Accent Beliefs Scale (ABS): Scale Development and Validation

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Hansen

People’s accents in speech strongly influence how they are perceived by others. The current Accent Beliefs Scale was inspired by work on stigmatization, implicit theories of intelligence, and essentialism. The scale has two dimensions: accent diagnosticity and accent stability. The scale was developed, validated, and applied using a mixed methods approach with a QUAN–qual sequential design. Pretest and Study 1 developed the items, the subscales, and showed that diagnosticity and stability beliefs are independent of each other. Study 2 confirmed the scale’s two-factor structure on a large sample and proved its divergent and convergent validity. Study 3 addressed predictive validity and showed that the more perceivers viewed accents as diagnostic of other traits and the more they believed accents can be changed, the worse they evaluated a nonnative speaker with a strong accent. The developed scale can help understanding and predicting negative reactions to nonnative speakers.

2017 ◽  
Vol 225 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivar Bråten ◽  
Andreas Lien ◽  
John Nietfeld

Abstract. In two experiments with Norwegian undergraduates and one experiment with US undergraduates, we examined the potential effects of brief task instructions aligned with incremental and entity views of intelligence on students’ performance on a rational thinking task. The research demonstrated that even brief one-shot task instructions that deliver a mindset about intelligence intervention can be powerful enough to affect students’ performance on such a task. This was only true for Norwegian male students, however. Moreover, it was the task instruction aligned with an entity theory of intelligence that positively affected Norwegian male students’ performance on the rational thinking task, with this unanticipated finding speaking to the context- and culture-specificity of implicit theories of intelligence interventions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-170
Author(s):  
Luna Radević ◽  
Ivona Jerković ◽  
Ilija Milovanović

Implicit theories of intelligence are individual beliefs about the nature of intelligence, which are used on a daily basis as part of self-assessment and assessment of others, and are a significant factor shaping attitudes and behaviors. Research to date suggests that teachers can influence their students' beliefs about intelligence, which in turn affect motivation and achievement. According to Dweck's model, implicit theories of intelligence are a bipolar construct, with two theories at its extremes - the entity theory, which stresses the immutability of intelligence, and the incremental theory, which holds that intelligence can be improved through training and learning. Recent research, however, indicates that these two theories represent distinct, uncorrelated dimensions. The aim of this study was to carry out a psychometric evaluation of the Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scale (ITIS) and the Mathematics-Oriented Implicit Theory of Intelligence Scale (MOITIS). 228 primary and secondary school teachers in Serbia (87.7% female; average age 42.79 years) took part in the study. The results of factor analysis suggest the existence of two factors on both scales: incremental theory and entity theory. Further analysis showed that both factors of the ITIS and MOITIS scales have satisfactory psychometric properties. Significant differences were detected between primary and secondary school teachers on the ITIS scale. More specifically, among teachers of science subjects, mathematics and medical subjects the attitude that intelligence is a fixed trait is more pronounced than among teachers of the arts, humanities and social sciences.


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