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Lay Theories of Personality: Cornerstones of Meaning in Social Cognition

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Abstract

Lay theories (or ‘implicit theories’) are cornerstones for social cognition: people use lay theories to help them make sense of complex and ambiguous behavior. In this study, we describe recent research on the entity and incremental theories (the belief that personality is fixed or malleable). In so doing, we demonstrate that each theory does not act alone. Instead, each is associated with a set of allied beliefs, the sum total of which cohere into two distinct meaning systems. We present evidence that these meaning systems produce systematic differences in a range of fundamental social cognition processes, with important implications for the field’s understanding of trait/situation attribution, moral judgment, person memory, and stereotyping. We further argue that because meaning systems serve a central meaning-making function, people are motivated to believe that the meaning system they are using is effective and accurate. Accordingly, we present evidence that people exhibit processing distortions and compensatory mechanisms to minimize the impact of information that violates their meaning system. We discuss the implications of these findings for the field’s understanding of basic social cognition.

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... In general, incremental theorists interpret behaviours in terms of psychological processes, whereas entity theorists see traits as key causes of behaviour (Molden & Dweck, 2006). The psychological process refers to emotional support, learning strategies and contextual factors, and traits to the nature of personality and levels of ability (Plaks et al., 2009;Rissanen et al., 2018;Yu et al., 2022). Among teaching practices aimed at motivating students, process-focused (vs trait-focused) pedagogy is reflected in facilitating a mastery-oriented (vs performance-oriented) atmosphere, fostering learning (vs performance) goals, praising courage and strategies (vs achievement), and giving emotional support (vs teaching according to student ability and achievement, see Plaks et al., 2009;Rissanen et al., 2018). ...
... The psychological process refers to emotional support, learning strategies and contextual factors, and traits to the nature of personality and levels of ability (Plaks et al., 2009;Rissanen et al., 2018;Yu et al., 2022). Among teaching practices aimed at motivating students, process-focused (vs trait-focused) pedagogy is reflected in facilitating a mastery-oriented (vs performance-oriented) atmosphere, fostering learning (vs performance) goals, praising courage and strategies (vs achievement), and giving emotional support (vs teaching according to student ability and achievement, see Plaks et al., 2009;Rissanen et al., 2018). Second, teacher characteristics such as seniority as well as educational background may affect the extent to which teachers promote the mindsets and behaviours of students (Leroy et al., 2007;Schmidt et al., 2015). ...
... One could assume that the lack of correlation between mindset and behavioral patterns (e.g., praising and a performance-goal orientation in Study 1) is attributable to the moderating effects of multiple situational factors. Such an assumption reflects environmental climates in which mindset establishment and application are intertwined (Plaks et al., 2009;Rissanen et al., 2018;Yu et al., 2022). Hence, we propose that interventions should take into consideration the situational factors in certain settings to enhance their validity. ...
Preprint
The current investigation consists of four independent sub-studies. In Study 1, 114 teachers participated in a two-round questionnaire survey investigating the descriptive features of mindset and pedagogy. Two groups of teachers were interviewed in Study 2 & 3 to explore how these features were reflected in their teaching. Study 4 comprised focus-group interviews identifying the underlying mechanism determining which and how factors moderate the correspondence between mindset and pedagogy. Teachers in upper-secondary education endorsed mixed pedagogies despite their mindsets. The mixing style was characterized by 1) process-focused and trait-focused pedagogical thinking, and 2) mastery-oriented and performance-oriented pedagogical practices, with variable persistence and differential instructions. Situations related to culture, education, society and individual experiences were deemed to moderate the alignment of mindset with corresponding pedagogy-an insight that could be helpful in designing mindset intervention to enhance its validity. Implications concerning the adjustment of situational factors to educational surroundings are discussed.
... Situationist critique of neo-Hahnian thought is concerned with assumptions about personality traits. Plaks et al. (2009) argue that individuals will go to some lengths to preserve their lay personality theories, which are "critical starting assumptions from which much of social cognition proceeds" (p. 1078). ...
... (Ross & Nisbett, 2011, p. 99) Because lay theories tend to be dispositionist, research that found participants attributed personal trait development to OE is to be expected (Brookes, 2003a(Brookes, , 2003b. Moreover, laypersons who tend towards trait-based or stereotyping explanations for the behaviours of others tend to assume trait effects are strong (Plaks et al., 2009). ...
... (Dweck, 2015) Work which has shown that individuals who draw on an entity theory of self -those who attribute performance in challenging situations to an essential self, defined by traits -are at a disadvantage when confronted with new and difficult tasks compared to those who look for ways to improve on the next attempt. Selftheory can be changed by educational interventions (Dweck, 2000;Plaks et al., 2009), which implies OE programs could indeed contribute helpful interventions, provided it was understood that participants enter a program already having different self-theories and will respond differently to a program. At the same time, self-theory research problematizes curriculum premised on reinforcing trait attributions. ...
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The idea that certain outdoor education (OE) programs consistently improve character traits has been a recurring theme not only in OE practice but also in some approaches to research and theory (Brookes, 2003a, 2003b). Sometimes referred to as “character building,” such approaches to OE persist although perhaps less prominently than in the past (Dyment & Potter, 2015). The idea of character-trait building is consistent with everyday beliefs about personality, but what is surprising is that strands of OE research and scholarship remain rooted in beliefs about personal traits that have been scientifically discredited for decades. This article considers some barriers which could help explain why OE research and scholarship have failed to exhibit a paradigm shift which should have eventuated had OE research more faithfully reflected key developments in psychological science and stayed within the bounds of scientific credibility.
... A xed mindset concerning personality traits predicts aggressive desires and produces more hostile attributional biases (Yeager et al., 2013). By contrast, a malleable mindset is related to a greater tolerance of immorality (Huang et al., 2017), a greater willingness to forgive (Iwai & de França Carvalho, 2020), more compassionate legal assessments (Weimann-Saks et al., 2019), and decreased support for harsh sanctions (Plaks et al., 2009). Consequently, relative to those with a xed mindset, people with a malleable mindset are less likely to assert attributions of internal proclivity for criminal behavior and to expect o enders to re-o end, and they are more likely to make less punitive judgments (Tam et al., 2013). ...
... This nding seems consistent with past research showing that both a xed mindset (e.g. Plaks et al., 2009;Tam et al., 2013) and a conservative political orientation are related to stronger punitiveness (e.g. Carroll et al., 1987;Clark & Wink, 2012;. ...
... Finally, the present study did not nd any evidence supporting the second hypothesis (H2), whereas previous research has shown that a malleable, relative to a xed, mindset reduces overall punitive motives (e.g. Plaks et al., 2009;Tam et al., 2013) and is more closely related to a liberal orientation (Kahn et al., 2018). To manipulate participants' mindset about malleability, we used a procedure that is widely found in the literature (e.g. ...
Article
We examined whether beliefs about malleability moderate observers’ motives for justice, expressed in a desire for either retribution, in which punishment is based on what offenders deserve for their offense (past-oriented), or rehabilitation, in which punishment is intended to improve the offenders (future-oriented). The main hypothesis was that people with a fixed mindset would tend to support punishment motivated by retribution rather than rehabilitation, and the reverse was expected for those with a malleable mindset. We recruited participants (N = 432) through the platform Prolific and asked them to complete an online questionnaire. We first manipulated participants’ mindset (malleable vs. fixed) and then the salience of a specific justice motive (retribution vs. rehabilitation). Finally, participants read a vignette depicting an incident of professional misconduct and were asked to indicate their support for the punishment of the offender. Our results did not confirm our main hypothesis, but the exploratory results indicated a partial confirmation as a function of political orientation: in the malleable mindset condition, support for punishment among liberals was higher in the rehabilitation condition than in the retribution condition, whereas the reverse effect was observed among moderately conservative participants. We discuss the possible limitations of the study and future research avenues.
... Individuals possess various attributes and characteristics, which they view differently. Implicit theories are the knowledge forms by which individuals construe meaning of themselves and others (Plaks et al., 2009). Individuals differ in their views about the docility of certain human cognitive, emotional, and behavioral domains (Dweck et al., 1995), including intelligence, emotion, social skills, relationships, management skills, social judgment, and stereotyping (Dweck, 2012). ...
... Mindsets are important means to explain academic performance, behaviors, and intelligence beliefs (e.g., . Because of their reliable descriptive power, mindsets can explain individuals' behaviors (Plaks et al., 2009). Mindsets also shape the individual approach towards a problem. ...
... The main research question to examine the characteristics of person at individual level affecting the whistleblowing intentions of the thesis has been dealt in three essays. definition, evaluation, perception and reaction of a phenomenon in environment is basically shaped and determined by the types of their mindset (Cook-Greuter, 2004;Dweck, 2009). Therefore, the mindset types of individuals determine their intentions and decisions. ...
