5 Positive Growth Mindset Tips

KEY POINTS

• A recent study showed that a positive growth mindset could buffer against cognitive decline.

• Continued mental engagement in new activities has been shown to help slow the effects of aging on the mind.

• Knowing you can improve your memory and cognitive capacity can help you feel confident, grow, and learn.

New research shows that a growth mindset is essential to greater cognitive improvement as people age. A recent study published in The International Journal of Aging and Human Development shows that a positive growth mindset could be the key to buffering against cognitive decline. A growth mindset is the belief that one can improve cognitive capabilities through learning experiences and effort.

Researchers found that older adults with higher growth mindsets showed greater cognitive gains compared to those with lower growth mindsets. This research highlights the important role of the growth mindset in positive learning in older adulthood. Continued mental engagement in stimulating and new activities has been shown to be important to slow the effects of aging on the mind and may help reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Growth mindset has typically been studied in young children, adolescents, and students and has now been found to be critically important at all stages of life. A growth mindset is the belief that a person's abilities are not simply innate but can be developed and improved through effort, learning, and hard work. The opposite of a growth mindset is when people believe that they have a fixed amount of cognitive ability and cannot do much to change it.

What are the key components of a positive growth mindset?

1. Understand that the brain has significant neuroplasticity at all ages, including the aging brain. Scientists have shown that our brains have neuroplasticity at all ages, not just when we are young. Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to build and improve new connections and synapses in response to training and new experiences. When people are put in optimally demanding and new situations, that is when the brain builds and makes new connections.

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2. Your brain is like a muscle that needs regular individualized workouts of rigorous learning experiences to stay strong and healthy. This growth metaphor for the brain is a type of growth mindset intervention that has been proven to help adolescents and young adults improve academic performance, long-term learning, motivation, and self-confidence. This metaphor is also important in aging according to the "use it or lose it" theory. Researchers believe that neural plasticity happens only when there is a demand or goal that is optimally new and different for the individual. For example, someone who has spent their career being an accountant might not have neural plasticity in response to doing one's taxes, but may be very challenged when learning a new musical instrument.

3. Participating in new and rigorous learning experiences is important for all ages, including later stages of life. The growth mindset is not just helpful for young adults and students. Training your brain is essential as you age, especially to slow the natural cognitive decline of aging and to potentially stave off Alzheimer's disease.

4. You can improve your memory and cognitive capacity—knowing this can empower you to feel confident, grow, and learn. Knowing that you can change is fundamental to strong self-confidence and motivation to learn. People who believe in one's own memory (researchers call this "memory self-efficacy") and their ability to influence the outcome ("personal control") have been proven to do better with cognitive performance and memory as they age.

5. You are in the driver's seat of your learning and personal growth. It is important to reframe and shift away from ideas that one is stuck or helpless in terms of learning and growth. Feeling that you cannot change or learn can reduce motivation and even stop you from accessing potential help and resources. It is important to nurture a sense of hope and potential over one's own ability to learn in order to nurture motivation and encourage a positive feedback loop or "upward spiral" of learning and to avoid "downward spirals" of negative thinking.

A growth mindset is the belief that one can improve and learn and is a perspective that motivates people to grow and engage in new and mentally stimulating activities. This mindset is supported by scientific evidence that the brain has the potential for neuroplasticity at all stages of life. Keeping an active and positive growth mindset is instrumental in protecting against the cognitive decline of aging and is important to nurture throughout one's lifetime.

Copyright © Marlynn Wei, M.D., PLLC 2023.