Psychology

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LESSON 4:  LEARNING

 Motivation, Growth, and Resilience

Understanding... Growth Mindset vs... Growth Mindset... Resilience and... Growth Mindset...

Understanding Motivation through Maslow's Hierarchy Humanist Abraham Maslow proposed a hierarchy of needs that helps understand motivation from basic physiological needs to social and higher level individual needs.  According to Maslow’s model, in order to achieve the realization of one’s full potential, a person must first have lower needs met.  Understanding your sometimes conflicting needs and motivation can help you grow in positive directions.  The following short video will give you an overview of Maslow's Hierarchy, and why it matters.

Listen

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Take this Hierarchy of Needs exercise from WISC-Online to learn more about your own needs.

Why Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs MattersWhy Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs Matters

Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset You've learned in this lesson that our brains are very malleable, perhaps more so than you thought!  Carol Dweck used neuroscience and brain plasticity to develop her work on developing a Growth Mindset from a Fixed Mindset.  When we have a Fixed Mindset about something, we don't believe we're capable of changing or of learning things that don't already easily come to us.  We might say "I'm just not good at math," or "I could never draw like that."  Such beliefs might lead us to what is called "stereotype threat," where we are at risk of confirming a negative stereotype we might hold about ourselves.

When we adopt and develop a Growth Mindset, however, we understand that learning is a process and a pathway to understanding.  Reaching our learning destination may take sustained effort on our part, and the path may look differently for us than it does for other people, and it may sometimes feel very difficult, but we know it is achievable.

Research on brain plasticity has shown how connectivity between neurons can change with experience.  With practice, neural networks, grow new connections, strengthen existing ones, and build insulation that speeds transmission of impulses.  These

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neuroscientific discoveries have shown us that we can increase our neural growth by the actions we take, such as using good strategies, asking questions, practicing, and following good nutrition and sleep habits. (Mindset Works, 2017)

Click on this link or the image below to check out the rest of this interactive graphic to learn more about Growth Mindset.

Growth Mindset Strategies The video below reviews 11 different strategies for increasing your growth mindset.  Which ones do you think you're currently engaged in?  Which ones are you be most willing to tackle moving forward?  Which ones seem the most difficult, and why?

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11 Growth Mindset Strategies: Overcome Your Fix Mindset 11 Growth Mindset Strategies: Overcome Your Fix Mindset ……

Resilience and "Unlearning" This article, linked also in the image below, defines resilience as "our capacity to adapt and recover from adversity" and names seven elements that can help us "unlearn" or "unsubscribe" from patterns that keep us from moving forward.  These seven elements are:  vulnerability, compassion, creativity, flow, optimism, grit, and a growth mindset.  Read the brief descriptions of how these elements relate to "unlearning" patterns that we might want to let go of, and think about which might be most useful for you personally.

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Growth Mindset Reflection Exercises Scroll over the circles below to read the two Reflection Exercises.  Schedule some time to complete these, so you can write about one of them in the L4 Reflection Exercise.

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Growth Mindset Strategies

Building Your Resilience