Abstract

Existing research shows that students endowed with “growth mindset”; a belief that one’s intelligence and cognitive abilities are malleable so can be increased through effort, rather than fixed traits; are more likely to be academically successful. Interventions attempting to change these beliefs, particularly in groups with low academic performance, have therefore been posited as a way to improve, or close ethnic or social gaps in, students’ performance. However, the evidence from large studies is still rather mixed and the mechanisms through which the claimed benefits are found are poorly understood. In this paper we evaluate the effects of a randomized light touch intervention given to a sample of first year university students in the UK on a validated growth mindset scale, their subjective beliefs about the production function for educational performance, and various measures of study habits measured two months later, compared with baseline pre-treatment measures and a control intervention. We document a positive treatment effect on the beliefs that one’s ability is malleable and student grades. We show this to be consistent with changes in the ways students approach their study, i.e. a change in study habits.