Effects of an incremental theory of the personality intervention on psychophysiological responses to social stress during the transition to college

This randomized controlled trial (NCT04786496) examined the effects of a preventive intervention based on Incremental Theory of the Personality (ITP) on psychophysiological responses to social stress and evaluated whether levels of depression moderate the intervention effects. The participants, 107 first-year university students, were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: ITP intervention, ITP + a self-affirmation intervention (SA), and a control condition (CC). Indicators of the Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal axis, autonomic nervous system, and subjective mood were assessed with the Trier Social Stress Task. Participants in the ITP condition displayed a lower decline in respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA) compared to those in the CC during the first phases of the task [Slopes: -0.08 (0.09) vs -0.21 (0.09), z = 2.86, p = .004] and a higher decrease in cortisol at recovery [β = -0.18 (0.08), z = -2.37, p = .018]. Depressive symptoms moderated the effect of ITP [β = -0.10 (0.05), z = -2.15, p =.032] and ITP+SA [β = -0.09 (0.04), z = -2.06, p =.039] in the decline during stress and recovery in RSA. In participants with low/medium levels of depressive symptoms, both interventions predicted a lower decline during stress [Slopes: -0.06 (0.09) for ITP, -0.17 (.09) for ITP+SA, and -0.26 (0.09) for CC] and higher recovery in RSA [Slopes: 0.18 (0.01) for ITP, 0.24 (0.01) for ITP+SA, and 0.30 (0.01) for CC]. The findings suggest that the ITP intervention has the potential to be an effective preventive intervention to reduce the stress response.

The Effects of Primary Students' Mathematics Self-efficacy and Beliefs about Intelligence on Their Mathematics Achievement: A Mixed-methods Intervention Study

<p>A mixed-methods quasi-experimental methodology was used to identify relationships between primary-school students' beliefs about intelligence, mathematics self-efficacy, and achievement, by investigating the effects of two interventions. One intervention aimed to strengthen students' mathematics self-efficacy, and the other aimed to develop in students' an incremental theory-of-intelligence – a belief that intelligence is malleable. In one group, teachers implemented both interventions with their students; in a second group, teachers implemented only the mathematics self-efficacy intervention, and the third (control) group were involved in no intervention. Year 4 and 5 students (n = 152) completed a questionnaire on three occasions, at intervals of about 7 months, to measure their theory-of-intelligence and their mathematics self-efficacy. Students made self-efficacy judgments in relation to specific number problems, which they were subsequently required to solve for the mathematics achievement measure. Both achievement and self-efficacy were then calibrated for each participant using the difficulty parameters for test items. Teachers completed questionnaires about their theory-of-intelligence and self-efficacy for teaching mathematics. Sub-samples of teachers and students were interviewed to develop a deeper understanding of what their questionnaire responses signified. The combined interventions had no significant effect on students' beliefs about the malleability of intelligence, mathematics self-efficacy, or achievement. In contrast, positive effects on students' mathematics self-efficacy and achievement were evident for students who experienced only the self-efficacy intervention. Teachers in this intervention group reported increased use of three strategies aimed at building students' mathematics self-efficacy: providing students with strategies for coping when learning became difficult; increasing their use of descriptive teacher-student feedback; and increasing their use of similar peers as models. For the self-efficacy intervention group, increases in students' mathematics achievement and self-efficacy appeared to be reciprocally related. The combined quantitative and qualitative evidence from the study showed that the complexity of some students' and teachers' beliefs about increasing intelligence was not reflected in their total scores on the theory-of-intelligence items used widely in earlier studies. In interviews, all students and most teachers described intelligence as malleable to varying degrees, which did not support previous dichotomous interpretations of theory-of-intelligence data. From students' definitions of intelligence, two related dimensions were established, one a fairly stable capacity for acquiring knowledge and skill in a given domain, and the second, the more malleable rate at which such knowledge and skill can be acquired. A variety of beliefs were expressed by students about which of these dimensions intelligence includes, and about how malleable the dimensions are. The findings raise questions about the value of advocating an incremental theory-of-intelligence for all students, regardless of their ability and how they conceptualise intelligence.</p>

The Effects of Primary Students' Mathematics Self-efficacy and Beliefs about Intelligence on Their Mathematics Achievement: A Mixed-methods Intervention Study

<p>A mixed-methods quasi-experimental methodology was used to identify relationships between primary-school students' beliefs about intelligence, mathematics self-efficacy, and achievement, by investigating the effects of two interventions. One intervention aimed to strengthen students' mathematics self-efficacy, and the other aimed to develop in students' an incremental theory-of-intelligence – a belief that intelligence is malleable. In one group, teachers implemented both interventions with their students; in a second group, teachers implemented only the mathematics self-efficacy intervention, and the third (control) group were involved in no intervention. Year 4 and 5 students (n = 152) completed a questionnaire on three occasions, at intervals of about 7 months, to measure their theory-of-intelligence and their mathematics self-efficacy. Students made self-efficacy judgments in relation to specific number problems, which they were subsequently required to solve for the mathematics achievement measure. Both achievement and self-efficacy were then calibrated for each participant using the difficulty parameters for test items. Teachers completed questionnaires about their theory-of-intelligence and self-efficacy for teaching mathematics. Sub-samples of teachers and students were interviewed to develop a deeper understanding of what their questionnaire responses signified. The combined interventions had no significant effect on students' beliefs about the malleability of intelligence, mathematics self-efficacy, or achievement. In contrast, positive effects on students' mathematics self-efficacy and achievement were evident for students who experienced only the self-efficacy intervention. Teachers in this intervention group reported increased use of three strategies aimed at building students' mathematics self-efficacy: providing students with strategies for coping when learning became difficult; increasing their use of descriptive teacher-student feedback; and increasing their use of similar peers as models. For the self-efficacy intervention group, increases in students' mathematics achievement and self-efficacy appeared to be reciprocally related. The combined quantitative and qualitative evidence from the study showed that the complexity of some students' and teachers' beliefs about increasing intelligence was not reflected in their total scores on the theory-of-intelligence items used widely in earlier studies. In interviews, all students and most teachers described intelligence as malleable to varying degrees, which did not support previous dichotomous interpretations of theory-of-intelligence data. From students' definitions of intelligence, two related dimensions were established, one a fairly stable capacity for acquiring knowledge and skill in a given domain, and the second, the more malleable rate at which such knowledge and skill can be acquired. A variety of beliefs were expressed by students about which of these dimensions intelligence includes, and about how malleable the dimensions are. The findings raise questions about the value of advocating an incremental theory-of-intelligence for all students, regardless of their ability and how they conceptualise intelligence.</p>

