Growth mindset in Chinese culture: A meta-analysis

Chinese culture emphasizes the role of diligence in learning, and thus such educational values are thought to promote a growth mindset—the belief that one’s intellectual potential can be improved through investing efforts. Yet, some recent studies found mixed or even opposite trends that Chinese students hold a relatively fixed mindset of intelligence and their mindsets yield weak associations with academic outcomes. The current meta-analysis aimed to characterize intelligence mindset beliefs among Chinese individuals by mapping out their level of growth mindset endorsement and its relationship with psycho-educational outcomes. From 42 independent samples and 52,222 participants, Chinese individuals’ mindset ratings were slightly higher than the scale midpoint (d =.33), indicating a relative growth mindset. There was also a small but significant association between a growth mindset and a wide range of outcomes (r =.22). Yet, these associations were only with psychological and motivational outcomes (i.e., self-esteem), primarily probed with self-report measures. Associations with achievement or ability outcomes (probed with behavioral measures) were nearly zero. In sum, these results call for a more nuanced understanding of intelligence mindset and more culturally adaptive theoretical frameworks and strategies to enhance learning motivation and academic performance.