Dweck graduated from Barnard College and obtained her PhD in psychology from Yale in 1972. She took a faculty position at the University of Illinois before moving on to Harvard’s Laboratory of Human Development in 1981. She later returned to the University of Illinois as a full professor before becoming the William B. Ransford Professor of Psychology at Colombia University. She has been the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University since 2004. Dweck has been inducted to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, and she received the 2011 American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions. She was also awarded the $4 million Yidan Prize for Education Research.

Mindset theory has profoundly impacted the field of education since the publication of Dweck’s first book. Many of her early studies indicate that simply learning about neuroplasticity and growth mindset has deeply positive effects on adolescent learners, increasing their motivation and sparking their desire to learn. She reports that her workshops that share the same material profoundly impact the well-being and mental health of college students. Thus, she and others began to market intervention modules and curricula such as Brainology—Dweck’s workshop for adolescents—to school districts as a product for closing achievement gaps and motivating unmotivated youth.