According to Columbia University social psychologist Carol Dweck, teachers may find some answers to students' ways of thinking if they consider students' views of "intelligence." In "Messages That Motivate: How Praise Molds Students' Beliefs, Motivation, and Performance (in Surprising Ways)," Dweck maintains that academic motivation and achievement greatly depend on how students view their own intelligence--that is, do they conceive of intelligence as "fixed" (unchanging) or "malleable" (capable of developing)? If students believe intelligence is fixed, they might believe that ability is more important than effort and that appearing to be smart is more important than learning--even if the learning involves some failure. In contrast, if students think that intelligence is malleable, they are inclined to believe that hard work pays off in the end and that grades don't necessarily measure brain power. Depending on their view of intelligence, students will attach different meanings to "failure." Those with fixed views consider failure on an individual performance--a research paper, for example--an assessment of their ability, an accurate measure of their intellectual level. But in the malleable view, failure means they put forth insufficient effort or their strategies didn't work so well. Failure, or difficulty, means that mistakes are likely and signals that something needs changing--try a new strategy, visit the writing center, edit differently, and so on. To promote the malleable view of intelligence, teachers need to rethink their teaching practices along the lines proposed in this study.