本研究以智能教養行為為標的，探討影響教養行為的認知因素，企圖解開教養觀無法預測教養行為的謎團。研究者修正前此根據德行教養研究所形成的「中介歷程假說」成為「中介歷程模式」，以智能可塑性信念做為智能觀的指標，說理、賞罰、寬容三種取向做為教養觀的指標，假想課業學習情境的管教方式做為教養行為的指標，並以三個預測來檢驗此模式：(一)教養觀不是真正的教養行為指導原則，對教養行為不會有足夠的預測力；(二)一般智能觀不直接影響教養者的歸因歷程，對教養行為也不會有足夠的預測力；(三)真正對教養行為有足夠影響力的是以一般智能觀及情境資訊為基礎的權變智能觀，因為它能直接影響歸因歷程。以525位大陸民眾為對象的研究結果都符合了「中介歷程模式」的預測。

The purpose of this study is to clarify the myth that parenting beliefs do not have sufficient predictive power for parenting styles. The attempt to take “beliefs about human nature” (belief about intelligence, belief about human morality, etc.) into consideration helped the development of the “mediation process hypothesis.” Efforts were made to explore how belief of human nature makes use of intervening variables, such as “attribution” and “belief of the effectiveness of parenting,” to influence inclination of parenting behavior. A total of 525 subjects participated in this experiment to answer the questionnaire focusing on the relationship of parents’ belief of intelligence and parenting behavior. “Parenting belief” and “general belief of intelligence” were measured by traditional self-report scale, while “contingent belief of intelligence” was measured in the form of simulated childrearing contexts, so as to highlight its “contingent” nature. Two contextual variables (learning performance and degree of hardworking) were manipulated in a 2 × 2 experiment design. All the research results echoed the main predictions of the “mediation process hypothesis”: (1) Parenting belief is not the guideline for practical parenting behavior. (2) The “general belief of intelligence” does not directly influence parents’ attribution of children’s performance as well as parenting behavior. (3) The real determinant of parenting behavior is the dynamic “contingent belief of intelligence” which varies with the practical parenting contexts and leads to different attribution as well as parenting implementation. Both present research and previous studies confirmed that “belief of human nature” has more important impact on actual parenting process than parenting beliefs. In a practical context, this belief of human nature will form a specific contingent belief of human nature according to the context information and further influence parenting behaviors via the attribution process.