Higher education: On the lookout for true grit

Carol Dweck introduced the term mindset to describe individuals' beliefs about their intellectual and personal capabilities. These beliefs significantly influence psychological processes such as motivation, goal-setting, and perseverance, ultimately shaping academic and life outcomes. Individuals generally possess one of two mindsets- a fixed or a growth mindset—each promoting different responses to success, failure, and challenge.Fixed vs. Growth MindsetA fixed mindset assumes that one's...

Hindsight bias leads you to believe that the event you just experienced was predictable, even though it really wasn’t. In other words, you knew all along that things would turn out the way they did. Can you relate this to the phrase "Hindsight is 20/20" now? 

Sometimes, a data set can have a recorded numerical observation that greatly  deviates from the rest of the data. Assuming that the data is normally distributed, a statistical method called the Grubbs test can be used to determine whether the observation is truly an outlier.  To perform a two-tailed Grubbs test, first, calculate the absolute difference between the outlier and the mean. Then, calculate the ratio between this difference and the standard deviation of the sample. This...

Self-esteem is intricately tied to our perception of competence and our ability to exert control over our lives. One of the primary sources of this perception is performance feedback — the ongoing evaluation of our actions in terms of success and failure. According to Franks and Marolla (1976), people derive self-worth from experiencing themselves as causal agents, capable of achieving goals and overcoming obstacles. This process nurtures a critical component of self-esteem:...

Power motivation and achievement motivation are two essential social motives identified by psychologist David McClelland. These motives influence behavior in various personal and professional contexts, shaping how individuals interact with others and pursue their goals.
Power motivation is characterized by the desire to influence, control, or have an impact on others. It is shaped by an individual's experiences, social environment, and cultural context. People with high power motivation are...

Interpersonal relationships progress through stages, beginning with awareness and moving toward mutuality, where emotional connections deepen. While many relationships remain at moderate levels of mutuality, deeper connections form through self-disclosure, trust, and interdependence.Self-DisclosureSelf-disclosure involves revealing personal information, starting with surface-level details and gradually progressing to more intimate content. As trust grows, individuals feel more comfortable...