RELATIONS BETWEEN IMPLICIT THEORIES OF INTELLIGENCE AND BELIEFS ABOUT THE ETIOLOGY OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES RELEVANT TO EDUCATION: THE ROLE OF BEHAVIORAL GENETICS IN TEACHING PRACTICE
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Although there is an evidence about extensive research examining the influence of genetic and environmental factors on educational traits, only few studies, so far, have explored teachers’ beliefs about the development of individual differences related to education in light of hereditary and environmental factors. This study aimed to examine the relationships between implicit theories of intelligence and the beliefs that teachers have about the relative influence of genes and the environment in explaining individual differences which are relevant for education. In this study, as such, cognitive abilities and personality traits were considered together, given that intelligence and personality traits were most systematically considered in previous research in the fields of behavioral genetic and educational psychology. The aim was to examine the effects that knowledge of behavioral genetics and openness to behavioral genetic research in education have in the aforementioned relationship. Also, the role of sociodemographic characteristics in explaining the differences between teachers in all examined variables was examined. 225 teachers, professors, and professors (88.5% female) from the territory of the Republic of Serbia (average age 42.9 years) participated in the research. The results indicate significant and direct contributions made by incremental theories of intelligence in the positive, and knowledge in the field of behavioral genetics in the negative direction, beliefs about the importance of genes and the environment in cognitive abilities and personality traits. Entity theories make a significant negative contribution to teachers' openness to behavioral-genetic research. No differences concerning the sociodemographic characteristics of teachers were detected. The findings of this study indicated the importance of knowledge in the field of behavioral genetics and implicit theories of intelligence in explaining differences in teachers' beliefs about the importance of genes and the environment in shaping individual differences related to education. Given the great social and practical significance of research results that indicate the positive aspects of teaching organized in the context of genetically sensitive classroom, this topic should undoubtedly be given more importance and attention in future research.
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