Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409.
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824.
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2023 Dec;22(4):ar40. doi: 10.1187/cbe.22-12-0250.
Students' beliefs about their abilities (called "lay theories") affect their motivations, behaviors, and academic success. Lay theories include beliefs about the potential to improve intelligence (mindset), who (i.e., everyone or only some people) has the potential to be excellent in a field (universality), and whether reaching excellence in a field requires raw intellectual talent (brilliance). Research demonstrates that each of these beliefs influences students' educational experiences and academic outcomes. However, it remains unclear whether they represent distinct latent constructs or are susceptible to the "jangle fallacy" (i.e., different names given to the same underlying construct). We conducted a multiphase, mixed-methods study to 1) evaluate whether mindset, universality, and brilliance beliefs represent conceptually and empirically discriminable concepts, and 2) evaluate whether mindset, universality, and brilliance beliefs contribute unique explanatory value for both psychosocial (e.g., sense of belonging) and academic outcomes (e.g., course grades). To address these questions, we developed and collected validity evidence for a new measure of science and math undergraduates' lay theories, called the Undergraduate Lay Theories of Abilities (ULTrA) survey. Factor analyses suggest that mindset, brilliance, and universality are distinct and empirically discriminable constructs. Structural Equation Models indicate that each lay theory contributes unique predictive value to relevant outcomes.
学生对自身能力的信念（称为“潜在理论”）会影响他们的动机、行为和学业成就。潜在理论包括对智力提高潜力的信念（心态）、谁（即每个人还是只有一部分人）有可能在某个领域出类拔萃（普遍性）以及在某个领域达到卓越是否需要天生的智力天赋（才华）。研究表明，这些信念中的每一个都影响着学生的教育经历和学业成绩。然而，目前尚不清楚它们是否代表不同的潜在结构，或者是否容易受到“干扰谬误”（即，同一潜在结构的不同名称）的影响。我们进行了一个多阶段、混合方法的研究，以 1）评估心态、普遍性和才华信念是否代表概念上和经验上可区分的概念，以及 2）评估心态、普遍性和才华信念是否对心理社会（例如归属感）和学术成果（例如课程成绩）都有独特的解释价值。为了解决这些问题，我们开发并收集了本科生潜在理论的新衡量标准——本科生能力潜在理论（ULTrA）调查的有效性证据。因素分析表明，心态、才华和普遍性是不同的、经验上可区分的结构。结构方程模型表明，每一种潜在理论对相关结果都有独特的预测价值。
