The present study aims at investigating children's and preadolescents' beliefs and self-perceptions (1) to verify a relationship between attachment style and implicit theory of intelligence, (2) to examine whether there is a relationship between attachment type and causal attributions and, finally, (3) to confirm a link, already documented in literature, between causal attributions and representation of intelligence. Correlations between the mentioned variables, measured using self-report questionnaires, were assessed on a sample of 96 children and preadolescents attending from last year of primary school and the last of junior high-school. The tendency of individuals with an incremental theory of intelligence is to have either a secure attachment or avoidant and of students with an entitary conception to be ambivalent-anxious. Subjects with secure and avoidant attachment styles make attributions related to personal commitment, which are more functional to learning; on the other hand, subjects with disorganized attachment shared the most dysfunctional attributions. Students with an incremental theory of intelligence attributed an important weight to commitment to judge school successes and a statistically significant higher weight to commitment to judge failures. Results confirm the hypothesis according to which an incremental theory of intelligence, associated with a secure attachment style, fosters attributional styles which are more functional for an effective learning. Finally, clinical and educational implications are discussed.
Minoliti, R., Cancer, A., Antonietti, A., Attachment, causal attributions, and conceptions of intelligence in 10 to 13-year-old children|Rapporti tra attaccamento, stili attributivi e concezioni dell’intelligenza in bambini di 10-13 anni, <<RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA>>, 2020; 43 (4): 1109-1130. [doi:10.3280/RIP2020-004008] [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/215765]
Attachment, causal attributions, and conceptions of intelligence in 10 to 13-year-old children|Rapporti tra attaccamento, stili attributivi e concezioni dell’intelligenza in bambini di 10-13 anni
Cancer, Alice;Antonietti, Alessandro
2020
Abstract
The present study aims at investigating children's and preadolescents' beliefs and self-perceptions (1) to verify a relationship between attachment style and implicit theory of intelligence, (2) to examine whether there is a relationship between attachment type and causal attributions and, finally, (3) to confirm a link, already documented in literature, between causal attributions and representation of intelligence. Correlations between the mentioned variables, measured using self-report questionnaires, were assessed on a sample of 96 children and preadolescents attending from last year of primary school and the last of junior high-school. The tendency of individuals with an incremental theory of intelligence is to have either a secure attachment or avoidant and of students with an entitary conception to be ambivalent-anxious. Subjects with secure and avoidant attachment styles make attributions related to personal commitment, which are more functional to learning; on the other hand, subjects with disorganized attachment shared the most dysfunctional attributions. Students with an incremental theory of intelligence attributed an important weight to commitment to judge school successes and a statistically significant higher weight to commitment to judge failures. Results confirm the hypothesis according to which an incremental theory of intelligence, associated with a secure attachment style, fosters attributional styles which are more functional for an effective learning. Finally, clinical and educational implications are discussed.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.