‘Kind of Person’ Implicit Theory Scale

2018-06-26 2:24 pm

Measuring Mobility Toolkit > Measure Selector > ‘Kind of Person’ Implicit Theory Scale

‘Kind of Person’ Implicit Theory Scale

Factor: Power and Autonomy

Age: Teen, Adult

Duration: Less than 3 minutes

Reading Level: 9th-12th grade

What

Developed by psychologist Carol Dweck (1999), the “Kind of Person” Implicit Theory Scale is an 8-item measure that assesses how much people believe they can change and grow.

Who

Researchers have used this scale with high school and college students, including students living on a low income and students whose parents do not have a college education.

How

INSTRUCTIONS

Respondents use a 6-point rating scale (1 = strongly agree; 6 = strongly disagree) to show how much they agree with statements like “Everyone, no matter who they are, can significantly change their basic characteristics.” Higher scores on the scale indicate that the participant has a growth mindset, which means they believe that their efforts can cause them to improve. Lower scores indicate that the respondent has a fixed mindset, which means they believe that they are born a certain way and can do little to get better.

RESPONSE FORMAT

1 = strongly agree; 2 = agree; 3 = mostly agree; 4 = mostly disagree; 5 = disagree; 6 = strongly disagree.

Google Doc (.gdoc) Microsoft Word (.docx) PDF Document (.pdf)

All Survey Questions

  1. The kind of person someone is, is something very basic about them and it can’t be changed very much.
  2. People can do things differently, but the important parts of who they are can’t really be changed.
  3. Everyone, no matter who they are, can significantly change their basic characteristics.
  4. As much as I hate to admit it, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. People can’t really change their deepest attributes.
  5. People can always substantially change the kind of person they are.
  6. Everyone is a certain kind of person, and there is not much that can be done to really change that.
  7. No matter what kind of person someone is, they can always change very much.
  8. All people can change even their most basic qualities.

Why It Matters

Research suggests that people who score high on this scale may more readily move out of poverty. For instance, a study that included middle- and high-school students in a free lunch program found that students with a growth mindset felt less stressed, reported better health, coped better with social setbacks, and received higher grades (Yeager et al., 2014). Being healthy and educated, in turn, help spur social mobility (Card, 2001; Halleröd & Gustafsson, 2011). This study did not establish whether students’ growth mindsets caused them to have better psychological and academic outcomes or the positive outcomes caused the students to have growth mindsets. Nor did the study identify another factor that may have driven both student mindsets and student outcomes.

Mindsets are relevant to social mobility in another important way: Our mindsets about others may affect how we treat them. In the workplace, for example, managers with growth mindsets about their employees give them better coaching than do managers with fixed mindsets (Heslin & VandeWalle, 2008). Because good coaching can improve employees’ performance, having a growth mindset may boost managers’ ability to help their employees work better, earn more, and advance further.

HEADS UP

The “Kind of Person” Implicit Theory Scale has not yet been used with adults in poverty. In addition, researchers have not yet conducted the rigorous experiments needed to confirm whether mindsets affect socioeconomic status, socioeconomic status affects mindsets, or some third factor drives both mindsets and socioeconomic status.

SEE ALSO

Growth Mindset Scale

Beliefs About Social Mobility Scale

References

Card, D. (2001). Estimating the return to schooling: Progress on some persistent econometric problems. Econometrica, 69(5), 1127-1160.

Dweck, C. S. (1999). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.

Dweck, C. S., Chiu, C. Y., & Hong, Y. Y. (1995). Implicit theories and their role in judgments and reactions: A world from two perspectives. Psychological Inquiry, 6(4), 267-285.

Halleröd, B., & Gustafsson, J. E. (2011). A longitudinal analysis of the relationship between changes in socio-economic status and changes in health. Social Science & Medicine, 72(1), 116-123.

Heslin, P. A., & VandeWalle, D. (2008). Managers’ implicit assumptions about personnel. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17(3), 219-223.

Yeager, D. S., Johnson, R., Spitzer, B. J., Trzesniewski, K. H., Powers, J., & Dweck, C. S. (2014). The far-reaching effects of believing people can change: Implicit theories of personality shape stress, health, and achievement during adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106(6), 867-884.