Carol Dweck

Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., is a leading researcher in the field of motivation and is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford. Her research focuses on why students succeed and how to foster their success.

Professor Dweck is an expert in the are of fixed vs. growth mindset: the belief that intelligence is fixed (you either have it or you don’t) vs. the belief that intelligence can grow with nurturing and hard work. Her research shows that people who believe intelligence is fixed and people faced with stereotype threat perform more poorly than those who believe intelligence can grow or who reject the shortcomings implied by stereotypes. Her work has demonstrated the role of mindsets in success and has shown how praise for intelligence can undermine people’s motivation and learning.

Professor Dweck has held professorships at and Columbia and Harvard Universities, has lectured to education, business, and sports groups all over the world, and has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. She recently won the Distinguished Scientific Contribution award from the American Psychological Association, the highest award in Psychology.

Her work has been prominently featured in such publications as The New Yorker, Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, and The London Times, with recent feature stories on her work in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Washington Post, and she has appeared on such shows as Today, Good Morning America, NPR’s Morning Edition, and 20/20. Her bestselling book Mindset (published by Random House) has been widely acclaimed and has been translated into 20 languages.