What is it about Mindset?

Recent evidence documents that low-cost interventions aimed at giving teenagers a growth mindset have very sizable and positive effects on their test scores and on high school drop-out rates. In a partnership with Rio de Janeiro State Secretary of Education (Brazil), this project proposes to adapt and test the previously evaluated Growth Mindset intervention from its computer-based original form to an SMS-based format, making it scalable in both developed and developing countries, and investigate its effectiveness for vulnerable populations. Moreover, rather than just comparing average treatment effects of computer vs. SMS messages, this project investigates why the growth mindset interventions works, unbundling mindsets into its underlying mechanisms. To do so, we propose an investigation into the importance of information, salience over a short and longer period of time, risk-preferences, time-preferences, and the environment (parents and teachers) for the success of the intervention.