Previous research has consistently shown that children tend to hold negative attitudes toward their peers with disabilities when compared to those without disabilities (Diamond & Huang, 2005; Nowicki & Sandieson, 2002). What is more, children’s attitudes towards those with physical disabilities are more positive than their attitudes towards those with learning disabilities (Nowicki & Sandieson, 2002). Developmental factors such as age, gender, and previous experience with others with disabilities have been explored as potential moderating variables, however, findings have been inconclusive. This paper is the first to explore the role of implicit person theories (IPTs) in moderating children’s of attitudes towards their peers with disabilities. IPTs refer to the belief that attributes are either fixed and not subject to change (an entity theory) or malleable and changeable with effort (an incremental theory) (Dweck, 2000). Holding different IPTs has been associated with having differences in social perception (Dweck & Molden, 2008), which may affect children’s attitudes. The current research has two broad aims; to replicate previous research findings of children’s attitudes towards their peers with physical and learning disabilities as described above, and to explore the role of IPTs in moderating these attitudes. This paper comprises of two parts. The first is a literature review which aims to critically discuss and synthesise literature from the two relevant fields of research; that which investigates children’s attitudes to their peers with disabilities, and research relating to IPTs. The second part is a research paper giving details of the research that was carried out.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:585264 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Storey, Kayleigh |
| Publisher | Cardiff University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://orca.cf.ac.uk/51474/ |
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