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Expanding minds: Growth mindsets of self-regulation and the influences on effort and perseverance
Abstract
Given that countless studies have documented the wide-ranging benefits of self-regulation, determining if and how self-regulation can be improved is an important scientific and societal priority. Existing theories suggest that the deterioration of self-regulation is partially shaped by perceptions of effort. Therefore, one promising way to sustain self-regulation may be to cultivate a growth mindset, which has been shown to affect behavior in part by altering effort attributions. Although growth mindsets-the belief that a given trait can be improved through practice-have been studied extensively, particularly in the domain of intelligence, little research has examined the effects of promoting a growth mindset specifically about self-regulation. Here five studies test how promoting a growth mindset of self-regulation impacts actual self-regulation in daily life and the laboratory. In Study 1, relative to an active control that received relationship training, an intensive self-regulation training program emphasizing a growth mindset led participants to persevere longer on impossible anagrams, which was partially mediated by altering attributions of mental fatigue. Relatively, the self-regulation training also led participants to notice more opportunities for self-control in daily life and more successfully resist everyday temptations. The subsequent four studies isolated and abbreviated the growth mindset manipulation, demonstrated improved persistence and decreased effort avoidance, and attempted to further examine the critical mediators. Collectively, results indicate that a growth mindset of self-regulation can change attributions and allocation of effort in meaningful ways that may affect the willingness to attempt challenging tasks and the perseverance required to complete them. Extensive research indicates that self-regulation-the ability to direct one's attention, thoughts, moods, and behavior in line with one's personal goals-is among the most critical skills in life. High levels of self-regulation predict better academic achievement, greater professional success and income, stronger interpersonal relationships, more fulfillment, and better health (. Given that self-regulation underlies such a diversity of highly valued outcomes, it would be of great value to identify successful interventions that can allow individuals to effectively develop and exert such control. An emerging consensus is forming that one powerful determinant of self-regulation is how an individual experiences and interprets effort
Supplementary resource (1)
... In the absence of external feedback, individuals could use metacognitive feelings and implicit and explicit evaluations of their creative performance to adjust their beliefs about the malleability or stability of creative abilities and performance. Empirical evidence shows that mindsets are malleable (Karwowski et al. 2019b), trainable (Mrazek et al. 2018), and sensitive to goals (Leith et al. 2014). Consequently, they might adjust to variations in creative performance and their corresponding feelings. ...
... Another limitation is that we did not collect additional consequences, beyond a second creative potential score, of variations in creative mindsets. Future studies could assess effort (Mrazek et al. 2018) as an additional motivational variable likely to vary as a function of creative potential, metacognitive feelings, and creative mindsets after performing a divergent thinking task while knowing that a second task is ahead. Another relevant limitation was that finding a significant correlation between the three proposed sources of information and creative mindsets provides initial, but not definitive support for our propositions. ...
... The creation of such opportunities can offer students the chance to creatively find ways of applying their academic education to the solution of problems. Creative mindsets are malleable (Karwowski et al. 2019b), trainable (Mrazek et al. 2018), and, as shown in our studies, sensitive to variations in creative performance, self-evaluations, and metacognitive feelings because they are knowledge structures that adjust to context. Explaining to students the situated nature of beliefs and judgments might help them deal with experiences of success and failure in the difficult task of generating, evaluating, and selecting ideas to solve problems without a single, right solution. ...
Based on a recently developed model of creative cognition, we tested in two studies, the relationships between creative potential, self-evaluations, metacognitive feelings, and growth and fixed mindsets in creative action. In both studies, participants (N = 491, mean = 21.57, SD = 2.78 and N = 280, 94% between the ages of 18 and 25 years, respectively, for studies 1 and 2) first completed a divergent thinking task, followed by an assessment of metacognitive feelings, self-evaluations of the creativity of the ideas generated (only in study 2), and creative mindsets while knowing that a second divergent thinking task was coming. Results showed that creative mindsets were sensitive to variations in creative potential, self-evaluations, and metacognitive feelings when examined in creative action. Specifically, studies 1 and 2 showed positive relationships between metacognitive feelings and growth mindsets. Results from study 2 showed positive relationships between self-evaluations of the idea generated and growth mindsets. For fixed mindsets, the creative potential of task 1 had a negative relationship in study 1 and a negative relationship between fixed mindsets and the creative potential of task 2 in study 2. The implications for creative metacognition were explored.
... nted goals (Davis et al., 2011). Several studies have underpinned the theoretical implications of a growth mindset, concerning effort beliefs (e.g., Miele et al., 2013), challenge-seeking (Porter et al., 2020;Yeager et al., 2019), persistence (Porter et al., 2020) focus on learning (Mangels et al., 2006), and achievement in school Lam & Zhou, 2019;A. J. Mrazek et al., 2018;Renaud-Dubé et al., 2015). ...
... ll benefits to cognitive functioning, as they may facilitate coping with negative emotions and rumination (Gill et al., 2020), while evidence regarding other emotion-regulatory strategies like decentering is inconclusive (Leyland et al., 2019). Prior studies examined the interplay between beliefs of mindfulness and intelligence (Kong & Jolly, 2019;A. J. Mrazek et al., 2018;Orosz et al., 2020;Samuel & Warner, 2021), but they did not examine whether and how mindfulness meditation can contribute to the beneficial effects of growth mindset inductions in terms of taking remedial actions after setbacks. ...
... e mastery behaviors in the face of setbacks. Thus, we expected that a growth mindset induction would have a positive effect on people's effort to persist longer on optional tasks. We assumed that the growth mindset induction would increase the perceived usefulness of persistence and effort (Hong et al., 1999;Miele et al., 2011;Miele & Molden, 2010;A. J. Mrazek et al., 2018) and participants would attribute their failure experience to the lack of effort invested in the IQ test (Blackwell et al., 2007;. Based on this, we expected that the growth mindset induction would boost task persistence after negative feedback. Even though the induction seemed to be effective, it did not produce the predicted effect. ...
Negative feedback in academic settings is often unavoidable, although it may directly
interfere with the ultimate goal of education, as setbacks can diminish motivation, and
may even lead to dropping out of school. Previous research suggests that certain
predispositions, inductions, and interventions might mitigate the harmful effects of
negative feedback. Among others, growth mindset beliefs and mindfulness meditation
were proposed as the most promising candidates that may help students to retain
motivation. In a pre-registered, randomized experiment, we gave a disappointing
evaluation to 383 university students in a bogus laboratory IQ test situation. Half of the
participants previously received a growth mindset induction referring to intelligence as a malleable characteristic, while the other half received a fixed mindset induction referring to intelligence as a stable characteristic that cannot be changed. Then participants had a brief mindfulness meditation session or a control condition. Subsequently, they could
choose to complete practice tasks before the final IQ assessment. The number of
completed optional tasks was used as a behavioral proxy for task persistence. The results showed no difference in task persistence for the growth mindset or the mindfulness
induction groups, compared to the other conditions. However, those who reported having higher pre-induction growth mindset beliefs or dispositional mindfulness completed
more optional tasks after the mindset or mindfulness induction, respectively. We
concluded that our brief inductions may not be adequate for everyone to rectify the
demotivating effects of negative feedback, but can enhance task persistence for people
with a stronger disposition towards a growth mindset or mindfulness.
... Parental hostile attributions point to a child's intentions rather than situational factors to explain child misbehavior. This is consequential because attributions help determine the nature of individuals' behavioral and emotional inclinations and responses to those behaviors (Mrazek et al., 2018). Thus, reliance on internal attributions tends to predict harsher parenting behaviors such as overreaction and power assertion (Coplan et al., 2002;Dix et al., 1989). ...
... Like authoritarian attitudes, attribution bias has been found to be associated with EF (and other measures of SR), and although not studied by Im and Ispa (2022), may also work interactively with EF in the etiology of harsh parenting. The association between internal attribution bias and EF has been interpreted as indicating that effortful cognitive regulation is needed to utilize problem-solving and self-reflection to accurately ascribe attribution, adapt accordingly in any given child-rearing situation, and update attributions based on experience (Mrazek et al., 2018;Sturge-Apple et al., 2020;Weiner, 1985). Consistent with this perspective is evidence that This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. ...
... If replicated in future research, it is worth deeper consideration of this marginally significant interaction effect. No prior research has investigated hostile attribution bias as a moderator like was the focus in this study, but former mediation analyses using the social cognition as a mediator have indicated that cognitive self-regulatory skills (e.g., EF, problem-solving, cognitive flexibility) are an important part of accurately ascribing attributions and generating appropriate behavioral responses across changing circumstances and experiences (Mrazek et al., 2018;Sturge-Apple et al., 2020;Weiner, 1985). ...
Executive function (EF) plays a key role in healthy development and human functioning across multiple domains, including socially, behaviorally, and in the self-regulation of cognition and emotion. Prior research has associated lower levels of maternal EF with harsher and more reactive parenting, and mothers' social cognitive attributes like authoritarian child-rearing attitudes and hostile attribution biases also contribute to harsh parenting practices. There have been few studies that explore the intersection of maternal EF and social cognitions. The present study addresses this gap by testing whether the relationship between individual differences in maternal EF and harsh parenting behaviors is statistically moderated separately by maternal authoritarian attitudes and hostile attribution bias. Participants were 156 mothers in a socioeconomically diverse sample. Multi-informant and multimethod assessments of harsh parenting and EF were utilized, and mothers self-reported on their child-rearing attitudes and attribution bias. Harsh parenting was negatively associated with maternal EF and hostile attribution bias. Authoritarian attitudes significantly interacted with EF (and the attribution bias interaction was marginally significant) in prediction of variance in harsh parenting behaviors. Commensurate with social information processing theory, EF and social cognitive attributes play critical and distinct roles in the causes of harsh caregiving practices. Findings elucidate that reforming parental social cognitions, in addition to targeting EF, may be effective prevention and intervention methods for yielding more positive parenting behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
... Further research from Mrazek et al. (2018)suggests that fostering self-regulation needs to be initiated by acquiring a proper mindset. Students' beliefs about their academic capabilities is an essential role that driving achievements in learning. ...
... According to the growth mindset, effort is seen as a virtue that helps people to develop their competence. Those with growth mindset perceive high levels of effort as an indication that they can enhance their ability (Mrazek et al., 2018). ...
