Preferred Name
Cierra L. Williams
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Date of Graduation
Spring 2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Department of Graduate Psychology
Advisor(s)
Robert Harmison
Abstract
Growth mindset interventions have been evaluated within academic settings for years and have demonstrated links between one’s mindset and achievement goals. However, despite this research, limited research has evaluated the effectiveness of a growth mindset intervention within an athletic setting. This research aimed to remedy this shortcoming by conducting a growth mindset intervention within a sample of 27 female collegiate athletes. Participants viewed two videos about the malleability of the brain, listened to the researcher discuss personal sport experiences, and wrote a letter to a future athlete. Measures of growth mindset, fixed mindset, competitiveness, win orientation, and goal orientation were obtained pre- and post-intervention. It was hypothesized the intervention would facilitate a growth mindset while decreasing win orientation and increasing goal orientation. A series of 2 x 2 Repeated Measures Mixed ANOVA’s revealed these hypotheses were not supported. However, several moderate to large effect sizes emerged and provided practical significance for some of the presented mean differences and relationships. Given these findings, limitations and directions for further research in growth mindset in athletes are offered.
Recommended Citation
Williams, Cierra LaTrice, "A growth mindset intervention in female collegiate athletes" (2018). Masters Theses, 2010-2019. 558.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/558
