[SquishyPanda23]

I'm generally skeptical of pop psychologically, but in this case her response seems valid to me.

There are a number of areas where it's widely believed that one must be a born X to be good at some skill. (Say, drawing, or mathematics).

The basic idea is that this is a limiting belief. People who think that drawing is amenable to hard work and practice grow more in that particular area.

But you can generally believe in the power of growth while also thinking that your least favorite subject (say math) is only for people with innate talent. In that case you grow in your "growth mindset" areas and plateau in your "fixed mindset" areas.

> Are the instruments used in the studies capturing any of this variation?

No, honestly probably not. The studies themselves may not replicate. But that doesn't mean that you can't measure such things better than we have.