How do meta-beliefs about educational performance affect perseverance and student performance in low-income contexts? We investigate this question in a lab-in-the-field experiment designed to disentangle meta-beliefs about the nature of ability and personal efficacy through video interventions. We study the effects of these interventions on the decision to exert effort, academic performance, and wellbeing among primary school students in Malawi.

Watching Queen of Katwe, a movie featuring an inspiring role model, improved Ugandan secondary school students’ national exam scores and closed gender gaps in attainment.