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From: Sandra Merlo
Date: 07 Oct 2009
Time: 13:19:33 -0500
Remote Name: 201.95.199.33
Dear Karen, thank you for your questions. 1) Carol Dweck has already written that people can be born with different predispositions, but the attitudes toward difficulty are learned later according to the way people understand the nature of the skills (if they are inherent or can be developed). 2) Optimism and pessimism are consequences of mastery-oriented and helpless responses, respectively. 3) The first step to change from helpless to mastery-oriented response is to be aware of the two responses. The second step is trying to change the conception about the nature of the skills, that is, it is necessary to see that skills can be developed. In the last chapter of the book "Mindset" (http://www.mindsetonline.com/ Carol Dweck discusses how people can plan their change. 4) As clinicians, I think we can explain both responses to the clients. But the decision to change is theirs. Regards, Sandra