Alan's PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH REVIEW
Alan's PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH REVIEWPart I: PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH REVIEW
It is expected that you will read all articles given in the Review Articles file. Summarizing these five
articles is the focus on part I of your paper. Your literature review should NOT be in essay format
for this portion, and should be typed (single-spaced) on the template below (For each article, cut
and paste this template, and then provide your responses). ALL RESPONSES NEED TO BE IN
YOUR OWN WORDS—NO QUOTES EITHER…..or points will be deducted!! ☺ For a detailed
description of each of the sections in Part I, please see “Explaining Part I below.
TEMPLATE:
1. Author(s) of the Article:
2. Title of the Article:
3. Purpose and/or Hypothesis(es) of the Study:
4. Results of the Study:
5. Method for Testing the Hypothesis(es)
6. Implications for the Results:
Part II: APPLICATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY / RESEARCH
Prepare written responses to each of the questions below by copying and pasting the questions and
then inserting your thorough responses to each question.
What current study in Psychology (within the last three years) has been conducted in the area of
Mind Set? For this, you should go to the IVC Ebsco database (see a librarian for help). Specify your
search searching “peer reviewed” research articles written by professors from research universities. Also,
when you are in the Ebsco data base, search by title or keywords of your interest. You can go to the
American Psychological Association (www.apa.org , but you might have to pay for the article). Please
make sure that if you are on a site other than apa.org or in Ebso, then you check to make sure the article is
written by a professor from a research university. In answering this question, I am looking to see that you
can find current psychological research, and then relate it to new ideas). Please include answers to the
following questions:
1. Who was the author and what is the title of the article that you chose?
2. What is the date of its publication (must be within 3 years of the current date)?
3. From what research university is the first author of the study?
4. What was the hypothesis or purpose of the study?
5. How did they test their hypothesis?
6. What were the results of the study?
7. What are the implications or importance of these results?
8. In what ways are the findings of the current article consistent or inconsistent with other 5
articles on Mindset? What new information has been given? This should be VERY welldeveloped
section of your paper—I want to see how you can assimilate the new information
into existing literature. Be sure to mention and properly cite the other 5 articles when referring to
each. DO THIS IN YOUR OWN WORDS—NO QUOTES!
9. APPLYING RESEARCH FINDINGS:
a. OVERALL CHARACTERISTICS: After reading 6 articles on mindset, what are
the characteristics associated with a growth mindset? What characteristics are
associated with a fixed mindset? Describe and explain.
b. SELF ASSESSMENT: In a well-developed paragraph, discuss your mindset
orientation. When answering, consider the following questions: Do you tend to
have a fixed or growth mindset? Observe your thinking patterns over a 3-day
period. Was your mindset pattern easily identifiable? Do you think your mindset is
dependent on the situation you are in? Describe and explain. How difficult do you
think it would be to go from a fixed to a growth mindset?
c. CREATE A PLAN: In thinking about your highest goal, generate a plan using the
findings from the Mindset literature to achieve your highest goal. This would need
to include a plan for moving from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. Use the
research findings from the 6 articles to help your plan. What growth mindset
exercises would you create to help you make a habit out of growth mindset? Please
indicate your highest goal, and indicate how you would proceed. Carry out your
exercises for 3 days. Report your observations, challenges, successes, and
projections for the future attainment of your highest goal.
10. WHAT IS MISSING OR NEEDS CONSIDERATION? THIS IS AN IMPORTANT PART
(WORTH 5% OF YOUR PAPER GRADE):
a. In a well-developed paragraph, what further questions remain? (Don’t say there are
no more questions, since the number of questions that could be asked is practically
infinite. For example, one might wonder if there are gender differences in the degree to
which a person has a growth mindset. Does society socialize males and females
differently for these types of mindset orientation? Come up with your own question, and
ask one of the authors in the articles that were posted on Blackboard and the one you
found. For this, YOU WILL HAVE TO EMAIL ONE OF THE AUTHORS OF THE
ARTICLE (to do this, locate the university from which the author is affiliated; see the
librarian to show you how to look for this information but university affiliation is given
on the title page). Once you have located the university, you can browse that university’s
website to look for the email address of the professor who had written your article. By
the way, do NOT tell them that this is for a class assignment—rather, you should
genuinely express your interest in his/her work by introducing yourself, telling him/her
that you are interested in his/her research, that you have read their article titled X (fill in
the title), and that you would like to know if he/she has ever examined X (fill this in with
your area of interest). Please check your spelling and grammar before sending an email
to this professor! Copy and paste the email that you sent to the professor and include his/
her response. After contacting the professor who you contacted, what are your
thoughts after he/she responded to you?
b. What are your thoughts or conclusions about how this psychological theory,
research and everyday experiences relate?
11. What are your overall conclusions about Mindset in general, and how this may or may not
apply to your life? Do you think this is a useful construct and one in which gives useful
direction and preparation for achieving success? Why or why not.

