Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

“People may start with different temperaments and different aptitudes, but it is clear that experience, training, and personal effort take them the rest of the way.”

Dweck introduces her thesis for Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. By conceding the counterargument that people may start with different abilities and talents, she makes her argument more palatable to the fixed-mindset readers whose minds she most hopes to change. As a writer and researcher, she models growth-minded action—the ability to concede a point. The concession creates more nuance, making her argument feel more inviting and less extreme. In one statement, she prepares the reader to shift their attitudes regarding broad themes such as The Insufficiency of Natural Talent, Developing Growth and Potential in Others, and intelligence.

“For thirty years, my research shows that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life.”

By starting with her credentials first, as a researcher with over 30 years of experience, Dweck tempers the reaction toward her claim that something as simple as a mindset can have such a great effect. Dweck is careful to support her claims with evidence that appeals to all readers. She relies most on ethos-building rhetoric when she cites her own studies or brings in famous examples and pathos-building rhetoric when she includes personal vignettes related to her own changing mindset and the personal experiences of individual test subjects.