Thesis
The formidable loss incurred by the organizational malpractices in world venerated organizations hasdrawn the urgency to find the measures to curb these malpractices. Among various measures, whistleblowing has been considered as an effective preventive and corrective tool. Substantial significance granted to whistleblowing for safeguarding the strategic, financial, and legal interests of organizations makes it imperative to admit the importance of whistleblowers who jeopardize their careers, financial and social gains for social betterment. Admittedly, the significant role of whistleblowers in disclosing and preventing organizational wrongdoings to avoid potential catastrophes and dramatic accidents has been acknowledged in research and corporate world.This thesis mirrors the positive facet of whistleblowing and discusses the characteristics of whistleblowers at their individual level that give them the Guardian, Saviors and moral saints like images in public. A common observation is that of many employees witnessing the organizational wrongdoings, only few employees (whistleblowers) report them, while all others remain passive (silent observers). This observation leads towards the central research question of the thesis, which has been declined into three essays to study the effects of individual characteristics at three levels on whistleblowing intentions—internal and external. This three-essaysone- thesis approach facilitates developing and testing conceptual frameworks at three levels. The effects of types of mindset, stewardship and proactive behaviors and the effect of four non-cognitive traits—grit, political skills, self-monitoring and emotional intelligence— on whistleblowing intentions at individual level have been examined in first, second and third essays of the thesis respectively. Besides, the moderating role of perceived organizational support (a contextual factor) on the causal relationships in three essays helps to get a pertinent set of predictors of whistleblowing intentions. Literature review suggests that research model examining the effect of the predictors of potential whistleblowing intentions like mindsets, proactive and stewardship behaviors and non-cognitive traits is virtually non-existent, notably in the context of a developing country like Pakistan. This thesis, thus, abridges this research gap. The integrated variables of the thesis do not necessarily make an exhaustive list, nor is this viable, but helps in better understanding of the underlying factors affecting the whistleblowing intentions. To test the hypotheses, a mixed method research design using an explanatory sequential approach has been employed. The quantitative data through surveys have been collected from the students and faculty members of seven universities in Islamabad, Pakistan. 467 complete questionnaires of 650 show 71.84% response rate. Applying SEM approach, using SPSS and AMOS yield quantitative results. Qualitative data have been collected from two focus group discussions. The thematic approach yields qualitative results. Findings of quantitative and qualitative data have been integrated in discussion chapter using weaving approach. This thesis makes various methodological and theoretical contributions with academic, managerial, policy and scholarly orientated implications. One key contribution of the thesis is that it extends the whistleblowing research to Pakistani context, where the malpractices can readily get diffused. To curb this evil, recently the government has implemented Whistleblowing Act 2017 as one of the effective preventative measures to curtail the persistent high level of corruption in Pakistan. Thus this thesis aims to be milestone in better understanding the characteristics of potential whistleblowers by providing normative guidance to both practitioners and policymakers in Pakistan. The limitations of this thesis open up avenues for future research to explore the unanswered aspects.
... Lay theories about the nature of personal characteristics shape how people understand and incorporate information in their social worlds, fairly independent of the factual truth of those beliefs (Plaks et al., 2009). For instance, believing that intelligence is changeable versus fixed can affect academic effort after failure (Dweck, 1986;2000) and the belief that willpower is unlimited predicts persistence after effort (Job et al., 2010). ...
... Results of Study 4 suggest that people's beliefs about genetic heritability of moral character can be influenced at least temporarily by reading a newspaper article and writing from the perspective of high or low heritability beliefs. Lay beliefs are notoriously difficult to shift (Heine et al., 2017;Plaks et al., 2009), and although the manipulation used in this study did shift Parents' Immoral Act participants' self-reported heritability beliefs, the difference was small (about one point on a seven-point scale). Perhaps because of this small effect, the predicted moderation of heritability beliefs condition was not significant. ...
... Lay beliefs. The current research also contributes to the extensive literature on the power of lay beliefs (for a review of this literature see Heine et al., 2017;Plaks et al., 2009). ...
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The idea of heritability may have consequences for individuals’ sense of self by connecting identity to the actions of others who happen to share genetic ties. Across seven experimental studies (total N = 2,628), recalling morally bad or good actions by family members influenced individuals’ moral self among those who endorse a lay belief that moral character is genetically heritable, but not among those who did not endorse this belief (Study 1–5). In contrast, recalling actions by unrelated individuals had no effect, regardless of lay beliefs (Study 2, 5), the endorsement of other relevant lay beliefs did not moderate the effect of parent's actions on self‐judgments (Study 3). Individuals who endorsed heritability beliefs also chose less helpful responses to hypothetical helping scenarios if they had recalled unhelpful (vs. helpful) acts by a genetically‐related family member (Study 5). Taken together, these studies suggest that lay beliefs in the role of genetics are important for self‐perceptions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
... These teacher orientations are commonly seen to be best promoted through practices of critical reflection and well-guided cross-cultural experiences (Gorski & Dalton, 2020;Whipp, 2013). However, since implicit beliefs about human nature always facilitate attention allocation and sense-making in complex social situations (Plaks et al., 2009) and influence the outcomes of cross-cultural experiences (Goldenberg et al., 2017), social justice teacher education that does not aim to recognise and influence these core beliefs is likely to be ineffective. The theory of mindsets and empirical findings on their effects make it possible to predict an association between growth mindsets and orientation to social justice (Rattan & Georgeac, 2017;Rissanen et al., 2022). ...
... When an implicit theory is violated, this engenders anxiety and, consequently, motivates people to turn away from observations that seem to violate their core beliefs. This can happen even when the observed phenomena may have many positive implications and be superficially celebrated as ideal (Plaks et al., 2005(Plaks et al., , 2009. ...
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Cultural heterogenisation of classrooms and existing achievement gaps have led to an acknowledgement of the need to develop teachers' intercultural competencies. A growth mindset (a belief that intelligence, personality and other such qualities can be cultivated) predicts positive intergroup attitudes and reduces stereotyping, but has not been researched as an aspect of teachers' intercultural competence. This study analyses the role of growth mindset in shaping three aspects relevant to teachers' intercultural competencies: process versus trait orientation to students, diversity beliefs and orientation to social justice and equity. Fifteen Finnish comprehensive schoolteachers were interviewed. Significant differences were found between teachers with fixed and growth mindsets. Teachers with a growth mindset were more likely to hold polyculturalist beliefs about the interconnectedness and changeability of cultures, and to recognise and combat issues of social injustice and inequity. Teachers with a fixed mindset made trait‐focused interpretations of their students and did not easily recognise problems of social justice in school or in society. These results encourage us to suggest that a growth mindset is a construct with a lot of potential to introduce novel approaches to multi/intercultural and social justice teacher education, but more research is needed. The implications of the findings for teacher education and further research are discussed.
... COVID-19 sürecinde aromatik ve tıbbi bitkilerin neden satın alındığını açıklamada sokaktaki insan kuramından da yararlanılabileceğinin ipuçlarının elde edilmiş olmasıdır. Sokaktaki insan kuramı; esas itibariyle bireylerin bilgi açısından karmaşık olan durumları kolaylaştırmak amacıyla (Plaks, Levy & Dweck, 2009, s. 1069 inançlarını sosyal normlar, çevre ya da kişisel deneyimlere dayalı olarak oluşturması (Wood, 2010, s. 952) anlamına gelmektedir. ...
... Sokaktaki insan kuramı; sosyal normlar, çevre ya da kişisel deneyimler yoluyla oluşabilen(Wood, 2010, s. 952), açık ve belirgin olmayan, muğlak, tutarsız ve değişken, tümevarımcı algılardır. Sokaktaki insan kuramında, bilgi açısından karmaşık olan durumları kolaylaştırmak asıl amaçtır(Plaks, Levy & Dweck, 2009, s. 1069) ve sıklıkla iki değişken arasında bir ilişkinin olduğu iddia edilir(Furnham, 1988, s. 2-5). Sokaktaki insan kuramı destekli içsel yükleme dikkate alındığında "bağışıklık sistemini güçlendirme, antibiyotik özelliği, antioksidan özelliği, rahatlatıcı-gevşetici etkisi, Koronavirüs semptomlarını-bulgularını azaltma, gribal enfeksiyon iyileşme sürecine ilişkin deneyim ve Koronavirüse yakalanma korkusu" alt temaları oluşturulmuştur.Antioksidan özelliği: Katılımcılar, COVID-19 sürecinde kullandıkları tıbbi ve aromatik bitkilerin tüketim nedenlerini "antioksidan" özelliklerine dayandırmışlardır. ...
Article
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COVID-19 pandemisi sürecinde, bireylerin tıbbi ve aromatik bitki tüketimlerine ilişkin ilgi ve yönelimlerinin arttığı gözlemlenmiştir. Bu kapsamda Mersin’de yaşayan bireylerin COVID-19 sürecinde değişen tıbbi ve aromatik bitki tüketimleri yükleme kuramı çerçevesinde irdelenmiştir. Durum çalışması olarak tasarlanan bu araştırmada, araştırmanın amacı ve örneklemine göre “tanımlayıcı-keşfedici, içsel ve iç içe geçmiş tekli durum deseni” kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın örneklemini; Mersin’de COVID-19 sürecinde aktarlarda çalışan, görüşmeyi kabul eden 20 kişi ile Mersin’de yaşayan ve COVID-19 sürecinde tıbbi ve aromatik bitki tüketimine ilişkin ilgi ve yöneliminin arttığını beyan eden 33 kişi oluşturmuştur. Veriler, görüşme formu kullanılarak amaçlı örnekleme tekniğine göre 2022 Nisan-Temmuz ayları arasında toplanmış olup; içerik ve betimsel analize tabi tutulmuştur. Araştırmanın bulguları, tıbbi ve aromatik bitki tüketim nedenlerine çoğunlukla içsel yükleme yapıldığını, ancak aktar çalışanlarının tüketicilere kıyasla daha fazla dışsal yükleme yaptıklarını ortaya koymuştur. Çoğunlukla eğitim, yönetim ve pazarlama alanlarında çalışılan yükleme kuramının, tıbbi ve aromatik bitki tüketim nedenlerini açıklamada kullanılabileceği görülmüştür.
... In contrast, people with a growth mindset believe that such traits are flexible and still have the opportunity to alter or develop them. Many studies have proved that each theory (or mindset) is linked to a network of joint beliefs, such as achievement beliefs, effort beliefs, and beliefs on ability, goal orientation and reactions to failure situations that people endorse in order to provide an explanation of their behaviour (Plaks, Levy & Dweck, 2009;Ryan & Mercer, 2012). Empirical research has shown that such beliefs influence academic performance; in particular, incremental beliefs appear to yield better results than entity beliefs (Blackwell, Trzesniewski & Dweck, 2007;Chen & Pajares, 2010). ...
