Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


               Belief About Source of Intelligence Affects Effort

   by VOA News

   Researchers at Michigan State University saw instant changes in the
   brains of study participants when they were told that hard work is more
   important than genetics.

   Whether or not that is true, says lead investigator Hans Schroder,
   "giving people messages that encourage learning and motivation may
   promote more efficient performance."

   In the [1]study, two groups read different articles about
   intelligence.  One said it was largely genetic, the other discussed how
   challenging environments probably led to the brilliance of Leonardi da
   Vinci and Albert Einstein.

   Afterwards, researchers analyzed brain activity as the participants
   answered questions about the main points of their article.

   Writing in Biological Psychology, Schroder and his colleagues say their
   work shows that subtle messages about abilities can have a big impact
   on our attitudes about what we can accomplish.

   Those in the study who read that intelligence was genetic focused on
   their responses as if they were concerned with doing well on the test,
   but that attention did not lead to improved performance in subsequent
   sessions.

   Those in the other group showed a more efficient brain response after
   they made a mistake, suggesting they thought they could do better on
   the next test.  And the more attention they paid to errors, the faster
   they responded the next time.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [2]http://www.voanews.com/content/belief-about-source-of-intelligence-a
   ffects-effort/2437527.html

References

   1. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301051114001823
   2. http://www.voanews.com/content/belief-about-source-of-intelligence-affects-effort/2437527.html