... Mindset and skill are interconnected to promote long-term learning and to support academic tenacity (Dweck, Walton, Cohen, 2014). Further, a research study from Mrazek, Ihm, Molden, & Mrazek M. (2018) confirms that expanding minds through growth mindset influences self-regulation. Students with growth mindset show stronger effort and perseverance during their learning process that eventually they become more successful in learning. ...
Self-regulation is highly needed during pandemics learning. It supports students with appropriate actions, thoughts, and feelings in learning. Embedding self-regulation in the class will anticipate the learning loss. The objective of this research is to enhance self-regulation through growth mindset stimulation specifically through the implementation of an e-module. This research is applying a research & development method. The research was conducted with samples of 126 students from the 7th grade of junior high school. Students mindset were measured with mindset check up (Brainology), while student’s self-regulation was identified based on the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) test. The result of the study shows that the stimulation given from the growth mindset is effective to enhance self-regulation. Students’ attitude toward their learning is improving due to the growth mindset stimulation.
... Perseverance refers to an array of self-regulatory processes in terms of attributions and reactions to effort, failure and challenges. As previously stated in the literature, mindset and perseverance are closely related concepts (Burnette et al., 2013;Mrazek et al. 2018;Sisk et al. 2018). In particular, when people believe in the malleability of their traits, they will be more eager to learn and practice, embrace challenges as learning opportunities and exert effort in the face of setbacks as they attribute failure as a result of insufficient effort or strategy. ...
... People with a fixed mindset, on the other hand, will interpret failure as a lack of ability and will generally feel helpless to change their circumstances (e.g. Blackwell et al. 2007;Duckworth et al. 2007;Burnette et al., 2013;Mrazek et al. 2018). ...
... Mindset interventions have positively affected perseverance in the general population (Dweck & Leggett, 1988;Blackwell et al. 2007;Yeager et al. 2016;Burgoyne et al., 2018;Mrazek et al. 2018). Recently, our prior work extend these findings by showing that TGF was also effective in improving perseverance among youth with ID (Verberg et al. 2021). ...
Background:
The online mindset intervention The Growth Factory (TGF) has shown promising effects-increasing growth mindsets and perseverance and decreasing mental health problems among youth with intellectual disabilities (ID). Studying moderators and mediators of intervention effects is essential to elucidate for whom and why TGF works. Using a randomised controlled trial design, we examined youth's baseline mindset, gender, age, level of ID and intervention satisfaction as moderators of TGF effects and examined whether the intervention effects of TGF on improvements in mental health were mediated by perseverance.
Methods:
The sample consisted of 119 participants with mild to borderline ID (Mage = 15.83; SD = 2.23), randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 60) or passive control group (n = 59). Participants reported mindsets, perseverance, internalising, externalising, attention and total mental health problems at pre-test, at post-test and at 3-month follow-up. Additionally, youth in the intervention group graded their satisfaction with a score at the end of each session.
Results:
Findings indicated that the effectiveness of TGF was not affected by participants' baseline mindsets, age and ID level. TGF was more effective in reducing internalising problems in girls and increasing perseverance in boys. In addition, in the intervention group TGF was more effective in improving internalising, externalising and total mental health problems for youth who reported higher levels of intervention satisfaction at post-test. Finally, TGF indirectly decreased internalising and externalising problems at follow-up through improvements in perseverance reported at post-test.
Conclusions:
TGF offers a universal, 'add-on' mindset intervention complementing usual care programmes. It improves mindsets, perseverance and mental health in youth with ID. Both practical and theoretical implications are discussed.
... This study must include time continuous human development-to comprehensively analyze self-regulatory mechanisms from a sociocultural perspective. A growth mindset transforms into the quality of effort demonstrated by individuals working diligently to improve their ability (Miele & Molden, 2010;Mrazek et al., 2018); further, a growth mindset "leads to increased effort-rather than the withdrawal of effort-in the face of setbacks (Henderson & Dweck, 1990;Hong et al., 1999;Robins & Pals, 2002as cited in Mrazek et al., 2018. Increasingly using a growth mindset alters how individuals perceive and dedicate their effort, facilitating hard work and engagement with valued goals (Mrazek et al., 2018). ...
... A growth mindset transforms into the quality of effort demonstrated by individuals working diligently to improve their ability (Miele & Molden, 2010;Mrazek et al., 2018); further, a growth mindset "leads to increased effort-rather than the withdrawal of effort-in the face of setbacks (Henderson & Dweck, 1990;Hong et al., 1999;Robins & Pals, 2002as cited in Mrazek et al., 2018. Increasingly using a growth mindset alters how individuals perceive and dedicate their effort, facilitating hard work and engagement with valued goals (Mrazek et al., 2018). Thus, students with this growth mindset perceive themselves as capable of developing toward the future. ...
... Both specifically assert that they have personally and professionally been inspired by their international experiences and value the potential of internationalizing. They assert a need for higher education to foster global civic-mindedness , a growth mindset (Mrazek et al. 2018), and both of them believe that internationalizing through various means can provide educational spaces for these to develop. Both authors assert that their lived international leadership experiences have contributed to their respective institutions capacities with global partnerships, industry relations, and leadership discussions across a broad spectrum of contexts. ...
... Leadership that encourages the heart creates spaces for individuals to grow, engage, and create opportunities for achievement in relation to these goals. Particularly in IBCs, there is a need to create spaces for leadership and employees to bring in their tacit wisdom, to speak to their goals, to create shared goals, to connect their goals to institutional ones, and to encourage and celebrate individuals' and team members' growth mindsets (Mrazek et al. 2018). This is true for all employees, all students, and leadership as well. ...
This chapter explores how SME entrepreneurs engage in the pursuit of international opportunities, based on a qualitative interview study. Taking an international entrepreneurship perspective, the study identifies fundamental actions and interactions of SME entrepreneurs in the pursuit of international opportunities, and derives three essential and underlying roles they take on in the process. The study thereby contributes to an enhanced understanding of internationalization as an opportunity-driven process and conceptualizes the SME entrepreneur as a powerful agent within the process.
... Growth mindsets result in actions that increase physical health by fostering hope and expectancy, impacting beliefs that improve health actions (Crum & Langer, 2017;Crum & Zuckerman, 2017;. Since individuals with a growth mindset value progress, the actions and effort toward wellbeing can create momentum toward continued personal development, enhancing wellbeing (Mrazek et al., 2018). ...
... Growth orientation builds by setting goals with progress enhancing confidence, reinforcing a growth mindset (Travers et al., 2014). Growth triggers self-control choices that require effort and facilitate a willingness to make growth-oriented choices (Mrazek et al., 2018). When individuals shift between mindsets, there is a greater demand on their resources, leading to impaired self-control; in contrast, consistency results in progress (Hamilton et al., 2011). ...
What helps a client embrace change? Growth mindset and positive mental health aid psychotherapeutic change. Positive mental health facets aiding change include wellbeing, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, self-control, self-awareness, and spirituality. The literature review examined the formulation, principles, critique, and function of growth mindset construct within contexts of success, talent, neuroscience, trauma, impairment, and each positive mental health facet. The review indicated growth mindset impacts change. The objective involved testing for evidence of associated relationship between growth mindset and positive mental constructs using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Utilization occurred of eight self-rating measures, one each for wellbeing, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, self-control, self-awareness, and spirituality. Growth mindset measures received individual comparison with nine positive mental health measures. The null hypothesis was r ≤ .03. There were nine alternative hypotheses, one per positive mental health measure. The sample size was 148, obtained by internet survey distribution. The result was failure to reject the null hypotheses for all nine alternative hypotheses allowing for the following conclusions: no evidence of associated relationships; growth mindset and positive mental health constructs are meaningful and useful; belief alone does not lead to change effort. Recommended research includes qualitative case studies, quasi-experiment comparisons, development of enhanced measurements, or longitudinal observation.
Keywords: growth mindset, fixed mindset, positive mental health, psychotherapeutic change, change beliefs
... Various studies have demonstrated the beneficial role of students' effort beliefs and the detrimental role of a fixed mindset in learning outcomes, with effort beliefs predicting lower procrastination (Howell & Buro, 2009), higher school engagement (De Castella & Byrne, 2015;Shih, 2009), greater use of deep-level learning strategies (Mangels et al., 2006), more persistence (Mrazek et al., 2018), and less test anxiety (Cury et al., 2008) and with a fixed mindset predicting the opposite pattern of outcomes. Regarding students' achievement, meta-analyses found small but significant negative correlations between a fixed mindset and academic performance (Costa & Faria, 2018;Sisk et al., 2018), whereas students' effort beliefs related positively to students' grade-point averages (GPA; Lavrijsen et al., 2022). ...
... In addition, compared to pre-intervention, students showed a higher tendency to associate academic achievement with effort and perseverance. Similarly, in a previous study, after the growth-mindset intervention, a change was observed in students' willingness to undertake challenging tasks and their tendencies towards perseverance and effort to achieve success (Mrazek, Ihm, Molden, Mrazek, Zedelius & Schooler, 2018). In this study, especially mathematics achievement was examined. ...
... Changing language and attributions around success and failure may be particularly important to counteract imposterism (Hutchins et al., 2018;Urwin, 2018). Academicians and clinical supervisors can promote a growth-mindset for students and professionals (Mrazek et al., 2018); encourage willingness to be vulnerable and receptive to feedback (Samora et al., 2023); explicitly teach adaptive coping strategies that engender positive self-appraisals and increased self-efficacy (Bernard et al., 2020;Ogunyemi et al., 2022); and foster a culture of support, inquiry, and appreciation (Okun, 2021). There Is No "One Right Way": Perfectionism, Imposterism, and Well-being in Child Life Training and Practice ...
Child life specialists must integrate myriad skills into their work, tailor appropriate interventions with diverse clients of all ages, and be adaptable in their support and advocacy in stressful or traumatic situations. The pressure to meet high standards in their work may contribute to increased risk of burnout and impaired well-being. This mixed-methods study examined characteristics of perfectionism and imposterism among 151 child life specialists and students and the relationships between those characteristics and various aspects of well-being. Results indicated that characteristics of both perfectionism and imposterism were common among child life professionals, that the traits were associated with lower well-being, and in turn, higher risk of burnout. Qualitative data revealed that perfectionism and imposterism can negatively affect child life training, professional practice, and well-being, and may be a barrier in promoting diversity within the field.
... The well self-regulated learner recognizes limits on cognitive capacity and the necessity to be strategic in the deployment of these resources . This knowledge generally is revealed with increased effort, time management, and focused attention (Mrazek et al., 2018). ...
