My intelligence may be more malleable than yours: the revised implicit theories of intelligence (self-theory) scale is a better predictor of achievement, motivation, and student disengagement
Date
2015-02-13
Authors
De Castella, Krista
Byrne, Donald
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer Verlag (Germany)
Abstract
The belief that intelligence is malleable has important consequences for achievement
and motivation (Blackwell et al. Child Development, 78, 246-263. 2007; Dweck, 1999;
Robins & Pals, Self and Identity, 1,313-336, 2002). However, believing that it is possible to
improve intelligence does not necessarily mean students are always confident they can
improve their own. The current study presents a revised “self-theory” measure of the implicit
theories of intelligence scale, which assess students’ beliefs about their ability to mold their
own intelligence in contrast to their beliefs about the malleability of intelligence in general. In
testing with 643 Australian high school students (62 % female) ranging from 15 to 19 years of
age (M=16.6, standard deviation (SD)=1.01), the belief that intelligence is “fixed” was
predictive of lower endorsement of achievement goals, greater helplessness attributions, and
poorer self-reported academic grades. Fixed “entity” beliefs were also predictive of academic
self-handicapping, truancy, and disengagement. On all of these measures, the new self-theory
scale uniquely explained greater outcome variance. These results indicate that students’
implicit beliefs—particularly about their own intelligence—may have important implications
for their motivation, engagement, and performance in school.
Description
Keywords
Implicit theories, Intelligence, Entity, Incremental, Achievement, Motivation, Self-handicapping
Citation
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Source
European Journal of Psychology of Education
Type
Journal article