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My understanding is that "growth mindset" represents a personal philosophy, not a testable hypothesis, so it would be irrelevant here.

It was entirely reasonable to be skeptical of stereotype thread when the concept was new, a priori, An "unsurprising" result is not necessarily one that someone confidently believed. If I flip a coin, I'm not "surprised" when the result is heads, nor when the result is tails.

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I could be wrong but I believe the idea is that the growth mindset has measurable consequences. I.e., if you believe you can grow, you will learn/adapt more effectively to new situations and ultimately achieve more. It's an empirically verifiable claim that is either true or false, and comes with a pretty straightforward intervention (i.e., teaching people that they can grow) if true.

Of course people may also adopt it as a personal philosophy, but that's separate.

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