This chapter analyzes self-regulated learning and student success, engagement, and retention in online learning contexts. The conceptual literature review was adopted as the research methodology. The search engines such as Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), Google Scholar, PsychINFO, Science Direct, Academic Search Elite/EBSCO, Blackwell Synergy, and JSTOR were used to obtain secondary data. The results from reviewed literature indicate that self-regulation was effective in enhancing student success, engagement, and retention among students in online learning. Therefore, the chapter recommends that instructors should train students on scaffolding as a classroom technique which would help to strengthen self-regulation. The study is quite significant because understanding self-regulation is very important in the development of these achievement capabilities for students.
... The implicit theory holds that the mindset of an individual affects their self-regulation ability and behavioural choice. 12 Starting with Dweck's implicit theory, this study explored the mechanism of a growth mindset on ADG, which expanded the perspective of research on ADG and made important theoretical contributions to the literature on implicit theory or growth mindset. The research results support Dweck's meaning system with mindsets as the core 71 and demonstrate the importance of implicit theory in the field of ADG. ...
Purpose:
With a growth mindset, individuals focus on the process of growth, actively seek challenges, recognise and accept failures, and apply more effort and monitor themselves to overcome difficulties. Doing so translates into excellent academic performance. However, it has not yet been fully clarified how growth mindset affects academic delay of gratification (ADG) and the mechanisms underlying their interactions. In this study, grit and academic self-efficacy were tested as mediating mechanisms between growth mindset and the ADG using a serial mediation effect model based on self-determination theory (SDT).
Methods:
A cross-sectional design was conducted with 759 Chinese junior high school students using the following tools: Growth Mindset Scale, Short Grit Scale, Academic Self-efficacy Scale, and Academic Delay of Gratification Scale. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.
Results:
The results showed that: (1) by gender and grade control, growth mindset indicated a positive significance in the prediction of ADG; (2) grit and academic self-efficacy played a mediating role in the influence of a growth mindset on the ADG. Grit and academic self-efficacy also have a serial mediation effect between growth mindset and ADG.
Conclusion:
The results showed that a growth mindset does not only directly affect the ADG but also indirectly affects it through grit and academic self-efficacy. Based on SDT, this study further revealed the potential mechanism of a growth mindset affecting the ADG. Furthermore, it provides practical guidance for the cultivation of ADG for junior high school students.
... In theme 1 problem definition from multiple perspectives and open, non-judgemental ideation encourages exploration of knowledge and application of different thinking strategies which has the potential to inculcate a growth mindset. Instilling a growth mindset in learners could potentially enhance their selfregulation (Mrazek et al., 2018) and intrinsic motivation (Ng, 2018). Further, the characteristics of a growth mindset include enjoyment in learning, ability to embrace challenges as well as persevere to strive harder in the face of obstacles and failure (Dweck, 2017;Dweck & Leggett, 1988). ...
Surviving and thriving in this 21st century volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world caused by rapid digitalisation and changing work landscape, requires agile organisations with agile employees who are adaptable, resilient, and actively engaged in lifelong learning. A blended workforce encompassing full-time and 'gig' employees, working in tandem with smart machines, calls for an innovative and collaborative workforce capable of critical thinking and creative problem solving. This paper aims to highlight the potential of design thinking approaches to foster lifelong learning and graduate employability in a VUCA environment. The paper outlines an empirical study investigating the multiple benefits of incorporating design thinking process attributes in higher education. It argues that such processes can result in the development of 21st century skills and mindset and graduate capability themes that promote lifelong learning skills. Incorporating such strategies offers the potential to narrow the competency gap between workforce and work and enhance the employability and career development of graduates. The paper offers a Framework for Lifelong Learning in a VUCA environment that outlines the powerful traits that arise as payoffs from engaging in and practising design thinking. This framework can serve as a preliminary guide for higher education educators, learning organisations and individuals to inculcate and enhance lifelong learning
... Difficulties are treated as proof of insufficient skill and threaten self-esteem, leading to risk avoidance (Dweck, 2000). In contrast, believing in malleable characteristics of abilities helps to persevere when facing difficulties, motivates to take a risk or to set ambitious goals (Mrazek et al., 2018;Mueller & Dweck, 1998;Sarrasin et al., 2018). In consequence, holding a growth mindset was associated with greater achievements (e.g., Blackwell et al., 2007;Sisk et al., 2018;Yeager & Dweck, 2012). ...
... At the task-level, effort seems to be increased by in-the-moment enjoyment, but decreased by in-the-moment competence beliefs: if one is competent and knows it, task goals can be accomplished with less effort. This implies that effort is most useful when people feel less competent (Schunk, 1983), suggesting that effort may be a task-level manifestation of SRL strategies (Mrazek et al., 2018). ...
We examined the relationships between different aspects of mathematics engagement for 285 students in their first year of high school in the United States. Path Analyses were used to trace the relationships between students’ self-reported prior motivation and appraisals of control and value of mathematics, perceptions of teacher support and peer support. These variables and observed teacher and peer support as coded from video by researchers, were examined as potentially impacting students’ self-reported in-the moment affect and task-level control and value appraisals Our results showed three key contributions. First, significant paths corresponded to relationships predicted by Control Value Theory (CVT) across a particularly robust set of variables and over the course of their first semester in high school. Second, results added further nuance by considering the objects that students’ in-the-moment emotions were directed toward, showing distinctions between positive and negative emotions directed at the mathematics task, students’ teachers and peers, and selves. Third, results more closely considered the impact of both observed and perceived aspect of support from peers and teachers in the classroom, in both its academic and social forms. Implications are discussed for theory and practice.
... They also need to feel some level of confidence that they have the knowledge and tools that are necessary to train that ability (Zimmerman, 2000). Fortunately, a growing body of evidence among adults and adolescents suggests that attention training can instill a growth mindset about one's ability to focus and improve self-efficacy with respect to training attention (Mrazek et al., 2018Mrazek, Mrazek, Reese, et al., 2019). ...
... This pattern seems intuitively reasonable but is also consistent with previous research. For instance, in social psychological studies, a growth mindset about self-regulation was linked to actual self-regulation (Mrazek et al., 2018). In a similar vein, a recent longitudinal study in school settings demonstrated that creative self-concept predicted self-regulation while learning . ...
To put creative ideas and insights into action, people need to overcome obstacles, monitor their processes, and effectively evaluate the steps they take. Across two studies (N = 832 and N = 843), we explored the structure, correlates, and cross-domain similarity and specificity of creative self-regulation. Both studies supported a seven-factor model of creative self-regulation, with different self-regulatory behaviors engaged in the phases of forethought (obstacle expectations, uncertainty acceptance), performance (adjusting approach, managing and reframing ambiguous goals, and emotion regulation), and self-reflection (improving approach and readiness for sharing). Across both studies, creative self-regulation was systematically correlated with creative self-concept and less systematically with personality. Additionally, in Study 2, creative self-regulation explained a unique portion of the variance in creative activity, achievement, and declared future engagement when personality and creative self-beliefs were controlled. A substantial similarity of self-regulation across different domains was observed in terms of the structure, difficulty, and residual variances (measurement invariance), yet some self-regulatory behaviors and strategies were more pronounced in certain domains than others. We discuss the consequences of these findings along with future research directions.
... Entity theory accepts that a very valuable personal trait, such as intelligence or morality, is a fixed, unreformable trait, whereas incremental theory sees a trait can be changed, developed, and shaped (Dweck et al., 1995). It is suggested that the growth mindset affects the individual's willingness to make an effort and can be used in the development of SR in this respect (Mrazek et al., 2018). The growth mindset has been found to have a positive effect on SR (Bai & Wang, 2020;Compagnoni et al., 2019). ...
Due to the threat of COVID-19, many educational institutions have made urgent decisions about how to continue teaching and learning, taking their courses online. The transition from face-to-face teaching to Emergency remote teaching (ERT) has made it difficult for individuals to organize their learning processes independently. Therefore, in this period, it is expected that learner profiles will differ from traditional online learning, and there are uncertainties in this regard. The aim of this study is to examine learner profiles in ERT according to online self-regulation (SR) strategies, achievement emotion, and mindset. The study group of this research consists of 659 university students. Latent profile analysis, one-way ANOVA, and multinomial logistic regression analysis (MLA) were used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the research, four profiles emerged: (a) low SR, negative type in emotions, and low growth mindset beliefs, (b) low to moderate SR, positive type in emotion and high growth mindset belief, and (c) moderate to high SR, diversified type in emotion and fixed mindset, (d) high SR, positive type in emotion, growth mindset beliefs. MLA findings show that SR strategies, enjoyment, anxiety, gender, age, and GPA affect differences in predicting several profile memberships of learners. ARTICLE HISTORY
... Trust is a system of attachment and meaning of life in culture and originates from religion. Trust as a form of self-esteem [31], self-capacity [32], and self-regulation of a phenomenon [33]. Based on interviews in the field, the community did not know about environmental management. ...
Environmental ethics has an important position in the management and utilization of the environment; however, the paradigm of human interaction with the environment often creates gaps in ethical understanding. A range of negative impacts arise as a result of imperfect interactions between humans and the environment. Individuals and communities should focus on achieving sustainable environmental development. One such development is through social capital based on local ecological knowledge (LEK). The purpose of this study was to identify and describe a community of social capital based on LEK in accordance with the environmental ethics of the Bompon watershed community in Magelang Regency. We used qualitative descriptive methods; data were collected using interviews and observations. The results showed that social capital based on LEK in accordance with basic environmental ethics referred to experience, trust, adherence to values, regulations, and institutions in the Bompon watershed community.
... First, entrepreneurship typically requires a great deal of time, energy, and persistent effort to engage in a broad array of activities (Carter et al., 1996;Kessler & Frank, 2009). However, a fixed mindset about the scope to develop needed though inadequate capabilities undermines such effort expenditure by creating doubts about the progress that is likely to result from it (Mrazek et al., 2018), which reduces the effort expended . This is one reason why motivation-sapping emotions, such as depression, tend to flow from a fixed mindset (Burnette, Knouse et al., 2020). ...
