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This study investigates the moderating effects of several contextual factors (i.e., teachers' growth mindset, perceived school climate, and perceived parental autonomy support) on the relationship between students' growth mindset and academic achievement. Drawing on Dweck's growth mindset theory and recent research findings that highlight the context sensitivity of the growth mindset, we hypothesize that supportive environments strengthen the positive impact of students' growth mindset on academic outcomes. A sample of 358 middle school students (53.8% female; Mage = 13.38 years, SD = 2.20) from public schools in Shanghai City, mainland China, was assessed via three validated instruments: (1) the Growth Mindset Inventory, which is used to measure students' and teachers' beliefs about intelligence; (2) the Delaware School Climate Survey for Students, which is used to assess students' perceptions of the school climate; and (3) the Perceived Parental Autonomy Support Scale, which is used to evaluate students' perceived parental autonomy support. Academic achievement was measured by district-level final exam scores. The results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that teachers' growth mindset, perceived school climate support (e.g., teacher–student and student–student relations, fairness of rules, school safety, liking of school), and the perception of positive parental autonomy support (e.g., choice, rationale, acknowledgment) positively moderated the relationship between students' growth mindset and academic achievement. In contrast, the perception of negative parental autonomy factors (e.g., punishment threats, performance pressure, guilt-inducing criticism) negatively moderated this relationship. These results indicate that the relationship between students' growth mindset and academic achievement may vary depending on contextual factors, highlighting the importance of considering both positive and negative influences when designing educational strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the congruence/incongruence between teachers' self-reported mindset beliefs and their actual teaching practices within the framework of implicit theories of intelligence. A total of 226 middle school teachers (65.90% female, average age = 31.70 years, SD = 5.03; average education year = 16.23, SD = 1.49; average teaching experience = 6.52 years, SD = 4.17) from Shanghai City, mainland China, completed the growth mindset inventory (GMI) for measuring self-reported growth mindset beliefs and underwent classroom observations, which recorded the frequency of their growth mindset-oriented feedback practices while teaching. Subsequently, the 20 teachers with the most extreme GMI scores (i.e., the 10 teachers with the highest scores and the 10 teachers with the lowest scores from this initial pool) were invited to take part in semi-structured interviews to understand the reasons behind the possible congruence/incongruence. Interesting results were found. First, the results of the spearman correlation and multiple regression analyses suggested incongruence between teachers' self-reported mindset beliefs and their actual feedback practices in real classroom settings for those with growth and neutral mindsets but congruence for those with fixed mindsets. Second, the results of the semi-structured interviews further illustrated that whether teachers demonstrated congruence/incongruence in their growth mindset beliefs and actual growth mindset-oriented feedback practices in the classroom was influenced by contextual factors such as institutional policies, cultural orientations, community expectations, and the general educational competition environment. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the factors influencing the alignment between mindset beliefs and teaching practices, which highlight the need for addressing these discrepancies in teacher development programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on the theoretical perspectives of mindset theory and cultural orientation framework, this study explores the moderating role of cultural orientation in the relationship between individuals' growth mindset and learning self-efficacy, addressing the contextual dependency of mindset theory. A total of 307 Chinese undergraduates (61% female; age range = 18–22 years) from a university in Hong Kong were recruited for this cross-sectional study. Cultural orientation, growth mindset, and learning self-efficacy were assessed via the Chinese version of the Cultural Values Scale (CVScale), Growth Mindset Inventory (GMI), and Learning Self-Efficacy Scale (LSES), respectively. Linear multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the hypothesized moderation effects. The results revealed an interesting dimension-specific pattern among the five dimensions of cultural orientation. While one dimension (i.e., long-term orientation) had a positive moderating effect on the relationship between growth mindset and learning self-efficacy, two dimensions (i.e., power distance and uncertainty avoidance) had negative moderating effects on that relationship. The two remaining cultural dimensions (i.e., individualism/collectivism and motivation towards achievement and success) did not exhibit any significant moderating effects. These findings underscore the interplay between a growth mindset, cultural orientation, and learning self-efficacy, emphasizing the influence of cultural factors on the outcomes of mindset interventions. This