If you work in education (and especially education policy) think this is a really important message. "Many of us assume that flourishing in the face of adversity requires a certain kind of mindset... yet such efforts have been largely unsuccessful at reducing poverty and unemployment, and have been derided both by the people they were designed to help and by those advocating on their behalf." Why? Because "the four components of a mindset that are claimed to enable flourishing – locus of control, self-regulation, approach orientation, and being trusting and agreeable – are not only less common in low-income contexts, they fit poorly to such contexts." Rather, abandoning them is a rational response to their reduced circumstances; "they're regulating emotions and conserving their energies so that they don't face continual disappointment or overlook very real threats."
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