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New test lets you determine if you have the right attitude to achieve your goals

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Achieving ambitious goals requires many things. Above all, we need passion and belief in succeeding, and we usually need support from others. But we also need to have the right attitude – the right mindset, the willingness to do what it takes to change and improve. Experts call this a growth mindset.

So how do you know if you actually have the right mindset? As a coach, how can you tell if your talented athlete has the attitude and mindset necessary to be the best he can be? How do you know? An individual’s mindset is influenced by external factors that can change and can vary from day to day.

“A person’s belief in growth is important. Individuals can change and foster growth through training. People with a growth mindset see challenges as learning opportunities,” says Harmundur of the NTNU Department of Psychology. Professor Sigmansson said.

Imagine how useful it would be if we could measure whether we have the right mindset.

Fortunately, it’s possible.

Measuring mindset

Mr. Sigmundsson has been researching the factors that help us achieve our goals for several years. In the book How We Learn and Become Experts: Igniting the Spark, published by Springer in 2024, Sigmundsson shares the research he has conducted over the past 30 years. .

He and his colleague Professor Monica Haga from the Faculty of Teacher Education have developed a test to measure attitudes and growth mindset.

“There has been a lot of discussion in academia about the most common tests available today, and we believe our new test is better at measuring growth mindset,” Sigmundsson said. said.

You may find it difficult to measure whether people have the right mindset to improve. However, Sigmundsson and his colleagues have developed a method to measure both flow and passion.

Flow is what you experience when you’re so immersed in something that time passes by quickly. That’s what psychologists call a flow state. Passion refers to how much you like doing something or have a strong interest in a field, skill, or topic.

Considering this, it may not be so impossible to measure whether we have the right mindset. Researchers believe they have cracked the code.

Over 700 participants

“A total of 723 participants between the ages of 16 and 85 took part in this study. This provides a representative sample of people and provides insight into how feasible, consistent and effective our test is. There were enough participants to find out if it was true,” Sigmundsson said. .

Participants had to consider whether they agreed with a number of statements, including:

I know that with effort I can improve my skills and knowledge. I can influence and change my overall development. You can change your skills and knowledge through practice. I like challenges and trying new things. I believe learning is my goal. Effort makes me stronger. I would like to spend more time and work more on a particular area/subject/skill to improve my skills and knowledge. I believe in my skills and potential.

An article about this test was published in New Ideas in Psychology.

“Our results show that this test is suitable for this age group. This is really encouraging and provides a better measure for measuring growth mindset, i.e. correct posture. ”Sigmundsson said.

In other words, we have new tools to identify whether we or others have what it takes to succeed.

Sigmundsson believes that a growth mindset should be inclusive in our society: at home, in sports, at school, and at work. Schools should also focus on helping students experience mastery by tailoring tasks to their level.

Further information: Hermundur Sigmundsson et al., Growth Mindset Scale: Reliability and validity aspects of a new 8-item scale to assess growth mindset, New Ideas in Psychology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.newideapsych.2024.101111

Provided by Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Quote: New test lets you determine if you have the right attitude to achieve your goals (October 24, 2024) https://phys.org/news/2024-10-attitude-goals.html Retrieved October 24, 2024 from

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