mindset-supportive teaching intervention successfully promoted teachers' adoption of the suggested practices, overcoming major barriers to changing teachers' classroom practices that other scalable approaches have failed to surmount. The intervention also substantially improved student achievement in socioeconomically disadvantaged classes, reducing inequality in educational outcomes.