The Mindset GPS Framework

What Is Mindset GPS?

Learning mindsets are students’ beliefs about themselves as learners and their learning environment. Motivate Lab focuses on three learning mindsets in particular: Growth Mindset, Purpose & Relevance, and Sense of Belonging, which we call our Mindset GPS framework.1,2 In addition to being a helpful acronym, Mindset GPS is also a metaphor. Just like the GPS in your phone helps you navigate new places physically, your Mindset GPS can help you navigate psychological uncertainty, especially during transitions like starting at a new school. Below we define each of these key learning mindsets:

G

Growth Mindset

Belief that abilities can be developed through effort, the use of effective strategies, and help from others when needed.

P

Purpose & Relevance

The belief that one’s schoolwork is valuable because it is connected to a larger purpose and/or relevant to one’s life.

S

Sense of Belonging

The belief that one is academically and socially connected, supported, and respected.

Why Do Learning Mindsets Matter?

The 5 Ms

Why do we focus on these three learning mindsets? There are five distinct reasons which we refer to as the 5Ms.3

Learning mindsets are…

  1. Meaningful – they are related to academic success and students’ well-being​​;
  2. Measureable – they can be assessed and tracked;
  3. Malleable – they can be altered through targeted activities​ and changes in the environment;
  4. More effective – they are often more effective for students from historically marginalized and traditionally underserved backgrounds;
  5. Multilevel – they can be influenced by policies, structures, and processes at all levels of a system.

Psychological Air

Historically, research on learning mindsets has focused on the motivation of the individual (i.e., “I believe I can grow my math skills”). As the research has evolved, mindset research has expanded to include how our environments impact our individual mindsets (i.e., “My instructor believes I can grow my math skills”), well-being, and academic performance. The psychological air is a metaphor for how these perceptions and experiences are shaped by one’s environment. Just as we breathe in physical air to nourish (or pollute) our lungs, the psychological air can support (or undermine) our psychological experience. In this way, our individual learning mindsets interact with and are influenced by the learning mindsets in the psychological air.

Importantly, the same learning environment can differentially impact students based upon their unique identities.4 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,5 psychological affordances,6 and psychological vulnerability.7

At Motivate Lab, we take a systems-focused approach to learning mindsets.1,8 This means we collaborate with our partners to develop changes in the system to support healthier psychological air. When the psychological air is healthier for everyone, and not just a select few, then we enhance our collective ability to navigate motivational challenges within a variety of contexts. This is our systemic approach to supporting motivation. In other words, we change the system so that individuals in the system thrive.

Learn more about the research and evidence behind learning mindsets

Evidence Page

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 matter 

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.