T his chapter assesses the biological, psychological and social factors that contribute to individual differences in learning.Recent research suggests individual differences emerge from complex interactions between these factors.Here the focus is on reciprocities across the different levels and exploring the controversies and convergences across different disciplines.Cross-disciplinary research can lead to innovations in the science of learning.For example, culturally sensitive conceptualizations and assessments of psychological processes acknowledge the interactions between individuals' cognitive development with the socio-political factors that shape their environments.The findings caution against policy interventions that focus on a single assumed causal factor because educational outcomes cannot be predicted by one factor alone.Future research and policy should account for the interacting 'bio-psycho-social' (Youdell et al., 2020) factors that influence individual differences in education.
Intellectual humility is about acknowledging your limitations. It means being willing to recognize that you don’t know everything there is to know about the world, that you’re not infallible, and that other people know things that you don’t. That’s different from general humility, which is about believing you’re not entitled to special treatment. It can pertain to your limitations as well as your strengths. And it applies to lots of different areas.
Beliefs about the malleability of intellectual ability—mindsets—shape achievement. Recent evidence suggests that even young children hold such mindsets; yet, no reliable and valid instruments exist for measuring individual differences in young children’s mindsets. Here, we developed and made freely available an instrument for this purpose—the Growth Mindset Scale for Children (GM-C), suitable for children as young as 4. Among other psychometric properties, we assessed this instrument’s (a) measurement invariance, (b) internal consistency, (c) temporal stability (or test-retest reliability), (d) predictive validity, and (e) cross-cultural robustness in samples of US children (Study 1; N = 220; ages 4 through 6; 50% girls; 39% White) and South African children (Study 2; predominantly grades 4 and 5; N = 331; 54% girls; 100% non-White). The GM-C scale demonstrated invariance across age, as well as strong internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Further, the scale is valid: Four- to six-year-old children with higher GM-C scores oriented toward learning goals (Study 1). Similarly, second- to fifth-grade children with higher GM-C scores oriented toward learning goals, were more likely to take on challenges, and had better grades in math and English (Study 2). These findings suggest that the GM-C is a promising tool for measuring mindsets in young children. We offer practical recommendations on how the scale can be used in future research and discuss theoretical implications of the results.
The spread of online political misinformation has ramifications for political polarization, trust in political systems, and the functioning of democracy. In this paper, we advance findings on investigative behaviors—actions aimed at determining the veracity of information encountered online—in response to political misinformation. Across three preregistered studies (N = 889), we find that investigative behaviors increase accuracy discernment of political misinformation (Study 1), that intellectual humility reliably predicts investigative behaviors in this context (Study 2), and test a novel fallibility salience manipulation to increase intellectual humility (Study 3). We discuss implications of these findings for reducing the impacts of political misinformation.
Strong disagreements have stymied today’s political discourse. We investigate intellectual humility – recognizing the limits of one’s knowledge and appreciating others’ intellectual strengths – as one factor that can make disagreements more constructive. In Studies 1 and 2, participants with higher intellectual humility were more open to learning about the opposition’s views during imagined disagreements. In Study 3, those with higher intellectual humility exposed themselves to a greater proportion of opposing political perspectives. In Study 4, making salient a growth mindset of intelligence boosted intellectual humility, and, in turn, openness to opposing views. Results suggest that intellectual humility is associated with openness during disagreement, and that a growth mindset of intelligence may increase intellectual humility. Implications for current political polarization are discussed.
The correspondence hypothesis maintains that people with secure parental attachments will experience gradual religious conversions, with internal working models of childhood attachment figures forming the basis of attachment to God. The compensation hypothesis predicts that people with insecure attachments will experience sudden and dramatic conversions as they seek a relationship with God to compensate for insecure attachment relationships. In Study 1, faith narratives from 162 adolescents were analyzed; associations between parental attachment and the type of conversion reflected in the narrative support both hypotheses. In Study 2, data were prospectively collected from 240 adolescents attending religious summer camps; after camp, 138 participants reported a gradual conversion and 21 reported a sudden conversion. Participants who rated themselves securely attached to their parents before camp were more likely to report a gradual conversion, supporting the correspondence hypothesis. Precamp insecure parental attachment did not predict the subsequent incidence of a sudden religious conversion.
Participating in civic life is an important developmental task of adolescence and a central tenet of democracy. What motivates diverse youth in the United States to become involved in civic life? Using a mixed-method and person-centered approach, the authors (1) identified subgroups of participants based on their motivations for political and nonpolitical volunteering and (2) explored differences in civic motivations by ethnic and immigration backgrounds among Asian and Latino adolescents. Using latent class analysis, the authors identified four classes of motivation for political (n = 414) and nonpolitical volunteer (n = 1,066) activities: helping identity, instrumental, personal issue, and weak motivation. Overall, first- and second-generation Latino and Asian youth and nonimmigrants showed more similarities than differences in civic motivations. Survey and interview data revealed that youth from immigrant backgrounds were more motivated to volunteer by instrumental reasons compared to nonimmigrants. Qualitative analyses also revealed that immigrant youth from Mexican backgrounds were mobilized around issues of immigration reform whereas youth from Asian backgrounds were concerned with issues in their local communities.
Apologies are powerful predictors of reconciliation, but transgressors often fail to offer optimal, high-quality apologies that are comprehensive and non-defensive. We tested whether intellectual humility and general humility predict the use of high-quality apologies versus taking no action to resolve a conflict, and the processes that mediate these associations using online vignette experiments. In Study 1 (N = 397), transgressors with greater intellectual humility offered higher-quality apologies and were less likely to take no action following a relational offense. However, these associations did not remain significant when controlling for general humility. In Study 2 (N = 394), intellectual humility uniquely predicted greater apology comprehensiveness and less inaction following an intellect-based offense, demonstrating its context-specific associations with apology behavior. By contrast, general humility was a robust predictor of higher-quality apologies and less inaction across offense contexts. Consistent with recent theorizing on psychological barriers to apologizing, both studies also found support for the mediating roles of empathic effort and self-protection.
The speed-accuracy tradeoff suggests that responses generated under time constraints will be less accurate. While it has undergone extensive experimental verification, it is less clear whether it applies in settings where time pressures are not being experimentally manipulated (but where respondents still vary in their utilization of time). Using a large corpus of 29 response time datasets containing data from cognitive tasks without experimental manipulation of time pressure, we probe whether the speed-accuracy tradeoff holds across a variety of tasks using idiosyncratic within-person variation in speed. We find inconsistent relationships between marginal increases in time spent responding and accuracy; in many cases, marginal increases in time do not predict increases in accuracy. However, we do observe time pressures (in the form of time limits) to consistently reduce accuracy and for rapid responses to typically show the anticipated relationship (i.e., they are more accurate if they are slower). We also consider analysis of items and individuals. We find substantial variation in the item-level associations between speed and accuracy. On the person side, respondents who exhibit more within-person variation in response speed are typically of lower ability. Finally, we consider the predictive power of a person's response time in predicting out-of-sample responses; it is generally a weak predictor. Collectively, our findings suggest the speed-accuracy tradeoff may be limited as a conceptual model in its application in non-experimental settings and, more generally, offer empirical results and an analytic approach that will be useful as more response time data is collected.
