Dangerous mindsets: How beliefs about intelligence predict motivational change

The present study examined how beliefs about intelligence, as mediated by ability-validation goals, predicted whether students lost or maintained levels of intrinsic motivation over the course of a single academic year. 978 third- through eighth-grade students were surveyed in the fall about their t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Learning and individual differences 2011-12, Vol.21 (6), p.747-752
Main Authors: Haimovitz, Kyla, Wormington, Stephanie V., Corpus, Jennifer Henderlong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Ability
Academic achievement
Achievement goals
Assignments
Beliefs
Elementary Secondary Education
Grade 3
Grade 8
Intelligence
Intelligence beliefs
Intervention
Intrinsic motivation
Mediation
Prediction
Student Attitudes
Student Motivation
Surveys
Theories
Validity
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The present study examined how beliefs about intelligence, as mediated by ability-validation goals, predicted whether students lost or maintained levels of intrinsic motivation over the course of a single academic year. 978 third- through eighth-grade students were surveyed in the fall about their theories concerning the malleability of intelligence, need to validate their academic ability through schoolwork, and intrinsic motivation. At the end of the school year, they were surveyed again about their intrinsic motivation and subsequently characterized as either decliners (those who lost intrinsic motivation over the year) or maintainers (those who maintained or gained intrinsic motivation over the year). As predicted, decliners were more likely to endorse an entity theory of intelligence than maintainers and this relationship was fully mediated by the adoption of ability-validation goals. Implications for intervention efforts and future research are discussed. ► Entity theory predicts a trajectory of decline in intrinsic motivation. ► Ability-validation goals fully mediate this relationship. ► Students who lost intrinsic motivation performed worse academically than others.
ISSN:1041-6080
1873-3425
DOI:10.1016/j.lindif.2011.09.002