A new test can determine if you have the right attitude to achieve your goals

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It takes a lot to succeed with ambitious goals. Among other things, we need passion and belief that we will succeed, and we usually need support from others. However, we also need to have the right attitude—the right mindset, one that makes us willing to do what it takes to change and improve. Experts refer to it as a growth mindset.

So, how do we know if we actually have the right mindset? How can a coach know if a talented athlete has the attitude and mindset needed to become one of the best? An individual’s mindset is influenced by external factors that can change, and it may also vary from day to day.

“An individual’s belief in growth is important. Individuals can change and increase their development through training. People with growth mindsets see challenges as opportunities for learning,” said Professor Hermundur Sigmundsson at NTNU’s Department of Psychology.

Imagine how useful it would be if we could measure whether we have the right mindset.

Fortunately, we can.

Measuring mindset

Sigmundsson has been studying the factors that help us succeed in achieving our goals for several years. In a book published by Springer in 2024 called “How we learn and become experts: Igniting the spark,” Sigmundsson presents the research work he has done over the past 30 years.

He and his colleague Professor Monika Haga at the Department of Teacher Education have developed a test to measure attitude and growth mindset.

“There has been a lot of discussion in academic circles about the most common test available today. We believe our new test is better at measuring growth mindset,” said Sigmundsson.

You might think that measuring whether people have the right mindset to improve or not would be difficult. However, Sigmundsson and his colleagues have developed methods to measure both flow and passion.

Flow is what you experience when you are engaged in something so deeply that time seems to fly by. That’s what psychologists call a flow state. Passion is how much you like doing something or having a strong interest in an area, skill or theme.

In light of this, it might not be so impossible to measure whether we have the right mindset either. The researchers believe they have cracked the code.

700+ participants

“A total of 723 participants aged 16 to 85 years old were involved in the study. This provided a representative sample of people, and there were enough of them for us to also investigate how feasible, consistent and effective our test is,” said Sigmundsson.

The participants had to consider whether they agreed with a number of statements:

1. I know that with effort I can improve my skills and knowledge.
2. I can influence and change my development in general.
3. I can change my skills and knowledge through practice.
4. I like to take challenges and try new things.
5. I see learning as my goal.
6. Effort makes me stronger.
7. I want to spend more time and work more on an area/theme/skill to develop my skills and knowledge.
8. I have faith in my own skills and my possibilities.

An article about the test has been published in New Ideas in Psychology.

“Our results show that the test is suitable for this age group. It is really encouraging and provides a better scale with which to measure growth mindset, i.e. the right attitude,” said Sigmundsson.

In other words, we have gained a new tool to identify whether we or others have what it takes to succeed.

Sigmundsson believes that the growth mindset should be all-encompassing in our society: in the family home, in sports, at school and in the workplace. Schools should also focus on helping pupils experience mastery by adapting challenges to their level.