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Lay dispositionism and implicit theories of personality
C Y Chiu1, Y Y Hong, C S Dweck
1Department of Psychology, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. cychiu@hkuxa.hku.hk
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|July 1, 1997
Summary
People
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Person Perception
- Implicit Theories
Background:
- Lay dispositionism describes the tendency to explain behavior using stable personality traits.
- Implicit theories of personality influence how individuals understand personal attributes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between lay dispositionism and implicit theories of personal attributes.
- To explore cultural generalizability and potential causality.
Main Methods:
- Five studies examined social perception practices and implicit personality theories.
- Methods included behavioral prediction, trait inference tasks, and experimental manipulation.
Main Results:
- Entity theorists (believing in fixed traits) exhibited stronger dispositionism than incremental theorists (believing in malleable attributes).
- This relationship was observed across individualistic (US) and collectivistic (Hong Kong) cultures.
- Experimental manipulation supported a causal role for implicit theories.
Conclusions:
- Implicit theories of personality significantly shape lay dispositionism.
- The link between implicit theories and dispositionism is culturally generalizable.
- Understanding these theories offers insights into social perception and judgment.
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