Participants will first be asked their age. Then, they will be randomly assigned to take the kids these days scales first or the theories of change scales first. Kids these days scales. All participants will first read: We would like to know your thoughts about children. All questions were given in random order on unnumbered scales. Compared to when you were a child: Do you think children today are more intelligent, less intelligent, or equally intelligent as children were when you were a child? [More than they used to be/Equal to what they used to be=0/Less than they used to be] Compared to when you were a child: Do you think children today enjoy reading more than they used to, enjoy reading less than they used to, or enjoy reading the same amount as children did when you were a child? [More than they used to/Equal to what they used to =0/Less than they used to] Compared to when you were a child: Do you think children today are more respectful of elders, less respectful of elders, or equally respectful of elders as children were when you were a child? [More than they used to be/Equal to what they used to be=0/Less than they used to be] Compared to when you were a child: Do you think children today are better able to stay focused on one thing, less able to stay focused on one thing, or equally able to stay focused on one thing as children were when you were a child? [More than they used to be/Equal to what they used to be=0/Less than they used to be] Compared to when you were a child: Do you think children today are better at delaying gratification, worse at delaying gratification, or equally able at delaying gratification as children were when you were a child? [Better than they used to be/Equally able as they used to be=0/Worse than they used to be] Compared to when you were a child: Do you think children today are less able to save money; better able to save money, or equally able to save money as children when you were a child? [More able than they used to be/Equally able to what they used to be=0/Less able than they used to be] Compared to when you were a child: Do you think children today's work ethic is better, work ethic is worse, or work ethic is the same as children when you were a child? [Better than they used to be/Equal to what they used to be=0/Wp\orse than they used to be] Compared to when you were a child: Do you think children today are more self-sufficient, less self-sufficient, or equally self-sufficient as children were when you were a child? [More than they used to be/Equal to what they used to be=0/Less than they used to be] Compared to when you were a child: Do you think children today are more entitled, less entitled, or equally entitled as children were when you were a child? [More than they used to be/Equal to what they used to be=0/Less than they used to be] Compared to when you were a child: Do you think children today are more morally good, less morally good, or equally morally good as children were when you were a child? [More than they used to be/Equal to what they used to be=0/Less than they used to be] Afterwards, on a separate page, for each question about 'kids these days' participants answer 'more than' to, they read the appropriate versions of the following [all in random order on unnumbered scales]: How much more intelligent are children now compared to when you were a child? [a lot more=-3/somewhat more=-2/a little more=-1] How much more do children enjoy reading compared to when you were a child? [a lot more=-3/somewhat more=-2/a little more=-1] How much more do children respect elders compared to when you were a child? [a lot more=-3/somewhat more=-2/a little more=-1] How much more self-sufficient are children compared to when you were a child? [a lot more=-3/somewhat more=-2/a little more=-1] How much more morally good do children behave compared to when you were a child? [a lot more=-3/somewhat more=-2/a little more=-1] How much better are children able to stay focused on one thing compared to when you were a child? [a lot better=-3/somewhat better=-2/a little better=-1] How much better are children at delaying gratification compared to when you were a child? [a lot better=-3/somewhat better=-2/a little better=-1] How much better are children's work ethic compared to when you were a child? [a lot better=-3/somewhat better=-2/a little better=-1] How much better are children at saving money compared to when you were a child? [a lot better=-3/somewhat better=-2/a little better=-1] For each question about 'kids these days' participants answer 'less than' to, they read the appropriate versions of the following [all in random order on unnumbered scales]: How much less intelligent are children now compared to when you were a child? [a lot less=3/somewhat less=2/a little less=1] How much less do children enjoy reading compared to when you were a child? [a lot less=3/somewhat less=2/a little less=1] How much less do children respect elders compared to when you were a child? [a lot less=3/somewhat less=2/a little less=1] How much less self-sufficient are children compared to when you were a child? [a lot less=3/somewhat less=2/a little less=1] How much less morally good do children behave compared to when you were a child? [a lot less=3/somewhat less=2/a little less=1] How much worse are children able to stay focused on one thing compared to when you were a child? [a lot worse=3/somewhat worse=2/a little worse=1] How much worse are children at delaying gratification compared to when you were a child? [a lot worse=2/somewhat worse=2/a little worse=1] How much worse are children's work ethic compared to when you were a child? [a lot worse=3/somewhat worse=2/a little worse=1] How much worse are children at saving money compared to when you were a child? [a lot worse=3/somewhat worse=2/a little worse=1] For the implicit theories of change questions, participants will first see a page with nine images taken from Ross, 1989, see files. For these 9 images, presented horizontally all with a width of 125 pixels, participants read: On the next pages we will ask you about what you think happens to a number of different traits as we age and grow older. Below you will see 9 different graphs. Each graph represents one pattern of what happens to a trait as we age. As an example, let's use how religious someone is. The first graph would mean you think people get more and more religious as they age. The second graph would mean you think people get less and less religious as they age. The third graph would mean you think people do not change in how religious they are as they age. The fourth graph would mean you think people start off religious as young children, get less religious through adulthood, but then get more religious as they grow into old age. The fifth graph would mean you think people don't change in how religious they are for most of their life, but then become less religious in old age. The