Entity Versus Incremental Theories Predict Older Adults’ Memory Performance Jason E. Plaks and Alison L. Chasteen University of Toronto The authors examined whether older adults’ implicit theories regarding the modifiability of memory in particular (Studies 1 and 3) and abilities in general (Study 2) would predict memory performance. In Study 1, individual differences in older adults’ endorsement of the “entity theory” (a belief that one’s ability is fixed) or “incremental theory” (a belief that one’s ability is malleable) of memory were measured using a version of the Implicit Theories Measure (Dweck, 1999). Memory performance was assessed with a free-recall task. Results indicated that the higher the endorsement of the incremental theory, the better the free recall. In Study 2, older and younger adults’ theories were measured using a more general version of the Implicit Theories Measure that focused on the modifiability of abilities in general. Again, for older adults, the higher the incremental endorsement, the better the free recall. Moreover, as predicted, implicit theories did not predict younger adults’ memory performance. In Study 3, participants read mock news articles reporting evidence in favor of either the entity or incremental theory. Those in the incremental condition outperformed those in the entity condition on reading span and free-recall tasks. These effects were mediated by pretask worry such that, for those in the entity condition, higher worry was associated with lower performance. Taken together, these studies suggest that variation in entity versus incremental endorsement represents a key predictor of older adults’ memory performance. Keywords: implicit theories, memory, self-stereotyping There is growing evidence that the memory performance of older adults is significantly influenced by subjective beliefs re- garding aging and memory. For example, studies have demon- strated that exposure to negative aging stereotypes predicts per- formance deficits on a variety of memory tasks (e.g., Levy, 1996; Hess, Auman, Colcombe, & Rahhal, 2003). These effects appear to be attributable to several mechanisms, including the unconscious tendency to match performance to expectancies (Levy & Leifheit- Limson, 2009) and anxiety over confirming aging stereotypes (i.e., “stereotype threat”; Chasteen, Bhattacharya, Horhota, Tam, & Hasher, 2005; Hess & Hinson, 2006). The present studies extend this literature by introducing a more general class of implicit theories that may particularly encourage or discourage self-stereotyping in older adults. In social psycho- logical research, the term “implicit theories” typically refers to more general constructs than beliefs about oneself or beliefs about a specific group (i.e., stereotypes). For example, whereas self- efficacy beliefs (Bandura, 1997) and control beliefs (Heckhausen & Schultz, 1995; Lachman & Agrigoroaei, 2012) are beliefs re- garding one’s own ability to perform an upcoming task, implicit theories have been defined as general assumptions about human abilities that, in turn, lay the groundwork for more specific beliefs about the self (Dweck, Chiu, & Hong, 1995; Plaks & Stecher, 2007). Our focus in the present studies was on older adults’ implicit theories regarding the fixedness or malleability of human qualities. The Entity and Incremental Theories Dweck and colleagues have consistently demonstrated that peo- ple possess clear, measurable intuitions about the fixedness/mal- leability of human traits and abilities (e.g., Dweck, Chiu, & Hong, 1995; Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Molden & Dweck, 2006; Murphy & Dweck, 2010; Rattan, Good, & Dweck, 2012). At one end of the continuum, the entity theory holds that personal qualities are generally fixed, despite a person’s effort or motivation to change them. This perspective is captured by the item from the Implicit Theories Measure (ITM; Levy, Stroessner, & Dweck, 1998), “Ev- eryone is a certain kind of person and there is not much that can be done to really change that.” At the other end of the continuum, the incremental theory holds that personal qualities are dynamic and improvable with effort. This view is captured by the item, “Ev- eryone, no matter who they are, can significantly change their basic characteristics.” 1 Entity theorists tend to attribute behavior to fixed underlying traits (Chiu, Hong, & Dweck, 1997; Molden, Plaks, & Dweck, 1 As lay perspectives on human behavior, neither position necessarily reflects the “correct” social reality. The scientific question of whether aspects of human personality are actually stable or changeable across the life span is beyond the scope of this article (e.g., Lucas & Donnellan, 2011; Specht, Egloff, & Schmukle, 2011). This article was published Online First October 14, 2013. Jason E. Plaks and Alison L. Chasteen, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jason E. Plaks, 4003 Sidney Smith Hall, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, Toronto ON M5S 3G3, Canada. E-mail: plaks@psych.utoronto.ca This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. Psychology and Aging © 2013 American Psychological Association 2013, Vol. 28, No. 4, 948 –957 0882-7974/13/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0034348 948