Many psychological interventions seek to change how people answer questions such as “Can I succeed in this instance?” In her award-winning 2025 paper, “Asking Better Questions: Strategic Questioning as a Psychologically Wise Intervention,” published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, Patricia Chen, professor of educational psychology, proposes a complementary approach: Change the questions people ask in the first place.
The paper’s framework, which recently earned the Society for Personality and Social Psychology’s Daniel M. Wegner Theoretical Innovation Prize, distinguishes between diagnostic and strategic questions. Chen posits that diagnostic questions (“Am I smart enough?” “Do I belong here?”) tend to frame ability as fixed, potentially leading to discouragement when things become challenging. By contrast, strategic questions (“What can I try to get better at?” “How else can I approach this?”) redirect people toward process-oriented paths to success.
Strategic questions have also been found to increase motivation and self-regulation, which can help cultivate a habitual strategic mindset. Empirical evidence from Chen’s lab suggests that people who develop this mindset exhibit stronger metacognition, greater progress toward their goals, improved mental health and higher performance.