Why do some potential entrepreneurs promptly engage in entrepreneurial behavior while others do not pursue their entrepreneurial intentions or delay acting? This study investigated whether potential entrepreneurs’ mindset shapes engaging in entrepreneurial behavior and the time until they do so. Over a 16-month period, holding more of a growth (vs. fixed) mindset positively predicted taking various entrepreneurial actions and doing so sooner. Interestingly, these effects vanished when individuals faced a less challenging context for entrepreneurship. Post-hoc exploratory analyses revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic magnified the impact of mindsets on entrepreneurial behavior. These findings pave the way for preliminary research on the viability of growth mindset interventions for fostering entrepreneurial behavior.
... Our results suggested that complementing growth mindset and self-efficacy interventions with programs that also target self-regulation may improve both overall performance and equity. This corroborates a study of 75 college students, which showed that interventions targeting both self-regulation and growth mindset are more effective than interventions targeting self-regulation alone (Mrazek et al., 2018). Further, having a growth mindset about self-regulation is associated with improved outcomes for college students under stress, so it may be that having a growth mindset generally and having a domainspecific growth mindset of self-regulation are related, which future studies should examine (Job, Walton, Bernecker, & Dweck, 2015). ...
We examined the additive associations of two motivational beliefs (growth mindset and academic self-efficacy) and self-regulation with mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) scores, as well as the interplay of students' beliefs and self-regulation skills, controlling for previous test scores. We tested whether these pathways differed across three mutually exclusive levels of economic risk: (1) low-risk students; (2) students receiving free and reduced price meals (FRPM); and (3) students identified as homeless and highly-mobile (HHM). Our results showed that motivational beliefs and self-regulation skills interact to promote academic achievement. Greater levels of growth mindset were related to higher academic achievement only for HHM students with higher levels of self-regulation.
... In other words, jack-of-all-trades entrepreneurs have more difficulty paying sufficient attention to every role (i.e., "a jack of all trades and master of none" [Penney et al., 2018]) and face a high cognitive load (Mathias & Williams, 2017). Such efforts to deal with many uncertain (Kruglanski et al., 2012), complex (Schmeichel et al., 2003), and otherwise cognitively demanding tasks (Mrazek et al., 2018) are likely to deplete personal resources. This depletion can impair decision-making regulation and lead to a destructive entrepreneurial action. ...
Entrepreneurial action can be directed toward identifying, generating, and exploiting potential business opportunities that can cause harm to others. Over and above the “rules of the game” of the economic system, we theorize on destructive entrepreneurial actions that result from entrepreneurs’ impaired regulation of their decision making. Specifically, we build on the entrepreneurial action literature and draw on regulation theories of goal attainment and moral disengagement to develop an impaired-regulation model of destructive entrepreneurial actions. This model contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by providing new insights into (1) why some entrepreneurs are more susceptible to engaging their ventures in destructive entrepreneurial actions, (2) everyday entrepreneurs (the “who”) engaging in destructive entrepreneurial actions (i.e., the “how” and “why”), and (3) when and why some entrepreneurs respond to their destructive entrepreneurial actions by becoming repentant do-gooders while others grow into serial offenders.
... Thus, the growth mindsets can be a promising facilitator of self-regulation development, especially in a situation where effort and persistence are constantly needed. With regard to empirical research, Mrazek et al. (2018) showed that people with growth mindsets may change the way they think and invest more efforts, fostering perseverance and engagement with clear and valued goals. In the L2 writing context, growth mindsets were found to positively influence the use of SRL writing strategies in English classrooms . ...
Despite the important role growth mindsets play in second/foreign language (L2) writing, insight into its influence on motivation and strategy use in L2 writing contexts has been limited. To address this research gap, the present study explored the relationship between growth mindsets, ideal and ought-to L2 writing selves, and the use of environmental, behavioral, and personal self-regulated learning (SRL) writing strategies, particularly how ideal and ought-to L2 writing selves mediated the relationship between growth mindsets and three SRL writing strategies. Three hundred and sixty-two English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) undergraduates completed the questionnaires. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The results on the direct effect showed that growth mindsets positively predicted ideal and ought-to L2 writing selves, and three SRL writing strategies; the ideal L2 writing self, rather than the ought-to L2 writing self, positively predicted the use of three SRL writing strategies. The results on the indirect effect revealed that the ideal L2 writing self mediated the relationship between growth mindsets and three SRL writing strategies, whereas the ought-to L2 writing self did not. Implications for L2 writing instruction in a tertiary context are discussed.
... From the construct items, it was found that MSMEs, on average, agree with the statement This Mindset to grow and willingness to develop can bring MSMEs to become anti-fragile MSMEs. The characteristics of MSMEs with a growth mindset and desire to create will make it easier for MSME actors to innovate because the Mindset is a belief in firmness, flexibility, and personal quality [13]. In addition, many studies also state that a growth or development mindset is always related to something useful, so of course, this growth mindset will also bring good for the anti-fragile management of MSMEs [14][15][16].It is undeniable that this growth mindset and willingness to develop are influenced by the attitudes and views of others [17]. ...
Developing a framework for MSMEs to become more fragile is the goal of this research. As it is known that the business world has fluctuated a lot and is facing turbulence, so we need an anti-fragile MSME framework concept. Using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), this research is then analyzed to produce 5 (five) factors that build an anti-fragile MSME framework, namely Network Building, Growth Mindset, and Willingness to Develop, Focusing on Sustainability, Support, and Ability to Overcome Risk and the last is Competence. So far, there has been no research on the anti-fragile concept for MSMEs in Indonesia, so it is hoped that the results of this study can be a reference for future researchers and business actors in running their businesses.
... Although the topic of mindset was started with the assumption that we believe that our intelligence is constant (fixed mindset) or that it can change (growth), further research has gone much further than that. A study by Alissa Mrazek et al (2018) proves the relationship between the growth mindset and high levels of self-regulation, which predict better academic achievement, greater professional success and income, stronger interpersonal relationships, greater fulfillment, and better health. Mindset theory originated and has long been used only in the fields of education and social psychology, but Heslin et al. (2005), using an interdisciplinary approach, extended the theoretical framework of mindset theory to the domains of organizational psychology and performance evaluation. ...
Empathy enhances leadership effectiveness. In times of the pandemic and increased commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion, it is considered an essential ingredient of leadership. The importance of empathy in leadership is especially emphasized in global organizations operating in a cross-cultural and multicultural environment. This study aims to develop a multi-level conceptual framework of the impact of empathy on leadership effectiveness in the field of business management. For this purpose, a systematic literature review based on Web of Science and Scopus databases has been conducted. The content analysis method was used to analyze and synthesize qualitative data. The research results show that empathy enhances leadership effectiveness through its extensive effects on the level of leader, followers, and organization. It contributes to raising self-awareness, developing listening and mentoring skills, and enhancing the relationships of the leader as an individual. On the followers’ level, empathy in leadership is associated with improving well-being, empowering, and providing role models in developing emotional intelligence. It enhances organizational effectiveness by inspiring diversity and inclusion, increasing employee engagement and retention, and creating a culture of responsibility, care, and innovation. These findings have practical implications for leadership and organizational development specialists, human resources managers, and business leaders. The interdisciplinary nature of the topic calls for the collaboration of researchers from the fields of business economics, psychology, and neuroscience to advance future research on empathy in leadership.
... In addition, growth mindset is not a unitary concept, and is associated with multiple sub-abilities, such as self-regulation and self-awareness (Mrazek et al., 2018). How might these abilities help us remain socially connected? ...
Students, staff, and faculty in higher education are facing unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent data revealed that a good number of academic activities and opportunities were disrupted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants. While much uncertainty remains for the next academic year, how higher education institutions and their students might improve responses to the rapidly changing situation matters. This systematic review and framework proposal aim to update previous empirical work and examine the current evidence for the effectiveness of growth mindset interventions in young adults. To this end, a systematic search identified 20 empirical studies involving 5, 805 young adults. These studies examined growth mindset within ecologically valid educational contexts and various content areas. Generally, these findings showed that brief messages of growth mindset can improve underrepresented students' academic performance and facilitate other relevant psychological constructs. In addition, we argue, although growth mindset has been identified as a unitary concept, it is comprised of multiple interdependent skills, such as self-control, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Understanding the nature of growth mindset may contribute to successful mindset implementation. Therefore, this article presents a practical framework to help educators in higher education rethink the multidimensionality of growth mindset and to provide their students with alternative routes to achieve their goals. Finally, additional articles were discussed to help evaluate growth mindset interventions in higher education.
... He also argued that learners with growth mindset try hard to do their responsibilities efficaciously. Mrazek et al. (2018), in their study, revealed that learners with a growth mindset are inclined to self-regulate their thoughts and affections. In addition, they found out that learners' understandings of effort influence their self-regulation. ...
This review made a critical attempt to examine the studies on the role of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ academic motivation and growth mindsets in their grit. Some investigations have been done on the role of academic motivation in learner grit. However, a significant positive correlation between academic motivation and grit has been approved in related studies. The related literature review justified the results by broaden-and-build and expectancy-value theories. The related literature has shown that grittier learners persist in doing tasks, and developing their intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, the related literature has approved the effect of learners’ language mindset on their grit. In other words, learners with a growth mindset are persistent, and they devote their time to their performance. Finally, the pedagogical implications are expanded to promote the quality of language learning. This review also provides some suggestions for further research to illuminate our perspectives over motivation, mindset, and their interactions with each other.
... Destiny belief did not significantly explain students' career preparation behavior, implying that having lower levels of destiny belief does not seem to motivate students to participate in higher career preparation behavior. Growth belief, however, significantly explained higher career preparation behavior and less goal disengagement, indicating that growth belief is more likely to encourage students to proactively regulate their career-related behaviors (Burnette et al., 2020;Mrazek et al., 2018). Yet, growth belief did not significantly explain employment anxiety, suggesting that having growth belief may not help students lower their career-related anxiety. ...
To investigate individuals’ implicit beliefs—underlying assumptions about the self and the world—the present study validated the Korean version of the implicit theory of work scale for undergraduates, exploring its role in career-related behaviors and affect. The study used two different samples of 560 and 340 undergraduates who participated in an online survey. The validity evidence of the scale was as follows: (1) The content of domains and items was appropriate for measuring implicit belief in work among Korean undergraduates; (2) a two-factor model with destiny belief and growth belief was confirmed by factor analysis; and (3) higher levels of destiny belief were related to higher levels of entity belief in intelligence and lower levels of incremental belief in intelligence, flexibility in career belief, and curiosity in career adaptability, whereas higher levels of growth belief showed the opposite patterns. The validated scale also showed the distinctive role of destiny and growth belief.
