Mary C. Murphy, a social psychologist and professor at Indiana University, identifies four key "mindset triggers" that individuals may find themselves in a fixed mindset. <ol><li class="ql-align-justify">Evaluative Situations</li><li class="ql-align-justify">High Effort Situations</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Critical Feedback</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Success of Others</li></ol>Let's understand these triggers and learn what actions can be taken to shift to a growth mindset.

The Four Mindset Triggers

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Evaluative situations are when we anticipate being assessed or evaluated by others. Think walking into a big presentation at work.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">In fixed mindset, individuals feel anxious and worried about others' evaluation on themselves, seeking ways to avoid it.</li><li>In growth mindset, individuals feel nervous but energized and eager to improve.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Moving Towards a Growth Mindset: View evaluative situations as opportunities for personal growth and development. Seek feedback from trusted friends or colleagues for support and constructive criticism.</li></ul>

1. Evaluative Situations

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Different from evaluative situations, critical feedback situations are those in which you’ve already received some kind of evaluation - like feedback from others that is not 100% positive.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">In fixed mindset, critical feedback may lead to feeling upset or defensive - tendency to discount or ignore feedback, focusing on self-preservation.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">In growth mindset, individuals seek out to receive actionable feedback from others - with a focus on how you can improve.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Moving Towards a Growth Mindset: Take time to process feedback from others - write it down - to identify patterns and track progress over time.</li></ul>

3. Critical Feedback

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Situations where success requires applying a lot more effort, time, mental energy, and attention than everyday tasks. E.g., preparing for a career change.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">In fixed mindset, you are feel overwhelmed and incapable, which leads to seeking lower-effort tasks or giving up.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">In growth mindset, individuals feel excited and up for the challenge, viewing it as learning opportunities.</li><li>Moving Towards a Growth Mindset: Break tasks into manageable pieces to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Seek help and resources to work more effectively towards goals, for example others who have been through such situations.</li></ul>

2. High Effort Situations

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Fixed mindset may lead to feelings of jealousy or dejection towards others' success - trying to undermine their success or give up on your own path. Individuals incorrectly view success as a limited resource.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">In a growth mindset, you feel proud and inspired by others' success. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Moving Towards a Growth Mindset: When others succeed, we tend to focus on the result, rather than on the path they took to succeed. When we focus on how they succeeded, we’re more likely to identify useful strategies and opportunities that can help us on our own path toward success.</li></ul>

4. Success of Others

The Four Mindset Triggers by Mary C Murphy

Dr. Mary C. Murphy explains the downsides to the culture of genius—and shares an alternative path for transforming individuals, teams, and organizations. — YOU’LL LEARN — 1) The biggest misconceptions about the growth mindset 2) The optimal number of mistakes to make 3) How to deal with the four situations that trigger a fixed mindset Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep967 for clickable versions of the links below. — ABOUT MARY — Mary C. Murphy is the Herman B Wells Endowed Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University, Founding Director of the Summer Institute on Diversity at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, and Founder and CEO of the Equity Accelerator, a research and consulting organization that works with schools and companies to create more equitable learning and working environments through social and behavioral science.  Murphy is the author of more than 100 publications and in 2019, was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest award bestowed on early career scholars by the U.S. government. She is also an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her research has been profiled in The New York Times, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Scientific American, and NPR, among other outlets.  Originally from San Antonio, Texas, she earned her BA from the University of Texas at Austin and her PhD in social psychology from Stanford University in 2007, mentored by Claude Steele and Carol Dweck. She splits her time between Bloomington, Indiana, and Palo Alto, California.  Mary’s new book on organizational mindset, Cultures of Growth: How the New Science of Mindset Can Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations is available now. • Book: Cultures of Growth: How the New Science of Mindset Can Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations • Assessment: Mindset Triggers Assessment • Substack: Culture Catalyst with Mary C. Murphy • Website: MaryCMurphy.com — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW — • Article: “The Magic Relationship Ratio, According to Science” by Kyle Benson • Storytelling Coach: Kymberlee Weil • Book: Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well by Amy Edmondson • Book: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck • Past episode: 960: Surfacing Hidden Wisdom for Huge Breakthroughs: A Masterclass in Asking with Jeff Wetzler — THANK YOU, SPONSORS! — • Acorns. Start saving and investing for your future today with Acorns.com/awesome• Harvard Business Review. Get 10% off your subscription at HBR.org/subscriptions with the promo code AWESOME• Storyworth. Give the Fathers in your life a unique, heartfelt gift. Save $10 with at StoryWorth.com/Awesome with the promo code AWESOME.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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