Syntes: Do growth mindset interventions impact students' academic achievement? A systematic review and meta-analysis with recommendations for best practices (2023)

Källa: https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000352 (Psychological Bulletin 149)

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• [abstract] 63 studies (N = 97,672): small overall effect d = 0.05 (95% CI 0.02–0.09), non-significant after correcting for possible publication bias; no theoretically meaningful moderators significant.
• [abstract] Studies showing the intervention changed mindsets (13 studies): d = 0.04, ns; highest-quality evidence (6 studies, N = 13,571): d = 0.02, ns.

• [abstract] Authors with a financial incentive reported larger effects.

• [full text] Academic challenge status was a preregistered moderator: samples coded high challenge if most had low grades or were otherwise at risk of failing, moderate if facing a situational challenge (new school, stereotype threat), low otherwise; run with full samples and again with high-challenge subsamples swapped in (p. 14).

• [full text] Meta-analysis 1 (all studies, Table 7, p. 22): high challenge d = 0.07, 95% CI [0.01, 0.13], p = .019; moderate 0.05 [−0.02, 0.12]; low 0.05 [−0.01, 0.11]; difference between levels Q(2) = 0.28, p = .870. Pattern unchanged with high-challenge subsamples (2 studies).
• [full text] Meta-analysis 2 (studies showing the intervention changed mindsets, Table 13, p. 27): high challenge d = 0.09 [0.04, 0.14], p < .001; moderate −0.01 [−0.10, 0.09]; low 0.05 [−0.21, 0.32]; Q(2) = 2.98, p = .226.
• [full text] Meta-analysis 3 (best evidence, 6 studies): too few effects for any moderator analysis; overall d = 0.02 [−0.06, 0.10] (abstract; p. 29).
• [full text] Authors: the claim that interventions work best for struggling students "is limited"; the challenge moderator was nonsignificant, and subgroup claims (including Yeager et al. 2019, which reported only below-median students) were often not tested against other students (pp. 11, 31). Challenge levels pool adolescents, children and adults; no secondary-only split.

Limits

• [assessment] Full text read 2026-10-16 (supplied by Jonatan). Page numbers below are the Online First pagination. Burnette et al. 2023 and a commentary (Tipton et al., DOI 10.1037/bul0000384) report a meaningful effect in at-risk groups.

Added 2026-10-16 by the project (broadening attack run). [abstract] = from the published abstract; [full text] = read in the full text; [assessment] = the project's own assessment.