Suchergebnisse

We explored whether believing that people have the capacity to adapt and grow (i.e., growth mindset) might help to shape White Americans' intentions to engage in interracial contact. Across four studies ( N = 621), growth mindsets of people were positively associated with intentions to engage in positive interracial contact. In Studies 2–4, in an attempt to explore causation, we successfully manipulated mindsets. Although these manipulations did not robustly predict interracial contact intentions, they did indirectly predict contact intentions through self-reported growth mindsets. In Studies 3–4, the growth mindset experimental condition also indirectly and serially predicted more positive interracial contact intentions through positive expectations and lower levels of intergroup anxiety. This work makes both theoretical and practical advances in the effort to encourage White Americans to engage in positive interracial contact.

AbstractSuccessful aging broadly refers to the development and maintenance of favorable life outcomes with increasing age. We propose that the likelihood of people aging successfully is enhanced by routinely engaging in habitually repeated, enjoyable actions (henceforth, "rituals") that cultivate their personal resources in the physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual domains. We suggest that fixed mindsets will impede the discovery and adoption of such rituals, whereas growth mindsets will facilitate people exploring, trialing, and perpetually enacting rituals that help them age successfully. After defining successful aging, we explain the nature of mindsets and discuss their role in systematically cultivating relevant physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual resources. Practical examples of personal resource-building rituals are provided throughout. We outline several avenues for future research to test hypotheses derived from the propositions we have advanced and illustrate how mindsets might be deliberately fostered to support successful aging. We also suggest potential boundary conditions on the utility of growth mindsets.

AbstractBelief systems impact poverty reduction efforts, as they can enhance, or diminish, support for redistributive economic policies. We examined the predictive utility of mindsets about the changeability (growth mindsets) or the stability (fixed mindsets) of the nature of poverty in society. We conducted six studies, two pre‐registered, using both cross‐sectional (N = 763) and experimental methods (N = 1361). Growth mindsets of poverty in society predicted greater support for redistributive policies, in part through decreased blame, although there was also a small but unreliable negative indirect effect through social class essentialism. The three experimental studies, each using a different approach, were successful in manipulating mindsets of poverty. However, only the approach leveraging system justifying beliefs had implications for blame, essentialist beliefs, and indirect consequences for policy support. We discuss potential implications of this work for leveraging multiple belief systems to optimally promote support for policies designed to abolish poverty.