Study 2

• Hypothesis:

  students who are taught to think intelligence is malleable display more positive motivation in the classroom and achieve more highly than students who were not taught that intelligence is malleable.
• Method:

  correlational field study with an experimental section. Took place in a public secondary school in New York City and was an independent measures design.
• IV

  whether the participant was in the incremental theory intervention group or the control group who were not given the intervention
• DV

  the level of motivation and achievement on mathematics assessment.
• Participants:

  99 participants (49 females, 50 male) from a 7th grade class. The participants came from varied socioeconomic status and ethnicity. Participation was voluntary and consent was obtained in advance from both the students themselves and their parents. Of 99, 91 continued to the intervention study (48 in the experimental group and 43 in the control group).
• Materials

  sixth grade mathematics grades were used as a baseline. Motivational questionnaire (theory of intelligence – same as used in Study 1).
• Conclusion:

  Positive effect on motivation is seen for students with a growth mindset and they hold more positive beliefs about effort too. They choose more positive effort-based strategies in response to failure compared to a fixed mindset. Teaching students intelligence is flexible has a positive effect on their motivation and achievement in maths during the transition period. Research provides evidence for schools to endorse the incremental theory, in order to help students reach their full potential.