Intelligence mindset, which denotesindividual beliefs about whether intelligence is fixed versus malleable, shapes academic success, but the neural mechanisms underlying mindset-related differences in learningare unknown. Here, weprobethe effects ofindividual differences inmindset on neural responses to negative feedback after a competence threat manipulation. We hypothesized that when their competence was threatened, participants with fixed mindsets would interpret further negative feedback as punishing. After receiving either noscoreor a competence-threatening IQ score, participants performed a learning task with feedback that emphasized either the evaluative or informational weightof negative feedback. Participants who experienced the competence threat had the strongest predictive relationshipsbetween mindset, performance,and caudate activation.Thecompetence threat may have compounded the subjective punishment of negative feedbackfor fixed mindsetsrelative to growth mindsets, causing poorer learning from negative feedback in the evaluative context and inflexible striatal responsesto negative feedback across feedback contexts.

• We probe the neural correlates of intelligence mindset after a competence threat
• Mindset predicted task performance and caudate activation to negative feedback
• These relationships were stronger in the threat vs. non-threat conditions
• Fixed mindsets performed worse than growth mindsets in the evaluative context
• Fixed mindsets consistently showed striatal punishment dips to negative feedback