sixth graph would mean you think people are not religious as children, they become more religious as they grow into adulthood, and then become less religious as they enter old age. The seventh graph would mean you think children are not religious, they become more religious as they age, then it does not change in adulthood through old age. The eighth graph would mean you think people start off religious as children, but eventually become less religious and never become more religious again. The ninth graph would mean you think people are not religious for most of their lives, but then become religious as they enter older ages. What do you think happens to how religious people are throughout their lives? Please select the option that most closely matches what you think happens. Then, on the next page, participants will see the same images, this time presented vertically and in random order, and read: Thank you, on the next pages you will be asked about your beliefs in change over the life on a number of different topics. To make sure you fully understand how to answer, please select below the option that shows no change whatsoever across the life. Any participant who fails this simple comprehension check will be excluded from the analyses. Then, in random order, one page at a time, participants will be asked about their belief in change on the following traits [all repsonse pictures in random order] Starting from childhood and extending into old age, what do you believe happens to intelligence as we age? What picture best represents how we increase, decrease, and stay stable over the lifespan? Starting from childhood and extending into old age, what do you believe happens to respect for elders as we age? What picture best represents how we increase, decrease, and stay stable over the lifespan? Starting from childhood and extending into old age, what do you believe happens to enjoyment of reading as we age? What picture best represents how we increase, decrease, and stay stable over the lifespan? Starting from childhood and extending into old age, what do you believe happens to the ability to focus on only one thing as we age? What picture best represents how we increase, decrease, and stay stable over the lifespan? Starting from childhood and extending into old age, what do you believe happens to the ability to delay gratification as we age? What picture best represents how we increase, decrease, and stay stable over the lifespan? Starting from childhood and extending into old age, what do you believe happens to the ability save money as we age? What picture best represents how we increase, decrease, and stay stable over the lifespan? Starting from childhood and extending into old age, what do you believe happens to work ethic as we age? What picture best represents how we increase, decrease, and stay stable over the lifespan? Starting from childhood and extending into old age, what do you believe happens to self-reliance/self-sufficiency as we age? What picture best represents how we increase, decrease, and stay stable over the lifespan? Starting from childhood and extending into old age, what do you believe happens to feelings of entitlement as we age? What picture best represents how we increase, decrease, and stay stable over the lifespan? Starting from childhood and extending into old age, what do you believe happens to morality as we age? What picture best represents how we increase, decrease, and stay stable over the lifespan? Afterwards, on separate pages, we will adminsiter the entitlement subscale and the self-sufficiency subcscale from the Narcissism Personality Inventory (Kubarych, Deary, & Austin, 2004). This is in order to test the prediction that more self-sufficient people think 'kids these days' are becoming less self-sufficient and that more entitled people think 'kids these days' are becoming more entitled. [all items adminsitered in random order with unnumbered response options in random order. The response option presented here first was scored as 1 and the option scored second scored as 0] All participants first read: This inventory consists of a number of pairs of statements with which you may or may not identify. Consider this example: I like having authority over people I don't mind following orders Which of these two statements is closer to your own feelings about yourself? If you identify more with "liking to have authority over people" than with "not minding following orders", then you would choose that option. You may identify with both options. In this case you should choose the statement which seems closer to yourself. Or, if you do not identify with either statement, select the one which is least objectionable or remote. In other words, read each pair of statements and then choose the one that is closer to your own feelings. Indicate your answer by selecting the item. Please do not skip any items. self-Sufficiency (Raskin & Terry, 1988) I like to take responsibility for making decisions./If I feel competent I am willing to take responsibility for making decisions. I always know what I am doing./Sometimes I am not sure of what I am doing. I rarely depend on anyone else to get things done./I sometimes depend on people to get things done. I can live my life in any way I want to./People can't always live their lives in terms of what they want. I am going to be a great person./I hope I am going to be successful. I am more capable than other people./There is a lot that I can learn from other people. Entitlement I have a natural talent for influencing people./I am not good at influencing people. If I ruled the world it would be a better place./I am not good at influencing people. I see myself as a good leader./I am not sure if I would make a good leader. I like to have authority over other people./I don't mind following orders. I find it easy to manipulate people./I don't like it when I find myself manipulating people. I will never be satisfied until I get all that I deserve./I take my satisfactions as they come. I have a strong will to power./Power for its own sake doesn't interest me. People always seem to recognize my authority./Being an authority doesn't mean that much to me. I would prefer to be a leader./It makes little difference to me whether I am a leader or not. I am a born leader./Leadership is a quality that takes a long time to develop. **References** Kubarych, T. S., Deary, I. J., & Austin, E. J. (2004). The Narcissistic Personality Inventory: Factor structure in a non-clinical sample. *Personality and individual differences*, 36(4), 857-872. Raskin, R., & Terry, H. (1988). A principal components analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and further evidence of its construct validity. *Journal of Personality and Social Psychology*, 54(5), 890–902. Ross, M. (1989). Relation of implicit theories to the construction of personal histories. *Psychological review*, 96(2), 341.