... Furthermore, previous studies have proven that the mindset of individuals entails a network of joint beliefs, such as beliefs in abilities, goal orientations, and reactions to failure situations (Plaks et al., 2009) regarding the malleability of their abilities contributed to adaptive or maladaptive cognitive, affective and behavioural responses (Dweck, 2000;Elliott & Dweck, 1988). Qualitative results of this study showed that the participants have a higher tendency to growth mindset beliefs. ...
Thesis
Recent attention in literature has been given to the agency of students in the feedback process. This research aims to explore the experiences that students have of assessment feedback during their study in EAP programmes. In order to obtain vivid data that can help in understanding such experiences, both interviews and questionnaires were used sequentially, and were able to provide interesting insights into students’ experiences, including their responses to assessment feedback. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interviews and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, as well as structural equation modelling to analyse the questionnaire. The findings revealed that students joining EAP programmes value and appreciate assessment feedback on their academic writing. They also found it an opportunity to learn from the feedback and relate it to further learning. The study also highlights that the process of feedback involves a complex interplay between the cognitive and affective dimensions that could be affected by different factors. The findings suggest that the students are aware of the usefulness of the role of the feedback to advance their academic writing, even though they feel upset or disappointed in regards to it. Furthermore, the research identified the factors that influence students’ responses to assessment feedback. Various factors related to the feedback message, the feedback provider and to students themselves have been revealed in the interview data. These factors were later examined in the quantitative phase. Results from exploratory factor analysis revealed that students display two types of responses to assessment feedback (positive and negative responses); and four factors (students self efficacy in writing, language mindset beliefs, perceptions of teacher role, preferences of the mode of feedback). The results of confirmatory factor analysis led to a model of students’ responses to assessment feedback that consists of the six factor structure. Additionally, SEM results confirmed that students’ self-efficacy in writing and their perceptions of the teachers’ role were strong predictors of their responses to assessment feedback. Self-efficacy was the strongest factor that influences students͛ positive responses to assessment feedback, whereas students’ perceptions of the teacher’s role were the strongest factor that influences their negative responses to assessment feedback. Interestingly, language mindset beliefs was found as a significant moderator of the relationship between their self-efficacy and their negative responses to assessment feedback, which indicates that this factor could make a noticeable difference in experiences with assessment feedback. Thus, future research investigating experiences with assessment feedback from students’ perspectives should consider the examination of their mindset beliefs, and how it could impact on their responses.<br/
... Accordingly, those holding an incremental belief about human characteristics are more forgiving because they believe people are capable of changing for the better (Molden & Dweck, 2006;Plaks, Levy, & Dweck, 2009). These findings thus suggest a positive association between cuteness and an incremental belief (as they both are linked by infantility). ...
... In particular, building on prior research on the malleability of human characteristics (Dweck & Leggett, 1988;Murphy & Dweck, 2016), individuals with an incremental belief learn from their mistakes and failures in order to improve themselves (Mathur, Chun, & Maheswaran, 2016). As such, individuals with an incremental belief about human characteristics are also more forgiving because they believe people are capable of changing for the better and learning from their past failures (Molden & Dweck, 2006;Plaks et al., 2009). ...
Article
Research on brand transgressions has suggested that when a brand is involved in a transgression and perceived as harmful, consumers will punish the brand. The present research seeks to extend this literature by investigating how having a cute brand logo may reduce consumer punishment of a transgressing brand. Across five experimental studies, this research shows that a brand logo with high (vs. low) levels of cuteness associated with a transgressing brand can motivate consumers to protect the brand from harm, thus reducing consumer punishment of that brand. Notably, such motivations to protect the brand are driven by an incremental belief about the brand’s development. Moreover, the cuteness effect is attenuated in the case of repeated transgressions. Theoretical contributions to the literature on cuteness, brand logo, and brand transgression are discussed, as well as practical implications.
... Lay theories are informal, ontological assumptions about the social world that provide a framework for meaning (Plaks, Levy, & Dweck, 2009). Lay theories of affect reflect generalized beliefs about the nature of emotional experience that influence how people respond to the world. ...
... Although we found that DH and LM beliefs were related to goal pursuit across distinct samples, there may be limits to generality given that participants were college students or adults living in the U.S. Given that lay theories involve ontological assumptions about the social world (Plaks et al., 2009), they may be influenced by sociocultural norms. Socialization experiences within families, relationships, social networks, and cultures may differentially reinforce DH or LM beliefs. ...
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How do people think about happiness? Is it something best enjoyed as an investment over time, or is it something fleeting that should be savored? When people view happiness as an investment, they may endorse delaying happiness (DH)-the belief that working hard and sacrificing opportunities for happiness now will contribute to greater future happiness. When people view happiness as fleeting, they may endorse living in the moment (LM)-the belief that one should seize proximal opportunities to experience happiness now, rather than later. Using a mix of cross-sectional, meta-analytic (Studies 1, 2a, 2b, 2c), experimental (Study 3), and daily diary methods (Study 4), people who endorsed DH or LM beliefs anticipated more positive affect upon goal attainment and experienced greater well-being, but only DH was related to more negative affect when pursuing nonfocal goals and less delay discounting of future rewards. Implications for self-regulation and emotion are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
... An individual with a growth mindset concerning intelligence, for example, believes that people can become more and more intelligent through experience, whereas someone with a fixed mindset believes that people are either permanently intelligent or not. Such implicit beliefs form a complex network of tendentially incremental or entity meaning systems, which tend to be activated in challenging situations (Plaks et al., 2009). In this study, we use mindset as a standard term that also encapsulates implicit beliefs and implicit meaning systems. ...
... It is suggested that a complex network of implicit parental beliefs about their children's abilities is connected to a growth or fixed mindset (Plaks et al., 2009;Dweck, 2016, 2017), that is constantly actualized in their relationships. Not only do mindsets affect praise and failure feedback, but they also tend to take over in any learning-related situation, especially challenging ones. ...
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The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore parental engagement in the home learning environment, and parents’ implicit beliefs about learning underlying such engagement. Nineteen parents of school children between 7 and 12 years old were interviewed in two different cultural contexts, Finland (N = 10) and Portugal (N = 9). The interviews were subjected to inductive and deductive content analysis. Forms of parental engagement at home were similar in both countries, divided between two main categories: engagement with their child’s holistic development and engagement with the child’s schooling process. Parental narratives about engagement were, for the most part, embedded in a growth mindset (or an incremental meaning system). The most common actualizations of engagement included considering the child’s learning contexts and emotions; encouraging effort, persistence and practice; approaching difficulties as a natural part of learning and suggesting strategies for overcoming them. Parental practices of engagement were combined with the actualization of their implicit beliefs to create parental engagement–mindset profiles. Twelve parents were classified as having a growth mindset to support the child’s holistic development profile, and the other seven were distributed amongst the three remaining profiles. The study contributes to the growing interest on the association between parental engagement and their learning-related implicit beliefs, giving clear first-person illustrations of how both occur and interact in the home learning environment. Implications for practice are discussed.
... However, we wondered if we assessed people's everyday beliefs about their personal intelligence (as opposed to using an experimenterdefined global estimate), whether one or more of their specific beliefs would relate more highly to actual ability than had global estimates of the past. At minimum, we would gain a better understanding of how people naturally think about their understanding of personality (e.g., Plaks, Levy, & Dweck, 2009). ...
... Our project is part of a family of related studies that explore lay theories of traits: for example, lay theories of general intelligence versus those for creativity and wisdom (Sternberg, 1985;Sternberg, Conway, Ketron, & Bernstein, 1981), or people's everyday theories of the Big Five personality traits (Mehl, Gosling, & Pennebaker, 2006), or the importance of lay beliefs about personality change (Plaks et al., 2009). ...
Article
We examined the dimensions people use when estimating their ability to understand personality—an ability we refer to as personal intelligence. In the first two studies (Ns = 434 and 393), a four-factor model fit people's self-estimates reasonably, with scales of the “Explained Self”, “Self-Understanding”, “Understanding Others,” and “Goals and Planning”. In Study 2 and in Study 3 (N = 482) we examined whether any of the specific self-estimated abilities more accurately indexed actual ability-based personal intelligence relative to overall estimates, and if not, what other personality traits they correlated with. To find out, the four factor-based scales of self-estimated abilities were correlated with the objective Test of Personal Intelligence and traits of the Big Five. None of the specific, self-estimated abilities correlated with actual ability any higher than earlier-used experimenter-provided global self-estimated scales; the participants' self-estimates were determined chiefly by dimensions of the Big Five relative to ability, at a ratio of “variance explained” of six to one. The studies provide new insights into how people view their skills at understanding personality, and the possible origins of such beliefs.
... Social perception is a complex area of research within the social sciences. Its vast literature addresses, among many other issues, researchers' interest in understanding how people read and understand the actions of "the other" (Plaks et al., 2009). Specifically, cognitive information processing in humans has been found to rely on lay beliefs or traits that shape perception of "the other" and the environment and minimize mental work (Hong et al., 2001;Levy et al., 2006;Molden & Dweck, 2006). ...
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Implicit leadership theories (ILTs) are people’s lay theories, definitions, or conceptualizations of leadership. In adults, they determine what actions we perceive as leadership, influence to whom we grant leadership status, and shape our own behaviors when we want to be seen as leader. Naturally, there has been an enduring interest in how these ILTs develop in children. Current theorizing on the development of leadership conceptualizations in children aligns with a stepwise progression mirroring Piaget’s stage-based approach to cognitive development. However, contemporary approaches to cognitive development, such as Siegler’s overlapping waves theory (OWT), acknowledge that children’s development is linked to cognitive success and failure. This article integrates the findings from empirical studies into children’s leadership conceptualizations and reinterprets them against OWT. This reinterpretation resolves findings that align poorly with a stepwise approach and demonstrates a strong fit with OWT. As such, children’s leadership conceptualizations develop by generating and testing cognitive approaches—physical-spatiotemporal, functional, socioemotional, and humanitarian—and instead of progressing through these in order and according to age, they display variation and selection, that with experience and exposure, lay down selective combinations, which often engage multiple dimensions simultaneously. Consequently, the development of children’s understanding of leaders is nonlinear, can be multidimensional, and is based on trial and error largely in response to their experiences. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for future research and practice.
