Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: a longitudinal study and an intervention

Two studies explored the role of implicit theories of intelligence in adolescents' mathematics achievement. In Study 1 with 373 7th graders, the belief that intelligence is malleable (incremental theory) predicted an upward trajectory in grades over the two years of junior high school, while a belief that intelligence is fixed (entity theory) predicted a flat trajectory. A mediational model including learning goals, positive beliefs about effort, and causal attributions and strategies was tested. In Study 2, an intervention teaching an incremental theory to 7th graders ( N =48) promoted positive change in classroom motivation, compared with a control group ( N =43). Simultaneously, students in the control group displayed a continuing downward trajectory in grades, while this decline was reversed for students in the experimental group.     

Implicit intelligence beliefs of computer science students: Exploring change across the semester

This study investigated introductory computer science (CS1) students’ implicit beliefs of intelligence. Referencing Dweck and Leggett’s (1988) framework for implicit beliefs of intelligence, we examined how (1) students’ implicit beliefs changed over the course of a semester, (2) these changes differed as a function of course enrollment and students’ motivated self-regulated engagement profile, and (3) implicit beliefs predicted student learning based on standardized course grades and performance on a computational thinking knowledge test. For all students, there were significant increases in entity beliefs and significant decreases in incremental beliefs across the semester. However, examination of effect sizes suggests that significant findings for change across time were driven by changes in specific subpopulations of students. Moreover, results showed that students endorsed incremental belief more strongly than entity belief at both the beginning and end of the semester. Furthermore, the magnitude of changes differed based on students’ motivated self-regulated engagement profiles. Additionally, students’ achievement outcomes were weakly predicted by their implicit beliefs of intelligence. Finally, results showed that the relationship between changes in implicit intelligence beliefs and student achievement varied across different CS1 courses. Theoretical implications for implicit intelligence beliefs and recommendations for STEM educators are discussed.     

Implicit theories of ability of Grade 6 science students: Relation to epistemological beliefs and academic motivation and achievement in science

We investigated: (a) the associations of implicit theories and epistemological beliefs and their effects on the academic motivation and achievement of students in Grade 6 science and (b) the mean differences of implicit theories, epistemological beliefs, and academic motivation and achievement as a function of gender and race/ethnicity (N = 508). Path analysis revealed that an incremental view of ability had direct and indirect effects on adaptive motivational factors, whereas fixed entity views had direct and indirect effects on maladaptive factors. Epistemological beliefs mediated the influence of implicit theories of ability on achievement goal orientations, self-efficacy, and science achievement. Results are discussed in relation to Dweck and Leggett’s (1988) social-cognitive theory with a focus on middle school science.     

How you think about your intelligence determines how you feel in school: The role of theories of intelligence on academic emotions

Research on implicit theories of intelligence and academic emotions have proceeded in parallel with little cross-over of ideas. This study aims to examine the potential synergies that may exist between these two strands of research by examining whether implicit theories of intelligence can function as a predictor of academic emotions when situated within Pekrun's (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions. Filipino secondary school students (N = 1147) participated in the study. Hierarchical regression analyses were employed to investigate the predictive effects of implicit theories of intelligence on academic emotions after controlling for the variance accounted for by demographic variables, social environmental factors, and achievement goals which have been identified as important antecedents in previous research. Results indicated that holding an entity theory of intelligence positively predicted negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and boredom. However, it was not significantly related to the positive emotions of enjoyment, hope, and pride. The usefulness of these findings for integrating theorizing in the implicit theories of intelligence and academic emotions literature is discussed.     

Changes in implicit theories of ability in biology and dropout from STEM majors: A latent growth curve approach

This longitudinal study was designed to investigate the associations between changes in implicit theories of ability in biology and college students’ dropout from STEM majors. We modeled the one-year growth patterns of entity and incremental beliefs about ability in biology with 4 time points of self-reported data and two covariates—biology domain knowledge and inference making and gateway course grade, and predicted STEM dropout with the growth trajectories of implicit theories. Results indicated that students’ entity beliefs increased, while incremental beliefs decreased over time, which provides support for the changeability of implicit beliefs over a short period of time. The growth of incremental beliefs was directly associated with STEM dropout above and beyond biology course grade and biology domain knowledge and inference making. Low intercept and negative slope of incremental beliefs predicted leaving STEM majors; however, the decline of entity beliefs did not have significant effects on dropout. Interestingly, the effect of biology domain knowledge and inference making on STEM dropout was mediated by biology course grade and incremental beliefs. The findings imply the importance of monitoring changes in students’ implicit beliefs and gateway course achievement in order to better understand and promote STEM retention.     

