IMPLICIT THEORIES ABOUT THE MALLEABILITY OF INTELLIGENCE AS DETERMINANTS OF ACHIEVEMENT-MOTIVATION

In this study we tried to test a theory of achievement-motivation form ulated by Dweck & Leggett (1988). This theory explains how, starting w ith implicit theories about the malleability of intelligence, two diff erent goal-orientations and different attribution-patterns develop and how these, in interaction with perceived own ability, lead to either mastery-oriented or helpless behaviour following failure. The construc ts were operationalized for a specific achievement-domain (mathematics ) by means of a questionnaire. 129 sixth-grade children of a german co mprehensive school completed this questionnaire. The results revealed, that nearly all pupils prefered the incremental-theory of intelligenc e, and, consistent with the theory, also clearly preferred a learning- goal-orientation. Moreover, the majority of all attributions for the a chievement outcome in question were effort-attributions and pupils wit h incremental-theories perceived the causes of the outcome as more con trollable than those with entity-theories. Eventually, there were no r esponses to failure which indicated helpless behavior. Inferences that can be drawn from the results with regard to the theory of Dweck & Le ggett (1988) are discussed.