Mothers' Theories of Ability: Implications for Mothers' Goals and Children's Motivation
The current research examined whether mothers' theories of ability shape their goals when interacting with children, and subsequently children's motivation. Mothers of first and second grade children (N = 25) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the incremental condition, mothers were told the task assessed children's intellectual potential and that scores could change over time. In the entity condition, mothers were told a task children worked on assessed children's innate intelligence and that scores are stable over time. Children and mothers then worked together on the task for 15 minutes and mothers and children reported on their goals during the interaction. Children of mothers who were told the task assessed children's intellectual potential were more likely to hold mastery goals than were children of mothers who were told the task assessed innate intelligence. Although these results are preliminary, they suggest that the way in which academic work is framed to parents could have implications for children's motivation.
School:
Spelman College
Department:
Psychology
Research Advisor:
Eva Pomerantz
Department of Research Advisor:
Psychology
Year of Publication:
2008