... Although the topic of mindset was started with the assumption that we believe that our intelligence is constant (fixed mindset) or that it can change (growth), further research has gone much further than that. A study by Alissa Mrazek et al (2018) proves the relationship between the growth mindset and high levels of self-regulation, which predict better academic achievement, greater professional success and income, stronger interpersonal relationships, greater fulfillment, and better health. Mindset theory originated and has long been used only in the fields of education and social psychology, but Heslin et al. (2005), using an interdisciplinary approach, extended the theoretical framework of mindset theory to the domains of organizational psychology and performance evaluation. ...
In this publication we set an objectively complicated task to analyse the opportunities of strategic decision-making during crisis by attempting to make a partial analysis of the ongoing crisis caused by the COVID 19 pandemic and the emerged military conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Crisis circumstances require societies to quickly rethink and develop adequate strategies and respectively to formulate strategic goals and plan processes. In many cases preliminary analysis and assessment are practically impossible /especially when it comes to natural disasters or crises/ and this requires a different operational order of problem solving, which includes formulating new unconventional goals and then implementing planning not objectified by a particular and accurate analysis. All this puts whole systems and societies to the test, and those who are empowered to manage the process – under high pressure from unforeseen circumstances and not always objective judgments. Which, in turn, creates a number of subsequent critical issues in the management process.
... Although the topic of mindset was started with the assumption that we believe that our intelligence is constant (fixed mindset) or that it can change (growth), further research has gone much further than that. A study by Alissa Mrazek et al (2018) proves the relationship between the growth mindset and high levels of self-regulation, which predict better academic achievement, greater professional success and income, stronger interpersonal relationships, greater fulfillment, and better health. Mindset theory originated and has long been used only in the fields of education and social psychology, but Heslin et al. (2005), using an interdisciplinary approach, extended the theoretical framework of mindset theory to the domains of organizational psychology and performance evaluation. ...
This article briefly analyses the works of Acad. Mihail Arnaudov. He is an author of insightful research of a number of classics of the Bulgarian and world literature. His determination and persistence with which he worked on his research are incredible and admirable. The long-lasting research activity of Acad. Mihail Arnaudov is “sealed” on the pages of books, periodicals, prints and thematically collected clippings from Bulgarian and foreign publications. With the help of his numerous research works covering the topic of Bulgarian National Revival, Acad. Mihail Arnaudov managed to realize his noble ambition – to create a scientific epic of the spiritual leaders of his people, or the “Unforgettable” as he called them himself, during one of the most difficult and most glorious periods in the Bulgarian history. And with even more passion he kept studying life and works of postliberation writers.
As a field, educational data mining (EDM) develops methodologies and practices for exploring large-scale datasets generated by modern educational technologies, such as educational games. These methods leverage on the nature of the data generated by these systems, able to explore and examine differences between and generate novel predictions about potential student outcomes that can themselves be fed into new models. This chapter explores the affordances that EDM and stealth assessment can have in terms of fine-grained, non-intrusive analysis and assessment of student behaviors in educational spaces. It surveys existing work within the field of EDM, and profiles an example of a merger of these two fields in the context of identifying when students are at risk of quitting during gameplay of the educational physics simulation game Physics Playground. It ends with a discussion on the limitations of these fields, as well as a suggestion of how future research may continue to synthesize these domains to better identify, assess, and improve student learning outcomes.
This study developed the “Beliefs about Difficult Experiences Scale” consisting of two subscales: “beneficial beliefs” that difficult experiences have beneficial consequences and “harmful beliefs” that difficult experiences have harmful consequences. The participants were university students and working adults. They responded to three surveys. We selected items for developing the scale after ensuring their content validity. The study’s results demonstrated the scale’s generalizability (internal consistency and temporal stability). Also, the goodness of fit of the scale’s two-factor model was adequate, confirming the structural validity of the scale. In addition, we examined the associations between this scale and (a) theoretically related external variables, (b) goal pursuit behavior when goal attainment is difficult, and (c) time spent working on difficult tasks. The results showed the expected associations, confirming the scale’s external validity. Finally, we have discussed prospects for future research using this scale.
The objective of the study was to discover the relationship between LDMs and OE. The study is based on findings from semi-structured interviews, carried out in Autumn 2023, with ten informants, from ten different organizations as interest, public and private organizations including construction company in Norway. Three of the interviews were done in face-to-face meetings at the informants' offices, and the rest is done using a digital communication service (TEAMS) while the informants were at their organizational offices. Content analysis was employed for both inductive and deductive approaches for understanding and analyzing the data. The informants were asked in-depth questions for defining LDMs and the relationship between LDMs and diversity work to OE. The findings were transcribed through listening and reading the interviews several times to get the accuracy of the words of respondents.
The empirical findings indicate the LDMs, and OE are closely related, particularly to the organizational leaders with growth mindsets. Furthermore, LDMs are defined as the leader´s willingness to create an inclusive organizational environment where everyone is accepted, and respected and their differences are encouraged as an important method for achieving OE. It could be beneficial for leaders to possess a diversity mindset as it enables them to recognize diversity as a significant resource for increasing OE. Achieving inclusivity and equity is associated with prioritizing diversity and inclusion at all levels of leadership, by addressing gender representation, and cultural differences, and emphasizing women in higher leadership positions. Lack of awareness, knowledge, and experience on ARP, 2020 was identified among the leaders in the study, while most of the leaders in the study mentioned lack of diversity policy, recruitment, and diversity monitoring strategies. Fostering growth mindsets are useful for leaders to approach and accept diversity as differences in gender, age, and ethnicity to cultivate differences to achieve OE and maintain an inclusive organizational environment.
Keywords Leaders´ Diversity Mindsets, Organizational effectiveness, inclusion, diversity.
Abbreviations Leaders´ Diversity Mindsets LDMs, Organizational Effectiveness OE og Diversity in Organizational Structure DOS.
This study examined the conceptual structure and motivational effects of growth mindsets based on the perspective of character strengths. An internet survey was conducted with 1,000 workers (500 males and 500 females; age range 20–59 years, M = 40.1 years, SD = 10.7 years). Participants were presented with 25 strengths (i.e., intelligence and 24 character strengths) and were asked to rate their perceived competence, growth mindset, and improvement intention for each strength. The exploratory factor analyses on perceived competence, growth mindset, and improvement intention identified five common factors: wisdom, willpower, temperance, transcendence, and groupness. Moreover, regression analyses indicated that a growth mindset was more strongly related to improvement intention than perceived competence. Furthermore, regression analyses found domain‐specific effects of growth mindsets on improvement intention. Thus, the intention to improve a particular strength was more closely related to that particular growth mindset than to other growth mindsets. The theoretical and educational implications are aired in the discussion section.
The purpose of this study is to test the growth mindset theories of high school students' grits with explanatory models. The correlational design of the quantitative research approach was used in the current study. This study consists of 35000 students studying secondary education in the city center of Konya, Türkiye. The sample of this study consists of 783 students to whom the scales were applied in the selected schools. The study results highlighted a negative significant relationship between the fixed mindset dimension of Mindset Theories, belief in invariance and procrastination sub-dimension scores of high school students, and the perseverance of effort and consistency of interest scores of their grits. The fixed mindset dimension predicts 12.6% of students' grits' consistency of interest and perseverance of effort, 3.6% of the variability in belief in invariance sub-dimension, and 17.3% of the variability in the procrastination. While the consistency of interest dimension of the students' grits does not have a significant predictor of the growth mindset dimension of mindset theories, it has a significant predictor of the variability in the fixed mindset dimension. The study found that the consistency of interest fixed mindset predicted the variability in the procrastination dimension more. It can be suggested to organize training, activities, and projects for the development of students' grit, and to test grit and mindset theories across cultures by conducting similar studies in different countries.
We explore the conditions under which people will opt in to reading information about bias and stereotypes, a key precursor to the types of self-directed learning that diversity and anti-bias advocates increasingly endorse. Across one meta-analysis (total N = 1,122; 7 studies, 5 pre-registered) and 2 pre-registered experiments (total N = 1,717), we identify a condition under which people opt in to reading more about implicit bias and stereotypes. People randomly assigned to read a growth, rather than fixed, mindset frame about bias opted in to read more information about stereotypes and implicit bias (Study 1 and Study 3). The mechanism that drove these effects was individuals’ construal of the task as a challenge (Studies 2 and 3). Our findings offer insight into how to promote engagement with information about stereotypes and biases. We discuss how this work advances the study of mindsets and diversity science.
Objectives
Despite the well-documented psychological benefits of meditation practice, limited research has examined factors associated with meditation practice persistence. Like other health behaviors (e.g., exercise), non-persistence may undermine the effectiveness of meditation.Method
We examined rates and correlates of meditation persistence using a population-based sample (n = 953) in the USA. Persistence was operationalized in two ways: number of lifetime practice sessions (i.e., lifetime persistence) and current practice frequency (i.e., current persistence). Consistent with the National Health Interview Survey, we defined meditation as mindfulness meditation, mantra meditation, and spiritual meditation. We examined factors related to the Reasoned Action Approach (RAA), a theory that has been used to explain adherence to health behaviors.ResultsAlmost half of the sample (49.3%) indicated lifetime exposure to meditation and a third (35.0%) indicated practice in the past year. Factors positively associated with persistence (lifetime and/or current) included having spoken with a meditation teacher, higher perceived effectiveness of meditation, higher meditation-positive subjective norms, lower perceived barriers, higher conscientiousness, higher well-being growth mindset, and retreat experience. Factors negatively associated with persistence included first exposure through various forms of technology and having a mental health motivation for practice. First exposure through a smartphone app and first exposure through friends and family were not associated with lifetime or current persistence. Findings were unchanged after controlling for demographics and applying a false discovery rate p-value adjustment.Conclusions
These findings provide insights into factors that may promote persistence with meditation, which can guide the delivery of meditation training.PreregistrationThis study was preregistered at the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/4h86s).
