Is Intelligence Fixed or Changeable? Students' Theories About Their Intelligence Foster Their Achievement Goals

We began to think, Mary Bandura and I, that what made students obsess about their level of intelligence was the particular way they thought about their intelligence (Bandura & Dweck, 1981). The whole idea of worrying about intelligence and trying to document it all the time implies that you think of it as a fixed, concrete thing. You only have a certain amount of it, so you'd better show that it's enough and you'd better hide it if it isn't.