Is This the End of the Growth Mindset Theory?
New study shows that growth mindset interventions do not improve performance.
Posted September 13, 2025 | Reviewed by Lybi Ma
Can a growth mindset help improve academic performance?
There are many ideas about how students’ academic performance can be improved. A widely popular group of measures is growth mindset interventions. The basic idea behind this is that students can have either a “fixed mindset” about their abilities (thinking they are born with a certain level of intelligence which cannot be changed over the course of their life) or a “growth mindset” (thinking their intelligence can be improved by hard work). It is assumed that having a growth mindset has a positive effect on academic achievement. Therefore, schools and universities often offer interventions that should help student develop a “growth mindset,” thinking this would improve their academic achievement. Some psychological studies indeed show this association, but does the effect hold when the findings of the most trustworthy high-quality studies on growth mindset interventions are integrated?
A new structured review of the studies on the effectiveness of growth mindset interventions
To answer this question, researcher Carolina Gazmuri from Durham University in the UK conducted a new structured review on studies about the effectiveness of growth mindset interventions ( Gazmuri, 2025 ). After screening the relevant literature, she included 24 studies. Importantly, the review did not include all types of studies but specifically focused on so-called randomized controlled trials. This is a type of study that yields especially high-quality data. Randomized controlled trials are the gold standard to determine whether a psychological intervention is effective or not. In a randomized controlled trial, volunteers are tested in two groups: an experimental group that receives the treatment (a growth mindset training) and a control group without the intervention. Importantly, volunteers are assigned at random to the two groups, minimizing the effects of potential individual differences between volunteers. To further assess study quality, all studies were rated on several indicators of scientific quality, such as data quality. This was done to identify the highest quality studies on growth mindset interventions.
What were the results of the study?
Overall, 14 different growth mindset study outcomes got the highest quality rating in the review. The findings were quite interesting: The lowest quality studies reported the biggest effects for growth mindset interventions. The higher the study quality was, the lower the effect was. Importantly, when only the 14 study outcomes with the highest quality rating were considered, the effect of growth mindset interventions was around zero. Thus, there was no effect at all. This discrepancy between low-quality and high-quality studies suggests that the effects observed in low-quality studies are more likely caused by problems in study designs (such as expectation effects of researchers that may bias the findings) than an actual effect of the intervention.
Take Away: Growth mindset interventions do not help much in improving academic performance
The conclusions of the paper were clear: Growth mindset interventions do not improve the academic achievements of students. Just by telling somebody that their intelligence can grow if they work hard, it does not actually grow. Other interventions to improve performance in schools or universities should be developed.
Gazmuri, Carolina. (2025). Can growth mindset interventions improve academic achievement? A structured review of the existing evidence. Review of Education . 13. 10.1002/rev3.70066.
Share this post Facebook Bluesky Linkedin Email
There was a problem adding your email address. Please try again.
By submitting your information you agree to the Psychology Today Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy
Sebastian Ocklenburg, Ph.D., is a professor for research methods in psychology at the Department of Psychology at MSH Medical School in Hamburg, Germany. His research focuses on left-handedness and brain asymmetries.
Get the help you need from a therapist near you–a FREE service from Psychology Today.
This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.