... Earlier research has delved into beliefs about similar constructs, such as beliefs about willpower, self-regulation, anxiety, emotions, or even mind wandering (Job et al., 2010;Karnaze & Levine, 2020;Plaks et al., 2009;Reffi et al., 2020;. For example, nonlimited willpower beliefs were associated with better self-regulation and higher grades (Job et al., 2015), while growth self-regulation and controllable mind-wandering mindsets were related to longer perseverance, resistance to everyday temptations, less intrusive thoughts, and less mind-wandering (Zedelius et al., 2021). ...
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This research introduces the “Mindfulness Mindset Scale,” a concise and reliable tool designed to measure beliefs about the malleability of mindfulness skills. Study 1 (N = 285) revealed a single-factor structure through exploratory factor analysis, further validated in Study 2 (N = 286) using confirmatory factor analysis. Studies 3a (N = 266) and 3b (N = 320) revealed associations between the Mindfulness Mindset Scale and other measures of mindset, trait mindfulness, and coping, showing reasonable convergent and divergent validity. Study 4 (N = 470) showed the predictive validity of the mindfulness mindset, being correlated with behavioral persistence, effort, resilience, challenge-seeking, and academic grades. Study 5 (N = 320) supported the academic correlates of malleable beliefs of mindfulness beyond the mental health factors from Study 3 in two countries. In Study 6 (NFrench = 613, NHungarian = 524), we demonstrated that a well-established learning mindset intervention can lead to changes in mindfulness mindset in two national contexts. Finally, a brief mindfulness mindset intervention designed for Study 7 (N = 208) also led to changes in malleability beliefs about mindfulness skills. These behavioral results suggest that beliefs about mindfulness being malleable are a novel construct distinct from trait mindfulness. Such beliefs are related to adaptive psychological mechanisms relevant in educational contexts, considering students’ coping, mastery behavior, and academic performance. Importantly, these beliefs can be modified by brief interventions.
... Furthermore, we extend the framework of rational choice theory to the prediction of lay beliefs about behavior, rather than behavior itself. Finally, this work informs the literature on the social consequences of personality perceptions (Back & Vazire, 2015;Plaks et al., 2009). Lay beliefs about target personality can have important implications for how people behave and interact with a target in general (Heslin et al., 2006;Stavrova et al., 2022) and in the context of personnel selection in particular (Highhouse, 2008). ...
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Cynicism – the belief that people are driven primarily by self-interest – has been predominantly associated with detrimental consequences for individuals and organizations. Less is known about its potentially positive implications. We investigated whether lay people consider cynicism helpful in preventing antisocial behavior and therefore see value in cynical leaders. We found that people viewed cynical (vs. trusting) leaders as better at detecting antisocial behavior and more punitive, and therefore, as better at preventing employees’ antisocial behavior (Study 1). Despite this, cynical (vs. trusting) leaders were less likely to be hired, were offered lower salaries, and were seen as less effective (Study 2). This aversion to cynical leaders was attenuated for jobs that emphasized the importance of preventing antisocial behavior (Study 3).
... M. Bell & Hartmann, 2007), social (Apfelbaum et al., 2008), political (Jardina, 2019), professional (Kalev et al., 2006), and digital lives (Bonilla & Rosa, 2015). Thus, it would make sense for people to develop relatively stable lay theories about diversity initiatives to help them interpret complex and ambiguous situations (Levy, Chiu, & Hong, 2006;Plaks et al., 2009). ...
Article
Three studies introduce a novel individual-difference construct to explain majority group members’ responses to organizational diversity efforts: lay theories of diversity initiatives. Zero-sum beliefs (ZSBs) presume that efforts to advance diversity come at the expense of majority group members. Win-win beliefs (WWBs) posit that diversity initiatives can benefit all racial groups. Study 1 created and validated measures of ZSBs and WWBs. Study 2 showed that ZSBs and WWBs are distinct from 10 intergroup measures (e.g., social dominance orientation, modern racism) and that each lay theory accounts for unique variance in explaining Whites’ reactions to diversity initiatives. Study 3 demonstrated that ZSBs and WWBs predict Whites’ reactions to diversity policies of a hypothetical company. These findings suggest that ZSBs and WWBs both help explain majority group members’ backlash against and support for organizational diversity initiatives.
... We theorize that decision-makers' universal-nonuniversal mindsets about leadership potential underlie the degree to which they exhibit gender bias against women when making leadership evaluation and selection decisions. We develop this prediction based on past research which has found that mindsets influence social information processing (Levy et al., 2006;Plaks et al., 2009). For example, fixed-growth mindsets influence selective attention to stereotype-consistent and -inconsistent information (Burnette et al., 2013;Levy et al., 1998Levy et al., , 2005Mangels et al., 2006;Morris et al., 2001;Plaks et al., 2001). ...
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Extensive research has documented organizational decision-makers’ preference for men over women when they evaluate and select candidates for leadership positions. We conceptualize a novel construct—mindsets about the universality of leadership potential—that can help reduce this bias. People can believe either that only some individuals have high leadership potential (i.e., a nonuniversal mindset) or that most individuals have high leadership potential (i.e., a universal mindset). Five studies investigated the relationship between these mindsets and decision-makers’ gender biases in leader evaluation and selection decisions. The more senior government officials in China held a universal mindset, the less they showed gender bias when rating their subordinates’ leadership capability (Study 1). Working adults in the United Kingdom who held a more universal mindset exhibited less gender bias when evaluating and selecting job candidates for a leadership position (Study 2). In an experiment, Singaporean students exposed to a universal mindset exhibited less gender bias when evaluating and selecting candidates than those exposed to a nonuniversal mindset (Study 3). Another experiment with working adults in China replicated this pattern and added a control condition to confirm the directionality of the effect (Study 4). Last, Study 5 showed that a more universal mindset was associated with less gender bias particularly among decision-makers with stronger gender stereotypes in the domain of leadership. This research demonstrates that, although they are seemingly unrelated to gender, mindsets about the universality of leadership potential can influence the extent to which people express gender bias in the leadership context.
... For example, it has been shown that an incremental theory can protect against setback-related weight gain [22], is related to higher motivation and intention to achieve a healthy weight [26], leads to greater motivation to quit smoking [31], and decreases anxiety and depressive symptoms [21]. Implicit theories in different domains are not necessarily interconnected [6,34]. For example, one might believe that one's body weight is rather fixed around a given set point while also thinking that smoking behavior can be changed easily. ...
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Background Implicit theories of health describe individuals’ beliefs about the malleability of health. Individuals with an incremental theory of health believe that health, in general, is malleable, whereas individuals with an entity theory of health endorse the idea that health is largely fixed and predetermined. Previous research has shown that an incremental theory of health is associated with beneficial health outcomes and behaviors. A mobile health implicit theories intervention could be an effective way to increase health-promoting behaviors in the general population. Objective The aim of this study was to estimate the effect of a smartphone-based intervention designed to promote an incremental theory of health on the frequency of health-promoting behaviors in everyday life. The study used ecological momentary assessment to measure health behavior change. Methods This 2-arm, single-blind, delayed intervention design included 149 German participants (mean age 30.58, SD 9.71 years; n=79 female). Participants were asked to report their engagement in 10 health-promoting behaviors throughout the day for 3 weeks. Participants were randomly assigned to either an early intervention group (n=72) or a delayed intervention group (n=77). The intervention materials, designed to promote an incremental theory of health, were provided to participants after 1 week (early intervention group) or 2 weeks (delayed intervention group) of baseline behavior measurement. Data for this study were collected between September 2019 and October 2019. ResultsA paired-samples 2-tailed t test revealed that participants reported a stronger incremental theory after responding to the intervention materials (mean 5.58, SE 0.07) compared with incremental theory measured in an entry questionnaire (mean 5.29, SE 0.08; t148=4.07, SE 0.07; P
... When people more strongly believed that prejudice was a malleable component of a person, they were more likely to confront a prejudiced statement (Rattan & Dweck, 2010). Such lay theories, or beliefs, about malleability need not be specific to one trait or component, as research has demonstrated that people generally endorse beliefs that people are relatively fixed (entity theory) or malleable (incremental theory) across traits and characteristics (e.g., Carr et al., 2012;Plaks et al., 2009). Yet, endorsement of such lay theories of malleability do not simply differ across endorsers such that some more strongly endorse a lay theory that people are malleable compared with others; rather, such lay theories also vary across target groups (Lassetter & Neel, 2019;Neel & Lassetter, 2015). ...
Article
Past research has demonstrated that older adults are stereotyped as less malleable than young adults. Moreover, beliefs that people are less malleable are associated with lower confrontations of prejudice, as perpetrators are seen as less capable of changing their (prejudiced) behavior. The present research sought to integrate these lines of research to demonstrate that endorsement of ageist beliefs that older adults are less malleable will lead to a lower confrontation of anti-Black prejudice espoused by older adults. Across four experimental studies (N = 1,573), people were less likely to confront anti-Black prejudice espoused by an 82-year-old compared with a 62-, 42-, or 20-year-old, due, in part, to beliefs that older adults are less malleable. Further exploration demonstrated that malleability beliefs about older adults were held across young, middle-aged, and older adult samples. These findings demonstrate how stereotypes about older adults can impede racial equality.
... An alternative factor that likely contributed to the observed increase in self-compassion is the impact of implicit expectations or lay theories about change (e.g., Plaks et al., 2009). Walking a path is one of the most powerful symbols for change and development (e.g., life path, healing path, pilgrimage path, path towards enlightenment). ...
