The effects of entity and incremental views of ability and goal orientation on performance

This review assesses the implications of implicit views of ability; comparing the belief that intelligence is a stable, unchangeable trait (an entity view) with the belief that it is a repertoire of skills that can be expanded upon with learning and practice (an incremental view). Links between views of ability and goal orientation are examined, focusing on social comparison goals (where the primary aim is to vindicate one's ability in the eyes of other people) and mastery goals (where the primary aim is to achieve a criterion level of performance). A social.cognitive model examining these associations is assessed and the behavioural consequences of endorsing each of the fore~mentioned views of ability are highlighted. Links between views of ability and confidence in ability, attributional tendencies, as well as gender and age differences are also explored. Research suggests that people holding an incremental view of ability are more likely to pursue mastery goals resulting in more adaptive learning patterns, greater persistence and feeling challenged by failure. While people holding entity views are more likely to subscribe to social comparison goals resulting in less adaptive behaviours, such as decreased persistence. Further research assessing the extent to which experimental findings are generalisable to naturalistic settings is advised, as well as the role of persistence as it relates to views of ability and goal choice.