Making judgments about ability: The role of implicit theories of ability in moderating inferences from temporal and social comparison information.

Abstract

Two studies examined the novel proposal that implicit theories of intelligence (C. S. Dweck & E. L. Leggett, 1988) moderate both the effects of performance trends on ability inferences and the perceived diagnosticity of temporal versus normative feedback. Results from 613 adolescents and 42 teachers confirmed that entity theorists perceived initial outcome as more diagnostic and inferred higher ability in another (Study 1) and in the self (Study 2) in a declining outcome condition; incremental theorists perceived last outcome as more diagnostic and inferred higher ability in an ascending condition. Experimental induction of beliefs about ability had similar effects. As predicted, self-appraisal was affected more by temporal feedback among incremental theorists and by normative feedback among entity theorists. Results help resolve prior mixed findings regarding order effects and responses to temporal and normative evaluation.

How Teachers’ and Students’ Mindsets in Learning Have Been Studied: Research Findings on Mindset and Academic Achievement

“…Consistent with Butler's (2000) conclusion, although the author did not men-tion the relationship between mindset and academic achievement directly, students' mindset mediated "the effects of different kinds of information" (p. 974) on students' inferences about their ability level, including "moderating inferences from performance trends" and "the perceived diagnosticity of temporal versus normative feedback for self-appraisal. "…”

Do Students Distinguish Between Different Types of Performance Goals?

“…When children believe intelligence is fixed and not easily changeable, they dismiss the role of effort and become preoccupied with validating their intelligence as well as not invalidating it (Dweck, 1999;Dweck & Sorich, 1999). Entity theorists are also more attuned to normative information when appraising their own ability and motivation, compared with incremental theorists who treat temporal information as more diagnostic of their ability (Butler, 2000). Therefore, students with strong beliefs in the importance of ability for academic success were expected to engage in achievement-related strivings for the purpose of performing better or of not performing worse than others, rather than for the purpose of simply attaining decent outcomes.…”

An analysis of Turkish students’ perception of intelligence from primary school to university

“…Research indicates that teachers can have an impact on student perceptions of intelligence (Dweck, 2000;Butler, 2000). In this respect, it is reasonable to conclude that Turkish teachers and trainee teachers should have access to inservice training opportunities to support them in developing strategies which will encourage students to perceive intelligence as malleable and possible to develop.…”