Dissertation
The Relationship between Cultural Beliefs and Intelligence Beliefs: A Priming Investigation
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2021
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000005438
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/119664
Abstract
Cultural beliefs (i.e., individualistic or collectivistic) have important implications for the emphasis one places on intelligence as a desirable trait for the self. People also hold differing views of the malleability of intelligence, ranging from the belief that intelligence is changeable (i.e., incremental) to the belief that intelligence is fixed (i.e., entity). The present study seeks to examine the causal relationship between cultural beliefs and intelligence beliefs. We predicted that the relationship between intelligence and cultural beliefs would be strongest within incremental-collectivistic and entity-individualistic correspondences. As such, we assessed for bidirectional and unidirectional causal relationships between intelligence and cultural beliefs, utilizing a priming manipulation procedure. For the full sample, the priming manipulations for cultural beliefs was unsuccessful with respect to priming either a collectivistic or individualistic mindset in participants; and subsequently, no differences in intelligence beliefs were observed. The priming manipulations for the intelligence beliefs prime was successful for priming both incremental and entity beliefs within our participants; however, no significant differences in cultural beliefs were observed across priming conditions. With regard to analyses of selected subsamples, we found partial support for the hypothesis that intelligence beliefs interventions differentially impact population subgroups. Specifically, we found that students who self-identified as White, and those with self-reported low- and high-SES, and low-GPA, were more likely to have higher individualism cultural beliefs scores when they received the entity intelligence beliefs prime compared to the incremental prime. These findings are discussed with regard to literature suggesting that susceptibility to intelligence beliefs intervention effects is more likely within subgroups identified as academically high-risk and economically disadvantaged. Overall, these findings emphasize the importance for the continued evaluation of intervention effects across relevant dependent variables and population subgroups.
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Details
- Title
- The Relationship between Cultural Beliefs and Intelligence Beliefs: A Priming Investigation
- Creators
- Jordan Jean Vossen
- Contributors
- Paul S Strand (Advisor)Renee E Magnan (Committee Member)G. Leonard Burns (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Psychology
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 53
- Identifiers
- 99900592257701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation