Mathematics education

Social psychology

Psychology

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

article i nfo Can comforting struggling students demotivate them and potentially decrease the pool of students pursuing math- related subjects? In Studies 1-3, instructors holding an entity (fixed) theory of math intelligence more readily judged students to have low ability than those holding an incremental (malleable) theory. Studies 2- 3f urther revealed that those holding an entity (versus incremental) theory were more likely to both comfort students for low math ability and use kind strategies unlikely to promote engagement with the field (e.g., assigning less homework). Next, we explored what this comfort-oriented feedback communicated to students, compared with strategy-oriented and control feedback (Study 4). Students responding to comfort-oriented feedback not only per- ceived the instructor's entity theory and low expectations, but also reported lowered motivation and lower expec- tationsfortheirownperformance.Thisresearchhasimplicationsforunderstandinghowpedagogicalpracticescan lock students into low achievement and deplete the math pipeline.

“It's ok — Not everyone can be good at math”: Instructors with an entity theory comfort (and demotivate) students