Research Evidence
Why Mindset GPS?
Over the years, research by the Motivate Lab team – as well as many other researchers – has consistently demonstrated the benefits of a systems-focused approach to supporting healthier psychological air. Across various learning contexts, we have reliably demonstrated the “5 Ms” of learning mindsets. This includes demonstrating how leveraging learning mindsets can promote holistic student success as defined by both improved student academic and well-being outcomes.
Meaningful and Measurable
Our research demonstrates that Mindset GPS is indeed meaningful (i.e., related to academic success and students’ well-being) and measurable (i.e., we used 2-3 survey items to measure each letter of GPS). For example, we have found Mindset GPS to be significant predictors of GPA and course pass rates with a sample of over 9,000 community college and four-year college undergraduates (Tibbetts et al., 2022). As presented in the graphs below, Growth Mindset (blue line) and Purpose & Relevance (green line) are positively related to GPA (left graph) and course pass rates (right graph). Sense of Belonging (as measured by belonging uncertainty, red line) is negatively related to grades and pass rates. This means that as students become more uncertain about whether they belong they do less well academically. Finally, a measure of the learning context, students’ perceptions of whether their faculty have a Growth Mindset for them (purple line), is also positively related to both grades and pass rates.
Figure 1– Overall Fall 2018 GPA by student mindsets (Tibbetts et al., 2022)
Fall 2018 lead course pass rates by student mindsets (Tibbetts et al., 2022)
Standardized Regression Coefficients for the Associations of Learning Mindsets With Outcomes
Similarly, in medical schools where student burnout is prevalent, we have found Mindset GPS to be related to multiple indicators of well-being and ill-being across a nationally representative sample of over 6,500 medical students (Tibbetts et al., 2024). Feeling uncertain about belonging is positively related to ill-being (as measured by burnout and psychological symptoms) and well-being (as measured by flourishing and resilience). In contrast, Purpose & Relevance, and Growth Mindset, are both positively related to well-being and negatively related to ill-being. Combined, this means that Mindset GPS serves as a buffer against feelings of burnout and psychological symptoms of depression and anxiety, and helps to amplify feelings of flourishing and resilience.
Meaningful and Measurable
Our research demonstrates that Mindset GPS is indeed meaningful (i.e., related to academic success and students’ well-being) and measurable (i.e., we used 2-3 survey items to measure each letter of GPS). For example, we have found Mindset GPS to be significant predictors of GPA and course pass rates with a sample of over 9,000 community college and four-year college undergraduates (Tibbetts et al., 2022). As presented in the graphs below, Growth Mindset (blue line) and Purpose & Relevance (green line) are positively related to GPA (left graph) and course pass rates (right graph). Sense of Belonging (as measured by belonging uncertainty, red line) is negatively related to grades and pass rates. This means that as students become more uncertain about whether they belong they do less well academically. Finally, a measure of the learning context, students’ perceptions of whether their faculty have a Growth Mindset for them (purple line), is also positively related to both grades and pass rates.
Figure 1– Overall Fall 2018 GPA by student mindsets (Tibbetts et al., 2022)
Fall 2018 lead course pass rates by student mindsets (Tibbetts et al., 2022)
Similarly, in medical schools where student burnout is prevalent, we have found Mindset GPS to be related to multiple indicators of well-being and ill-being across a nationally representative sample of over 6,500 medical students (Tibbetts et al., 2024). Feeling uncertain about belonging is positively related to ill-being (as measured by burnout and psychological symptoms) and well-being (as measured by flourishing and resilience). In contrast, Purpose & Relevance, and Growth Mindset, are both positively related to well-being and negatively related to ill-being. Combined, this means that Mindset GPS serves as a buffer against feelings of burnout and psychological symptoms of depression and anxiety, and helps to amplify feelings of flourishing and resilience.
Standardized Regression Coefficients for the Associations of Learning Mindsets With Outcomes
Malleable
Utility-value intervention boosted students’ perceived relevance of math (Hulleman et al., 2010, Study 1)
In terms of malleability, the kinds of GPS-supportive interventions we have designed and evaluated have consistently shown that they can support students’ learning mindsets, and thereby improving student success. For example, in one of the first experimental studies of a classroom-based practice designed to support purpose and relevance, we found that the utility-value intervention boosted students’ perceived relevance of math (Hulleman et al., 2010, Study 1).
