Insights into growth mindsets over time: People with growth versus fixed mindsets grow increasingly negative in their...

Success and innovation often require multiple failures. In workplace and classroom settings, this kind of repeated failure is often visible to others-managers and teachers-whose reactions can shape whether failure is tolerated, supported, or penalized. Thus, understanding people's reactions to others' repeated failures is critical for fostering success in both professional and educational contexts. Prior research suggests that growth (vs. fixed) mindset evaluators may react more positively to others' failures. Yet this research has largely examined reactions to failures at a single time point, not repeated failures over time. Three studies filled this gap by examining the trajectory of affective reactions to others' initial versus repeated failures as a function of evaluators' mindset. We found an interaction between mindset and time, such that people with growth (vs. fixed) mindsets demonstrated a steeper negative trajectory in their affective reactions as others failed repeatedly. This effect was driven by increased blame among growth mindset evaluators, which decreased their engagement with others who repeatedly failed. Moreover, an internal meta-analysis revealed a reliable absolute difference in affective reactions as well: Growth mindset evaluators reacted more positively than fixed mindset evaluators after initial failures, yet this classic positive effect flipped after repeated failures, such that growth mindset evaluators reacted more negatively than fixed mindset evaluators. By situating mindset beliefs in a temporal context, these findings contribute to a body of literature adding a more nuanced understanding of growth mindsets and working to identify the specific conditions under which growth mindsets will have positive effects. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).