Effect of Implicit Theory on Effort Allocation Strategies in Multiple Task-Choice Situations: An Investigation From a Socio-Ecological Perspective

Abstract

Implicit theories refer to two assumptions that people make about the malleability of one’s ability. Previous studies have argued that incremental theorists (who believe that ability is malleable) are more adaptive than entity theorists (who believe that ability is fixed) when facing achievement setbacks. In the present research, we assumed that the adaptive implicit theory would be different when people could choose from a wider range of tasks. It was hypothesized that incremental theorists would sustain their efforts in the first task even when it was difficult, whereas entity theorists would try to find the most appropriate task. In a pair of laboratory experiments, participants had to maximize their outcomes when allowed to choose a task to engage in, from two options. When participants were allowed to practice the two tasks (Study 1), incremental theorists tended to allocate their effort solely to the first task, whereas entity theorists tended to put equal effort into both. When participants were informed that they could switch from the assigned task (Study 2), incremental theorists tended to persist in the first task regardless of its difficulty, whereas entity theorists tended to switch more quickly if the task was difficult. These results supported our hypothesis of two effort allocation strategies and implied that, in certain situations, entity theorists could be more adaptive than incremental theorists. Based on these findings, we conducted a social survey on the difficulty of switching tasks with a real-life setting as an environmental factor that determines the adaptive implicit theory (Study 3). It was revealed that the academic performance of incremental and entity theorists was moderated by the difficulty of switching tasks in their learning environment at school. Cultural differences in implicit theories may be explained by differences in the difficulty of switching tasks in education and career choices in each society.

“You will never know unless you try hard”: Entity theorists who perceive effort as information

“…The arguments in Imataki et al (2018) are consistent with several recent studies regarding learners' motivation and behavior in a situation where they need to choose and perform one task from multiple options (Park & Kim, 2015;Suzuki, Kikkawa, & Muramoto, 2019;Suzuki et al, 2021).…”

“…This is consistent with the recent findings on individual behavior in situations wherein there are multiple task alternatives, claiming that entity theorists are motivated to explore and find the most suitable task they can perform well, while incremental theorists were motivated to stay on a given task to improve their performance. (Park & Kim, 2015;Suzuki et al, 2021). This research will provide evidence that will allow us to expand those previous findings regarding interpersonal behavior.…”

“…To achieve our goal, we first review previous studies that emphasize the dichotomy between those who value effort and those who do not. Next, we introduce recent findings suggesting that entity theorists are motivated to select a suitable task among multiple options, while incremental theorists are likely to continue working on the same task even when they have difficulty achieving it (e.g., Park & Kim, 2015;Suzuki, Aida, & Muramoto, 2021). Then, we propose our hypothesis that entity theorists may use information about the amount of effort to make a precise assessment of the individual's aptitude.…”

“…When the participants were forced to engage in the same task, incremental theorists outperformed entity theorists; however, when they were forced to engage in a different task, the latter outperformed the former (Studies 2-4). Suzuki et al (2021) focused on the task-choice strategies of incremental and entity theorists to maximize outcome when there are multiple task options. They revealed that in such a situation, entity theorists were motivated to explore and find the most suitable task that they can perform well, while incremental theorists were motivated to stay on the first given task to improve their performance.…”