Chinese mindset: theories of intelligence,goal orientation and academic achievement in Hong Kong students

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between theories of intelligence and goal orientations, and their joint connections to students’ academic achievement in the Chinese cultural context. A total of 418 university students in Hong Kong participated in the present study. The survey was administered to collect information on students’ beliefs about their goal orientations, theories of intelligence and their college grade point averages. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The results suggest that beliefs in the incremental theory of intelligence contribute to students’ academic achievements by facilitating their endorsement of mastery goals and performance-approach goals. Students’ performance-avoidance goals have a negative association with academic success. Cultural factors and considerations are addressed to clarify further the culture-specific findings.     

Effects of a one-shot growth mindset intervention on beliefs about intelligence and achievement goals

This investigation employed a longitudinal design to examine the influence of a one-shot growth mindset intervention on ninth-graders’ implicit beliefs about intelligence and related achievement goals in four different samples. The intervention conformed to characteristics of ‘wise interventions’. Participants’ incremental beliefs about intelligence and achievement goals were measured prior to the intervention and at several subsequent points in time following the intervention. Our results provide modest evidence that the one-shot intervention can promote incremental views of intelligence and reduce the prevalence of performance goals when used at scale.     

Perfectionism,Implicit Theories of Intelligence,and Taiwanese Eighth-Grade Students’ Academic Engagement

ABSTRACT

The authors attempted to examine how Taiwanese junior high school students’ perfectionistic tendencies and implicit theories of intelligence were related to their academic emotions and approach versus avoidance self-regulation, and to determine differences in contingent self-worth, emotions, and self-regulation among students with different subtypes of perfectionism. A total of 481 8th-grade Taiwanese students completed a self-reported survey assessing their perfectionistic tendencies, implicit theories of intelligence, academic emotions, behavioral self-regulation, and use of self-handicapping strategies. Results suggested that adaptive perfectionism enabled adolescents to experience positive emotions and to engage in behavioral self-regulation, whereas maladaptive perfectionism was positively associated with negative emotions and self-handicapping. In addition, the incremental theory of intelligence predicted positive affect and constructive coping. By contrast, the entity theory was positively correlated with negative emotions and self-handicapping. The authors also documented profiles of students with different perfectionistic tendencies. Findings showed that in general adaptive perfectionists displayed the healthiest emotions and self-regulatory styles. Implications for education and further research are discussed.     

Do not despise failures: students’ failure mindset,perception of parents’ failure mindset,and implicit theory of intelligence

This study was the first to investigate the prospective effects of failure mindsets on implicit theories of intelligence (ITI), whose profound effects on learning, motivation, and academic achievement have found increasing support. Participants were 240 Chinese university students (180 females, M_age = 19.13) who completed a baseline and a 1-year follow-up survey. The cross-lagged panel model supported the study’s hypothesis that students’ perception of their parents’ view of failure as debilitating at baseline predicted their own failure-is-debilitating mindset and entity theory of intelligence at follow-up. However, students’ failure-is-debilitating mindset at baseline did not predict their entity theory of intelligence at follow-up. A reciprocal relationship was found between students’ perception of their parents’ failure-is-debilitating mindset and their entity theory of intelligence. We recommend programs be implemented to educate parents of the value of failure and how their conveying positive views of failure can be constructive to students’ trajectory of learning and intellectual growth.

     

Implicit theories,goal orientations,and perceived competence: Impact on students' achievement behavior

The present study was designed to explore relations between implicit theories of intelligence, goal orientations, perceived competence, and school achievement. It was assumed that implicit theories of intelligence orient individuals toward particular goals, which in turn influence achievement behavior. Perceived competence was hypothesized to moderate the relationship between implicit theories, goal orientations and actual achievement. Subjects were 451 elementary and junior high school students. The results of Pearson product moment correlations and Path analysis show theoretically important intercorrelations that replicated previous research. Implicit theories were not related to academic achievement. Goal orientations had an indirect effect on achievement, which was mediated through perceived competence. Educational implications of these findings are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Subjective evaluations of intelligence and academic self-concept predict academic achievement: Evidence from a selective student population

The study examined the relationship between implicit theories, goal orientations, subjective and test estimates of intelligence, academic self-concept, and achievement in a selective student population (N = 300). There was no direct impact of implicit theories of intelligence and goal orientations on achievement. However, subjective evaluations of intelligence and academic self-concept had incremental predictive value over conventional intelligence when predicting achievement accounting for more than 50% of its variance. The obtained pattern of results is presented via structural equation models and interpreted within a dynamic regulative systems framework suggesting the importance of further studying complex sets of achievement predictors that include ability, personality and mediating constructs.     