study highlights the need for culturally tailored educational practices and interventions to maximize the effectiveness of growth mindset theories in diverse contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how perceived school climate support moderates the relationship between teachers' growth mindset and work engagement. A sample of 353 teachers (56% females) from Shanghai City, China, completed the Growth Mindset Inventory (GMI) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) to evaluate their growth mindset and work engagement levels, respectively. The School Environment Scale (SES) was used to measure perceived school climate support across five dimensions: collaboration, student relations, decision-making, instructional innovation and school resources. Hierarchical regression analyses were employed to examine the moderating effects of each dimension of perceived school climate support on the relationship between a growth mindset and work engagement. The results indicated that (1) a growth mindset was a positive predictor of work engagement, suggesting that teachers who view their abilities as developable are more engaged in their professional roles, and that (2) all five dimensions of perceived school climate support significantly and positively moderated this relationship, suggesting that perceived school climate support enhances the impact of a growth mindset on work engagement. These findings underscore the importance of targeted environmental factors in maximizing the benefits of growth mindset interventions among teachers, thereby providing actionable insights for educational leaders to improve teacher engagement through focused climate enhancements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The positive mindfulness-creativity link has been widely documented; however, its underlying psychological mechanisms remain less understood. From the perspective of positive psychology, this study examined the mediating effect of psychological capital (PsyCap) on the effect of dispositional mindfulness on creative functioning. A total of 894 Chinese secondary school students in Hong Kong (50.8% female; M age = 15.5 years) completed the study. A cross-sectional design was used, in which context PsyCap and dispositional mindfulness were assessed by the Chinese version of the revised Compound PsyCap Scale (CPC-12R) and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), respectively. Moreover, by adopting the multiple-measurement approach to creativity, three commonly used creativity tests (i.e., the Wallach-Kogan Creativity Test/WKCT, the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production/TCT-DP, and the Creative Problem-Solving Test/CPST) were applied to capture three aspects of creativity (i.e., divergent thinking, creative combination, and creative problem solving). The results suggest that (1) PsyCap partially but significantly mediated the mindfulness-creativity link for all three aspects of creative functioning, and (2) PsyCap demonstrated the strongest effect size in mediating the mindfulness-creativity link for creative problem solving, followed by creative combination and then divergent thinking. These results, on the one hand, support the positive psychology perspective by confirming a positive psychological resource mechanism regarding the relationship between mindfulness and creativity. On the other hand, the results regarding the varied sizes of the mediation effect further enrich the discourse on this perspective by showing that the mediation mechanism may function to different degrees depending on which aspect of creativity is under consideration. These findings illuminate the positive functioning of mindfulness, psychological resources/capital and creativity., Competing Interests: The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 He.)

Studies documenting and seeking to understand the mindset effect have yielded mixed and inconclusive findings. The present study sought to address the research question pertaining to the mindset effect on creative thinking and its underlying mechanism from the perspectives of social cognitive theory and mindset theory, which postulate a motivational mechanism underlying the mindset-creativity link. Specifically, this study aimed to examine the mediating role of creativity motivation in the effects of growth and fixed creative mindsets on creative thinking. A convenience sample of 948 college students from three universities in Hong Kong participated in the study. Creative mindset, creativity motivation, and creative thinking were assessed using the Chinese version of the Creative Mindset Scale, the Creativity Motivation Scale, and the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP), respectively. Lending support to the perspectives of social cognitive and mindset theories, the results of mediation analyses conducted using Preacher and Hayes's bootstrapping approach indicated that creativity motivation had partial mediating effects on the positive and negative roles of growth and fixed mindsets, respectively, in creative thinking. Enriching the research on the motivation mechanism underlying the impacts of creative mindsets on creative thinking, the results further illustrated that creativity motivation has a stronger mediating effect on the impact of growth creative mindset on creative thinking than on that of fixed creative mindset. The possible theoretical and educational implications of the findings of this research are discussed., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 He and Chiang.)