翻译天堂 2016-08-09
The Antidote to Our Anxious Times Is a Learning Mindset
保持学习的心态才是对抗这个焦虑时代的良药
Carol DweckJULY 28, 2016
Through the election-season upheaval in the U.S. and the Brexit vote in the UK, working-class people are making it clear that they’re worried about the future. And in one big way, their anxiety is justified. Many of their job options — factory work, farm work, postal work, sales work — are dwindling, and they’re wondering what will go next.
在美国选举季的动荡起伏和英国脱欧投票的过程中，工薪阶层很明显地开始担忧自身的未来。他们的这种焦虑是理所应当的，而且很多工作机会，诸如工厂，农场，销售和邮局的工作都在逐渐缩减，他们不知道接下来该怎么办。
Who is speaking to them? The loudest voices both in the U.S. and abroad often are those that preach hatred and exclusion. But hatred and exclusion will not bring employment.
谁跟他们谈话？美国本土和国外最大的声音经常是那些宣扬仇恨和排斥的声音。但是这些声音并不会带动就业的机会。
The only long-term solution is to create what I and my colleague David Yeager, of the University of Texas at Austin, call “a nation of learners” — a nation of people who seek challenging tasks, know how to wrestle them into shape, and know how to see them through. Right now the U.S. is not a nation of learners. People want to learn, but they underestimate what they can do.
唯一的长期解决方案就是建立我和同事David Yeager在奥斯丁，德克萨斯州立大学所呼吁的“学习型民族”，即整个国家的人民都勇于寻求具有挑战性的工作，而且明白如何对它们全力以赴，如何将其进行到底。而当前的美国并不是这样一个民族。人们渴望学习，但他们却低估了自己做能做的事情。
In a new study of 19,000 high school students across the U.S who were asked to construct a math worksheet, we found that most of them chose the easiest possible problems, even though they knew they would learn nothing from them. But there was a silver lining: When students participated in an online workshop, their behavior changed. This workshop taught them two things. First, they learned a growth mindset, the idea that through hard work on hard tasks they could improve their brains and abilities. Second, they were asked to think about the contribution they most wanted to make in life, whether to their families, their communities, or society. They were then taught how to use their growth mindset, and their stronger brains, to help accomplish that. These students no longer shied away from difficulty. Compared with those who hadn’t done the workshop, they chose 30% more problems that challenged them — problems that would improve their brains.
在针对全美19000名高中生的一项最新研究调查中，当被要求创建数学工作表时，我们发现大部分人都会选择可能出现的简单问题，即使他们自知从中一无所获。但研究中仍有一线希望：当学生们参加线上学习研讨时，他们的做法却截然不同。此类线上学习会教他们两件事情。第一，他们会学习到一种成长思维模式，即通过自身努力去完成可提升他们心智和能力的较困难的工作任务。第二，要求他们思考在人生中最想做出什么贡献，无论是对家庭，社区还是社会。然后教他们如何运用自己的成长思维模式和强有力的大脑去完成它。这些学生将不再惧怕困难。与那些未参加线上学习的学生相比，他们选择的问题中，30%都具有挑战性，而且这些问题可以帮助他们提升脑力。
I have seen schools across the country working long and hard to embed a commitment to the unlimited development of every student into their cultures. The result, in terms of motivated learners and test scores, often is spectacular.
我已经走访过全国所有的学校，长期致力于承诺为每个学生灌输文化，让他们的发展不受限制。但从学习动机和测试分数来看，结果都令人惊叹。
I have seen corporate cultures like this as well, cultures that have at their core a commitment to the growth of every single employee, from security guards to senior executives. In research led by Mary Murphy at Indiana University Bloomington, we found that employees at all levels in such companies feel empowered and eager to learn, stretching themselves to take on new tasks within the organization. Companies like these realize that we must commit resources to helping people update their skills for today’s and tomorrow’s jobs.
我也看到过很多类似的企业文化，致力于每个员工的成长发展，无论是公司保安还是高层管理人员。 Mary Murphy在印地安那大学伯明顿分校所做的调查研究中，我们发现在这样的企业中，所有级别的雇员都感觉到自己是被授权学习的，而且也渴望学习，拓展自己在企业中承担新任务的能力。这些企业也同样意识到，自己必须保证有足够的资源来帮助员工为当下和以后的工作提升技能。
In recent studies with Dave Paunesku and Sarah Gripshover at the Project for Education Research That Scales (an applied research center at Stanford), we asked how adults could be encouraged to seek job training. We consistently found two key ingredients: People had to know there were desirable jobs available, and they had to understand that the skills for these jobs were acquirable.
在最近Dave Paunesku和Sarah Gripshover 的教育研究项目中，我们也提出了如何鼓励成年人寻求工作技能培训的问题。而且有两个关键因素也一直存在：人们必须清楚他们可以找到理想的工作，也必须要明白这些工作也同样是要求相关技能的。
In some studies we assessed whether people already had this knowledge — for example, did they believe statements such as “It is always possible for a person to gain the skills they need to get a job they like” or “Even if a person is not qualified for a job right now, it is always possible for them to become qualified”? The people who held these beliefs were more likely than others to be seeking both formal and informal job training.
在另一些研究中，我们评估了人们是否已经拥有这些认知，比如，他们是否认同以下这些理念：“人们为了自己喜欢的工作一定能够学会其必需的技能”；“即使某个人现在无法胜任此工作，但以后一定有机会可以胜任”。与其他人相比，认同这些理念的人更有可能找寻到正式和非正式的工作培训机会。
We then conducted studies in which we told people about jobs that were available in attractive fields. These people also learned that the requisite skills were acquirable and that the labor shortages existed because not enough people had developed those skills yet. Imparting this knowledge substantially increased the number of people requesting job information and significantly raised their intention to pursue formal job training.
然后，我们有进行了研究，告诉人们在自己感兴趣的领域中就能找到工作机会。这些人也明白，必需的技能是可以习得的，而且目前还没有足够多的人掌握这些技能才导致劳动力短缺。传授这些技能可以大幅度地提升需要工作信息的人口数量并提高他们接受正规工作培训的关注度。
Organizations that are committed to providing such knowledge, along with serious training opportunities, create a highly motivated, loyal, vital workforce. But even more is at stake.
致力于主张这一理念并提供培训机会的企业会构建出高主动性、忠诚度高的、充满活力的劳动力。但是仍有很多企业处在危机之中。
Business leaders who openly acknowledge people’s concerns about becoming obsolete and who invest resources in workers’ growth can help create a nation of learners — and perhaps resolve some of the political chaos that’s bubbling around us.
那些对于员工面临淘汰担忧而公开表示理解，且为员工成长投入精力的领导者们对创建学习型名族是由好处的，也能够解决一些困扰在我们身边的政治纷乱。
Carol Dweck is the Lewis & Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and the author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.