Change in students’ perceived math relevance from the beginning of the semester to the end of the semester – Tennessee (Hulleman et al., 2022)
In a study of a similar utility-value intervention in community college mathematics, we found that writing about how math was relevant to their lives boosted students’ perceived relevance of math from the beginning to the end of the semester, as compared to the decline in relevance that occurred for students randomly assigned to the control condition (Hulleman et al., 2022).
Similarly, in our study of community college introductory mathematics, we found that a growth mindset intervention boosted students’ self-reported growth mindsets for learning math as well as their course grades and pass rates (Wormington et al., 2019). More broadly, several comprehensive reviews of interventions designed to support student motivation (Lazowski & Hulleman, 2016; Yeager & Walton, 2010) reveal that GPS-supportive interventions consistently and meaningfully improved learning mindsets, motivation, and performance (see figure below from Lazowski & Hulleman, 2016).
Growth Mindset intervention closes opportunity gap for first generation students (Wormington et al., 2019)
GPS-supportive interventions consistently and meaningfully improved learning mindsets, motivation, and performance (Lazowski & Hulleman, 2016; Yeager & Walton, 2010)
Malleable
In terms of malleability, the kinds of GPS-supportive interventions we have designed and evaluated have consistently shown that they can support students’ learning mindsets, and thereby improving student success. For example, in one of the first experimental studies of a classroom-based practice designed to support purpose and relevance, we found that the utility-value intervention boosted students’ perceived relevance of math (Hulleman et al., 2010, Study 1).
Utility-value intervention boosted students’ perceived relevance of math (Hulleman et al., 2010, Study 1)
In a study of a similar utility-value intervention in community college mathematics, we found that writing about how math was relevant to their lives boosted students’ perceived relevance of math from the beginning to the end of the semester, as compared to the decline in relevance that occurred for students randomly assigned to the control condition (Hulleman et al., 2022).
Change in students’ perceived math relevance from the beginning of the semester to the end of the semester – Tennessee (Hulleman et al., 2022)
Similarly, in our study of community college introductory mathematics, we found that a growth mindset intervention boosted students’ self-reported growth mindsets for learning math as well as their course grades and pass rates (Wormington et al., 2019). More broadly, several comprehensive reviews of interventions designed to support student motivation (Lazowski & Hulleman, 2016; Yeager & Walton, 2010) reveal that GPS-supportive interventions consistently and meaningfully improved learning mindsets, motivation, and performance (see figure below from Lazowski & Hulleman, 2016).
Growth Mindset intervention closes opportunity gap for first generation students (Wormington et al., 2019)
GPS-supportive interventions consistently and meaningfully improved learning mindsets, motivation, and performance (Lazowski & Hulleman, 2016; Yeager & Walton, 2010)
More Effective
As noted in some of the interventions listed above, leveraging the tenets of GPS can be more effective for students from historically underserved backgrounds. We see this not only across academic outcomes, but also as it pertains to well-being outcomes as well. In terms of academic achievement, the utility-value intervention–which promotes purpose and relevance for learning by helping students connect what they are learning to their lives–has been found to be particularly effective in boosting motivation and academic outcomes for historically marginalized and underserved students. For example, one study in undergraduate science courses reveals that the intervention was, on average, effective for all students, but it was most effective for boosting grades of students who identified as both first-generation in college and Black/Latine/Indigenous (Harackiewicz et al., 2016).
Utility-value intervention reduces opportunity gap for underprepared students (Harackiewicz et al., 2016)
*CG = continuing generation; FG = first generation; URM = underrepresented minority (non-white; non-Asian)
A second set of studies in community college introductory mathematics in Florida and Tennessee revealed that the utility-value intervention reduced course withdrawal rates, grades, and pass rates for all students, with effects particularly strong for first-generation college students (left graph) (Hulleman et al., 2022). An intervention designed to reduce uncertainties about belonging during the transition to middle school reduced disciplinary infractions and course failure rates among students transitioning to high school, with effects particularly strong for Black and Latine students (right graph) (Williams et al., 2020).
The effects of utility-value intervention on pass rates by sudent generation (Hulleman et al., 2022)
Reframing uncertainty during the transition to high school; N = 158 (Williams et al., 2020)
In terms of well-being, we have found that growth mindset is significantly related to flourishing among all students, and it is especially powerful among Black, Latine, and Indigenous students in terms of its relationship to flourishing Tibbetts et al., 2024).
