How to Enhance Performance & Learning by Applying a Growth Mindset | Andrew Huberman

✍️ Quiz

Quiz on Growth Mindset from the Huberman Lab Podcast

Question 1

What is the primary focus of the Huberman Lab Podcast episode discussed in the transcript?

  1. Nutrition and diet
  2. Growth mindset
  3. Sleep science
  4. Exercise physiology

Question 2

Who is credited as the founder of the growth mindset field?

  1. David Yeager
  2. Ali Crum
  3. Carol Dweck
  4. Andrew Huberman

Question 3

What does a growth mindset emphasize about abilities?

  1. They are fixed and unchangeable
  2. They can be improved through effort
  3. They are determined by genetics
  4. They are only relevant in childhood

Question 4

According to the transcript, what type of feedback is more beneficial for performance?

  1. Intelligence praise
  2. Effort praise
  3. Talent praise
  4. Identity praise

Question 5

What is neuroplasticity?

  1. The ability of the brain to change in response to experience
  2. A type of cognitive therapy
  3. A fixed state of intelligence
  4. A method of meditation

Question 6

What did the study involving children reveal about those who received intelligence praise?

  1. They chose harder problems
  2. They performed better overall
  3. They opted for easier problems
  4. They showed no change in performance

Question 7

What is the main takeaway regarding effort and performance?

  1. Effort does not influence performance
  2. Effort praise leads to diminished performance
  3. Effort praise enhances performance
  4. Performance is solely based on talent

Question 8

What is the role of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in the context of mindset?

  1. It regulates emotional responses
  2. It is responsible for memory retention
  3. It controls motor functions
  4. It enhances visual processing

Question 9

What is one of the tools suggested for cultivating a growth mindset?

  1. Focusing on labels of identity
  2. Seeking help from others
  3. Ignoring errors
  4. Avoiding challenges

Question 10

What is the effect of teaching both growth mindset and stress-enhancing mindset together?

  1. It has no effect on performance
  2. It can lead to greater performance improvement
  3. It confuses learners
  4. It only benefits high achievers

Answer Key

  1. Q1: 2 (Growth mindset)
  2. Q2: 3 (Carol Dweck)
  3. Q3: 2 (They can be improved through effort)
  4. Q4: 2 (Effort praise)
  5. Q5: 1 (The ability of the brain to change in response to experience)
  6. Q6: 3 (They opted for easier problems)
  7. Q7: 3 (Effort praise enhances performance)
  8. Q8: 1 (It regulates emotional responses)
  9. Q9: 2 (Seeking help from others)
  10. Q10: 2 (It can lead to greater performance improvement)


❓ Questions asked

Here are the questions asked or implied in the transcript:

  1. What have I been told I'm really good at?
  2. What have I been told I'm really poor at that I'm just not good at?
  3. What have I told myself I'm really good at?
  4. What have I told myself I'm really bad at?
  5. What am I good at and why?
  6. Did it come naturally to me?
  7. Did I apply myself for many years?
  8. Why am I not good at other things?
  9. Is it simply because I've never applied myself to those things?
  10. Did I try and have an early failure?
  11. Did I try and try and try for many years and continue to fail at that thing?
  12. To what extent is my identity attached to the things that I am good at or bad at?
  13. Why do beliefs about intelligence influence learning success?
  14. Can you recall a time when you experienced stress and what was that stress related to?

These questions encourage self-reflection and exploration of one's mindset and experiences.

AH

Andrew Huberman

Host

Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, we're discussing growth mindset. Growth mindset is 1 of the most interesting and powerful concepts in all of psychology.

Growth mindset is essentially a way of embracing challenge and thinking about your bodily and brain's response to challenge in a way that allows you to optimize your performance. Growth mindset consists of many things, which we will discuss today. And of course, we will discuss how to implement growth mindset. But some of the key features of growth mindset are developing an ability to distance your identity from the challenge you happen to be embracing.

Now that might come as a bit of a surprise to many of you. For instance, we grow up hearing, we hope from time to time, that we are smart, that we are talented, that we are a good athlete, that we are a good artist. We like to think that we are good at something or perhaps many things, but it turns out that the kind of praise or feedback that we receive that attaches our identity to performance can actually undermine our performance. And believe it or not, this is especially problematic for people that perform well in their endeavors.

That's right. If you are somebody who performs well in school or athletics or music, and you are told that you are very smart, that you're an excellent student, that you're an excellent athlete or that you're an excellent musician, you have much to lose if you at any moment do not perform well. And that's because your identity has been integrated with your performance.

Somewhat counterintuitively, growth mindset is the process of distancing your identity from performance and rather attaching your identity and your efforts and your sense of motivation to effort itself and to the process of enjoying learning and getting better at learning anything. So today we are going to discuss what growth mindset is and what it isn't because it's often discussed in terms that frankly are not accurate to the science. We will also talk about another mindset which is the stress is enhancing mindset that it turns out can act synergistically with growth mindset such that when you combine growth mindset with the stresses enhancing mindset, you and anyone it's been shown can vastly improve your performance in essentially anything. So today's discussion will of course explore the classic work of Carol Dweck, who was really the founder of the growth mindset field, as well as some of the newer research from people like David Yeager, Ali Crum, and others, who have explored how growth mindset and stress-enhancing mindsets can

be applied both in and out of the classroom in children and adults, and really in people of all backgrounds. By the end of today's episode, you will have a rich understanding of the science, as well as many tools that you can apply in everyday life in essentially any endeavor. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring 0 cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public.

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