About

Jeni L. Burnette is a Professor of Psychology at North Carolina State University. She received her undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina and completed her Ph.D. in Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research applies basic social psychological theories to understanding fundamental social issues such as reducing rates of depression in youth. She primarily focuses on how to implement growth mindset interventions in ways that foster self-regulation and improve health. Additionally, she helps organizations develop growth mindset cultures.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Political Science
• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Clinical psychology
• Psychotherapist
• Public relations
• Developmental psychology
• Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Applied psychology

Selected publications

• Motivation and successful goal pursuit: an iterative mindset predicts habits, weight loss, and work productivity

  Current Psychology · 2026-03-26

  articleOpen access

  Habits are critical for lasting motivation, behavioral changes, and goal achievement. Habits are effective, in part, because they free up cognitive resources and provide resilience in the face of stressors. In the current work, we integrate neuroscience research on the role of the lateral habenular complex in sustained motivation with a mindset perspective to predict habit automaticity and ultimately health and work goal success. Specifically, we offer an iterative mindset approach, which comprises three key components: (i) assessing setbacks without triggering negative emotions by reframing and releasing failures, (ii) iterating to remain in-effort, and (iii) practicing what is working repetitively. In Study 1 (N = 370), an iterative mindset was related to automatic health habits and weight loss. In Study 2 (N = 915), an iterative mindset was related to automatic work habits and workplace productivity. We conclude with implications for basic neuroscience theory and applications to mindset interventions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A stronger growth mindset of frugality predicts entrepreneurs’ responses to setbacks in resourcefulness behavior

  Journal of Business Venturing Insights · 2026-02-09

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Personal Growth and Wellbeing: An Iterative Mindset Assessment and Perspective

  Behavioral Sciences · 2025-07-04 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Interest in personal growth is expanding in both the popular press and the scientific literature. These expansions incorporate varied theoretical approaches and multiple areas of life. In the current work, we propose a novel perspective that focuses on managing failure to reach self-improvement goals and improving wellbeing. Specifically, we introduce an iterative mindset, which is the belief that making adaptations combined with deliberate practice and neutralizing of failure is critical for lasting transformations. We seek to contribute to the personal growth and mindset literature in two key ways. First, we developed and validated a new measure, called an Iterative Mindset Inventory (IMI), examining factor structure, reliability, and validity. Second, we investigated the links between iterative mindsets, self-improvement, and wellbeing, extending existing work on the power of beliefs to shape self-development. In both studies (Study 1, N = 871; Study 2, N = 345), we incorporated online samples that resembled the adult population of the United States. In Study 1, we found evidence for the proposed theoretical three-factor structure of an iterative mindset, which we label iterate, practice, and assess. In Study 2, using a longitudinal approach across three weeks, we confirmed the three-factor structure and found high test-retest reliability. Iterative mindsets were also positively linked to weight-loss success across both studies and to self-efficacy and wellbeing in Study 2.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Experimental evidence that people consider transgressors' exploitation risk when deciding to forgive

  Evolution and Human Behavior · 2025-07-21

  articleOpen access

  On an adaptationist view of forgiveness, people's decisions to forgive transgressors are coordinated by a psychological system that estimates (a) the likely benefits of a restored relationship with the transgressor (called relationship value) and (b) the risk that the transgressor will impose additional harm in the future (called exploitation risk). Correlational evidence supports these claims, but experimental evidence is limited. Here, we used a novel experimental manipulation of exploitation risk, along with well-established manipulations of post-transgression communication, to evaluate claims about the effects of exploitation risk on forgiveness. We also evaluated whether the effects of post-transgression gestures of apology-compensation and antagonistic messages on forgiveness result from their intermediate effects on perceived exploitation risk. The manipulations of exploitation risk and post-transgression messages influenced self-report measures and behavioral measures associated with forgiveness in theoretically expected directions, and a standard measurement-of-mediator approach suggested they operate via their intermediate effects on exploitation risk, but experimental tests provided only limited support for that claim. We conclude that exploitation risk does indeed deter forgiveness, but we will find little unambiguous causal evidence that antagonistic messages and expressions of apology-compensation exert their effects on forgiveness via their intermediate effects on perceived exploitation risk.

