We conducted three studies to examine the effect of implicit theories of willpower on future self-control task performance through differences in cognitive resource conservation and replenishment ...after initial self-control exertions. Study 1 showed that implicit theories of willpower moderate the effects of cognitive resource conservation. Individuals who considered willpower a limited cognitive resource conserved the resource for subsequent self-control actions, contrary to those who considered willpower nonlimited. Study 2 demonstrated that individuals who considered willpower nonlimited attempted less restoration after self-control acts than those who considered it limited, leading to impaired subsequent self-control actions (ego depletion). Study 3 showed that with high ego depletion, subsequent self-control actions improved after restoration even for those who considered willpower nonlimited. The findings demonstrate the strength of those who consider willpower limited, and the weakness of those who consider it nonlimited.
•Implicit theories of willpower moderate the effect of cognitive resource conservation.•Individuals who use a limited theory tend to conserve cognitive resources.•Individuals who use a nonlimited theory do not try to recover after self-control acts.
A growth-mindset intervention teaches the belief that intellectual abilities can be developed. Where does the intervention work best? Prior research examined school-level moderators using data from ...the National Study of Learning Mindsets (NSLM), which delivered a short growth-mindset intervention during the first year of high school. In the present research, we used data from the NSLM to examine moderation by teachers’ mindsets and answer a new question: Can students independently implement their growth mindsets in virtually any classroom culture, or must students’ growth mindsets be supported by their teacher’s own growth mindsets (i.e., the mindset-plus-supportive-context hypothesis)? The present analysis (9,167 student records matched with 223 math teachers) supported the latter hypothesis. This result stood up to potentially confounding teacher factors and to a conservative Bayesian analysis. Thus, sustaining growth-mindset effects may require contextual supports that allow the proffered beliefs to take root and flourish.
Research summary
The question of what boards do, or should do, has remained a central focus in governance research. Much of this research is based on explicit theories or empirical models that impose ...assumed behaviors onto boards—such as monitoring—that are thought to define their roles and duties. While these explicit perspectives have offered critical insights, we suggest it is time to consider directors' implicit beliefs of their roles and duties to understand their perspective of the board's overall role. We use a grounded theory approach to develop theoretical insights about directors' implicit views of their roles and duties. We integrate information learned from extensive interviews with active directors and executives and find that directors view themselves as strategic partners with their firms' executives.
Managerial summary
How do directors view their work on their boards? This remains a critical question for corporate governance researchers and practitioners alike. To help answer this question, we conducted extensive interviews with current directors and executives. Our analysis of these interviews suggests that directors view their CEOs as generally acting in the best interests of their firms. In turn, directors consider strategically collaborating with their CEOs as critical to their board service. Recognizing the unique perspectives that directors bring to the boardroom has important implications for governance practices directed toward ensuring overall board effectiveness.
People are often told to find their passion, as though passions and interests are preformed and must simply be discovered. This idea, however, has hidden motivational implications. Five studies ...examined implicit theories of interest—the idea that personal interests are relatively fixed (fixed theory) or developed (growth theory). Whether assessed or experimentally induced, a fixed theory was more likely to dampen interest in areas outside people’s existing interests (Studies 1–3). Individuals endorsing a fixed theory were also more likely to anticipate boundless motivation when passions were found, not anticipating possible difficulties (Study 4). Moreover, when it became difficult to engage in a new interest, interest flagged significantly more for people induced to hold a fixed rather than a growth theory of interest (Study 5). Urging people to find their passion may lead them to put all their eggs in one basket but then to drop that basket when it becomes difficult to carry.
Extending past research on implicit theories of romantic relationships into a general interpersonal relationship domain, this research examined the sociocultural causes and psychological consequences ...of destiny beliefs (i.e., relationships with friends, family, romantic partners, and peers are destined to succeed or fail from the beginning) and growth beliefs (i.e., successful interpersonal relationships are developed through effort). Study 1 (N=103) showed that people who believed strongly in destiny beliefs tended to more anxiously expect social rejection. Study 2 (N=97) further examined whether the socio-ecological environment, in particular relational mobility (i.e., the extent to which individuals have opportunities to choose and establish new relationships based on their preferences), influenced individual differences in relationship beliefs and rejection sensitivity. The results showed that Hong Kong Chinese, who perceived their society to be low in relational mobility, believed more strongly in destiny beliefs and thus, were more sensitive to social rejection compared to European Canadians, who perceived their society to be high in relational mobility. These findings are discussed in terms of the importance of socio-ecological factors in shaping relationship beliefs, which in turn function as cognitive mechanisms that underlie relationship outcomes.
