Research on a modified framework of implicit personality theories

There is ample evidence that labeled gifted students exhibit maladaptive behavior patterns. According to Carol Dweck those students who subscribe to a fixed view of their abilities are particularly at risk. In this contribution we extended Dweck's framework and distinguished two aspects of the implicit theory of one's own abilities. We hypothesized that the negative consequences of a fixed view are limited to the belief that one's own deficits are stable. In contrast, we assumed that the belief in the stability of existing abilities as well as the belief in the modifiability of ability deficits is adaptive. In two longitudinal studies with students from grades 7 to 10 we found supportive evidence for the proposed distinction.