Blackwell

Blackwell

1. Study 1

   • Aim
     • To see whether theories of intelligence correlate with academic achievement in maths and to test the impact of academic achievement
   • Procedure
     • Sample
       • 373 New York secondary school students
     • Method
       • Longitudinal and correlational field study
     • Step by step
       • At the beginning of the 7th grade participants completed a motivational questionnaire
       • Results were compared with maths tests
   • Results
     • Children with growth mindsets had greater improvements that children with a fixed mindset
     • There was no significant correlation between the theory of intelligence and the other motivational score
   • Conclusion
     • Having a growth mindset improves your achievements in maths

2. Study 2

   • Aim
     • To test the impact of an academic intervention on this relationship between theories of intelligence and achievement
   • procedure
     • Method
       • Correlational field study
     • Sample
       • 99 New York students from a different secondary school to the first study
     • Step by step
       • Split into 2 groups, 1 control group group had intervention on memory and the other group on mindsets
       • They redid the motorvational questionnaire and the maths teachers checked their assessments
   • Results
     • Participants in the intervention group gained significantly increased maths results than the control group

3. Criticisms

   • Culture bias
     • Can't generalise to the target population because it was only done in New York
       • Could have done it in LA or California
   • Reductionist
     • He only looked at the children's mindsets
       • The teachers and parents could have a fixed mindset so the children would also have a fixed mindset
   • Experimental vs control group (study 2)
     • This could be a confounding variable
       • Being taught stereotyping and name calling affects motivation