This groundbreaking text examines how people work -- why they sometimes function well and, at other times behave in ways that are self-defeating or destructive.

The author presents her innovative research on adaptive and maladaptive cognitive-motivational patterns, shows how these patterns originate in people's self-theories, and examines their consequences for the achievement, social relationships, and emotional well-being. The book also looks at the experiences that create these patterns and addresses the consequences for society, from issues of human potential to stereotyping and intergroup relations. Throughout, Dweck shows how examining self-theories illuminates basic issues of human motivation, social cognition, personality, the self, mental health, and development.

This outstanding text is a must-read for researchers in social psychology, child development, and education, and is appropriate for both graduate and senior undergraduate students in these areas. It will also be well-appreciated by the general reader interested in research in motivation, personality, and social development.

Ch. 1. What Promotes Adaptive Motivation? Four Beliefs and Four Truths About Ability, Success, Praise, and Confidence
Ch. 2. When Failure Undermines and When Failure Motivates: Helpless and Mastery-Oriented Responses
Ch. 3. Achievement Goals: Looking Smart Versus Learning
Ch. 4. Is Intelligence Fixed or Changeable? Students' Theories About Their Intelligence Foster Their Achievement Goals
Ch. 5. Theories of Intelligence Predict (and Create) Differences in Achievement
Ch. 6. Theories of Intelligence Create High and Low Effort
Ch. 7. Implicit Theories and Goals Predict Self-Esteem Loss and Depressive Reactions to Negative Events
Ch. 8. Why Confidence and Success Are Not Enough
Ch. 9. What is IQ and Does It Matter?
Ch. 10. Believing in Fixed Social Traits: Impact on Social Coping
Ch. 11. Judging and Labeling Others: Another Effect of Implicit Theories
Ch. 12. Belief in the Potential to Change
Ch. 13. Holding and Forming Stereotypes
Ch. 14. How Does It All Begin? Young Children's Theories About Goodness and Badness
Ch. 15. Kinds of Praise and Criticism: The Origins of Vulnerability
Ch. 16. Praising Intelligence: More Praise that Backfires
Ch. 17. Misconceptions About Self-Esteem and About How to Foster It
Ch. 18. Personality, Motivation, Development, and the Self: Theoretical Reflections
Ch. 19. Final Thoughts on Controversial Issues
References
App Measures of Implicit Theories, Confidence, and Goals
Index