Dealing With Social Difficulty During Adolescence: The Role of Implicit Theories of Personality

Abstract

Social difficulty during adolescence contributes to internalizing problems (e.g., depression, stress) and spurs cycles of aggression and retaliation. In this article, I review how implicit theories of personality—beliefs about whether people can change their socially relevant characteristics—can help explain why some adolescents respond to social difficulty in these ways while others do not. Believing an entity theory of personality—the belief that people cannot change—causes people to blame their own and others’ traits for social difficulty, and predicts more extreme affective, physiological, and behavioral responses (e.g., depression, aggression). Interventions that teach an incremental theory of personality—the belief that people can change—can reduce problematic reactions to social difficulty. I discuss why interventions to alter implicit theories improve adolescents’ responses to conflict and propose suggestions for research.

Why Interventions to Influence Adolescent Behavior Often Fail but Could Succeed

“…Vansteenkiste, Simons, Lens, Sheldon, & Deci, 2004)). Respectful language increased adherence—participants consumed 60% more medicine—and sensitivity to respectful language was stronger among those high in endogeneous testosterone (measured via saliva) and also among low-testosterone individuals who were administered testosterone (via nasal spray; Yeager, Hirschi, et al, 2017). This is direct evidence for a key claim of our model: testosterone—a hormone implicated in pubertal maturation—causes an increased behavioral responsiveness to respectful treatment.…”

“…The model presented here has not yet established the feedback loops through which an intervention that honors the adolescent desire for status and respect might translate into sustained, internalized changes in behavior (though see Fig. 1 in both Yeager, 2017 and Yeager, Purdie-Vaughns, et al, 2017). The question of how time-limited interventions can sustain impact is an emerging topic of investigation in the social and behavioral sciences more generally (Bailey, Duncan, Odgers, & Yu, 2017; Fiske, Frey, & Rogers, 2014; Miller, Dannals, & Zlatev, 2017)…”

“…Yeager, Purdie-Vaughns, Garcia, and Cohen evaluated wise feedback in late middle school using a small-sample, double-blind field experiment in two consecutive cohorts of white and African-American youth (Yeager, Purdie-Vaughns, et al, 2014; 2017). Students nearing the end of 7 th grade wrote first-draft essays that were critiqued by their social studies teachers, all of whom were white.…”

Study protocol: a randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of an online mindset intervention in adolescents with intellectual disabilities

“…“The Growth Factory” is an online intervention that aims to empower adolescents with intellectual disabilities. The intervention is based on scientific research on implicit self-theories and mindset interventions by Carol Dweck and David Yeager [ 16 , 36 , 39 , 51 , 52 ]. A multidisciplinary team of professionals and youth has developed the intervention using a Dutch guideline for effective interventions for people with intellectual disabilities [ 53 ].…”

Implicit theories of shyness in American and Chinese children

“…Abundant research has shown that lay people differ in their implicit theories about themselves and others, which shapes the way they interpret and react to social situations (Beer, ; Chiu, Hong, & Dweck, ; Droege & Stipek, ; Erdley, Cain, Loomis, Dumas‐Hines, & Dweck, ; Erdley & Dweck, ; Giles & Heyman, , ; Hong, Chiu, Dweck, & Sacks, ; Yeager, ). Some are characterized by an implicit entity theory that construes traits or behaviors as fixed and immutable qualities, and incline to make global, rigid, and enduring judgments of others on the basis of limited information.…”