I recently partnered with Aimpoint Research to investigate how mindsets might differ across different demographic profiles, including political affiliation, income level, gender, education level, generation, geographic region (in the United States).
I am finding the results quite interesting. I am in the middle of several articles I will be sharing related to this research. Here are the other articles that I have compiled so far:
- Mindsets and Political Affiliation
- Mindset Differences across U.S. Geographic Regions
- Mindset Differences across Generations
- Mindset Differences across Ethnicities
- Mindset Differences across Marital Status
- Mindset Differences across Income Levels
This week, I’m covering how mindsets differ by education level in the United States. There seems to be a clear relationship for two of the four mindsets. See below.
Research Information
Our sample was designed to be a decently close representation of the United States population at large. We ended with a sample of 587.
What I am presenting to you is the average mindset scores across different education levels. To me, the differences are meaningful, but they ARE NOT technically statistically significant.
What this means is that we can infer that while one group (e.g., high school/GED) may have a more negative mindset than another group (e.g., Graduate Degree), we will surely find some people who are at a high school education level that have more positive mindsets than other people who have a graduate degree education.
Regardless, it is interesting to see the differences.
Mindset Differences by Education Level
Here are the results:
Big Picture Findings:
- Growth Mindset. There seems to be a relationship between education level and growth mindset. The greater the education, the more growth-minded people are. What is interesting to me is how much of a difference there is between those with a Bachelor’s degree and those with a graduate degree.
- Open Mindset. There doesn’t seem to be a relationship between education level and open mindsets, but those with an Associate’s degree stand out as the most open-minded.
- Promotion Mindset. There is no difference in level of promotion mindset across the education levels. Everyone, regardless of education level, seems to be rather risk-adverse.
- Outward Mindset. There seems to be a relationship between education level and outward mindset. The greater the education, the more outward-minded people are. Again, what is interesting to me is how much of a difference there is between those with a Bachelor’s degree and those with a graduate degree.
What might these results suggest about you at your education level? What mindset shifts might you need to be intentional about given your education level?
While these are very interesting findings, they are also generalities. These results DO NOT suggest, for example, that all people who only have a high school diploma are fixed-minded and that all people who have a graduate degree are all outward-minded.
If you want to take the mindset assessment for yourself, you can take it here: FREE Personal Mindset Assessment
