Échelle des théories implicites l’intelligence tournées vers soi (TIIS) : validation psychométrique en langue française auprès d’une population étudiante

Introduction

Implicit theories of intelligence have long been studied as predictors of academic success.

Objective

This study aims to validate the psychometric properties of a scale measuring implicit conceptions of one's intelligence in French, for a population of university students. The scale was adapted from De Castella and Byrne (2015).

Method

The translated version of the De Castella and Byrne (2015) scale was completed by more than 1000 students enrolled in the first year of a bachelor's degree program, along with another scale of conception of general intelligence (Da Fonseca et al., 2007) and achievement goals (Darnon & Butera, 2005) to assess its convergent and concurrent validity.

Results

The analyses allowed us to evaluate the psychometric qualities of this translated version positively. Factor analyses confirm a 2-factor structure: intelligence perceived as a fixed entity and intelligence perceived as incremental (malleable). The correlations with achievement goals attest to the convergent validity of the scale. The difference between the conception of general intelligence and self-directed implicit theories shows that students have a more incremental view of their intelligence than general intelligence.

Conclusion

The various analyses validate the use of this translated version to determine the implicit conceptions of self-directed intelligence of French-speaking students who are beginning a university bachelor's degree curriculum.