Implicit theories of intelligence,goal orientation,cognitive engagement,and achievement: A test of Dweck’s model with returning to school adults

This study tested and extended Dweck’s social-cognitive theory of motivation with adults who deliberately chose to face the challenge of returning to school. We examined the relationships among beliefs (implicit theories) on the nature of intelligence, goal orientation, cognitive engagement in learning, and achievement using path analyses. Findings were generally consistent with Dweck’s theoretical predictions. Striving for competence improvement (mastery goals) had a positive impact on learning activities and outcomes, while striving to demonstrate competence (performance goals) or to avoid effort (work avoidance) had a negative influence on learning and achievement. Additionally, data suggested that mastery goals had a positive influence on academic achievement through the mediation of effort expenditure. The predicted effects of implicit theories of intelligence on goal orientation and cognitive engagement in learning, however, failed to emerge. Results are discussed in relation to their general theoretical implications and with regard to the specific characteristics of returning to school adults.     

Teachers’ implicit theories of intelligence: influences from different disciplines and scientific theories

A sample of 226 Swedish high school teachers from various knowledge domains completed self-report measures of intelligence regarding implicit theories and scientific theories of intelligence. A mixed ANOVA showed that teachers from language, social science and practical disciplines had a significant preference for an incremental theory of intelligence compared to an entity theory of intelligence whilst the teachers in mathematics did not. One of the conclusions was that entity theories of intelligence may be more pronounced among teachers in mathematics. Second there is a significant relation between naïve beliefs in intelligence as fixed and inborn, entity theories, and the scientific g-factor theory. Last, it was the oldest and most experienced and youngest and least experienced teachers who preferred an entity theory of intelligence the most.     

Implicit beliefs,achievement goals,and procrastination: A mediational analysis

As a maladaptive behavioural outcome, procrastination should correlate with beliefs about ability and achievement goals that are themselves relatively maladaptive. Accordingly, procrastination should be predicted by entity as opposed to incremental implicit theories (i.e., viewing attributes such as ability as relatively fixed vs. malleable, respectively) and by avoidance goal orientations as opposed to approach goal orientations. Among 397 undergraduates, entity beliefs and mastery-avoidance goals positively predicted procrastination whereas incremental beliefs and mastery-approach and performance-approach goals negatively predicted procrastination. The prediction of procrastination by entity beliefs was mediated by mastery-avoidance goals. Results are cast in terms of self-regulatory models of procrastination.     

Students’ achievement goals and beliefs of causes of success: Temporal relations and gender differences

According to the goal orientation model, students’ achievement goals and beliefs are interrelated. Within this framework, research and theory have so far assumed that achievement goals are associated with students’ beliefs of causes of success, the latter representing students’ subjective beliefs about the factors contributing to success at school. So far, this line of research has been restricted to a few cross-sectional studies. We examined the temporal relations between achievement goals (mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals) and students’ beliefs of causes of success, the latter operationalized by asking the students to rate the subjective importance of diligence, effort, and ability for school success. Achievement goals and beliefs of causes of success were measured twice with a time lag of one school year with a sample of N = 2044 German secondary school students. Cross-lagged panel models were estimated to examine the temporal relations between achievement goals and beliefs of causes of success while controlling for students’ secondary school track, socio-economic status, and Grade Point Average. Former mastery goals were found to be positively related to later importance ratings of diligence for school success; former performance-approach goals were found to be positively related to later importance ratings of ability. Boys and girls were found to display similar relations among constructs but they showed differential mean levels on both the achievement goal constructs and the beliefs of causes of success. Implications for research on achievement goals and practice using intervention approaches are discussed.     

Valuable but threatening: The reduced effect of incremental theory on challenge-confronting tendencies for students who fear being laughed at

Research has widely demonstrated that an incremental theory of intelligence is beneficial for students in achievement settings. The present study examined whether this theory can help students with high gelotophobia (i.e., the fear of being laughed at) confront challenges and clarified possible underlying processes. Theories of intelligence (entity vs. incremental) were primed in either the low or high threat condition for participants with low or high gelotophobia. For those with high gelotophobia, priming an incremental theory, relative to priming an entity theory, cannot help them exhibit stronger tendencies to face a challenging task in both low and high threat conditions. However, for those with low gelotophobia, priming an incremental theory caused stronger challenge-confronting tendencies in both threat conditions, but this positive effect reduced in the high threat condition. Results suggest that endorsing an incremental theory is not so beneficial for students who perceive confronting challenges as valuable but threatening.     

