Amy C.Edmondson

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
—Attributed to Viktor E. Frankl

growth mindset, which views challenging tasks as opportunities to learn and grow, leads children to persist longer in difficult tasks. Moreover, these children learn more than their counterparts. Unfortunately, after a few years of socialization in most school systems, the performance frame becomes the default

But a much-smaller group of kids had internalized a different belief; they saw the brain as a muscle: improved by use. Taking on challenging tasks, they understood, would make them smarter. This growth mindset allowed them to experience failure with curiosity and determination.

Human emotions, hardwired in the thalamus and amygdala, are activated by our evaluations of external stimuli—not by the stimuli themselves.

Failing well, perhaps even living well, requires us to become vigorously humble and curious—a state that does not come naturally to adults

Confirmation biases are fueled by our natural motivation to maintain self-esteem, which helps us tune out signals that we might be wrong. Those who score high in narcissism experience a greater confirmation bias.

Success feedback was still more effective, compared to failure feedback, in helping people learn.

The researchers concluded that failure is “ego threatening, which causes people to tune out.”

In a world obsessed with success, it’s easy to understand how failure can be threatening. Many live not so much lives of quiet desperation but of quiet shame. No one has done more to explain and lessen the emotional pain this causes than Brené Brown

Each of these thinkers—from wildly different backgrounds—sees the nonlearning frame, geared toward self-protection, as the norm for most adults. The oft discussed impostor syndrome, particularly prevalent among high achievers, is a result of this frame. Even though we may hide it behind a veil of positivity or humor, most of us in our childhood shifted from unselfconscious curiosity and learning to defensiveness and self-protection after we internalized the unhelpful idea that we have to be right or successful to be worthy.