  PublisherDOI

• A Digital Program to Promote Sexual Communication Between Early Adolescents and Parents: Development and Acceptability Testing Results

  The Journal of Sex Research · 2025-11-03

  articleOpen access

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  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Distinguishing between individual and societal socioeconomic mobility beliefs: Understanding attitudes toward those in poverty

  Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · 2025-07-03

  articleOpen access

  We investigated two related mindsets about the malleable or fixed nature of socioeconomic mobility and their distinct influences on stigma toward those in poverty. Across four studies, conducted in the United States ( N = 1,057), we explored mindsets about individual potential to change social class, what we called individual mobility mindsets (I_MM), and mindsets about societal opportunities for socioeconomic mobility, or societal mobility mindsets (S_MM). Although the mindsets were positively correlated, they had distinct focal points and, importantly, they differentially predicted outcomes. For example, I_MM was positively linked to individual-level attributes like grit, whereas S_MM was negatively linked to systemic attributions for social class and to beliefs that inequality is unjust. Additionally, I_MM was negatively related to stigma toward those in poverty, whereas S_MM was positively linked to it. This was largely due to the differential links to essentialism—that is, to the view that poverty is an inherent and defining characteristic. Although both types of mindsets were positively linked to blame, which is a known driver of stigma, I_MM was negatively linked to essentialism and S_MM was positively linked to it. We discuss different models of mindsets and stigma.

  PublisherDOI

• Loneliness Mindsets: A New Measurement Approach and Implications for Predicting Wellbeing

  Behavioral Sciences · 2025-09-02 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The prevalence of loneliness is rising, with both individual and societal costs, including a substantial mental health toll. Perhaps not surprisingly, given this upsurge, research focused on loneliness is proliferating. Of particular interest are the characteristics of lonely individuals and where to intercede to reduce loneliness. Interventions often focus on enhancing social skills, providing social support, offering opportunities for social interaction, and addressing maladaptive cognitions. In the current study, we seek to add to the literature on the importance of beliefs by focusing on individual differences in the meaning assigned to the nature of loneliness. Specifically, we investigate mindsets, first developing and validating a new Mindsets of Loneliness Assessment Tool (M-LAT) across two studies (N = 243; N = 382) using primarily university students. Analyses revealed four factors, which we call Lonely Attribute Mindset (LM_Attribute), Lonely People Mindset (LM_Person), Loneliness as Enhancing Mindset (LM_Enhancing), and Loneliness as Debilitating Mindset (LM_Debilitating). Lonely People and Debilitating Mindsets tended to correlate the strongest with social and psychological wellbeing. We discuss the need for future work investigating if mindset interventions targeting both of these types of mindsets can be leveraged to improve wellbeing, especially in the face of loneliness.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• How Mindsets Can Mitigate or Sustain Prejudice

  Current Directions in Psychological Science · 2025-01-20 · 4 citations

  articleSenior author

  Beliefs about the changeable or stable nature of human attributes, that is, growth or fixed mindsets, act as fundamental frameworks guiding social perception. These mindsets are closely allied with other important beliefs that can be used to sustain and justify, or to mitigate, prejudicial attitudes. In this article, we review our program of research linking growth mindsets to prejudice. First, we present the double-edged-sword model, which outlines why growth mindsets can have the paradoxical effect of both increasing prejudice through blame and decreasing it by undermining social essentialism, defined as the categorization of individuals based on presumed inherent essences. Second, we present the stigma-reduction model, which outlines when growth mindsets serve to directly decrease prejudice. Third, we highlight the implications of this work for prejudice-reduction efforts, emphasizing the need for interventions that not only challenge personal-level beliefs but also seek to transform broader environments.

  PublisherDOI

• Mindsets of Parenting Ability: Coping With Challenges and Engaging in Parenting

  Journal of Applied Social Psychology · 2024-12-26

  article1st authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT Parenting can bring both joy and stress. Identifying factors that foster greater engagement and enjoyment while also helping parents cope with inevitable stressors is critical for healthy child development and parental wellbeing. In the current work, we build on growth mindset theory to explore individual differences in beliefs about the changeable nature of parenting ability. Specifically, across three correlational studies ( N = 1170), we investigated if growth mindsets about parenting related to coping in the wake of parenting setbacks and to parental engagement. Growth mindsets predicted more positive expectations and less avoidant coping after parenting challenges, and these processes, and growth mindsets, correlated with parental engagement. Across the three studies, average links between growth mindsets and the two primary outcomes of interest—avoidant coping and engagement—were r = −0.31 and r = 0.20, respectively.

  PublisherDOI

• The role of health campaigns in stigma toward those with anorexia nervosa.

  Stigma and Health · 2024-08-29 · 3 citations

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  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Crystal L. Hoyt

  44 shared

• Joseph Billingsley

  Marshall University

  17 shared

• Jeffrey M. Pollack

  North Carolina State University

  13 shared

• Donelson R. Forsyth

  University of Richmond

  12 shared

• Michael E. McCullough

  11 shared

• Whitney Becker

  North Carolina State University

  9 shared

• Alexandra D. Babij

  9 shared

• Everett L. Worthington

  8 shared

Labs

• Department of Psychology, North Carolina State UniversityPI

Education

• Ph.D., Communication Studies

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  2002

• M.A., Communication Studies

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  1998

• B.A., Communication Studies

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  1996