Do Implicit Theories About Ability Predict Self-Reports and Behavior-Proximal Measures of Primary School Students’ In-Class Cognitive and Metacognitive Learning Strategy Use?

Although studies show relations between implicit theories about ability (ITs) and cognitive as well as metacognitive learning strategy use, existing studies suffer from an overreliance on broad-brush self-report measures of strategy use and limited ecological validity. Moreover, studies rarely examine younger students, and research on ITs and how much students benefit from interventions on learning strategies is lacking. Therefore, we investigated in ecologically valid settings (regular classroom instruction) whether primary school students’ ITs are related to their use of cognitive strategies (text reduction strategies based on identifying a text’s main ideas) and metacognitive strategies, assessed with (a) typical self-report scales and (b) more behavior-proximal measures. We also investigated whether students’ ITs predict how much they benefit from a previously evaluated 4-week intervention on cognitive and metacognitive strategies during regular classroom instruction (i.e., how much self-report scales and behavior-proximal measures for strategy use increase over the course of the intervention). Participants were 436 German primary school students (third and fourth graders). The data were analyzed using mixed linear regression analyses. Strength of students’ incremental theory was positively related to metacognitive strategy use, but not cognitive strategy use, when measured with self-report scales. For behavior-proximal measures, strength of incremental theory was positively related to the effectiveness of students’ cognitive strategy use and their extent of strategy monitoring (one of the two metacognitive strategies examined), but not to the quality of their goal setting (the second metacognitive strategy). Unexpectedly, students with a stronger incremental theory did not benefit more from the intervention.

Essentially Subhuman: Psychological Essentialism Facilitates Dehumanization

Dehumanization has played a prominent role in myriad human atrocities, which inspired us to investigate its social-cognitive basis. Since dehumanization consists of perceiving another to lack a defining human essence, scholars have suggested that this process may be grounded in psychological essentialism, the belief that members of a group all share an underlying essence. Indeed, essentialism predicted Americans’ blatant dehumanization of various national outgroups (Study 1). After demonstrating this relationship, we attempted to mitigate dehumanization by reducing the tendency to think in an essentialist manner. Subjects led to hold an incremental theory about human traits expressed less psychological essentialism than those led to hold an entity theory, and these reductions in essentialism accounted for reductions in dehumanization (Study 2). We conceptually replicated these findings by targeting essentialist beliefs about racial differences (Study 3). This provides a promising foundation for future research to investigate the generalizability of our results and identify potential suppressor variables.

Developmental Moderators of a Single-Session Incremental Theory of Personality Intervention on Aggressive Behavior

This study examines two indicators of developmental level (testosterone and grade) as moderators of the effects of a single-session incremental theory of personality intervention on both traditional and online aggressive behaviors. A sample of 535 Spanish adolescents (boys: 50%; age: 12–17 years) participated in a double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Participants were randomized to receive the incremental theory of personality intervention or an alternative educational control condition. The intervention consisted of teaching the belief that people can change. Aggressive behaviors were measured at baseline, one-week posttest, and six-month and twelve-month follow-ups. Testosterone level moderated the effectiveness of the intervention for online aggressive behavior so that, among adolescents with low and medium testosterone levels, those in the control group increased online aggressive behavior, whereas adolescents receiving the intervention remained at similar levels of perpetration. Grade moderated the effectiveness of the intervention on both forms of aggressive behavior, being only effective in Grade 8. Overall, the findings indicate that some preventative interventions can be more effective among adolescents with lower levels of development.

Investigation of the incremental and deformation theories of plasticity on the elastoplastic postbuckling of plates

This article investigates the elastoplastic response of buckling and postbuckling behavior of plates under uniaxial and biaxial end-shortening considering incremental theory and deformation theory of plasticity. According to elastoplastic buckling and postbuckling behavior of plates, the finite element code considering geometrically and material nonlinearities is developed based on incremental theory and deformation theory of plasticity. The results show that boundary conditions, loading ratios, and aspect ratios of a plate have a significant effect on the discrepancy between incremental theory and deformation theory. Moreover, differences in estimating the buckling point using incremental theory and deformation theory are less than 10%, while in a number of plates at the last loading steps, postbuckling paths determined by incremental theory and deformation theory are diverted from each other. Also the difference between these two theories in the postbuckling region is more noticeable by increasing the thickness of plates.

Teachers' implicit beliefs about (mathematical) intelligence

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.