Implicit Theories: The Role and Impact of Malleable Mindsets

Leading experts present the most recent research and reviews on implicit theories.

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Individuals develop fundamental assumptions about human attributes
to explain and understand their world. These implicit theories
incorporate beliefs about the fixedness or malleability of personal
attributes such as intelligence, willpower, and personality, and organize
the way people ascribe meaning to events. Although implicit beliefs
can be held stably, empirical findings show that they can also be
primed and changed in brief laboratory experiments or in longer-term
interventions. This offers manifold opportunities for shaping individuals'
implicit theories in different contexts. For research, this means
that implicit theories have a high interdisciplinary appeal.
This volume brings together current research on implicit theories from
different psychological subdisciplines that investigates implicit theories
in individuals from Asia (Philippines), Australia, Europe (Germany,
Norway, Switzerland), and the United States in different domains
(education, health, willpower) using cross-sectional, longitudinal, and
experimental designs. The papers provide current research on implicit
theories and their effects on attitudes, thoughts or behavior, and
report on cross-cultural effects of interventions designed to influence
implicit theories.