The existing research has explored the effects of growth mindset intervention on individuals in Western culture. This study sought to determine whether growth mindset intervention has a positive impact on adolescents in economically disadvantaged areas of China. Participants in this study were 324 junior high school students who were randomly divided into the intervention group and the control group. The intervention group received six weeks of intervention classes designed to help students learn, internalize, and reinforce the concept of growth mindset. The aims of intervention were to build students’ beliefs that the brain is plastic and that individuals can change by their efforts and help students acquire the strategies to cope with the difficulties. The control group was given six classes on mental health, including time management, habit formation, and memory strategies, which were unrelated to growth mindset. All participants’ implicit theory of intelligence, fixed-trait attributions, grit, and state anxiety were assessed in the pre-test and post-test. The results showed that compared with the control group, the intervention group had a significant increase in growth mindset, the level of grit, and decrease in fixed-trait attributions. That is, for students in the intervention group, strengthening of growth mindset was accompanied by more frequent use of process-focused attribution styles, more perseverance, and greater efforts when faced with challenges and setbacks. Collectively, the results suggested that having a strong growth mindset of intelligence may help students adopt more proactive coping strategies and protect them from the deleterious effects of poverty on student development.
هدف البحث إلى دراسة مدى إسهام التركيز التنظيمي (التحسين- الوقاية) والصلابة الأكاديمية (الالتزام- التحدي- التحكم) و الذكاء الضمني (المعتقدات الذاتية الثابتة- المعتقدات الذاتية النامية) في الاندماج في التعلم الإلكتروني، فضلًا عن دراسة العلاقات الارتباطية بين المتغيرات المستقلة لدى عينة بلغ عددها (339) طالبًا وطالبةً من الطلاب المقيدين بالفرقة الثالثة عام بكلية التربية- جامعة بنها، والمقيدين خلال العام الجامعي (2021/ 2022)، وبعد تطبيق أدوات الدراسة ومعالجة البيانات إحصائيًا أشارت النتائج إلى: توجد علاقة ارتباطية موجبة دالة إحصائيًا عند مستوى (0.01) بين بُعدي التركيز التنظيمي (التحسين- الوقاية) وأبعاد الصلابة الإكاديمية (الالتزام- التحدي- التحكم)، توجد علاقة ارتباطية سالبة دالة إحصائيًا بين بُعدي التركيز التنظيمي (التحسين- الوقاية) وبُعد المعتقدات الذاتية الثابتة، توجد علاقة ارتباطية موجبة دالة إحصائيًا عند مستوى (0.01) بين بُعدي التركيز التنظيمي (التحسين- الوقاية) وبعد المعتقدات الذاتية النامية، وتوجد علاقة ارتباطية موجبة دالة إحصائيًا عند مستوى (0.01) بين بُعد المعتقدات الذاتية النامية وأبعاد الصلابة الأكاديمية (الالتزام- التحدي- التحكم)، وعلاقة ارتباطية سالبة دالة إحصائيًا عند مستوى (0.01) بين بًعد معتقدات الثبات وبُعد التحكم، فضلًا عن إسهام الأبعاد الثلاثة (تركيز التحسن- الالتزام- المعتقدات الذاتية النامية) في التنبؤ بالاندماج في التعلم الإلكتروني.
Leadership plays a significant role in determining an institution’s success in an international context. The extent to which a cross-cultural organization is effective in an international environment is largely determined by its structure, processes, and leadership. These success factors remain somewhat consistent across industries and lessons learned in one industry may have cross-industry implications. While higher education leadership is recognized as complex, demanding, and unique, it also offers valuable insight into the field of international leadership and may yield transferable lessons learned to any transnational organization. Specifically, that there is much to learn from higher education leadership in international contexts. Both academics who author this study have lived, taught, and led in international higher education for many years. This self-study of leadership in this field contributes to the knowledge base in relation to the complexities of leadership in International Branch Campuses (IBC) wherein the leadership is charged with balancing diverse cultural aspects of employees, but also of the cultures of the host country and the guest institution. Findings reveal three areas of complexity: possibilities and tensions of budget change; leadership in a transitory international environment; transitory/contract faculty in IBCs in times of economic change. The authors assert the need for extensive commitment to embrace, integrate, and embody intercultural competencies particularly in addressing difficult and changing times as a feature of their self-study of international and transnational leadership.KeywordsLeadershipEducationInternational branch campuses
Uncertainty characterizes almost all creative acts. In this chapter, we discuss how uncertainty can be tamed and used to benefit the creative process. We analyze the agentic nature of creativity and explore how processes and strategies associated with creative self-regulation can help organize and manage creative actions. While we neither believe nor postulate that uncertainty can be eradicated from creative actions, we see creative self-regulation as one way to harness uncertainty in the creative process.KeywordsUncertaintyCreativityAgencySelf-regulation
Mind wandering is a universal phenomenon in which a person’s attention decouples from stimuli within their current environment. Researchers have sought objective, less disruptive indicators of cognitive disengagement, resulting in a focus eye tracking and blink characteristics. Such research has found positive associations between mind wandering and blink characteristics, typically in reading tasks. However, extracting blinks accurately from continuous eye-tracking data is complex, and the literature contains inconsistently reported data processing methods, some of which may have an elevated risk of identifying noise as signal. Further, the relationship between attentional disengagement and blink durations has not been fully explored in multiple task modalities. We conducted three modality-specific experiments while recording eye movements. Blink durations varied as a function of stimulus/task engagingness; less engaging tasks yielded longer blink durations, suggesting a link between blinking and mind wandering. Recommendations are provided for researchers seeking to accurately derive blink events from continuous, binocular, eye-tracking data.
Evaluative conditioning refers to changes in the liking of a stimulus that are due to the fact that the stimulus has been paired with other, positive or negative stimuli. Although evaluative conditioning appears to be subjected to certain boundary conditions, significant evaluative conditioning effects have been obtained using a large variety of stimuli and procedures. Some data suggest that evaluative conditioning can occur under conditions that do not support other forms of Pavlovian conditioning, and several models have been proposed to account for these differences. In the present article, the authors summarize the available literature, draw conclusions where possible, and provide suggestions for future research.
Although enormously beneficial, self-regulation often proves to be enormously difficult. The typical explanation for such difficulty has been that people's capacity for self-regulation is limited and depletes with use, hindering sustained regulation. However, recent findings challenge this capacity view, suggesting instead that people's shifting experiences with and motivations for continued self-regulation better explain why regulation so frequently fails. This chapter integrates such findings, and several emerging theoretical perspectives developed to explain them, into an integrated model of self-regulation based on processes of motivated effort-allocation. The model incorporates three main components: (a) assessments of motives to engage in self-regulation; (b) allocations of effort and attention based on these motives; and (c) monitoring of the consequences of this allocation, which then triggers a reassessment of motives and begins the cycle anew. After presenting the details of the model, the chapter reviews its implications for capacity views of self- regulation and future research on improving regulation.
Good self-control has been linked to adaptive outcomes such as better health, cohesive personal relationships, success in the workplace and at school, and less susceptibility to crime and addictions. In contrast, self-control failure is linked to maladaptive outcomes. Understanding the mechanisms by which self-control predicts behavior may assist in promoting better regulation and outcomes. A popular approach to understanding self-control is the strength or resource depletion model. Self-control is conceptualized as a limited resource that becomes depleted after a period of exertion resulting in self-control failure. The model has typically been tested using a sequential-task experimental paradigm, in which people completing an initial self-control task have reduced self-control capacity and poorer performance on a subsequent task, a state known as ego depletion. Although a meta-analysis of ego-depletion experiments found a medium-sized effect, subsequent meta-analyses have questioned the size and existence of the effect and identified instances of possible bias. The analyses served as a catalyst for the current Registered Replication Report of the ego-depletion effect. Multiple laboratories (k = 23, total N = 2,141) conducted replications of a standardized ego-depletion protocol based on a sequential-task paradigm by Sripada et al. Meta-analysis of the studies revealed that the size of the ego-depletion effect was small with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) that encompassed zero (d = 0.04, 95% CI [−0.07, 0.15]. We discuss implications of the findings for the ego-depletion effect and the resource depletion model of self-control.
The objective of the present study was to examine whether subjective ease of goal pursuit would mediate the relation between an individual's motivation for pursuing a goal and their subsequent goal progress. Toward the beginning of a university semester, participants (n = 176) identified three goals they planned to pursue throughout the semester and reported their motivation for pursuing each of them. Participants then indicated, at two monthly follow-ups, how easy and natural it felt to pursue these goals and how much effort they were putting into attaining them. At the end of the semester, participants reported on their goal progress. Within-person analyses indicated that self-concordant goals were perceived as being easier to pursue relative to an individual's other goals. Using multilevel structural equation modeling, results indicated that subjective ease, but not effort, mediated the relation between motivation and goal progress, such that people were more likely to successfully accomplish self-concordant goals because pursuing those goals was perceived as being more effortless, and not because more effort was exerted. Discussion focuses on the implications and future directions for research on subjective effort and goal pursuit.
There are many promising psychological interventions on the horizon, but there is no clear methodology for preparing them to be scaled up. Drawing on design thinking, the present research formalizes a methodology for redesigning and tailoring initial interventions. We test the methodology using the case of fixed versus growth mindsets during the transition to high school. Qualitative inquiry and rapid, iterative, randomized “A/B” experiments were conducted with ~3,000 participants to inform intervention revisions for this population. Next, two experimental evaluations showed that the revised growth mindset intervention was an improvement over previous versions in terms of short-term proxy outcomes (Study 1, N=7,501), and it improved 9th grade core-course GPA and reduced D/F GPAs for lower achieving students when delivered via the Internet under routine conditions with ~95% of students at 10 schools (Study 2, N=3,676). Although the intervention could still be improved even further, the current research provides a model for how to improve and scale interventions that begin to address pressing educational problems. It also provides insight into how to teach a growth mindset more effectively.
Given the importance of self-regulation to everyday function, a natural question for scientists and laypeople alike to ask is whether self-regulation can be improved with training. In this chapter, I review theoretical models that explain why and how such training might work, describe the empirical evidence for and against those models, and discuss several conceptual issues that have emerged in the field to date. I focus on the strength model of self-regulation, as well as on various motivational and cognitive models, that offer predictions about how self-regulation can be improved. I also highlight future directions for research and theory on self-regulation training. Among these are greater needs for increased focus on mechanisms, theoretical clarity about which mental processes contribute to self-regulation, and attention to practical issues related to implementation. There is much initial promise in self-regulation training, but more theoretical and empirical work is needed before the knowledge we have gained can be applied at scale.
