PERCEIVED UPWARD MOBILITY AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL AFFORDANCE FOR UNIVERSAL BELIEFS ABOUT INTELLIGENCE

Abstract

Do perceptions about one's ability to be upwardly mobile moderate the relationship between universal beliefs about intelligence (i.e., potential for almost everyone to be highly intelligent) and learning behaviour? This study aims to find out if perceived mobility moderates the effects of having universal beliefs of intelligence on practice engagement. We hypothesized that participants in environments with varying perceived mobility and induced with different beliefs of intelligence would differ in their practice engagement. A between-subjects design was adopted where the beliefs (universal vs. non-universal) and perceived mobility (high vs. low) manipulations were fully crossed. Participants (N = 218) were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant main effect of beliefs about intelligence on practice time, with participants in the universal condition practicing significantly more than those in the non-universal condition. This indicates that the belief about the potential for high intelligence to be universal could itself be an important motivator for participants to engage in learning behaviour, regardless of their perceptions about mobility in the environment. Implications of this finding and future directions were discussed.