As amazing as it is in encouraging strong learning habits and perseverance… yes, there is a dark side of growth mindset.
A danger of growth mindset is when it:
teaching and leadership strategies,
and foundations for brain functioning such as nutrition, and acoustic conditions in the classroom or workplace.
There are deeper roots to behavior than mindset. Saying “just believe in yourself” doesn’t cut it when the other issues involve trauma, adversity, poverty, toxic stress and various experiences that make it hard for a person to cognitively ‘switch’ to an optimistic belief.
If you want to hear more about this, please check out my guest interview on an amazing podcast called Kindsight 101.
The host, Morgane Michael, embodies the concept of growth mindset and fostering psychological safety. She is constantly striving to learn new ideas and research to help teachers help students fulfill their potential, and makes her guests (including me!) feel so safe and trusted that the interviews bring out our best. I truly loved my interview with her. She divided it into three parts (Part 1 is on the outdated factory model of school, Part 3 is on ‘beginners mindset’).
For now, I’ll just share Episode #50 – which deals with topics quite a few people have emailed me recently to know more about:
Kindsight 101 Podcast: The Dark Side of growth mindset
For those of you who have heard me talk about ‘psychological safety’, trauma-informed education, polyvagal theory and the social engagement system, and wanted to hear more on these topics, this episode is for you!
In this interview, we talk about how the buzz of growth mindset can actually lead to a very dangerous way of dealing with society’s problems, and what we can do instead.
I also give a breakdown on how humans must have ‘co-regulating’ relationships in order to function, and how we rely on ‘micro-signals’ from each other to help us maintain homeostasis and healthy nervous systems – as well as what goes wrong in our relationships with others that leads to anxiety, anger and defensiveness.
click here to play the episode
Do you feel like your career needs a boost?
It might be time to add some neuroscience to your work!
The Institute for Mindset, Resilience & Innovation is going into its second year!
This is a 6-month intensive training program for anyone who wants to integrate neuroscience into their work. It’s project-based and interactive. We start with a dinner to kick things off and get connected, followed by an in-person full-day training for two days. After that, there are monthly group meetings (via video conference), reading assignments and a project that you’ll develop and get feedback on to bring more neuroscience language and research to your clients, projects or organization. The program culminates in a graduation showcase where you present a brief summary of what you’ve been working on.
Dates for the intensive in-person training: June 23-24 right in the heart of downtown Chicago! (near Millenium Park)
Go here to find out more and download the program guide!
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