Growth mindset is especially powerful among Black, Latine, and Indigenous students in terms of its relationship to flourishing (Tibbetts et al., 2024)
Multilevel
Although our research, and that of others, reveals that we meaningfully impact student outcomes through learning mindset interventions and other supports, simply providing targeted support to students does not create system change. Instead, it is only by integrating learning mindset supports at all levels of a system – including the policies, programs, processes, practices, and people – that we can meaningfully and sustainably promote holistic student success for all students (Hulleman et al., in press). In order to produce the best possible experiences and outcomes for students, the psychological air needs to help everyone in a system thrive. This means acknowledging and addressing the reality that the psychological air in one aspect of the system, say in an engineering classroom, may not be the same for every student (Oyserman, 2015). Just like someone with asthma may be more sensitive to pollution, individuals who enter educational environments with stigmatized identities (e.g., women in STEM) may experience different psychological air than those with non-stigmatized identities. This perspective is aligned with other researchers who study the social psychology of education and who use phrases such as threat in the air (Steele, 1997), psychological affordances (Walton & Yeager, 2020), and psychological vulnerability (Murphy et al., 2007).Â
Acting systemically to shift entire systems is not easy and involves coordination across organizational structures that may or may not be accustomed to working in this way. As this is an emerging area of work for Motivate Lab, we can illustrate our approach with a few examples of organizations engaging in the process of system change.Â
One example of how we work systematically is through our Student Voices Initiative. This work brings together various stakeholders across a university to listen to student concerns about belonging, and collaboratively constructing plans to create healthier psychological air for students (Tibbetts et al., under review). Based on the concerns of their students, various institutions have implemented structural reform efforts after engaging with student focus group data. For example, one Hispanic-Serving Institution acquired funds to create a Latine student center after hearing from a lot of their students that they desired this sort of safe-space. Similarly, upon hearing from students that the lack of available advisors made them feel like their institution did not care (likely impacting their sense of belonging), one institution used this focus-group data to apply for funding that resulted in the acquisition of funds necessary to hire additional advisors. Both of these outcomes would not have been possible if it were not for multiple levels of the institution (e.g., students, staff, administrators) coming together to advance solutions. Â
A second example involves our work with organizations and advisors who support students during the transition from high school to the next stage in their educational and career journey. The psychological air of an organization’s motivational culture–that shapes students’ identities, voices, agency, and how they overcome challenges along their paths–can vary widely, making it essential for organizations to understand the messages and practices they promote to leverage strengths and identify opportunities for improvement. Our team developed a survey tool–The Learning Mindset Climate Survey–to provide a snapshot of how learning mindset-supportive practices play out in real educational settings. Its purpose is to not only help organizations gather input from multiple perspectives, including students, staff, and key program stakeholders, but to then move from good intentions to intentional practice. For example, Uncommon Schools–a nonprofit charter management organization that operates 52 schools serving over 20,000 students–used the survey to examine how well they were supporting students’ purpose in learning. They found that although students could connect their learning to future educational and career goals, students were less able to connect their school experiences to their present identities, communities, and lived experiences. As a result, Uncommon made significant changes to their curriculum and staff training to better integrate purpose into instructional structures and pedagogy. They also integrated course advising more intentionally into the high school scheduling process, ensuring that students’ academic choices more clearly align with their postsecondary plans.
Learn more about the Mindset GPS Framework
Citations
1 Hulleman, C. S., Totonchi, D. A., Barron, K. E., Sutter, C. C., Hulleman, T., Tibbetts, Y., & Thoman, D. (2025). From student to system change: The evolution of the utility-value intervention. In Advances in Motivation Science (Vol. 12, pp. 165-227). Elsevier.
2 Tibbetts, Y., Himmelberger, Z. M., Barron, K. E., Speicher, M. R., & Hulleman, C. S. (2024). Learning mindsets and well-being and ill-being among osteopathic medical students. JAMA Network Open, 7(6), e2418090.
3 Visit the Evidence page to learn more about the research behind the 5Ms and why learning mindsets matterÂ
4 Oyserman, D. (2015). Identity-based motivation. Emerging trends in the social and behavioral sciences, 38, 1-11.
5 Steele, C. M. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. American psychologist, 52(6), 613-629.
6 Walton, G. M., & Yeager, D. S. (2020). Seed and soil: Psychological affordances in contexts help to explain where wise interventions succeed or fail. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29(3), 219-226.
7 Murphy, M. C., Steele, C. M., & Gross, J. J. (2007). Signaling threat: How situational cues affect women in math, science, and engineering settings. Psychological science, 18(10), 879-885.
8 Hulleman, C. S., Himmelberger, Z. M., Sutter, C., Totonchi, D. A., & Tibbetts, Y. (In press). From policy to practice: Centering learning mindsets and well-being for holistic student success. In S. Mammadov (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Student Well-Being.