A theory of ironic processes of mental control is proposed to account for the intentional and counterintentional effects that result from efforts at self-control of mental states. The theory holds that an attempt to control the mind introduces 2 processes: (a) an operating process that promotes the intended change by searching for mental contents consistent with the intended state and (b) a monitoring process that tests whether the operating process is needed by searching for mental contents inconsistent with the intended state. The operating process requires greater cognitive capacity and normally has more pronounced cognitive effects than the monitoring process, and the 2 working together thus promote whatever degree of mental control is enjoyed. Under conditions that reduce capacity, however, the monitoring process may supersede the operating process and thus enhance the person's sensitivity to mental contents that are the ironic opposite of those that are intended.
Past research indicates that peoples' implicit theories about the nature of willpower moderate the ego-depletion effect. Only people who believe or were led to believe that willpower is a limited resource (limited-resource theory) showed lower self-control performance after an initial demanding task. As of yet, the underlying processes explaining this moderating effect by theories about willpower remain unknown. Here, we propose that the exertion of self-control activates the goal to preserve and replenish mental resources (rest goal) in people with a limited-resource theory. Five studies tested this hypothesis. In Study 1, individual differences in implicit theories about willpower predicted increased accessibility of a rest goal after self-control exertion. Furthermore, measured (Study 2) and manipulated (Study 3) willpower theories predicted an increased preference for rest-conducive objects. Finally, Studies 4 and 5 provide evidence that theories about willpower predict actual resting behavior: In Study 4, participants who held a limited-resource theory took a longer break following self-control exertion than participants with a nonlimited-resource theory. Longer resting time predicted decreased rest goal accessibility afterward. In Study 5, participants with an induced limited-resource theory sat longer on chairs in an ostensible product-testing task when they had engaged in a task requiring self-control beforehand. This research provides consistent support for a motivational shift toward rest after self-control exertion in people holding a limited-resource theory about willpower. (PsycINFO Database Record
(c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
Failures of self-control are thought to underlie various important behaviors (e.g., addiction, violence, obesity, poor academic achievement). The modern conceptualization of self-control failure has been heavily influenced by the idea that self-control functions as if it relied upon a limited physiological or cognitive resource. This view of self-control has inspired hundreds of experiments designed to test the prediction that acts of self-control are more likely to fail when they follow previous acts of self-control (the depletion effect). Here, we evaluated the empirical evidence for this effect with a series of focused, meta-analytic tests that address the limitations in prior appraisals of the evidence. We find very little evidence that the depletion effect is a real phenomenon, at least when assessed with the methods most frequently used in the laboratory. Our results strongly challenge the idea that self-control functions as if it relies on a limited psychological or physical resource. (PsycINFO Database Record
(c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
The efficacy of academic-mind-set interventions has been demonstrated by small-scale, proof-of-concept interventions, generally delivered in person in one school at a time. Whether this approach could be a practical way to raise school achievement on a large scale remains unknown. We therefore delivered brief growth-mind-set and sense-of-purpose interventions through online modules to 1,594 students in 13 geographically diverse high schools. Both interventions were intended to help students persist when they experienced academic difficulty; thus, both were predicted to be most beneficial for poorly performing students. This was the case. Among students at risk of dropping out of high school (one third of the sample), each intervention raised students' semester grade point averages in core academic courses and increased the rate at which students performed satisfactorily in core courses by 6.4 percentage points. We discuss implications for the pipeline from theory to practice and for education reform.
© The Author(s) 2015.
Laboratory research shows that when people believe that willpower is an abundant (rather than highly limited) resource they exhibit better self-control after demanding tasks. However, some have questioned whether this "nonlimited" theory leads to squandering of resources and worse outcomes in everyday life when demands on self-regulation are high. To examine this, we conducted a longitudinal study, assessing students' theories about willpower and tracking their self-regulation and academic performance. As hypothesized, a nonlimited theory predicted better self-regulation (better time management and less procrastination, unhealthy eating, and impulsive spending) for students who faced high self-regulatory demands. Moreover, among students taking a heavy course load, those with a nonlimited theory earned higher grades, which was mediated by less procrastination. These findings contradict the idea that a limited theory helps people allocate their resources more effectively; instead, it is people with the nonlimited theory who self-regulate well in the face of high demands. (PsycINFO Database Record
(c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
Az elmúlt évtizedekben az áramlat élmény (flow) és dimenzióinak mérésére számos vizsgálati módszer született (interjúk, az Élményértékelõ Mintavételi Eljárás különböző verziói, kérdőívek). Jelen mérõeszköz, a Flow Állapot Kérdõív (FÁK) kifejlesztéséhez Csíkszentmihályi Mihály (1997) fenomenológiai definíciójából indultunk ki. Célunk a flow alapdimenzióinak megbízható megragadása (mivel egyelõre nincs konszenzus a flow élmény alapvetõ faktoraira vonatkozóan) és egy elméleti alapokon nyugvó, mégis empirikusan kipróbált mérõeszköz kimunkálása volt.
A FÁK elsõ verziója egy 40 itemes, ötfokú Likert-skálás mérõeszköz. Ennek tesztelésére több vizsgálatot is folytattunk, melynek során összesen 214 személy töltötte ki a kérdõívet. Az adatokon feltáró post hoc elemzéseket és faktorelemzést végeztünk, és egy 16 itemes, kétfaktoros modellhez jutottunk. A kérdőívet iteminputáció segítségével (+7 item) fejlesztettük tovább, így született meg a kérdõív 23 itemes második verziója. A mérőõeszközt ezután több vizsgálat során alkalmaztuk – összesen 260 fõ részvételével – és megvizsgáltuk a kérdőív látens struktúráját. Az itemek közül lépésenként kizártuk azt a hármat, melyeknek a faktortöltése 0,5-nél kisebb volt, így a feltáró faktoranalízis egy 20 itemes kétfaktoros megoldást eredményezett: (1) a „Kihívás-készség egyensúly” (11 item), valamint az (2) „Egybeolvadás a feladattal” (9 item) faktorok.
E két faktor azonosítása megerősíti azt az elméleti feltételezést, mely szerint a flow élmény alapvetõ, meghatározó tényezői a kihívás-készség egyensúly, valamint a feladattal való egybeolvadás.
Kulcsszavak: flow, kérdőív, faktorelemzés, alapdimenzió
Often seen as the paragon of higher cognition, here we suggest that cognitive control is dependent on emotion. Rather than asking whether control is influenced by emotion, we ask whether control itself can be understood as an emotional process. Reviewing converging evidence from cybernetics, animal research, cognitive neuroscience, and social and personality psychology, we suggest that cognitive control is initiated when goal conflicts evoke phasic changes to emotional primitives that both focus attention on the presence of goal conflicts and energize conflict resolution to support goal-directed behavior. Critically, we propose that emotion is not an inert byproduct of conflict but is instrumental in recruiting control. Appreciating the emotional foundations of control leads to testable predictions that can spur future research.
In the last decades several measuring methods have been established for studying flow experience. The starting point for the establishment of the Flow State Questionnaire (PPL-FSQ: Flow State Questionnaire of the Positive Psychology Lab) was Csíkszentmihályi's phenomenological definition. There is no consensus about the basic factors of flow experience, so the goal was to develop a questionnaire which is based on theoretical principles and empirical results also. The first version of the PPL-FSQ had 40 items. In order to test this questionnaire a study was conducted with 214 participants. Exploratory post hoc analysis and factor analysis were performed and had a result of a two-factor model of 16 items. The questionnaire was improved by item-imputation, so the second version of the survey consisted of 23 items. Then the instrument was tested through several studies (N = 260) and the latent structure of the questionnaire was examined. The exploratory factor analysis resulted in a two-factor model of 20 items. The balance between challenges and skills (11 items) and Absorption in the activity (9 items) factors. Identifying these two factors strengthens the theoretical hypothesis that the basic dimensions of flow experience are the balance between challenges and skills, as well as absorption in the task. Özet Son y×llarda, ak×ü deneyimini deùerlendirmek üzere farkl× ölçme yöntemleri kullan×lm×üt×r. Ak×ü Durum Ölçeùi (ADÖ) için ç×k×ü noktas×, Csíkszentmihályi'nin fenemenolojik tan×m× olmuütur. Ak×ü deneyiminin temel faktörlerinin ne olduùu ile ilgili bir uzlaüma söz konusu deùildir, dolay×s×yla bu çal×ümada amaç kuramsal temellere dayal× ve deneysel bulgularla desteklenmiü bir ölçme arac× geliütirmektir. ADÖ'nün ilk versiyonu 40 maddeden oluümuütur. Bu ölçek 214 kat×l×mc×dan elde edilen veriler üzerinden test edilmiütir. Aç×mlay×c× post-hoc analizi ve aç×mlay×c× faktör analizi sonucu iki faktörlü 16 maddelik bir ölçek elde edilmiütir. Daha sonra yap×lan çal×ümada, ölçek maddeleri art×r×lm×ü ölçeùin ikinci versiyonu 23 maddeden oluümuütur. Ölçek birkaç çal×ümada test edilmiü (N = 260) ve ölçeùin faktör yap×s× incelenmiütir. Aç×mlay×c× faktör analizi sonucu, iki faktörlü 20 maddelik bir ölçek elde edilmiütir. Buna gore ölçeùi oluüturan faktörler, güçlükler ve beceriler aras×ndaki denge (11 madde) ve iüe yoùunlaüma olarak belirlenmiütir. Sözkonusu bu iki faktör, ak×üla ilgili tan×mlanan teorik hipotezi destekler niteliktedir.
Exerting self-control can diminish people's capacity to engage in subsequent acts of behavioral regulation, a phenomenon termed ego depletion. But what of imaginary regulatory experiences-does simulated restraint elicit comparable lapses in self-control? Here we demonstrate such effects under theoretically tractable imagery conditions. Across 3 experiments, temporal, structural, and spatial components of mental simulation were observed to drive the efficacy of imaginary self-control. In Experiment 1, lapses in restraint (i.e., financial impulsivity) were more pronounced when imaginary regulation (i.e., dietary restraint) focused on an event in the near versus distant future. In Experiment 2, comparable effects (i.e., increased stereotyping) emerged when simulated self-control (i.e., emotional suppression) was imagined from a first-person (cf. third-person) visual perspective. In Experiment 3, restraint was diminished (i.e., increased risk taking) when self-regulation (i.e., action control) centered on an event at a near versus distant location. These findings further delineate the conditions under which mental simulation impacts core aspects of social-cognitive functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
People have a basic need to maintain the integrity of the self, a global sense of personal adequacy. Events that threaten self-integrity arouse stress and self-protective defenses that can hamper performance and growth. However, an intervention known as self-affirmation can curb these negative outcomes. Self-affirmation interventions typically have people write about core personal values. The interventions bring about a more expansive view of the self and its resources, weakening the implications of a threat for personal integrity. Timely affirmations have been shown to improve education, health, and relationship outcomes, with benefits that sometimes persist for months and years. Like other interventions and experiences, self-affirmations can have lasting benefits when they touch off a cycle of adaptive potential, a positive feedback loop between the self-system and the social system that propagates adaptive outcomes over time. The present review highlights both connections with other disciplines and lessons for a social psychological understanding of intervention and change.