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Objectives The present longitudinal field study investigated whether hiking the Camino Francés strengthened self-compassion and tested covered distance, hikers’ motives, and walking alone vs. with other hikers as predictors of the increase. Method In the prospective main study with 104 hikers, 67.3% female, M = 36.3 years (SD = 14.2), change was measured by the difference between the first measurement taken on the way and the second measurement at arrival. Additionally, 21 participants, 52.4% female, M = 34.3 years (SD = 14), were recruited upon arrival and reported their actual and their retrospectively rated self-compassion at the start of their tour. Two follow-ups were conducted after 3 weeks and 6 months. Participants completed the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) along with measures for mood and life satisfaction. Results An increase in self-compassion was observed with d = 0.22 (p = 0.024) in the prospective data, and d = 0.56 (p = 0.018) in the retrospective data, which persisted throughout the follow-ups. In the prospective study, self-compassion was a stronger predictor of mood across time than vice versa. The increase in self-compassion was stronger in participants who walked longer distances (β = .25) and underwent a critical life event (β = .21). Conclusions The results suggest long-distance walking as a promising additional means to strengthen self-compassion that could be integrated into compassion training programs. Future research should replicate the observed change across settings and related constructs, determine its causes, and investigate the interdependence of walking and meditation practices in stimulating self-compassion. Preregistration This study was not preregistered.
... Diese definieren persönliche Überzeugungen und Attributionen über die Veränderbarkeit von Intelligenz und bilden gemeinsam mit anderen Aspekten netzwerkartige Bedeutungssysteme aus (Rissanen et al., 2018). Diese beeinflussen die Art und Weise, in der Menschen sich selbst und andere verstehen, den erlebten sozialen Erfahrungen Bedeutung verleihen und entsprechend auf diese reagieren (Dweck, 1996;Molden & Dweck, 2006;Plaks et al., 2009). Nach Spinath und Stiensmeier-Pelster (2001) sowie Spinath et al. (2003) sind diese Bedeutungssysteme vom persönlichen Intelligenzvermögen unabhängig. ...
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Die Entwicklung der persönlichen, sozialen und ethnisch-kulturellen Identität stellt eine zentrale Entwicklungsaufgabe im Jugendalter dar. Insbesondere für Schüler*innen aus sozial und ethnisch-kulturell unterrepräsentierten oder marginalisierten Gruppen gestaltet sich dieser Entwicklungsprozess zwischen Erwartungen von Lehrer*innen, Mitschüler*innen und persönlichen Vorstellungen sowie dem Umgang mit Vielfalt in Schul- und Klassenkontext als zunehmend komplex. Dies kann mit einem erhöhten Belastungserleben und verminderten Schulleistungen durch Stereotype und Diskriminierung einhergehen. Entwicklungs- und sozialpsychologisch fundierte Ansätze bieten eine Möglichkeit, diesen Herausforderungen zu begegnen und das Belastungserleben zu reduzieren sowie Lernmotivation, Lernleistungen und Wohlbefinden zu steigern. Die dargestellten Interventionen heben dabei die Stabilisierung eines wachstumsorientierten Intelligenzkonzepts, die Fokussierung auf intrinsisch motivierende Werte und die Reflexion gesellschaftlich vorhandener Stereotype und Vorurteile auf die Stärkung persönlicher oder gruppenbezogener Identitätsanteile, das Wohlbefinden und die Lernmotivation hervor. Zudem werden Anforderungen, Gelingensbedingungen, Gemeinsamkeiten und Schnittstellen der Interventionen als identitätsschützende und -fördernde Anwendungen im Schulkontext diskutiert.
... The key distinction between lay and scientific theories is that lay theories are not necessarily explicit and are typically not rigorously formulated (Heider, 1958). That said, people usually have no difficulty reporting their lay theories (Plaks et al., 2009). Importantly, our lay theory does not assume that there is a one-to-one relationship between individuals' appearance and character but instead asks whether people believe that there is some relationship versus no relationship. ...
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People are excessively confident that they can judge others’ characteristics from their appearance. This research identifies a novel antecedent of this phenomenon. Ten studies (N=2,967, four pre-registered) find that the more people believe that appearance reveals character, the more confident they are in their appearance-based judgments, and therefore, the more they support the use of facial profiling technologies in law enforcement, education, and business. Specifically, people who believe that appearance reveals character support the use of facial profiling in general (Studies 1a-1b), and even when they themselves are the target of profiling (Studies 1c-1d). Experimentally inducing people to believe that appearance reveals character increases their support for facial profiling (Study 2) because it increases their confidence in the ability to make appearance-based judgments (Study 3). An intervention that undermines people’s confidence in their appearance-based judgments reduces their support for facial profiling (Study 4). The relationship between the lay theory and support for facial profiling is weaker among people with a growth mindset about personality, as facial profiling presumes a relatively unchanging character (Study 5a). This relationship is also weaker among people who believe in free will, as facial profiling presumes that individuals have limited free will (Study 5b). The appearance reveals character lay theory is a stronger predictor of support for profiling than analogous beliefs in other domains, such as the belief that FacebookTM likes reveal personality (Study 6). These findings identify a novel lay theory that underpins people’s meta-cognitions about their confidence in appearance-related judgments and their policy positions.
... According to the literature, individuals have personal, underlying beliefs as to whether certain components of their lives are changeable (i.e., growth orientation) and fixed (i.e., destiny orientation; Dweck, 2012). Growth and destiny beliefs have been studied across various contexts, including intelligence, personality, and relationships and play a key role in shaping individuals' responses to life challenges (Costa & Faria, 2018;Dupeyrat & Mariné, 2005;Franiuk et al., 2002;Plaks et al., 2009;Yeager et al., 2014). These beliefs have also been studied in relation to sexual difficulties (Bohns et al., 2015;Maxwell et al., 2017;Sutherland & Rehman, 2018). ...
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Beliefs about sexuality tend to become more salient during sexual challenges and are associated with how individuals respond to these difficulties and, in turn, their sexual well-being. The transition to parenthood is marked by significant changes to couples’ sexuality. As such, this period of vulnerability may be an important context in which these beliefs impact how couples manage sexual stressors and may have implications for their sexual well-being. In a longitudinal dyadic study, we examined whether couples’ sexual growth beliefs (e.g., beliefs that sexual problems can be resolved through effort) and sexual destiny beliefs (e.g., beliefs that sexual problems reflect incompatibility with their partner) correspond with changes to various facets of couples’ sexual well-being over time. First-time parent couples (N = 203) completed online surveys assessing these beliefs in pregnancy (32 weeks) and measures of sexual well-being (satisfaction, desire, and distress) in pregnancy (20 and 32 weeks) and across the postpartum period (3, 6, 9, 12 months). Dyadic latent growth curve models showed that expectant mothers who reported stronger sexual destiny beliefs in pregnancy reported higher sexual distress and lower sexual satisfaction at 3 months postpartum. When partners reported stronger sexual destiny beliefs in pregnancy, both they and new mothers reported greater sexual desire at 3 months postpartum. Unexpectedly, partners’ higher sexual growth beliefs in pregnancy predicted mothers’ lower sexual desire at 3 months postpartum. Sexual growth and destiny beliefs were not associated with change in couples’ sexual well-being beyond 3 months postpartum. Findings shed light on the potential benefits and costs of sexual growth and destiny beliefs for couples’ sexual well-being early in the postpartum period, but not over time.
... Dweck developed her MT to include growth and fixed mindsets; both help children understand themselves, creating paths for learning (Plaks et al., 2009). Growth mindset (incremental theory) is when a child sees ability as flexible, something developed through hard work and instruction from others to maximise potential (Dweck & Leggett,988;Dweck,999;Boylan et al.,208). ...
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Growth mindset continues to be a popular topic of conversation in the field of education and Physical Education (PE). However, despite the existence of various schemes for delivering curriculum PE, there are limited studies analysing how they seek to directly develop children’s mindsets. This study analyses the process taken for one of these frameworks, Real PE, to be implemented within a school to develop their growth mindset culture, drawing upon the theories of key educational thinkers. The study is based upon the authors’ experiences as PE Subject Leader and member of the school Senior Leadership Team (SLT) within a single-form entry primary school in Leicestershire, United Kingdom; testimonials from other schools who utilise Real PE and existing literature on the effectiveness of growth mindset. Implementing a growth mindset culture is not straightforward; although important, it is not solely about intelligence and praising effort, nor a battle of fixed versus growth mindsets as within PE, mixed mindsets exist, and, the fixed mindset should be legitimised. Therefore, a long-term, rigorous approach to change considering policies, individual beliefs, training needs, strategies and feedback methods needs to be developed. This study adds to the growing conversation about growth mindset and seeks to support other school settings considering embedding mindset culture within their school setting and PE provision.
... We derive Model 4 from research on consumers' use of lay theories about brands, brands' origin and brand users (Fournier and Alvarez, 2019;Kardes et al., 2008;Luedicke, Thompson and Giesler, 2010;Thompson and Haytko, 1997). 'Lay theories (also referred to as "implicit theories", "naïve theories" and "folk theories") have been defined both as ontological assumptions (beliefs about what is true in the world) and as narrative representations (frameworks that explain and organize the world)' (Plaks, Levy andDweck, 2009, p. 1069). Stereotypes can be conceptualized as lay theories because they capture both the ontological assumptions about warmth and competence of social targets and the narrative assumptions about how social targets acquire warmth and competence (Fiske et al., 2002;Schneider, 2005). ...
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Although the importance of various brand‐related stereotypes held by consumers has been acknowledged in the marketing literature, their interplay has not yet been considered. We derive four alternative theoretical models of the relationships between brand, brand origin and brand user stereotypes and their effects on consumers’ value perceptions. The four models are subsequently tested on two nationally representative samples in Germany and Serbia, respectively. The best‐performing model in both studies predicts that brand origin and brand user stereotypes act as complementary drivers of the brand stereotype. In turn, value perceptions mediate the positive impact of the brand stereotype on purchase intent. This investigation is the first to: (a) juxtapose and empirically assess alternative theoretical perspectives on the interplay of brand‐related stereotypes; (b) reveal the combined influence of multiple stereotypes on consumers’ value perceptions and through them, on intentions to buy the brand; (c) determine the relative influence of distinct stereotype content dimensions (i.e. warmth vs. competence) on consumers’ perceptions of value; and (d) highlight the extent to which the interplay among different stereotypes in influencing consumer outcomes is stable across different market settings. Implications of the findings are considered and future research directions identified.
