How are incremental theories about studying motivation related to effective motivation regulation?

Abstract

Implicit theories about the malleability of various personal attributes have been linked to successful self-regulation in several domains (e.g., abilities and emotions). The current study extends these findings to achievement motivation in the context of self-regulated learning. Two surveys (N = 376 and N = 365) revealed an overall tendency of university students to believe that both intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of their motivation are malleable. Stronger incremental theories about motivation were associated with increased motivation regulation strategy use and effort expenditure via stronger self-efficacy for motivation regulation beyond implicit theories about other domains. This indicates the value of a domain-specific consideration of the impact of implicit theories and individual dispositions on the motivation regulation process. Both implicit theories about motivation and self-efficacy beliefs for motivation regulation may therefore represent target variables in trainings of motivation regulation.