The relationships between implicit theories of intelligence, effort beliefs, achievement goal orientation, achievement emotions, and academic achievement

Abstract

The study investigated the relationships between implicit theories of intelligence, effort beliefs, achievement goal orientation, achievement emotions, and academic achievement. Subjects were 450 university students (195 males, 253 females). The incremental theory of intelligence affected positive effort beliefs, while the entity theory affected negative effort beliefs and performance-approach goal orientation. Positive effort beliefs effected on mastery-, performance-approach goal orientation, and enjoyment, while negative effort beliefs effected on mastery-, performance-avoidance goal orientation, anxiety, boredom, and hopelessness. Enjoyment had a positive effect but hopelessness had a negative effect on academic achievement. Positive effort beliefs, mastery-approach goal orientation, and hopelessness mediated the relation between implicit theory and academic achievement. Negative effort beliefs, mastery-avoidance goal orientation, and hopelessness mediated the relation between entity theory and academic achievement. Mastery-approach goal orientation and enjoyment mediated the relation between positive effort beliefs and academic achievement. These results suggest that better academic achievement can be promoted by supporting the incremental theory of intelligence, positive effort beliefs, mastery-approach goal orientation, and positive achievement emotions.