... We then discuss interviews-based Study 1 and survey-based Study 2. Last, we share our conclusion and discuss directions for future research. Plaks, Levy, and Dweck 2009;Schleider and Schroder 2018). According to this research, people generate assumptions about their environments and constantly test their utility to understand, predict, and control their environments (Parke, Marsden, and Connolly 2017). ...
Article
We used the folk theory perspective to investigate Internet users’ understanding of algorithms during their Internet use. Empirically, we conducted a mixed-method study. First, we carried out semi-structured in-person interviews with 30 German Internet users. Our analysis of these interviews enabled us to identity five folk theories – economic orientation theory, personal interaction theory, popularity theory, categorization theory, and algorithmic thinking theory. In a second step, we created a standardized survey questionnaire with 19 illustrative statements for these five folk theories, relying on participants’ explanations in the interviews to develop statements that reflected lay users’ ideas as much as possible. Participants (N = 331) were recruited through a commercial online access panel using quota criteria for age, gender, and education level to have a sample representative of the German population. Our survey findings indicate the prevalence of such folk theories among a broader population of Internet users, except for the algorithmic thinking theory, which is likely due to it being based on inaccurate assumptions about algorithms’ capabilities.
... They use these subjective views to make sense of often complex and ambiguous social situations. Research (Plaks et al., 2009) demonstrates that differences in these meaning systems can result in systematic differences in various social cognition processes including in how information is encoded, integrated, and interpreted to explain others' behaviors. ...
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Increasing reliance on the Internet's perpetual memory has raised concerns regarding how dated information that would otherwise be forgotten or inaccessible can unduly or disproportionally influence current assessments and decisions. I investigate aspects of this topic for two major business entity types: one-person businesses (i.e., sole proprietors) and firms. Results show that one-person businesses tend to be more severely impacted by past adverse information than firms, and furthermore their improvement trends over time are more likely to be dismissed as noise than recognized as signals of change. While firms can offset old unfavorable conduct by engaging in new favorable behaviors, a sole proprietor's current favorable operations can remain dominated by decades-old actions. Results also indicate that decision makers perceive firms as more capable of truly changing. Moreover, while only decision makers with certain personality characteristics recognize signs of positive change from a sole proprietor, all decision makers detect and appreciate such changes in a firm's conduct. This study finds that limiting access to adverse past information is likely to be more helpful (or necessary) for one-person businesses, or more generally for individuals, than for firms.
... Theories of Intelligence Questionnaire (Dweck, 1999) and work conducted by Plaks et al. (2009) assessed beliefs in growth-as opposed to fixed-mindsets (e.g., With effort and practice, you can keep your mental ability from deteriorating.). Growth mindsets reflect the belief in the ability to change, and thus should reflect approach tendencies. ...
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Engagement in potentially beneficial activities is assumed to be based partially on perceived costs and benefits. Mental fatigue may be one factor that affects perceived costs. We examined age differences in both chronic and situational mental fatigue, and their relation to task perceptions and engagement levels. Younger (M age = 32.6) and older (M age = 73.1) adults completed questionnaires measuring subjective mental fatigue, physical and mental health, and motivational states, along with several assessments of cognitive ability. In addition, assessments of effort expenditure (systolic blood pressure) and task difficulty were collected during performance of a cognitively demanding memory-scan task. Two components of chronic mental fatigue (CMF) relating to affect and motivation were identified. Although the structure of CMF did not vary with age, CMF was differentially predictive of engagement and appraisal levels across groups. As CMF-Affect levels increased, older adults' task-difficulty appraisals increased more than those of younger adults. In addition, CMF-Affect was positively associated with levels of engagement in the young, but negatively associated in the old as memory load increased. Older adults also exhibited higher levels of situational fatigue than did the young, as evidenced by increased levels of effort expenditure as both time on task and objective demands increased. However, little relationship existed between chronic and situational mental fatigue in either age group. These findings suggest that the affective aspect of CMF is particularly consequential in older adults, with both task appraisals and engagement levels being negatively affected when fatigue is high.
... Beliefs about whether spending implies wealth can be seen as a type of lay theory, or a belief about how aspects of the world work. Unlike attitudes or values, lay theories need not be evaluative-they do not necessarily indicate a behavior like spending is good or bad-they can be simply descriptive, telling "how things work" in ways that allow observers to make sense of ambiguous behavior and outcomes (Hong, Levy, and Chiu 2001;Plaks, Levy, and Dweck 2009). ...
Article
Spending is influenced by many factors. One that has received little attention is the meaning that people give to the act of spending. Spending money might imply that someone is relatively wealthy—since they have money to spend—or relatively poor—since spending can deplete assets. We show that people differ in the extent to which they believe that spending implies wealth (SIW beliefs). We develop a scale to measure these beliefs and find that people who more strongly believe that spending implies wealth spend their own money relatively lavishly and are, on average, more financially vulnerable. We find correlational evidence for these relationships using objective financial-transaction data, including over 2 million transaction records from the bank accounts of over 2,000 users of a money management app, as well as self-reported financial well-being. We also find experimental evidence by manipulating SIW beliefs and observing causal effects on spending intentions. These results show how underlying beliefs about the link between spending and wealth play a role in consumption decisions, and point to beliefs about the meaning of spending as a fruitful direction for further research.
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Seeing a situation as a zero-sum game, where one party’s success must come at the expense of another, stifles cooperation—even when such cooperation could greatly benefit both parties. Consequently, zero-sum beliefs can undermine progress when cooperation is needed for success. In this article, we propose that zero-sum thinking (any specific instance of zero-sum construals or beliefs) can also be understood as a broader mindset—a generalized belief about how the world works. Thus, the zero-sum mindset predisposes one toward zero-sum thinking, and its cognitive and strategic consequences, across situations and domains. In an investigation spanning six countries (Belgium, India, Italy, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and United States) on three continents, and more than 10,000 unique participants, we use cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental methods to provide foundational evidence for the zero-sum mindset. In Studies 1–5 (Concept), we show that the zero-sum mindset is distinct from existing concepts, stable over time, and predictive of disparate instances of zero-sum thinking and its strategic implications across domains and cultures. In Studies 6–7 (Cognitions), we show that zero-sum configurations of success promote hostile interpretations of others and that the zero-sum mindset predicts this bias even in objectively non-zero-sum situations. In Studies 8–9 (Consequences), we show that the zero-sum mindset predicts lower cooperation even in situations where cooperation is a matter of life or death. These findings call attention to the way lay game theories such as the zero-sum mindset bear critical implications for the cognitions and attitudes that drive social behavior and success.
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The belief that ‘I can change my fate’ goes beyond an inborn quality and leads to brain-bending. The brain changes itself and has its own means of healing from damage; this throws off the entity theory of belief. The brain is a muscle that gets stronger by activating neuronal circuits. Learning can turn on genes that alter the neural structure, a ‘rewiring of neural circuits.’ The growth mindset can change brain function and create cognitive reserves. Learning needs to be facilitated through a pedagogy that fosters a growth mindset, incorporating the belief that ‘with practice and hard work, I can do better.’ The pedagogy that creates a new horizon, including the structures mentioned, is the ‘Growth Mindset Pedagogy.’ The challenge of bringing this pedagogy into the classroom arises when dealing with disciplinary content. This book addresses the realities of the classroom through the following pedagogical framework: ‘How to Develop a Growth Mindset-Oriented Classroom Culture.’ It provides both the tools and the roadmap required to do so.
Article
Consisting of three logically aligned sub-studies, the current research explored the features and mechanisms involved in aligning mindsets and pedagogies among teachers in upper-secondary education. In Study 1, 114 teachers participated in a two-round questionnaire survey investigating the descriptive characteristics of mindset and pedagogy. Two groups of teachers (N = 12) were semi-structure-interviewed in Study 2 to explore how these features were reflected in their teaching. Study 3 (N = 46) comprised focus-group interviews identifying the underlying mechanism determining which and how situational factors moderate the correspondence between mindset and pedagogy. Results indicated that teachers in upper secondary education endorsed mixed pedagogies despite their mindsets. The mixing style was characterized by both process-focused and trait-focused pedagogical thinking, and both mastery-oriented and performance-oriented pedagogical practices, with variable persistence and differential instructions. Situations related to cultural orientation, educational system, social atmosphere and individual experiences moderated the alignment of mindset with the corresponding pedagogy. The results offer insights into how to validate mindset interventions concerning the adjustment of situations to educational surroundings.
