"You Are So Smart!" The Role of Giftedness, Parental Feedback, and Parents' Own Mind-Sets in Seventh-Grade Students' Entity and Growth Mind-Sets

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Affective Characteristics and Affective Issues

Abstract

Although it is commonly assumed that gifted students more often endorse an entity mindset than average students, findings on the relation between Dweck’s mindsets and giftedness have been inconsistent. To clarify this relation, giftedness was operationalized in this study both in terms of cognitive ability and in terms of giftedness label. We also examined the role of parents’ own mindsets and parents’ type of feedback in students’ mindsets. Participants were 3331 7th grade students and their parents. Being labeled as gifted (but not cognitive ability) was related to an entity mindset. Further, parental type of feedback was related to students’ mindsets, with person-oriented feedback relating to an entity mindset and with process-oriented feedback relating to a growth mindset.

Authors

• Michiel Boncquet, Ghent University

• Jeroen Lavrijsen, KU Leuven

• Bart Soenens, Ghent University

• Maarten Vansteenkiste, University of Gent

• Karine Verschueren, KU Leuven