A Growth Mindset Scale for Young Children (GM-C): Development and validation among children from the United States and South Africa.

Beliefs about the malleability of intellectual ability-mindsets-shape achievement. Recent evidence suggests that even young children hold such mindsets; yet, no reliable and valid instruments exist for measuring individual differences in young children's mindsets. Given the potential relevance of mindsets to children's achievement-related behavior and learning, we developed and tested the psychometric properties of the Growth Mindset Scale for Children (GM-C).

Formal explanations shape children's representations of animal kinds and social groups.

In certain domains, people represent some of an individual's properties (e.g., a tiger's ferocity), but not others (e.

An Emphasis on Brilliance Fosters Masculinity-Contest Cultures.

Women are underrepresented in fields in which success is believed to require brilliance, but the reasons for this pattern are poorly understood. We investigated perceptions of a "masculinity-contest culture," an organizational environment of ruthless competition, as a key mechanism whereby a perceived emphasis on brilliance discourages female participation. Across three preregistered correlational and experimental studies involving adult lay participants online ( = 870) and academics from more than 30 disciplines ( = 1,347), we found a positive association between the perception that a field or an organization values brilliance and the perception that this field or organization is characterized by a masculinity-contest culture.

Children's Intuitive Theories of Academic Performance.

How do children reason about academic performance across development? A classic view suggests children's intuitive theories in this domain undergo qualitative changes. According to this view, older children and adults consider both effort and skill as sources of performance (i.e.

Explanation as a Cognitive Process.

Understanding how people explain is a core task for cognitive science. In this opinion article, we argue that research on explanation would benefit from more engagement with how the cognitive systems involved in generating explanations (e.g.

Associations between oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) methylation, plasma oxytocin, and attachment across adulthood.

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been implicated in a wide range of affiliative processes. OT exerts its functions via OT receptors, which are encoded by the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR). Epigenetic modification of OXTR through the process of DNA methylation has been associated with individual differences in behavioral phenotypes.