Calvinism

The “Growth Mindset” stuff probably isn’t true, but it’s not hard to see why it might be useful. (“The falseness of a judgment is not for us an objection to a judgment; in this respect our language may sound strangest.”) If you believe in the growth mindset, you’ll probably try harder and work longer. You’re more likely to succeed or complete your goal, even if you’re not getting any smarter.

In situations like this one, where [1] there’s a useful/adaptive belief, but [2] the real reason the belief is useful/adaptive is different form the object-level belief, it’s always interesting to think about alternative constructions. (Also, read this.) The idea would be to produce the same end behavior (try harder, work longer) by using totally different object-level beliefs.

Interestingly, there’s a historical example in this case which is the exact opposite of the “growth mindset”: literal predestinationism. Hardcore Calvinists believed in “double predestination”, meaning that individuals were born predestined for Heaven or Hell. Some Calvinists believed that the elect – those predestined for Heaven – would enjoy signs of worldly success, not in a flashy way, but in the sense that the Lord would bless their hard work and make them productive. Weber made the argument that this led people to work extremely hard. You are trying to prove to everyone, and most of all to yourself, that you are part of the elect. If you were part of the elect, you would work very hard and try until you succeeded. If you’re trying to prove $A$ and $A \Rightarrow B$, then $\text{not } B$ is a death sentence. You will try very hard to assure $B$.

One could speculate that there’s a problem with this object-level belief, which is that it discourages risk-taking. A swing and a miss could be dangerous evidence of non-elect status; better to bunt your way to first than risk it on a home-run. Maybe that is why venture capital moved from Route 128 to Sand Hill Road.

On the other hand, the growth mindset also has object-level problems. The rational prescription is simply to try hard and work long hours – but non-rational beliefs might make it much easier to do this. Since doing hard work is more important than believing hard work is important, the non-rational may have the upper hand here. “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” Or: “It seems all great things must first have to bestride the earth in monstrous and frightening masks in order to inscribe themselves in the hearts of humanity with eternal demands.”