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الأهداف: هدفت هذه الدّراسة إلى الكشف عن العلاقات السببيّة بين تقدير الذات والنظريات الضمنية في الشخصية والسلوك العدواني لدى طلبة جامعة اليرموك من خلال نمذجة سببية مقترحة تستند إلى أسس معرفية اعتمدت أسلوب تحليل المسار لتفسير السلوك العدواني. المنهجية: لتحقيق هدف الدّراسة اسْتُخدِم مقياس تقدير الذات لروزنبيرج (Rosenberg, 1965)، ومقياس السلوك العدواني لـبص وبيري (Buss and Perry, 1992)، ومقياس النظريات الضمنية في الشخصية الذي تم تطويره من قبل الباحثين. تكوّنت عينة الدّراسة من 485 طالبًا وطالبة، تم اختيارهم بالطّريقة المتيسرة. النتائج: أظهرت النّتائج عدم وجود فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية بين النموذج المقترح والنموذج المثالي نظرا إلى ارتفاع مؤشرات المطابقة التي كانت 0.96 لمؤشر المطابقة المعياري ((NFI،0.98, لمؤشر جودة المطابقة (GFI) 0.94, لمؤشر تاكر_لويس(TLI)، 0.9 لمؤشر المطابقة المقارن(CFI)،0.03, لجذر متوسطات مربعات البواقي (RMR)،0.08, للجذر التربيعي لمتوسط مربعات خطأ الاقتراب (RMSEA). لذلك فإن النموذج يفسر العلاقات التي تم اقتراحها ويعبر عن النموذج السببي الأمثل لمتغيرات الدراسة. الخلاصة: النموذج يفسر العلاقات المثلى المباشرة وغير المباشرة لكل من تقدير الذات والنظريات الضمنية في الشخصية والسلوك العدواني بحيث يصبح هناك تأصيلًا نظريًا عميقًا. توصي الدراسة بإجراء مزيد من الدراسات السببية لتقديم فهم أكثر تكاملا وشمولية في الشخصية وربطها بالجوانب المختلفة مثل التنظيم الانفعالي والدوافع الأخلاقية.
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The goal of the current manuscript is to embed the theory of mindsets about malleability in workplace contexts. We first define fixed-growth mindsets and the methods that have to date been used to study them. We then briefly review the domains in which mindsets have been documented to shape outcomes meaningfully, linking each to exciting research questions that we hope will soon be studied in workplace contexts. We also highlight some of the fascinating, new questions scholars can study by considering how mindsets might shape outcomes across a diversity of workplaces (e.g., the workforce of low wage and vulnerable populations). We further propose that studying mindsets in workplace contexts can develop mindset theory. We first ask whether workplace contexts provide opportunities to test for moderation on mindset expression. Second, we see opportunity for studying moderation of mindset processes – evaluating whether the psychological processes through which mindsets shape outcomes may differ based on contextual factors that vary across workplaces. We argue that investigating these possibilities will advance both the theory of mindsets about malleability and the study of human flourishing in the workplace. We invite scholars to join us in this endeavour.
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The goals of the present study were to assess (1) adults’ patterns of beliefs about and attitudes toward children, adolescents, and adults who are obese and (2) their attitudes toward hypothetical tax-funded programs designed to combat obesity in children, adolescents, and adults. A total of 267 participants, ranging in age from 19 to 88 years old, were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to participate online in the present study. The participants rated adults who are obese less favorably, and as less malleable, than children or adolescents who are obese. Furthermore, they were less supportive of tax-funded programs designed to combat obesity in adults than children or adolescents. In general, the participants’ relatively unfavorable response to adults who are obese appears to be associated with the beliefs that older individuals who are obese are relatively unchangeable and have heightened personal fault for their plight.
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How do people respond to information that counters a stereotype? Do they approach it or avoid it? Four experiments showed that attention to stereotype-consistent vs. -inconsistent information depends on people's implicit theories about human traits. Those holding an entity theory (the belief that traits are fixed) consistently displayed greater attention to (Experiments 1 and 4) and recognition of (Experiments 2 and 3) consistent information, whereas those holding an incremental (dynamic) theory tended to display greater attention to (Experiment 1) and recognition of (Experiment 3) inconsistent information. This was true whether implicit theories were measured as chronic structures (Experiments 1, 2, and 4) or were experimentally manipulated (Experiment 3). Thus, different a priori assumptions about human traits and behavior lead to processing that supports versus limits stereotype maintenance.
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The nature of free will is a philosophical issue; whether people believe they have it is a psychological one; and whether people actually have it is in the terrain in between. This chapter shows how people's self-theories - their conceptions of human qualities as fixed or as malleable - create different perceptions and experiences of free will. Interestingly, these different perceptions mirror those of different philosophical traditions. The chapter then shows how self-theories lead people to different psychological solutions for issues allied with free will, such as issues of moral responsibility and blame. How much free will do people actually have? The debate has often turned on whether the physical laws of nature allow for free will. To a psychologist, this seems surprising. Thus, the chapter ends by proposing that the issue of free will may, at least in part, turn on questions of human nature and how best to conceive of it.
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Much of psychology focuses on universal principles of thought and action. Although an extremely productive pursuit, this approach, by describing only the "average person," risks describing no one in particular. This article discusses an alternate approach that complements interests in universal principles with analyses of the unique psychological meaning that individuals find in their experiences and interactions. Rooted in research on social cognition, this approach examines how people's lay theories about the stability or malleability of human attributes alter the meaning they give to basic psychological processes such as self-regulation and social perception. Following a review of research on this lay theories perspective in the field of social psychology, the implications of analyzing psychological meaning for other fields such as developmental, cultural, and personality psychology are discussed.
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The question of whether lay attributors are biased in their discounting of 1 cause given an alternative cause has not been resolved by decades of research, largely due to the lack of a clear standard for the rational amount of discounting. The authors propose a normative model in which the attributor's causal schemas and discounting inferences are represented in terms of subjective probability. The analysis examines Kelley's (1972b) proposed causal schemas and then other schemas for multiple causes (varying in assumptions about prior probability, sufficiency, correlation, and number of causes) to determine when discounting is rational. It reveals that discounting is implied from most, but not all, possible causal schemas, albeit at varying amounts. Hence, certain patterns of discounting previously interpreted as biases may, in fact, reflect coherent inferences from causal schemas. Results of 2 studies, which measured causal assumptions and inferences, support this interpretation (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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When perceiving, explaining, or criticizing human behavior, people distinguish between intentional and unintentional actions. To do so, they rely on a shared folk concept of intentionality. In contrast to past speculative models, this article provides an empirically based model of this concept. Study 1 demonstrates that people agree substantially in their judgments of intentionality, suggesting a shared underlying concept. Study 2 reveals that when asked to define directly the termintentional,people mention four components of intentionality: desire, belief, intention, and awareness. Study 3 confirms the importance of a fifth component, namely skill. In light of these findings, the authors propose a model of the folk concept of intentionality and provide a further test in Study 4. The discussion compares the proposed model to past ones and examines its implications for social perception, attribution, and cognitive development.
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This special issue highlights the contribution of the lay theories approach to the study of groups. Six articles address the nature, development, and consequences of a variety of lay theories for group perception and behavior. First, these articles illuminate the structural, functional, and dynamic properties of lay theories as well as their scope. Second, the articles address the development of lay theories from diverse theoretical perspectives, including evolutionary, cognitive, developmental, and sociocultural learning. Third, each article documents the consequences of different lay theories for understanding group inferences and judgments. Taken together, these articles pro- pose theoretical extensions of the lay theories approach and suggest practical impli- cations of the lay theories approach for reducing prejudice.
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Lay theory research on intergroup relations has rapidly grown over the past two decades. Drawing on articles in this Special Issue, we showcase the latest developments. First, we define lay theories, addressing the extent of overlap with scientific theories and differences among lay theories in terms of type of representation, level of articulation, frequency of activation and use, range of applicability, and degree of universality. Second, we describe advances in the understanding of the functions of lay theories. Third, we review the far-reaching implications of lay theories for group and intergroup processes. Fourth, we discuss the movement toward comparing and contrasting related lay theories. Taken together, these articles suggest the study of lay theories provides a fuller understanding of intergroup relations.
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Implicit theories of moral character (ITM) was manipulated in an experiment examining the association between individuals' implicit attribution position and their responses to various social transgressions. As hypothesized, entity theorists, who tend to base their attributions on internal dispositional information, responded with significantly higher levels of negative affect after transgressive episodes than did incremental theorists, who tend to use more external situation-relevant information. Responding more critically to perceived moral transgressions may offer those holding an entity theory a simple alternative to the more effortful processing of situation-relevant information. Findings are presented in light of the social intuitionist model of moral judgment.
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The authors hypothesize that different people would use information differently in their social decision making depending on their implicit theory about human character traits. Past research has shown that entity theorists (who believe traits are fixed entities) tend to make more rapid, global trait judgments and to accord traits greater weight in explaining behavior as compared to incremental theorists (who believe traits are more malleable qualities). This article examines how potentially trait-relevant information might influence the decision making (verdicts in a fictitious murder case) of entity versus incremental theorists. Results from three studies showed that such information (e.g., the defendant’s dress at the crime) had a marked effect on entity theorists’ verdicts but little effect on incremental theorists’ verdicts. In addition, entity theorists were more likely than incremental theorists to request additional character information. Implications for the role of implicit theories in social decision making are explored.
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Two studies investigate manipulating implicit theories as a function of participants' self-theories. Women were primed with a malleable or fixed view of math intelligence before completing a math test. Study 1 utilized highly skilled participants and revealed that entity theorists experienced less anxiety when exposed to a malleable prime versus a fixed prime; however, entity theorists in the fixed condition performed better on the math test than incremental theorists. Incremental theorists were unaffected by the malleable prime. Study 2 utilized moderately skilled participants and found that incremental theorists attempted more math questions when exposed to a malleable prime versus a fixed prime, whereas entity theorists were unaffected by the primes. The relationship between self-theories and different ability levels is discussed.
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Presents a summary and synthesis of the author's work on attribution theory concerning the mechanisms involved in the process of causal explanations. The attribution theory is related to studies of social perception, self-perception, and psychological epistemology. Two systematic statements of attribution theory are described, discussed, and illustrated with empirical data: the covariation and the configuration concepts. Some problems for attribution theory are considered, including the interplay between preconceptions and new information, simple vs. complex schemata, attribution of covariation among causes, and illusions in attributions. The role of attribution in decision making and behavior is discussed. (56 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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This study supported hypotheses derived from Dweck's model about the implications of two implicit self-theories: Entity theorists believe their intelligence is fixed, whereas Incremental theorists believe their intelligence can be increased. Findings showed no normative change in implicit self-theories from high school through college and relatively stable individual differences during college. Entity theorists tended to adopt performance goals, whereas Incremental theorists tended to adopt learning goals. In terms of attributions, affect, and behavioral response to challenge, Entity theorists displayed a helpless response pattern and Incremental theorists displayed a mastery-oriented response pattern. Finally, Entity theorists declined in self-esteem during college whereas Incremental theorists increased self-esteem, and path analyses showed that this effect was mediated by goal orientation and the helpless versus mastery response patterns.
