Milestones in order. This is history, not a weekly activity grid.
- Helplessness in children
- Goals and theories
- Mueller & Dweck praise
- Mindset published
- Blackwell, Trzesniewski, Dweck
- National rollouts
- Sisk et al. meta-analyses
- Li & Bates replications
- Yeager et al. National Study
- Modesty era
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Quick answers
Does this atlas rank groups by IQ, race or nation?
No. Pathways and evidence stay individual. Scores are browsing aids — never group biological or racial ranks.
What did Mueller and Dweck 1998 show?
Children praised for intelligence later avoided challenges more than children praised for effort, in their experiments. Later replications have been mixed.
What did Sisk et al. 2018 find?
Two meta-analyses: mindset–achievement correlations were small on average; interventions had small average effects, with some larger effects for students at higher risk.
What did Li and Bates report?
Failures to replicate core praise effects in their samples. The debate is about robustness and moderators, not about whether beliefs can ever matter.
Did Binet already think intelligence was educable?
Yes. Binet’s original project was instructional. Dweck often cites that history against later “fixed IQ” folklore.
Is growth mindset the opposite of giftedness?
No. Gagné’s talents develop. A gifted label plus incremental theory is a common, coherent pairing. Entity giftedness (“I am a genius, so I must not struggle”) is the failure mode.
Dweck’s early work on learned helplessness and later “theories of intelligence” grew from 1970s motivation research. The public name “growth mindset” arrives with the 2006 book and a vast school-consulting afterlife.
The timeline below follows dated arguments and institutions, not a national myth of genius and not a group ranking.
Origin
1970s–2006 · United States — Dweck’s early work on learned helplessness and later “theories of intelligence” grew from 1970s motivation research. The public name “growth mindset” arrives with the 2006 book and a vast school-consulting afterlife.
Timeline
- Helplessness in children
Dweck studies why some children quit after failure — a motivation problem, not an IQ one.
- Goals and theories
Elliott and Dweck and related papers: learning versus performance goals sit with implicit theories.
- Mueller & Dweck praise
Intelligence praise versus effort praise becomes the famous classroom experiment.
- Mindset published
The trade book that globalised the vocabulary.
- Blackwell, Trzesniewski, Dweck
A junior-high intervention links incremental theory to maths grades in their sample.
- National rollouts
US, UK and other systems buy programmes and posters at scale.
- Sisk et al. meta-analyses
Psychological Science: small average effects; some larger in at-risk groups.
- Li & Bates replications
Key praise findings fail to replicate in their reports — a public crack in the brand.
- Yeager et al. National Study
A large US study finds small average effects, larger for lower-achieving students under supportive climates.
- Modesty era
Even advocates now talk about “supportive context” rather than a sticker that raises IQ.
Eras
- Helplessness lab — Why kids quit — A motivation research programme, not yet a school product.
- Praise experiments — Words after success — 1998 makes adult language a treatment.
- Trade-book boom — Mindset as brand — Consultants outrun the error bars.
- Meta-analytic cooling — 2018 — Sisk sizes the average effect as small.
- Contextual turn — Climate plus belief — Yeager and others: the message needs a school that actually allows challenge.
Shifts
- From lab praise to national posters 1998–2015 — A delicate experiment became a wall display.
- From large story to small d 2018 — Meta-analysis pulled the public claim back toward modest effects.
- From solo belief to climate 2019– — Interventions that ignore tracking, load and feedback quality underperform.
Growth mindset: keep the dates visible. Names of talents are younger than the work they try to capture.
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