The growth mindset and its psychoanalytic limits: belief in development, the ideal of self-improvement, and the subjective impossibility of permanent transcendence

Abstract

This article provides a conceptual analysis of the epistemological possibilities and limitations inherent in linking Carol Dweck’s theory of mindsets—based on the distinction between a "fi xed mindset" and a "growth mindset"—with categories from Freudian metapsychology, specifi cally those concerning narcissism, the ego-ideal, the superego, desire, and psychic confl ict within the educational sphere. It examines how the transposition of the sociocognitive hypothesis regarding the modifi ability of individual capacities into normative school discourse can transform the belief in the possibility of learning into an imperative for constant self-improvement. In this framework, diffi culties, limitations, and frustrations are reinterpreted as personal inadequacies or a lack of individual eff ort. From a psychoanalytic perspective, the relationship with ideals is shown to be more than a matter of rational choice or voluntary investment; rather, it is shaped by narcissistic demands and processes of identifi cation that cannot be overcome solely through the conscious restructuring of one’s beliefs. The article warns against the moralization of eff ort and the individualization of academic failure—approaches that overlook the material, social, and pedagogical conditions of education. It concludes that while a "growth mindset" can foster learning when integrated with concrete mediations and an acceptance of the legitimacy of error, it takes on a coercive function when elevated to an unlimited subjective obligation. Consequently, it is essential to distinguish between an openness to development and the imposition of a requirement to constantly strive toward an ideal of perpetual self-transcendence.