This chapter begins by outlining two patterns of behaviour in which individuals display adaptive and maladaptive dispositions. The helpless pattern of behaviour is characterised by “an avoidance of challenge and a deterioration of performance in the face of obstacles”. The chapter presents a research-based model that accounts for these patterns in terms of underlying psychological processes. It examines the generality of the model and use it to illuminate phenomena in a wide variety of domains. The chapter explores the model in its broadest context and its implications for our understanding of motivational and personality processes. The children with an incremental theory of intelligence reported that they felt smart when they mastered difficult challenges such as when they overcame a task they were previously unable to do or when they were reading a difficult book.