•This study extends the Implicit Theories Model into a general relationship domain.•Destiny beliefs, but not growth beliefs, predict rejection sensitivity.•Chinese hold stronger destiny beliefs, while Canadians hold stronger growth beliefs.•Destiny beliefs explain why Chinese are more sensitive to social rejection.•Relational mobility explains cultural differences in destiny beliefs and rejection sensitivity.
To effectively cultivate students' growth mindset, it is important to identify contextual factors that may communicate mindset messages to students. The present study examined the association of ...students' growth mindset with various dimensions of teacher beliefs (mindset, self-efficacy), teaching practices (guided inquiry, group work, task differentiation, in-class ability grouping, mastery and normative evaluations), and school climate (holistic development, in-school ability grouping). Participants were 2200 ten-year-old students, 358 teachers, and 65 principals from Finnish elementary schools that participated in the OECD Survey on Social and Emotional Skills. Multilevel analyses show that students endorsed more of a growth mindset in classrooms where teachers used guided inquiry and in schools that emphasized students' social-emotional development. In contrast, students endorsed more of a fixed mindset when teachers assigned different tasks to different students based on ability. Implications for how to combine teaching practices to support students’ growth mindset are discussed.
•Teacher and school factors linked to students' mindset were identified.•Teachers' mindset and efficacy were not directly associated with students' mindset.•Students had a stronger growth mindset when teachers used guided inquiry.•Students had a stronger fixed mindset when teachers differentiated tasks by ability.•Students had a stronger growth mindset in schools that valued holistic development.
Engaging in a healthy lifestyle could be helpful to decrease lifestyle-related health risks and bring long-term health benefits. This research investigated how implicit theories of body weight ...influence people’s engagement in healthy lifestyle among young adults in China. The results suggested that implicit theories of body weight significantly influence people’s engagement in heathy eating behaviors and physical activity. Self-control mediated the effect of implicit (incremental) theories of body weight on people’s engagement in healthy eating. Implications of the current research for understanding how to promote engagement in healthy lifestyle and directions for future research are discussed.
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.
•Cultivating a growth mindset of self-regulation can be beneficial in several ways.•This mindset led to increased persistence and reduced effort avoidance.•Increased persistence was partially mediated by appraising fatigue as a sign of expansion.•This mindset also led to noticing and resisting more temptations in daily life.•These improvements were not accompanied by increases in experienced effort.
Individuals' beliefs about the malleability of emotions have been theorised to play a role in their psychological distress by influencing emotion regulation processes, such as the use of emotion ...regulation strategies. We conducted a meta-analysis to test this idea across studies with a focus on the relationships between emotion malleability beliefs and five distinct emotion regulation strategies: cognitive reappraisal, suppression, avoidance, rumination, and acceptance. Further, using two-stage meta-analytic structural equation modelling (TSSEM), we examined whether the emotion regulation strategies mediate the cross-sectional relationship between emotion malleability beliefs and psychological distress across studies. Thirty-seven studies were included in the meta-analyses and 55 cross-sectional studies were included in the TSSEM. Results demonstrated that, across studies, emotion malleability beliefs were significantly associated with greater use of putatively helpful strategies (particularly with cognitive reappraisal) and less use of putatively unhelpful strategies (particularly with avoidance). The use of cognitive reappraisal and avoidance partially mediated the relationship between emotion malleability beliefs and psychological distress. These results highlight the importance of considering beliefs about the malleability of emotions in the context of emotion regulation. These findings suggest the potential role of emotion malleability beliefs in interventions for individuals with emotion regulation-related difficulties and psychological distress.
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