Examining college students’ epistemological beliefs and mindset of intelligence and their association with learning motivations

In the past educational research studies, many studies investigated mindset of intelligence and epistemological beliefs and reported significant effects on students’ motivation. Even though mindset of intelligence and epistemological beliefs are two separate constructs, these constructs are likely related and coexisted as a system of beliefs. Constructs of mindset of intelligence and epistemological beliefs may be interdependent to further contribute to learning motivation, behavior, and outcomes. Only a few studies investigated both mindset of intelligence and epistemological beliefs together. Guided by previous research studies, this study examined associations of mindset of intelligence and epistemological beliefs with their predicting factors: motivational variables, the use of learning strategies, and learning outcomes in mathematics among college students. Additionally, I investigated how mindset of intelligence and epistemological beliefs both as implicit beliefs associated with each other. Finally, to further conceptualize interaction between these implicit beliefs, I examined the existence of profiles of students who are different in mindset of intelligence and epistemological beliefs. Consistent results of predictions on motivational variables and self-reported performance revealed the maladaptive feature of a fixed mindset of intelligence; on the other hand, a growth mindset of intelligence failed to be a significant predictor of motivational indicators in general. Meanwhile, a few factors in epistemological beliefs showed weak and unstable predictions on some motivational variables. Even though two subpopulations were identified when examining profiles for mindset of intelligence and epistemological beliefs, the main distinction between the two subpopulations is from growth and fixed mindset of intelligence. Therefore, the different profiles of students who are different in mindset of intelligence and different in epistemological beliefs are not supported by this data. Discussions related to current findings such as different operationalizations of mindset of intelligence and measures of epistemological beliefs are provided. Implications for future research are also discussed.