Testing the Three Difficulty Mindsets
4:24:16 2024-07-08 883

Across a series of 15 studies drawing from 2,380 participants in the groupings of WEIRD-er (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) vs. less-WEIRD countries, Yan and her collaborators sought to compare difficulty mindsets along with their relationship to identity. They also measured the extent to which their online samples of adult participants believed in the social blueprints of deservingness, higher authority, and conservatism.

To give you an idea of your own difficulty mindset, here are the items on the three scale.

Ratings are from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (6):

Difficulty-as-improvement

  1. In a way, the difficulties I have today are strengthening my character to meet tomorrow’s challenges.
  2. Experiencing difficulty makes me grow stronger.
  3. Experiencing difficulty is the strongest of teachers; I may temporarily feel broken, but in the long run, I will be better.
  4. Life is not complete without difficulty, hardship, and suffering.

Difficulty-as-importance

  1. Sometimes if a task feels difficult to me my gut says that it really matters for me.
  2. If a goal feels difficult to work on, I often think it might be a critical one for me.
  3. When a task feels difficult, the experience of difficulty sometimes informs me that succeeding in the task is important for me.
  4. Often when a goal feels difficult to attain it turns out to be worth my effort.

Difficulty-as-impossibility

  1. Sometimes if a task feels difficult, my gut says it is impossible for me.
  2. If a goal feels difficult to work on, I often think it might not be for me.
  3. When a task feels difficult, the experience of difficulty sometimes informs me that succeeding in the task is just not possible for me.
  4. Often when a goal feels difficult to attain it turns out to be out of my reach.

To assess the identities associated with each mindset, the authors used standard measures of sense of optimism, presence of meaning and purpose in life, conscientiousness, and “character virtues” such as forgiveness and gratitude.

The findings showed that, across societies, people could relate to the ideas of difficulty-as-improvement. People in less-WEIRD countries were more likely to endorse this mindset which, in turn, was rooted in culture-bound beliefs such as karma and spirituality. Across cultures, though, the difficulty-as-improvement mindset was associated with resilient identities. Those who endorse this mindset see themselves as “conscientious, virtuous, and optimistic people who lead lives of purpose and meaning”

 

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