Implicit theories of opportunity: When opportunity fails to knock, keep waiting, or start cultivating?

We live in a time of disappearing professions, pandemic-related upheaval, and growing social inequality. While recognizing that good opportunities are unequally distributed in society (an injustice that requires rectification), can beliefs about the nature and workings of opportunities help people see the door to their goals as more open than closed, and can these beliefs influence the likelihood of goal attainment? Seven studies (N = 1,031) examined people's beliefs about whether or not opportunities can be changed (growth vs. fixed theory of opportunity). In Studies 1a-4, participants responded to scenarios about competent people (or themselves) with challenging, long-term aspirations. When opportunities were available, both theories predicted high expectations for success and a preference for active strategies to pursue the goal, like being persistent. By contrast, when opportunities seemed unavailable, a stronger fixed theory predicted lower expectations for success and a preference for passive strategies, like simply waiting. We also established the implicit theories' causal role and demonstrated processes explaining how a growth theory leads to higher anticipated success. The final two studies examined unemployed people. In Study 5, those with a stronger growth theory chose to engage more in a task about cultivating new opportunities for employment. Study 6 showed that those with a stronger growth theory were more likely to report securing employment 5 months later, even when controlling for motivation-relevant variables, education, and socioeconomic status. They also engaged in more active job-search strategies. These studies offer a novel perspective on when, how, and why people initiate and maintain goal pursuit. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Fanning the Flames of Passion: A Develop Mindset Predicts Strategy-Use Intentions to Cultivate Passion.

College students are encouraged to major in subjects they are passionate about but less often advised about what to do when passion is low. What self-regulatory strategies do students use to up-regulate their passion toward their subjects, and how might they be oriented toward using such effective strategies? Three studies examined how the belief that passion is developed - a "develop" mindset - relates to students' intentions to use strategies to actively grow their passion. The more strongly students endorsed a develop mindset, the more of these "cultivation strategies" they reported using, and in turn, the larger their increase in reported passion toward their subject majors (Study 1). Instilling a develop mindset causally increased students' intentions to use more cultivation strategies (Study 2) - with some effects lasting up to a year (Study 3). Instilling a develop mindset can potentially help students to ignite their passion when its flame burns low.

Implicit Theories of Interest: Finding Your Passion or Developing It?

People are often told to find their passion, as though passions and interests are preformed and must simply be discovered. This idea, however, has hidden motivational implications. Five studies examined implicit theories of interest-the idea that personal interests are relatively fixed (fixed theory) or developed (growth theory). Whether assessed or experimentally induced, a fixed theory was more likely to dampen interest in areas outside people's existing interests (Studies 1-3). Individuals endorsing a fixed theory were also more likely to anticipate boundless motivation when passions were found, not anticipating possible difficulties (Study 4). Moreover, when it became difficult to engage in a new interest, interest flagged significantly more for people induced to hold a fixed rather than a growth theory of interest (Study 5). Urging people to find their passion may lead them to put all their eggs in one basket but then to drop that basket when it becomes difficult to carry.