Perceived institutional mindset is associated with college students’ psychological experiences and academic outcomes

Do students perceive mindset beliefs communicated by their colleges, and if so, how are they reflected in students’ psychological and academic outcomes? This research explores how students' important outcomes are linked to perceived institutional mindset: students’ perceptions of the degree to which their college views ability as immutable and unchangeable (an institutional fixed mindset) or malleable and expandable (an institutional growth mindset). With a diverse sample of first-year students (N > 10,000) at 22 U.S. colleges, we hypothesized, and found, that perceiving more of an institutional growth (vs. fixed) mindset is associated with greater belonging and academic self-confidence, better health and well-being, higher grades, and more credits taken and earned. Moreover, perceived institutional growth mindset correlates with lower stereotype threat, especially among underrepresented minority and first-generation college students. Given these relationships with important student outcomes, institutional mindset may be an important contextual factor for understanding students’ experiences.