The Science of Mindset: How Our Mindset Makes or Breaks Us

Mind over matter. Nature versus nurture. Genetics versus environment. Theory versus praxis. Dichotomies are endless despite being in a world of spectrums. One can simply ask “why not both?”

Even if each element plays a vital role, sometimes people tend to neglect one against the other. That being said, there are times that people only give weight to their actions. If it’s done pretty well, it’s good, one might say. For some, the end justifies the means. However, it is worth noting that one side of the coin always affects the other, the way our beliefs affect our actions. Say for an instance, if a person silently believes that gays are worth respecting, then it’s likely that he’d avoid being homophobic, though it is arguable that it isn’t a guarantee. That is the same when one wants to accomplish something. If one thinks that his certain effort will yield particular results, chances are those results will be visible afterward. This is where the power of mindset comes into the spotlight.

In psychology, mindset is generally defined as “a set of assumptions, methods, or notations” believed by a particular person or group of persons which is predetermined making up the subject’s motivation to do certain deeds. This illustrates that mindset influences our behaviors and we know that our behaviors largely govern in reaching our respective goals.

We could simply use the term mindset here to pertain to our general mentality, outlook, and the likes on specific areas that affect us with utmost relevance. Let us say for an instance, our mindset in work, studies, or social relation affect how we act on these matters. It is primarily how we think about something even prior our actual experience of it. There are two types of mindset in psychology namely fixed and growth mindset.

Their names themselves suggest what they are. Fixed mindset is thinking that our abilities are stable, permanent, and unalterable. Growth mindset, on one hand, refers to the principle enabling us to think that despite given abilities, they can still be honed through time.

It is usually discussed in the academes that mindset largely affects our behaviors. However, does it by itself already have an effect on the outcome regardless our behavior?

According to certain scientific experiments, it has been suggested how the power of mindset alters the result of our actions, like if two groups of subjects employ the same action, with different mindsets, the result differ. Scientific American article entitled “Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits” by Ozgun Atasoy exhibited some of these experiments. One of them is about hotel staff doing particular daily tasks which “meets the Surgeon General’s recommendation of at least 30 minutes of physical exercise a day for a healthy lifestyle.” Most hotel room attendants, as the article cited, assert that they do not either get regular exercise or any exercise at all.

Alia Crum and Ellen Langer monitored the activity of two groups of hotel attendants for four weeks, the treatment group being proactively educated that they get enough exercise, and the control group not being told anything in particular. The subjects in control group have had a stable weight after the given duration, while the subjects in the treatment group lost weight and body fat percentages; body ratio and blood pressure also plummeted. The simple mindset that one is getting enough exercise makes huge difference based on this experiment despite the two groups doing practically the same tasks.

This exact same experiment may need to be repeatedly done in order to upturn its reliability. However, similar experiments vis-à-vis the effect of mindset have also been demonstrated showing how much our thoughts could affect the results of our actions, and how a shift of thinking may prove to be useful if not destructive for identical behaviors. So next time you do your usual house chores you might as well begin to think that you’re already burning calories. Who knows, proper mindset might be the only lacking element in reaching your goals? It is a simple shift of thoughts. Besides, you don’t have to lift weights by changing your mindset into something better.