#137 Entity and Incremental Theories of Intelligence
This post is about the impact that a learning approach can have on the learner's ability to learn and ultimately master material.
Dr. Carol Dweck's extensive research on learning approaches identifies two distinct approaches - entity and incremental theories of intelligence.
Learners who are "entity theorists" (intelligence theorists) attribute their success or failure to an ingrained and unalterable level of ability. They see their overall intelligence or skill level at a certain discipline to be a fixed entity, a thing that cannot evolve. These learners are prone to use language like "I am smart at this".
Learners who are "incremental theorists" (learning theorists) tend to sense that with hard work, difficult material can be grasped - step by step, incrementally, the novice can become the master. These learners are more prone to describe their results with sentences like "I got it because I worked very hard at it" or "I should have tried harder".
When challenged by difficult material, learning theorists are far more likely to rise to the level of the game, while entity theorists are more brittle and tend to quit. Learners who associate success with hard work tend to have a "mastery-oriented response" to challenging situations, while learners who see themselves as "smart/dumb/good/bad" have a "learned helplessness orientation".
The most interesting aspect is that learning outcomes have nothing to do with intelligence levels. High intelligence entity theorists tend to be far more brittle when challenged than learning theorists who would be considered not quite as sharp. Entity theorists links success and failure to ingrained ability. Learning theorists associate effort with success and feel that they can become good at anything with some hard work.
The key to pursuing excellence is to embrace an organic, long-term learning process, and not to live in a shell of static, safe mediocrity. Usually, growth comes at the expense of previous comfort or safety. Lessons learned from the pursuit of excellence mean much more than the immediate trophies and glory. While fixation on results is certainly unhealthy, short-term goals can be useful development tools if they are balanced within a nurturing long-term philosophy. Too much sheltering from results can be stunting. Learners need to be psychologically prepared to face the unavoidable challenges along the way.
Nothing will be learned from from any challenge in which we don't try our hardest. Growth comes at the point of resistance. We learn by pushing ourselves and finding what really lies at the outer reach of our abilities.
This post is a summary of a chapter from the book - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin