it's the same shit. I constantly hear "yeah, I'm awful with computers, it's all black magic to me". But the person saying that is often not even trying, which is frustrating.
"For twenty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value" (https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset...).
There are several more pieces in that series, on that site, if you care to look.
The reality and strength of the Growth Mindset theory is fairly unclear, despite a lot of books pushing it as gospel. It's also unclear whether it's accurate even if it is effective - there's an open possibility that people who are basically delusional about their own potential practice harder than the realists, and a handful of them who had high starting potential get great results.
So... age-related degeneration is real, neuroplasticity drops over time, but I wouldn't want to connect that to growth mindset because I'm not convinced that's even a real effect.
I think the incentives to having a growth mindset are diminished. Once people are comfortable with what they have in life - job, spouse, children, what benefit does learning, say, poetry, or programming, have to their daily life? I feel like at a certain point you have to feel like it enhances your life beyond allowing you to acquire the standard metrics of success that we adopt into our cultural consciousness.
It's the difference between a Growth Mindset and a Fixed Mindset: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dweck
"For twenty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value" (https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset...).
Link to Fullsize Image: http://www.gridgit.com/postpic/2013/10/fixed-mindset-vs-grow...