Kurzban and colleagues carry forward an important contemporary movement in cognitive control research, tending away from resource-based models and toward a framework focusing on motivation or value. However, their specific proposal, centering on opportunity costs, appears problematic. We favor a simpler view, according to which the exertion of cognitive control carries intrinsic subjective costs.
Why does performing certain tasks cause the aversive experience of mental effort and concomitant deterioration in task performance? One explanation posits a physical resource that is depleted over time. We propose an alternative explanation that centers on mental representations of the costs and benefits associated with task performance. Specifically, certain computational mechanisms, especially those associated with executive function, can be deployed for only a limited number of simultaneous tasks at any given moment. Consequently, the deployment of these computational mechanisms carries an opportunity cost - that is, the next-best use to which these systems might be put. We argue that the phenomenology of effort can be understood as the felt output of these cost/benefit computations. In turn, the subjective experience of effort motivates reduced deployment of these computational mechanisms in the service of the present task. These opportunity cost representations, then, together with other cost/benefit calculations, determine effort expended and, everything else equal, result in performance reductions. In making our case for this position, we review alternative explanations for both the phenomenology of effort associated with these tasks and for performance reductions over time. Likewise, we review the broad range of relevant empirical results from across sub-disciplines, especially psychology and neuroscience. We hope that our proposal will help to build links among the diverse fields that have been addressing similar questions from different perspectives, and we emphasize ways in which alternative models might be empirically distinguished.
To draw causal conclusions about the efficacy of a psychological intervention, researchers must compare the treatment condition with a control group that accounts for improvements caused by factors other than the treatment. Using an active control helps to control for the possibility that improvement by the experimental group resulted from a placebo effect. Although active control groups are superior to "no-contact" controls, only when the active control group has the same expectation of improvement as the experimental group can we attribute differential improvements to the potency of the treatment. Despite the need to match expectations between treatment and control groups, almost no psychological interventions do so. This failure to control for expectations is not a minor omission-it is a fundamental design flaw that potentially undermines any causal inference. We illustrate these principles with a detailed example from the video-game-training literature showing how the use of an active control group does not eliminate expectation differences. The problem permeates other interventions as well, including those targeting mental health, cognition, and educational achievement. Fortunately, measuring expectations and adopting alternative experimental designs makes it possible to control for placebo effects, thereby increasing confidence in the causal efficacy of psychological interventions.
© The Author(s) 2013.
Significance
The present research provides critical new findings about the role of glucose ingestion in self-control and cognitive performance. It argues against the popular view that self-control depends on a limited physiological resource (blood glucose) that is depleted by even brief acts of self-control and is restored by glucose consumption. Instead, the results highlight the critical role of beliefs about willpower in self-control performance.
Research suggests that two, consecutive acts of self-control lead to impaired performance. This phenomenon is termed "ego depletion." It is assumed that an act of self-control consumes energy from some limited resource leaving less energy available for a subsequent act of self-control. Study 1 tested the alternative hypothesis that people's naïve theory or expectancy of the consequences of self-control influences their performance on control-demanding tasks. Participants watched an upsetting video fragment and subsequently performed a physical exercise test demanding self-control. Participants who suppressed their emotional reactions to the video showed ego-depletion: Their performance at the physical test decreased. However, if their (implicit) expectation that self-control negatively influences subsequent performance was challenged, their performance increased. Study 2 showed the existence of a dominant expectation that self-control consumes energy. These results indicate that the occurrence of the ego depletion phenomenon is strongly influenced by expectancies or schemata about self-control.
Enacting effortful self-control depletes a finite resource, leaving less self-control available for subsequent effortful tasks. Positive social interaction can restore self-control, but hurtful or effortful social interaction depletes self-control. Given this conflict, people might seek an alternative to social interaction to restore self-control. The current research examines social surrogate restoration—the possibility that people seek a social surrogate when depleted, and that seeking social surrogacy restores selfcontrol. One experiment (Study 1) and one daily diary (Study 2) demonstrate that people seek familiar fictional worlds (e.g., a favorite television program) after exerting effortful self-control. Moreover, immersion in this familiar fictional world restores self-control. Supplementary analyses suggest that it is the social nature of this familiar fictional world that contributes to restoration.
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.
This research sought to integrate C. S. Dweck and E. L. Leggett's (1988) model with attribution theory. Three studies tested the hypothesis that theories of intelligence-the belief that intelligence is malleable (incremental theory) versus fixed (entity theory)-would predict (and create) effort versus ability attributions, which would then mediate mastery-oriented coping. Study 1 revealed that, when given negative feedback, incremental theorists were more likely than entity theorists to attribute to effort. Studies 2 and 3 showed that incremental theorists were more likely than entity theorists to take remedial action if performance was unsatisfactory. Study 3, in which an entity or incremental theory was induced, showed that incremental theorists' remedial action was mediated by their effort attributions. These results suggest that implicit theories create the meaning framework in which attributions occur and are important for understanding motivation.
Exercising self-control is often difficult, whether declining a drink in order to drive home safely, passing on the chocolate cake to stay on a diet, or ignoring text messages to finish reading an important paper. But enacting self-control is not always difficult, particularly when it takes the form of proactively choosing or changing situations in ways that weaken undesirable impulses or potentiate desirable ones. Examples of situational self-control include the partygoer who chooses a seat far from where drinks are being poured, the dieter who asks the waiter not to bring around the dessert cart, and the student who goes to the library without a cell phone. Using the process model of self-control, we argue that the full range of self-control strategies can be organized by considering the timeline of the developing tempting impulse. Because impulses tend to grow stronger over time, situational self-control strategies—which can nip a tempting impulse in the bud—may be especially effective in preventing undesirable action. Ironically, we may underappreciate situational self-control for the same reason it is so effective—namely, that by manipulating our circumstances to advantage, we are often able to minimize the in-the-moment experience of intrapsychic struggle typically associated with exercising self-control.
Self-determination theory maintains and has provided empirical support for the proposition that all human beings have fundamental psychological needs to be competent, autonomous, and related to others. Satisfaction of these basic needs facilitates people's autonomous motivation (i.e., acting with a sense of full endorsement and volition), whereas thwarting the needs promotes controlled motivation (i.e., feeling pressured to behave in particular ways) or being amotivated (i.e., lacking intentionality). Satisfying these basic needs and acting autonomously have been consistently shown to be associated with psychological health and effective performance. Social contexts within which people operate, however proximal (e.g., a family or workgroup) or distal (e.g., a cultural value or economic system), affect their need satisfaction and type of motivation, thus affecting their wellness and effectiveness. Social contexts also affect whether people's life goals or aspirations tend to be more intrinsic or more extrinsic, and that in turn affects important life outcomes.
This study tested the hypothesis that conceptions of ability affect self-regulatory processes and the acquisition rate of a perceptual-motor skill. Subjects performed a rotary pursuit task under induced cognitive sets that task performance reflected inherent aptitude or acquirable skill. Their perceived self-efficacy, affective self-reactions, and performance attainments were measured over a series of trials. Subjects who performed the task under the inherent-aptitude conception of ability displayed no growth in perceived self-efficacy across phases, negative self-reactions to performances, low interest in the activity, and a limited level of skill development. In contrast, those who performed the task under the conception of ability as an acquirable skill displayed growth in perceived self-efficacy, positive self-reactions to their performances, widespread interest in the activity, and a high level of skill acquisition. The stronger the positive self-reactions, the greater the subsequent performance atta...
This paper discusses common approaches to presenting the topic of skewness in the classroom, and explains why students need to know how to measure it. Two skewness statistics are examined: the Fisher-Pearson standardized third moment coefficient, and the Pearson 2 coefficient that compares the mean and median. The former is reported in statistical software packages, while the latter is all but forgotten in textbooks. Given its intuitive appeal, why did Pearson 2 disappear? Is it ever useful? Using Monte Carlo simulation, tables of percentiles are created for Pearson 2. It is shown that while Pearson 2 has lower power, it matches classroom explanations of skewness and can be calculated when summarized data are available. This paper suggests reviving the Pearson 2 skewness statistic for the introductory statistics course because it compares the mean to the median in a precise way that students can understand. The paper reiterates warnings about what any skewness statistic can actually tell us.
We reviewed the literature on the role of working memory in the solution of arithmetic problems such as 3 + 4 or 345 + 29. The literature was neither comprehensive nor systematic, but a few conclusions are tenable. First, all three components of the working memory system proposed by Baddeley (i.e., central executive, phonological loop, and visual-spatial sketchpad) play a role in mental arithmetic, albeit under different conditions. Second, mental arithmetic requires central executive resources, even for single-digit problems. Third, further progress in understanding the role of working memory in arithmetic requires that researchers systematically manipulate factors such as presentation conditions (e.g., operand duration, format), problem complexity, task requirements (e.g., verification vs production), and response requirements (e.g., spoken vs written); and that they consider individual differences in solution procedures. Fourth, the encoding-complex model (Campbell, 1994) seems more likely to account for the variability observed in arithmetic solutions than other models of numerical processing. Finally, working memory researchers are urged to use mental arithmetic as a primary task because the results of the present review suggest that solution of problems that involve multiple digits are likely to involve an interaction of all the components of the working memory system.
G*Power (Erdfelder, Faul, & Buchner, 1996) was designed as a general stand-alone power analysis program for statistical tests commonly used in social and behavioral research. G*Power 3 is a major extension of, and improvement over, the previous versions. It runs on widely used computer platforms (i.e., Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X 10.4) and covers many different statistical tests of the t, F, and chi2 test families. In addition, it includes power analyses for z tests and some exact tests. G*Power 3 provides improved effect size calculators and graphic options, supports both distribution-based and design-based input modes, and offers all types of power analyses in which users might be interested. Like its predecessors, G*Power 3 is free.