Supporting College and Career Readiness through Social Psychological Interventions

What abilities are necessary to succeed in school and in life? Proficiencies in mathematics and language are fundamental skill sets; however, these skills alone may not be enough for students to persist and succeed in their educational training. In addition to cognitive skills that boost college and career readiness, researchers find many noncognitive factors are highly influential (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002; Hulleman & Harackiewicz, 2009; Walton & Cohen, 2011). For example, students’ beliefs about the nature of intelligence impact their motivation and persistence in the face of failure. Their construals ¹ of social and academic hardships affect whether they perform well or flounder. Additionally, identifying personal relevance and value in what students are learning can influence their achievement. In this chapter, we address these topics by presenting several well-supported social psychological interventions that confer noncognitive skills and strengths by encouraging students to change their mindsets—their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs—and their construals of the local environment.