Enea-Drapeau Claire, Carlier Michèle, Huguet Pascal
PSYCLE, Aix Marseille Univ, Aix-en-Provence, France.
LPC, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, Marseille, France.
PLoS One. 2017 Nov 22;12(11):e0188513. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188513. eCollection 2017.
Studies over the past three decades have shown that learning difficulties are not only determined by neurological disorders, but also by motivational and/or socio-cognitive factors Among these factors, implicit theories of intelligence (also referred to as conceptions, mindsets or beliefs about intelligence) are key elements. The belief that intelligence is fixed (entity theory), as opposed to malleable (incremental theory), is generally associated with negative teaching practices and poorer student outcomes, yet beliefs about the intelligence of individuals with intellectual disabilities have not received much attention. We propose the first study on conceptions of intelligence of persons with intellectual disabilities, here people with Down syndrome. Participants were 55 professionally qualified people working with individuals with intellectual disabilities and 81 adults from the community. We compared what both groups of participants believe about intelligence of typical people and what they believe about the intelligence of individuals with Down syndrome. We also investigated implicit theories of intelligence as predictors of explicit judgments about intelligence and implicit attitudes toward people with Down syndrome. Whatever the work experience in the field of intellectual disability, implicit theories of intelligence were found to be less incremental when considering people with Down syndrome than when considering typical people; and the stronger the belief in entity theory, the more negative (and less positive) the judgments expressed explicitly. Implicit theories of intelligence were also found to be predictors of negative implicit attitude but only in adults from the community. These findings offer prospects for improving practices by people working in the field of intellectual disability. They might interest a wide range of people caring for people with intellectual disabilities, such as teachers, but also other professional caregivers, and other scientists focusing on intellectual disabilities or social cognition.
过去三十年的研究表明，学习困难不仅由神经紊乱决定，还受动机和/或社会认知因素影响。在这些因素中，关于智力的内隐理论（也被称为对智力的概念、思维模式或信念）是关键要素。认为智力是固定不变的（实体理论），而非可塑造的（增长理论），通常与消极的教学实践及较差的学生成绩相关，但对智障人士智力的信念却未受到太多关注。我们首次针对智障人士，这里指唐氏综合征患者，开展了关于智力概念的研究。参与者包括55名从事智障人士工作的专业合格人员以及81名来自社区的成年人。我们比较了两组参与者对典型人群智力的看法以及他们对唐氏综合征患者智力的看法。我们还研究了作为对智力的明确判断及对唐氏综合征患者的内隐态度预测指标的智力内隐理论。无论在智障领域的工作经验如何，在考虑唐氏综合征患者时，智力内隐理论被发现比考虑典型人群时更缺乏增长性；并且对实体理论的信念越强，明确表达的判断就越消极（积极程度越低）。智力内隐理论还被发现是消极内隐态度的预测指标，但仅在社区成年人中如此。这些发现为智障领域工作者改进实践提供了前景。它们可能会引起广泛关注智障人士的人群的兴趣，比如教师，但也包括其他专业护理人员，以及专注于智障或社会认知的其他科学家。
