Relating Dweck to Lukianoff and Haidt

Dweck’s TED talk and Lukinaoff and Haidt’s article seem to all surround this idea of a “fixed mindset.” Dweck explains this term through her experience with elementary students. As an example, when facing a math problem that they cannot solve, kids who have a fixed mindset tend to instantly give up, thinking “I can’t do this and I never will!” Kids who practice using a growth mindset understand that although they cannot solve the problem in that moment, through their effort and mental fortitude, they will soon be able to. This idea surrounds “The Coddling” in a few interesting ways. When people come across a statement or idea that they find offensive, instead of trying to understand what is offensive and why someone thinks that way, they catastrophize and shut down any explanation. They praise those who agree with them and shame anyone who tries to see the other point of view.

Barclays Practice

Carol Dweck’s TED talk “The power of believing you can improve” and Lukianoff and Haidt’s article “The Coddling of the American Mind” have many similarities regarding how we think as humans in today’s rapidly developing society. Dweck discusses the benefits of using a “growth mindset” in school and Lukianoff and Haidt challenge the idea of restricting our speech to prevent emotional discomfort for those around us. Both surround the usage of what Dweck calls a “fixed mindset” which prevents us from thinking critically and growing as people. Explaining what having a fixed mindset is like in the eyes of a student, Dweck explains “from their more fixed mindset perspective, their intelligence had been up for judgment, and they failed. Instead of luxuriating in the power of yet, they were gripped in the tyranny of now.” (0:41) When faced with a challenge, those who were using a fixed mindset mentally shut down. They did not want to face something they could not succeed in and refused to try again from a different angle. This does not only occur in elementary students’ academics. In fact, this occurs in society every day by adults across the world. Lukianoff and Haidt illustrate this in their article as it specifically pertains to oversensitivity in universities across America. In one instance, Jeanie Suk of Harvard University wrote an online article in The New Yorker about how students were “pressur[ing] their professors to avoid teaching [rape law] in order to protect themselves and their classmates from potential distress.” This is a very strong example of a fixed mindset. Students would rather avoid something that makes them uncomfortable than to learn material that is absolutely necessary for their career in law. Because kids and adults alike are refusing to think critically about controversial topics, they are strengthening the very thing that is instigating this phenomenon: political and social division.