Longitudinal changes in college math students’ implicit theories of intelligence

This study examined changes over time in implicit theories of intelligence and their relationships to help-seeking and academic performance. College algebra students completed questionnaires during the second week of classes and 2 weeks before the end of the semester (ns = 159 and 145, respectively; 61 students completed questionnaires at both waves). The questionnaires assessed entity and incremental implicit theories of general and math intelligence (beginning and end of semester) and help-seeking (end of semester). Results indicated that students had more incremental views of general than math intelligence. Further, their views became less incremental over the course of the semester; however, this decrease was greater for math than for general intelligence. Participants who exhibited a stronger incremental theory of general intelligence at the beginning of the semester subsequently reported greater help-seeking during the semester. Finally, students who had more entitative views of math intelligence earned lower course grades.

[1]  N. Augustine.  Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future , 2006 .

[2]  A. McConnell,et al.  Wanting to be better but thinking you can't: Implicit theories of personality moderate the impact of self-discrepancies on self-esteem , 2007 .

[3]  C. Dweck,et al.  A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality , 1988 .

[4]  C. Dweck,et al.  Implicit theories of intelligence: Reconsidering the role of confidence in achievement motivation. , 1995 .

[5]  E. Seymour,et al.  Talking About Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave The Sciences , 1997 .

[6]  A. Elliot,et al.  Handbook of Competence and Motivation , 2013 .

[7]  F. Rhodewalt,et al.  Conceptions of Ability, Achievement Goals, and Individual Differences in Self‐Handicapping Behavior: On the Application of Implicit Theories , 1994 .

[8]  D. Houston,et al.  The effects of selective schooling and self-concept on adolescents' academic aspiration: an examination of Dweck's self-theory. , 2007, The British journal of educational psychology.

[9]  C. Dweck,et al.  Implicit theories and conceptions of morality , 1997 .

[10]  C. Dweck,et al.  Can everyone become highly intelligent? Cultural differences in and societal consequences of beliefs about the universal potential for intelligence. , 2012, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[11]  C. Dweck,et al.  Relations among children's social goals, implicit personality theories, and responses to social failure. , 1997, Developmental psychology.

[12]  C. Dweck,et al.  Violations of implicit theories and the sense of prediction and control: implications for motivated person perception. , 2005, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[13]  R. Robins,et al.  Implicit Self-Theories in the Academic Domain: Implications for Goal Orientation, Attributions, Affect, and Self-Esteem Change , 2002 .

[14]  Claude H. Miller,et al.  THE EFFECTS OF IMPLICIT THEORIES OF MORAL CHARACTER ON AFFECTIVE REACTIONS TO MORAL TRANSGRESSIONS , 2007 .

[15]  Virginia Valian.  Women at the Top in Science--And Elsewhere. , 2007 .

[16]  Carol S. Dweck,et al.  Implicit Theories Individual Differences in the Likelihood and Meaning of Dispositional Inference , 1993 .

[17]  C. Hill,et al.  Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. , 2010 .

[18]  K. Burns,et al.  Promoting malleability is not one size fits all: Priming implicit theories of intelligence as a function of self-theories , 2007 .

[19]  Lisa S. Blackwell,et al.  Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: a longitudinal study and an intervention. , 2007, Child development.

[20]  Dennis M. McInerney,et al.  How you think about your intelligence determines how you feel in school: The role of theories of intelligence on academic emotions , 2012 .

[21]  Wendy M. Williams,et al.  Why aren't more women in science?: Top researchers debate the evidence. , 2007 .

[22]  C. Dweck.  Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development. Essays in Social Psychology. , 1999 .

[23]  C. Dweck,et al.  Clarifying achievement goals and their impact. , 2003, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[24]  K. A. Dutton,et al.  Global Self-Esteem and Specific Self-Views as Determinants of People's Reactions to Success and Failure , 1997 .

[25]  M. Kernis.  Efficacy, Agency, and Self-Esteem , 1995 .

[26]  C. Dweck,et al.  Lay dispositionism and implicit theories of personality. , 1997, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[27]  C. Dweck,et al.  Is Math a Gift? Beliefs That Put Females at Risk. , 2007 .

[28]  Shu-shen Shih.  Perfectionism, Implicit Theories of Intelligence, and Taiwanese Eighth-Grade Students’ Academic Engagement , 2011 .

[29]  Marcia C. Linn,et al.  Gender Similarities Characterize Math Performance , 2008, Science.

[30]  C. Dweck,et al.  Implicit Theories of Intelligence , 1995 .

[31]  Kathleen D. Vohs,et al.  PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST DOES HIGH SELF-ESTEEM CAUSE BETTER PERFORMANCE, INTERPERSONAL SUCCESS, HAPPINESS, OR HEALTHIER LIFESTYLES? , 2022 .

[32]  C. Dweck,et al.  Implicit theories, attributions, and coping : A meaning system approach , 1999 .

[33]  C. Midgley,et al.  If I don't do well tomorrow, there's a reason : Predictors of adolescents' use of academic self-handicapping strategies , 1996 .

[34]  Carol S. Dweck,et al.  Self-Theories: Their impact on competence motivation and acquisition , 2005 .