Killing two birds with one stone: The role of motivational resources in predicting changes in achievement and school well-being beyond intelligence

This study investigated whether motivational resources play a role in predicting changes in students’ achievement and well-being above and beyond the role of intelligence during the transition to secondary school. The motivational resources entailed autonomous and controlled motivation as conceived in Self-Determination Theory and implicit beliefs of intelligence as defined in Dweck's perspective. We used two waves of data from a larger longitudinal study, thereby following 6th grade students in the transition to secondary education (N = 2546, Mage = 11.52 years, 49.8% boys). Results of Latent Change Modeling revealed that, after controlling for the role of intelligence in the prediction of standardized math achievement tests, motivational resources played a supplementary role, both at the level of interindividual differences and at the level of intra-individual change. Students with higher initial levels of autonomous motivation obtained higher initial test scores, reported higher school well-being, and made greater progress in both outcomes across the transition. An increase in autonomous motivation was also related to an increase in both achievement and well-being. A similar, yet opposite, pattern of findings was obtained for controlled motivation. An entity mindset failed to yield any unique associations. Given that autonomous motivation contributes to both achievement and well-being beyond effects of intelligence, it is critical for educators to nurture this motivational resource as it allows them to kill two birds with one stone.     

The relationship between implicit theories of intelligence,attainment and socio-demographic factors in a UK sample of primary school children

Research emerging from the USA suggests that holding an incremental theory of intelligence (growth mindset) has a positive impact on academic success. However, limited empirical work has explored this relationship in a UK sample, and there has been a lack of research into the antecedents which might influence the development of certain intelligence beliefs. This study aimed to explore these gaps in the existing literature. Data was collected from 710 9-year-old pupils (UK Year 5). Participants completed attainment tests in Maths and English, and a questionnaire to assess their implicit theories of intelligence (mindset). Socio-demographic information—including gender, ethnicity, free school meal (FSM) status and special educational needs (SEN) status—was also collected. Results showed that pupils eligible for FSM or SEN endorsed more of an entity theory of intelligence than pupils not eligible for either. Analysis of the whole sample showed that attainment significantly correlated with implicit theories of intelligence, however, this relationship did not exist for children with FSM or SEN status. These findings help to elucidate the relationship between implicit theories of intelligence and attainment in the UK, but also suggest the importance of external support in potentially facilitating pupils’ belief systems. Results are discussed in relation to avenues for targeted intervention.     

Predicting Achievement Goals in Two Different Academic Contexts: A longitudinal study

The relative contribution is examined of epistemological beliefs and implicit theories of intelligence to students' adoption of mastery, performance‐approach and performance‐avoidance goals in two different academic contexts, business administration and teacher education, in the short as well as the long term. The results showed that epistemological beliefs about the speed of knowledge acquisition predicted achievement goals. Students who believed that learning occurs quickly or not at all were less likely to adopt mastery goals and more likely to adopt performance‐avoidance goals. In addition, students who believed in stable and given knowledge were less likely to adopt mastery goals. Differences in predictive patterns across the two contexts concerned the prediction of performance‐approach goals and gender differences in goal adoption. Epistemological beliefs played a more important role in goal adoption than implicit theories of intelligence.     

Examining Hong Kong students’ achievement goals and their relations with students’ perceived classroom environment and strategy use

This study examined Hong Kong students’ achievement goals and their relations with students’ perceived classroom environment and strategy use based on the multiple goal perspective of goal orientation theory. A total of 925 Grade 8 students from six secondary schools in Hong Kong voluntarily responded to a questionnaire that measured these three sets of variables. Consistent with previous studies using goal orientation theory, the findings of this study indicated that students’ perceived classroom environment was significantly related to their personal achievement goals and strategy use. While mastery goals were found to be the strongest predictor of strategy use, performance‐approach goals and perceived instrumentality also had positive relations with mastery goals and strategy use. Our findings suggest that mastery goals and performance goals were not contrasting goals as conceptualised in normative goal orientation theory. Students with high motivation for both types of goal were more adaptive in learning than were students who pursued a single type of goal. Moreover, the value of adding perceived instrumentality when studying students’ motivation should be emphasised. The implications of these findings for understanding Hong Kong students’ motivation, and for planning effective teaching instruction to enhance their motivation, are discussed.