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.
Blackwell
Lisa S
LS
Columbia University.
Trzesniewski
Kali H
KH
Dweck
Carol Sorich
CS
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003469:Culture; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006380:Helplessness, Learned; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D009042:Motivation; D011582:Psychological Theory; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods