Fairy Tale Situation Test for Implicit Theories of Personality

Yichen Cui; Zengkui Wan; Qi Xia; Yonghui Feng; Wentai Gu; Lu Yang; Zhenzhong Zhou

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15

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Fairy Tale Situation Test for Implicit Theories of Personality

Yichen Cui, Zengkui Wan, Qi Xia, Yonghui Feng, Wentai Gu, Lu Yang, Zhenzhong Zhou

Published in American Journal of Applied Psychology (Volume 9, Issue 6)

Received: 9 December 2020 Accepted: 11 January 2021 Published: 22 January 2021

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Abstract

When judging others, individuals often unconsciously apply their own special knowledge and personal constructs about human beings, which eventually forms some implicit theories of personality (ITPs). On the basis of different implicit personality theories, these individuals thus divided into two categories: a type of people believe that personality attributes or traits are sequestration, namely entity theorists; another type of people believe that personality attributes or characteristics are gradient, i.e. incremental theorists. Unlike studies that focus on how personality traits interact, implicit personality theory explores people’s beliefs about the fixity and plasticity of personality traits. Based on projective techniques, a fairy tale situation test is developed to explore whether the implicit personality theories of college students have consistency across different personal attributes (such as characteristic or ability), as well as whether entity theory and incremental theory are two dimensions or two poles of the same dimension. The result of the pretest shows that the compiled fairy tale situation test could be a measurement to analyse the universality of implicit personality theory and the structural pattern of its dimension. A formal test separated the implicit personality theories of 120 college students. The results of both the pretest and the formal test indicated that (a) college students had a common and consistent implicit theory across five personal attributes including character, ability, temperament, morality, and emotion and that (b) entity theory and incremental theory were two inverse poles of the same dimension in implicit theories of personality. These results show that Implicit Theories of Personality has the characteristics of two dimensions (entity theory vs. gradient theory).

Published in	American Journal of Applied Psychology (Volume 9, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15
Page(s)	172-181
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Implicit Theories of Personality, Entity Theory, Incremental Theory, Projective Test, Fairy Tale Situation Test

References

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APA Style

Yichen Cui, Zengkui Wan, Qi Xia, Yonghui Feng, Wentai Gu, et al. (2021). Fairy Tale Situation Test for Implicit Theories of Personality. American Journal of Applied Psychology, 9(6), 172-181. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15

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ACS Style

Yichen Cui; Zengkui Wan; Qi Xia; Yonghui Feng; Wentai Gu, et al. Fairy Tale Situation Test for Implicit Theories of Personality. Am. J. Appl. Psychol. 2021, 9(6), 172-181. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15

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AMA Style

Yichen Cui, Zengkui Wan, Qi Xia, Yonghui Feng, Wentai Gu, et al. Fairy Tale Situation Test for Implicit Theories of Personality. Am J Appl Psychol. 2021;9(6):172-181. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15

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@article{10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15,
  author = {Yichen Cui and Zengkui Wan and Qi Xia and Yonghui Feng and Wentai Gu and Lu Yang and Zhenzhong Zhou},
  title = {Fairy Tale Situation Test for Implicit Theories of Personality},
  journal = {American Journal of Applied Psychology},
  volume = {9},
  number = {6},
  pages = {172-181},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajap.20200906.15},
  abstract = {When judging others, individuals often unconsciously apply their own special knowledge and personal constructs about human beings, which eventually forms some implicit theories of personality (ITPs). On the basis of different implicit personality theories, these individuals thus divided into two categories: a type of people believe that personality attributes or traits are sequestration, namely entity theorists; another type of people believe that personality attributes or characteristics are gradient, i.e. incremental theorists. Unlike studies that focus on how personality traits interact, implicit personality theory explores people’s beliefs about the fixity and plasticity of personality traits. Based on projective techniques, a fairy tale situation test is developed to explore whether the implicit personality theories of college students have consistency across different personal attributes (such as characteristic or ability), as well as whether entity theory and incremental theory are two dimensions or two poles of the same dimension. The result of the pretest shows that the compiled fairy tale situation test could be a measurement to analyse the universality of implicit personality theory and the structural pattern of its dimension. A formal test separated the implicit personality theories of 120 college students. The results of both the pretest and the formal test indicated that (a) college students had a common and consistent implicit theory across five personal attributes including character, ability, temperament, morality, and emotion and that (b) entity theory and incremental theory were two inverse poles of the same dimension in implicit theories of personality. These results show that Implicit Theories of Personality has the characteristics of two dimensions (entity theory vs. gradient theory).},
 year = {2021}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Fairy Tale Situation Test for Implicit Theories of Personality
AU  - Yichen Cui
AU  - Zengkui Wan
AU  - Qi Xia
AU  - Yonghui Feng
AU  - Wentai Gu
AU  - Lu Yang
AU  - Zhenzhong Zhou
Y1  - 2021/01/22
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15
T2  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
JF  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
JO  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
SP  - 172
EP  - 181
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-5672
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15
AB  - When judging others, individuals often unconsciously apply their own special knowledge and personal constructs about human beings, which eventually forms some implicit theories of personality (ITPs). On the basis of different implicit personality theories, these individuals thus divided into two categories: a type of people believe that personality attributes or traits are sequestration, namely entity theorists; another type of people believe that personality attributes or characteristics are gradient, i.e. incremental theorists. Unlike studies that focus on how personality traits interact, implicit personality theory explores people’s beliefs about the fixity and plasticity of personality traits. Based on projective techniques, a fairy tale situation test is developed to explore whether the implicit personality theories of college students have consistency across different personal attributes (such as characteristic or ability), as well as whether entity theory and incremental theory are two dimensions or two poles of the same dimension. The result of the pretest shows that the compiled fairy tale situation test could be a measurement to analyse the universality of implicit personality theory and the structural pattern of its dimension. A formal test separated the implicit personality theories of 120 college students. The results of both the pretest and the formal test indicated that (a) college students had a common and consistent implicit theory across five personal attributes including character, ability, temperament, morality, and emotion and that (b) entity theory and incremental theory were two inverse poles of the same dimension in implicit theories of personality. These results show that Implicit Theories of Personality has the characteristics of two dimensions (entity theory vs. gradient theory).
VL  - 9
IS  - 6
ER  -

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Author Information

Yichen Cui

Nanjing Institute of Juvenile Mental Health, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing, China
Zengkui Wan

Nanjing Institute of Juvenile Mental Health, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing, China
Qi Xia

Department of Architectural and Environmental Engineering, Yangzhou Technical Vocational College, Yangzhou, China
Yonghui Feng

School of Educational Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
Wentai Gu

Institute of Mental Health, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing, China
Lu Yang

Institute of Mental Health, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing, China
Zhenzhong Zhou

Nanjing Institute of Juvenile Mental Health, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing, China

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APA Style

Yichen Cui, Zengkui Wan, Qi Xia, Yonghui Feng, Wentai Gu, et al. (2021). Fairy Tale Situation Test for Implicit Theories of Personality. American Journal of Applied Psychology, 9(6), 172-181. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15

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ACS Style

Yichen Cui; Zengkui Wan; Qi Xia; Yonghui Feng; Wentai Gu, et al. Fairy Tale Situation Test for Implicit Theories of Personality. Am. J. Appl. Psychol. 2021, 9(6), 172-181. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15

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AMA Style

Yichen Cui, Zengkui Wan, Qi Xia, Yonghui Feng, Wentai Gu, et al. Fairy Tale Situation Test for Implicit Theories of Personality. Am J Appl Psychol. 2021;9(6):172-181. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15

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@article{10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15,
  author = {Yichen Cui and Zengkui Wan and Qi Xia and Yonghui Feng and Wentai Gu and Lu Yang and Zhenzhong Zhou},
  title = {Fairy Tale Situation Test for Implicit Theories of Personality},
  journal = {American Journal of Applied Psychology},
  volume = {9},
  number = {6},
  pages = {172-181},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajap.20200906.15},
  abstract = {When judging others, individuals often unconsciously apply their own special knowledge and personal constructs about human beings, which eventually forms some implicit theories of personality (ITPs). On the basis of different implicit personality theories, these individuals thus divided into two categories: a type of people believe that personality attributes or traits are sequestration, namely entity theorists; another type of people believe that personality attributes or characteristics are gradient, i.e. incremental theorists. Unlike studies that focus on how personality traits interact, implicit personality theory explores people’s beliefs about the fixity and plasticity of personality traits. Based on projective techniques, a fairy tale situation test is developed to explore whether the implicit personality theories of college students have consistency across different personal attributes (such as characteristic or ability), as well as whether entity theory and incremental theory are two dimensions or two poles of the same dimension. The result of the pretest shows that the compiled fairy tale situation test could be a measurement to analyse the universality of implicit personality theory and the structural pattern of its dimension. A formal test separated the implicit personality theories of 120 college students. The results of both the pretest and the formal test indicated that (a) college students had a common and consistent implicit theory across five personal attributes including character, ability, temperament, morality, and emotion and that (b) entity theory and incremental theory were two inverse poles of the same dimension in implicit theories of personality. These results show that Implicit Theories of Personality has the characteristics of two dimensions (entity theory vs. gradient theory).},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Fairy Tale Situation Test for Implicit Theories of Personality
AU  - Yichen Cui
AU  - Zengkui Wan
AU  - Qi Xia
AU  - Yonghui Feng
AU  - Wentai Gu
AU  - Lu Yang
AU  - Zhenzhong Zhou
Y1  - 2021/01/22
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15
T2  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
JF  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
JO  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
SP  - 172
EP  - 181
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-5672
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20200906.15
AB  - When judging others, individuals often unconsciously apply their own special knowledge and personal constructs about human beings, which eventually forms some implicit theories of personality (ITPs). On the basis of different implicit personality theories, these individuals thus divided into two categories: a type of people believe that personality attributes or traits are sequestration, namely entity theorists; another type of people believe that personality attributes or characteristics are gradient, i.e. incremental theorists. Unlike studies that focus on how personality traits interact, implicit personality theory explores people’s beliefs about the fixity and plasticity of personality traits. Based on projective techniques, a fairy tale situation test is developed to explore whether the implicit personality theories of college students have consistency across different personal attributes (such as characteristic or ability), as well as whether entity theory and incremental theory are two dimensions or two poles of the same dimension. The result of the pretest shows that the compiled fairy tale situation test could be a measurement to analyse the universality of implicit personality theory and the structural pattern of its dimension. A formal test separated the implicit personality theories of 120 college students. The results of both the pretest and the formal test indicated that (a) college students had a common and consistent implicit theory across five personal attributes including character, ability, temperament, morality, and emotion and that (b) entity theory and incremental theory were two inverse poles of the same dimension in implicit theories of personality. These results show that Implicit Theories of Personality has the characteristics of two dimensions (entity theory vs. gradient theory).
VL  - 9
IS  - 6
ER  -

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