It’s the will, not the skill: How malleability narratives affect Belgian adolescents’ academic development

Abstract

ABSTRACT The current experimental study among 451 Belgian adolescents examined how televised narratives that suggest that academic performance can change with hard work and effort (i.e. malleability narrative) compared to narratives that focus on inability to change academic performances (i.e. fixed narrative) differently affect academic self-perceptions, motivation, and well-being. Additionally, this study explores how adolescents’ reactions to malleability versus fixed narratives may differ based on their academic self-discrepancy levels (that is, the difference between their perceptions of current and ideal academic performance). According to the results, exposure to a malleability narrative, as opposed to a fixed narrative, increased adolescents’ confidence in their academic abilities (i.e. academic “can-self”), which resulted in a stronger motivation for academic engagement. However, adolescents exposed to a malleability narrative also reported feeling more academic performance pressure than those exposed to a fixed narrative. No moderation effects were found for academic self-discrepancy levels. Televised malleability narratives can thus be beneficial to adolescents’ academic self-perceptions and development, but can simultaneously be harmful to well-being as adolescents feel pressure to excel academically, as well.