The Direct and Indirect Effects of Implicit Beliefs of Intelligence on Academic Achievement in English among High School Students: Goal Orientation as a Mediator

Introduction. High academic achievement in English is a valued key for high school students in Sudan to guide them toward a better life, career, and social opportunities. At the same time, many of the Sudanese students have linguistic, cultural, and rhetorical problems in the English language, and many of them face challenges in expressing themselves in English. Thus, the core purpose of this study is to explore what may help them in this matter; this includes examining the direct effects of the entity and incremental beliefs of intelligence on academic achievement in English and testing the indirect effects through goal orientation. Method. A quantitative research method was used by applying scales of implicit beliefs of intelligence (Dweck, 2000) and goal orientation (Elliot & Church, 1997). The data were collected using a cluster sampling technique from 392 respondents, mainly high school students in Sudan. A structural equation model (SEM-AMOS) of relations among constructs was employed to examine the relationships among the construct variables. Results. The findings of the structural equation modelling indicated that there was no direct effect of entity belief of intelligence and that there was a direct effect of incremental belief of intelligence on academic achievement in English. Regarding the mediation role of the goal orientation in the relationship between entity belief of intelligence and academic achievement in English, there was no mediation role play. Nevertheless, the goal orientation partially mediated the relationship between the incremental belief of intelligence and academic achievement in English among Sudanese high school students. Discussion and Conclusion. Academic achievement in English is influenced by students' motivations, beliefs of intelligence, and goal orientations. Accordingly, the English language of Sudanese high school students requires more attention and consideration for the incremental belief of intelligence, goal orientation, and other significant variables in order to support those students in Sudanese high schools to overcome their weaknesses in English and improve themselves so that they can achieve high scores academically in English.

Intelligence Beliefs Predict Spatial Performance in Virtual Environments and Graphical Creativity Performance

Although intelligence beliefs have been applied to explain the influence of cognition, behavior, and creativity, the research on creativity is still limited. Therefore, in order to effectively expand the understanding of the influence of intelligence beliefs on the creative performance of learners’ graphics, the implicit theories of intelligence were exploited as the basis of this study. Three hypothetical pathways were proposed to be explored, and a research model was validated. First- and second-year students from a technical high school in New Taipei City were invited to participate. There were 273 valid data (88.9% of complete data). Reliability and validity analyses were performed, as well as overall model fit analysis and research model validation, and descriptive statistical analysis of the learners’ performance in applying the operational virtual reality (VR). The results of this study showed that: (1) Incremental beliefs of aesthetic intelligence had a positive effect on spatial performance; (2) entity belief of spatial intelligence (EBSI) had a negative effect on spatial performance; and (3) spatial performance had a positive effect on graphical design performance. From the results, it is clear that design teachers can assess students’ implicit beliefs in the early stages of teaching to actively promote better spatial performance when students show high levels of entity beliefs.

Basic psychological needs and implicit beliefs of ability in secondary education | Necesidades psicológicas básicas y creencias implícitas de habilidad en educación secundaria

El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar la relación entre el desarrollo de las necesidades psicológicas básicas y las creencias implícitas de habilidad en alumnado de Educación Secundaria. La muestra estuvo formada por un total de 97 estudiantes de Educación Secundaria, con edades comprendidas entre los 13 y los 15 años (edad media = 13.32 ± 0.62 años) a los que se les aplicaron los cuestionarios de apoyo a las necesidades psicológicas básicas y creencias implícitas sobre la habilidad en sus clases de Educación Física. Los resultados no encontraron diferencias significativas en las variables de necesidades psicológicas básicas y de creencias implícitas de habilidad en función del género de los estudiantes. Por otro lado, la creencia de entidad correlacionó positivamente con el apoyo a las relaciones sociales, mientras que la creencia incremental correlacionó positivamente con el apoyo a la competencia y las relaciones sociales. Estos resultados pueden servir de referencia a profesores de Educación Física a la hora de establecer estrategias en función del género que favorezcan la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas básicas de sus estudiantes.AbstractThe aim of this study was to know the levels of basic psychological needs, and implicit beliefs of ability in secondary stage students. The sample was made up of a total of 97 students of Secondary Education, with ages between 13 and 15 (mean age = 13.32 ± 0.62 years) to whom the questionnaires to support basic psychological needs and ability beliefs were applied in Physical Education lessons. The results found no significant differences in the variables of basic psychological needs and implicit beliefs of ability based on the gender of the students. On the other hand, entity belief positively correlated with support for social relationships, while incremental belief positively correlated with support for competition and social relationships. These results can serve as a reference for physical education teachers when establishing gender-based strategies to meet the basic psychological needs of their students.

Implicit theories of smoking and association with current smoking status

Implicit theories of smoking refer to people’s beliefs about whether smoking behavior is something that is changeable (incremental belief) or fixed (entity belief). This study examines implicit theories of smoking and its association with smoking behavior in a nationally representative sample of US adults using data from the Health Information National Trends Survey. The current results show that implicit theories of smoking are associated with smoking. Among former smokers, 90 percent endorsed an incremental belief about smoking compared to 70 percent of current smokers. Our study provides initial evidence for the role of implicit theories of smoking as a psychological factor associated with smoking behavior.