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People possess idiosyncratic, self-serving definitions of traits and abilities. This observation was supported by 6 studies in which people articulated the performances along behavioral criteria (e.g., math Scholastic Achievement Test score) necessary to "qualify" for relevant traits (e.g., math ability) or made judgments about performances attained by other people. When making judgments of others, high-performing Ss tended to rate target performances less favorably than did low-performing Ss, with these disagreements most pronounced when the target's performance was low. These disagreements were mediated neither by perceptions of trait importance nor by differing beliefs about the distribution of performances along the behavioral metrics. Discussion centers on avenues for further study and on similarities and differences between these studies and classic work on attitudinal judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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In 3 experiments, a total of 96 undergraduates studied and recalled sentences describing behaviors while performing a laboratory impression-information task. Recall was high for behaviors that were incongruent with a personality-trait impression for a character, whereas recall was much lower for behaviors that were congruent or neutral with reference to the impression. Set size, the number of congruent and incongruent behaviors attributed to the character, was shown to be a major determinant of this result. The smaller the size of the incongruent set, the higher the probability of recalling an item from the set. There was no tendency for behaviors to cluster by trait category in recall output protocols. This result is interpreted as evidence that a simple analogy to hierarchical noun categories, studied in many verbal learning experiments on organization of memory, did not apply to the present results. Three theoretical analyses—an associative network model, a depth-of-processing model, and a schema model—are reviewed in light of these results. (56 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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According to a social judgeability analysis, a crucial determinant of impression formation is the extent to which people feel entitled to judge a target person. Two experiments, with a total of 113 undergraduates, tested the impact of the subjective availability of individuating information on a social judgment independent of its actual presence. In Exp 1, Ss made a stereotypical judgment when they believed individuating information was present even if no information was in fact given. In Exp 2, Ss who thought they received individuating information made more extreme and confident judgments than Ss who thought they received category information. This indicates that Ss' judgments were not simply a function of implicit demand: The illusion of receiving individuating information led Ss to believe they possessed the necessary evidence for legitimate decision making. This result supports the existence of rules in the social inference process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Five experiments supported the hypothesis that peoples' implicit theories about the fixedness versus malleability of human attributes (entity versus incremental theories) predict differences in degree of social stereotyping. Relative to those holding an incremental theory, people holding an entity theory made more stereotypical trait judgments of ethnic and occupational groups (Experiments 1, 2, and 5 ) and formed more extreme trait judgments of novel groups ( Experiment 3 ). Implicit theories also predicted the degree to which people attributed stereotyped traits to inborn group qualities versus environmental forces (Experiment 2). Manipulating implicit theories affected level of stereotyping (Experiment 4), suggesting that implicit theories can play a causal role. Finally, implicit theories predicted unique and substantial variance in stereotype endorsement after controlling for the contributions of other stereotype-relevant individual difference variables (Experiment 5). These results highlight the importance of people's basic assumptions about personality in stereotyping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Tested the proposition that variations in experience with lack of control ought to cause variations in the tendency to engage in attribution processes. 158 university students were first given 1 of 3 levels of experience with lack of control (high, low, or no helplessness training); in a 2nd study, their utilization of information that had previously been shown to be sensitive to motivational variations was measured. Results indicate the expected effects on mood and performance: Low helplessness Ss were hostile and showed performance gains, and high helplessness Ss were depressed and showed performance deficits. However, the attributions of both low and high helplessness Ss were significantly more affected by variations in the description of a communicator than were the attributions of Ss who had not been given experience with lack of control. Findings are consistent with the general control motivation hypothesis. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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A meta-analysis of 54 experiments investigated the influence of social expectations on memory for information that is congruent and incongruent with those expectations. Results showed that, overall, memory was better for expectancy-incongruent than expectancy-congruent information on recall and recognition sensitivity measures. Recognition measures that were uncorrected for response biases produced an overall tendency to report expectancy-congruent information as having been seen. A number of moderator variables influenced the strength of these overall effects, including the strength of the expectancy used to guide information processing, the complexity or cognitive demands of the processing task, set size, the type of expectancy, the type of target, Ss' information-processing goals, and the delay between exposure to the stimulus information and the memory test. Results appear to be most parsimoniously explained in terms of the influence of contextual variables on the perceiver's motivation to resolve incongruity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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408 undergraduates participated in 4 experiments examining an associative model of memory, according to which the encoding of an incongruent item will result in the formation of a large number of associative paths between items, facilitating subsequent recall. Ss were better at recalling items that were incongruent with a prior expectancy than those that were congruent, and the difference was as pronounced after a delay of 48 hrs as it was after only a few minutes. Adding incongruent items to the list increased the proportion of congruent items that were recalled, but adding congruent items had no effect on the recall of incongruent items. It is suggested that unexpected or incongruent behaviors are difficult to comprehend and are considered in relation to behaviors already known about the target person during the process of encoding. Requiring Ss to allocate a portion of their processing capacity to an irrelevant task interfered with their ability to form such linkages and reduced the advantage of incongruent over congruent items in a free-recall task. Although the results are consistent with a variety of associative models that allow for the formation of linkages between items, it is suggested that the data place important constraints on the way such models may be formulated. (67 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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outline our subjective essentialistic view of stereotypes and propose that stereotypes enable perceivers to understand why the instances of the category are what they are and thus justify their being treated the way they are / review the current debate on categorization in cognitive psychology showing that the validity of classic similarity approaches is largely questioned and that the use of essentialistic theories is now offered as an alternative account for categorization learning and use / examine a series of theoretical . . . contributions showing the importance of essentialistic explanations in social categorization / suggest that a functional view of explanations as they underlie stereotypic beliefs has come of age / argue that stereotypes play a key role in the rationalization of the existing social order / spell out differences between essentialistic vs non-essentialistic categorization / examine how subjective essentialism relates to group perception phenomena suggest a continuum of social categorization and conclude by proposing a syndrome of essentialistic categorization / brings subjective essentialism and the rationalization function of stereotypes together (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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In this article, the authors propose that individuals' moral beliefs are linked to their implicit theories about the nature (i.e., malleability) of their social-moral reality. Specifically, it was hypothesized that when individuals believe in a fixed reality (entity theory), they tend to hold moral beliefs in which duties within the given system are seen as fundamental. In contrast, when individuals believe in a malleable reality (incremental theory), one that can be shaped by individuals, they hold moral beliefs that focus on moral principles, such as human rights, around which that reality should be organized. Results from 5 studies supported the proposed framework: Implicit theories about the malleability of one's social-moral reality predicted duty-based vs. rights-based moral beliefs.
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Recent cognitive-developmental research has contributed much to our understanding of children's stereo-typing. The present research identified another factor influencing stereotyping—children's theories about the malleability of human attributes. In two studies, 122 sixth graders learned about several different students' be-haviors in unknown schools. In Study 1, they judged a school characterized by mostly negative behaviors, and in Study 2 they judged two schools (characterized by either mostly negative or positive behaviors). Across studies, children with a fixed view of personality (relative to those with a more malleable view of personality) made more extreme trait ratings of both the "positive" and "negative" schools, generalized their trait judg-ments to an unknown student, perceived greater within-school similarity and between-school differences, and showed less desire to interact with students in the "negative" school. Ways in which examining these theories may broaden our understanding of the origins of stereotyping and how to lessen it are discussed.
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• As the title suggests, this book examines the psychology of interpersonal relations. In the context of this book, the term "interpersonal relations" denotes relations between a few, usually between two, people. How one person thinks and feels about another person, how he perceives him and what he does to him, what he expects him to do or think, how he reacts to the actions of the other--these are some of the phenomena that will be treated. Our concern will be with "surface" matters, the events that occur in everyday life on a conscious level, rather than with the unconscious processes studied by psychoanalysis in "depth" psychology. These intuitively understood and "obvious" human relations can, as we shall see, be just as challenging and psychologically significant as the deeper and stranger phenomena. The discussion will center on the person as the basic unit to be investigated. That is to say, the two-person group and its properties as a superindividual unit will not be the focus of attention. Of course, in dealing with the person as a member of a dyad, he cannot be described as a lone subject in an impersonal environment, but must be represented as standing in relation to and interacting with another person. The chapter topics included in this book include: Perceiving the Other Person; The Other Person as Perceiver; The Naive Analysis of Action; Desire and Pleasure; Environmental Effects; Sentiment; Ought and Value; Request and Command; Benefit and Harm; and Reaction to the Lot of the Other Person. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) • As the title suggests, this book examines the psychology of interpersonal relations. In the context of this book, the term "interpersonal relations" denotes relations between a few, usually between two, people. How one person thinks and feels about another person, how he perceives him and what he does to him, what he expects him to do or think, how he reacts to the actions of the other--these are some of the phenomena that will be treated. Our concern will be with "surface" matters, the events that occur in everyday life on a conscious level, rather than with the unconscious processes studied by psychoanalysis in "depth" psychology. These intuitively understood and "obvious" human relations can, as we shall see, be just as challenging and psychologically significant as the deeper and stranger phenomena. The discussion will center on the person as the basic unit to be investigated. That is to say, the two-person group and its properties as a superindividual unit will not be the focus of attention. Of course, in dealing with the person as a member of a dyad, he cannot be described as a lone subject in an impersonal environment, but must be represented as standing in relation to and interacting with another person. The chapter topics included in this book include: Perceiving the Other Person; The Other Person as Perceiver; The Naive Analysis of Action; Desire and Pleasure; Environmental Effects; Sentiment; Ought and Value; Request and Command; Benefit and Harm; and Reaction to the Lot of the Other Person. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)