Carol Dweck

Carol Susan Dweck was born on October 17, 1946, and earned her B.A. in Psychology from Barnard College, Columbia University, in 1967, followed by a Ph.D. in Psychology from Yale University in 1972. Her early career began as a National Science Foundation Fellow at Yale (1967-1971), then as Assistant Professor (1972-1977) and Associate Professor (1977-1981) at the University of Illinois. In 1981, she joined Harvard University's Laboratory of Human Development as a professor until 1985, returned briefly to Illinois, and then moved to Columbia University in 1989 as a professor of psychology. In 2004, Dweck joined Stanford University as the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology, where she also holds a courtesy professorship in the Graduate School of Education. Her research pioneered the concept of implicit theories of intelligence, introduced in a 1988 paper, later termed 'mindsets'—core beliefs about the malleability of personal attributes like intelligence and personality. This work evolved into broader studies on motivation, self-theories, and their roles in achievement, resilience, and interpersonal processes, showing how praising effort over innate talent fosters a growth mindset. Dweck's influence extends beyond academia through popular books like Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development (1999) and Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2006, updated 2012 and 2017), which apply her theories to education, business, relationships, and success. In 2017, she advanced a unified theory of motivation, personality, and development, emphasizing mindsets' foundational role. She continues teaching courses on self-theories, developmental psychology, and motivation at Stanford.