This text sheds light on how people work - why they sometimes function well and, at other times, behave in ways that are self-defeating or destructive.

Dweck presents her groundbreaking research on adaptive and maladaptive cognitive-motivational patterns and shows: how these patterns originate in people's self-theories; their consequences for the person - for achievement, social relationships, and emotional well-being; their consequences for society, from issues of human potential to stereotyping and intergroup relations; and the experiences that create them.

Throughout, Dweck shows how examining self-theories illuminates basic issues of human motivation, social cognition, personality, the self, mental health, and development. This text is a must-read for researchers in social psychology, child development, and education, and is appropriate for both graduate and senior undergraduate students in these areas.