Play it safe or play to learn: mindsets and behavioral self-regulation in kindergarten

Abstract

Individuals hold different mindsets encompassing beliefs about trait stability (stable vs. malleable) and goal orientations (performance vs. mastery). These motivational beliefs affect behavioral self-regulation, which is an important predictor of school success and includes both executive functions (EF) and classroom behavioral self-regulation (CBSR). In this study, we examined the structure of mindsets in kindergarteners and the relations with EF and CBSR by interviewing 147 kindergarteners (51% female) aged 5 to 7 years (M = 6.47, SD = .39). We used a multimethod approach with self-report and direct measures of behavioral self-regulation, achievement, and a newly developed mindset scale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed that trait beliefs and goal orientations represent two different but related motivational beliefs. Results indicated differential effects of trait beliefs and goal orientations on EF and CBSR: Children with a mastery (vs. performance) orientation showed better EF, whereas children with a belief in traits as malleable (vs. stable) showed better CBSR. Structural equation modeling showed significant indirect effects of both motivational beliefs on achievement, with EF and CBSR as mediators. Findings suggest that motivational beliefs are important in fostering behavioral self-regulation for successful adjustment to the demands of kindergarten.

Teachers’ Professional Competences in Self-Regulated Learning: An Approach to Integrate Teachers’ Competences as Self-Regulated Learners and as Agents of Self-Regulated Learning in a Holistic Manner

“…The various beliefs of learners and how they impact cognitive and motivational processes have been examined frequently (e.g., Hofer and Pintrich, 1997;Muis, 2007;Haimovitz and Dweck, 2017). Beliefs build a cognitive framework through which learners interpret their experiences and impacts how they perceive their knowledge and abilities, regulate their motivation and learning behavior, and ascribe meaning to learning (Haimovitz and Dweck, 2017;Compagnoni et al, 2019). Beliefs can function as a standard against which learners set particular tasks and, in turn, influence their SRL.…”

My Brain Needs a Break: Kindergarteners’ Willpower Theories Are Related to Behavioral Self-Regulation

“…Over the last decades, Dweck and colleagues (Dweck and Leggett, 1988;Mueller and Dweck, 1998;Gunderson et al, 2013;Haimovitz et al, 2019) have shown that children develop implicit theories about their abilities as being either fixed (fixed mindset) or capable of growing (growth mindset) based on experiences such as praise and feedback for success and failure. Children with a growth mindset show better behavioral self-regulation, as they embrace challenges as learning opportunities to grow and improve their abilities (Molden and Dweck, 2006;Burnette et al, 2013;Compagnoni et al, 2019). In contrast, children with a fixed mindset, who view their abilities as stable traits, are concerned about their performance (Perry et al, 2019) and show poorer behavioral self-regulation (Dweck and Leggett, 1988;Dweck, 2017).…”

“…A learning goal orientation is positively related to persistence in the face of failure and enhanced motivation toward challenging tasks (Dweck and Leggett, 1988) and seems to be a hallmark for training self-regulation (Perry et al, 2017). Past findings suggest that a learning goal orientation plays a pivotal role in linking implicit theories about intelligence and self-regulation processes (Smiley and Dweck, 1994;Compagnoni et al, 2019). Growth mindset interventions have found that children who were led to adopt a learning goal orientation changed their view of challenges (Burnette et al, 2013).…”

“…Children's learning goal orientation, their willingness to exert effort to learn something (Compagnoni et al, 2019), was assessed with 6 Items adapted from Gunderson et al (2013)'s motivational framework measures. To capture learning goal orientation, the same procedure was used as for willpower theories.…”

“…In line with previous research on willpower theories (Job et al, 2010(Job et al, , 2015b, we propose that non-limited theories are especially beneficial when demands on self-regulation are high, which is often the case for academic underachievers. We further assume that the relation between willpower theories and behavioral self-regulation is mediated by children's willingness to exert effort to learn something (i.e., learning goal orientation; Compagnoni et al, 2019).…”